It's the middle of the night and I'm sandwiched between two slices of history - a 1306 AD temple and a 1620 AD fort. And I just can't stop myself from hoping that ghosts from the past haunt the beach in front of me.
It's easy to believe in ghosts when you're at Tranquebar or Tharangambadi (literally Place of the Singing Waves), a port 275 km south of Chennai that is rich in history, ancient structures and a wealth of documented history about many of its most interesting residents over the centuries.
The ruins of the Masilamani Nathar temple that was built by King Maravarman Kulasekara Pandian in 1306. It's the oldest building in town, and time, erosion and the 2004 tsunami have swallowed much of its grandeur. What remains today is its innermost mandapam.
The Dansborg Fort, built in 1620 by the Danes after the King of Denmark Christian IV signed a treaty with Tanjore king Vijaya Raghunatha Nayak to set up a trading center in Tranquebar. The Danes initially paid a rent of Rs 3,111 to the King, and later, took complete control of the town by 1777.
My vantage point is the balcony of the Bungalow on the Beach, an 1840 building restored by the Neemrana group of hotels, that nestles nicely between the historic temple and the fort.
Formerly the local Collector's residence, it took the heritage hotel group three years to restore this building to its old glory. "When people stay here, they should have a feeling that they are staying at their grandparents' or their great grandparents' house," says Arun Kiran Elangovan, Regional Manager (South India) of the Neemrana Hotels Pvt Ltd.
The furniture and the decor - carefully put together by Neemrana co-chairmen Francis Wacziarg and Aman Nath - certainly make you feel you're back at Grandpa's.
And I'm delighted to find this 1920s oleograph on the wall - The staff discovered her in an antique shop in Pondicherry.
And here's another beauty…
The staff at the hotel have thoughtfully left us two little books: Reminiscences of Tranquebar by MA Sultan, and Tales of Tranquebar by Prof P Maria Lazar - both lively accounts of the town and its people.
I flip through the books and history comes alive, snippet by snippet...
I read about people who've walked these shores... Like Catherine Noele Verlee (above), who loved this beach as a little girl.
This Tranquebar-born beauty went on to scandalise high society in Calcutta, England and France in the late 18th century with her torrid affairs and her reputation as a serial adulteress.
She narrowly escaped massacre during the French Revolution and was jailed on charges of espionage.
She, however, was rescued by Napoleon's foreign minister, who promptly fell in love with her. Their marriage, however, fell through and this free-spirited woman went on to live alone in a Paris hotel for the last 18 years of her life.
And then, there's Bartholomaus Ziegenbalg, the German Protestant missionary, who should've written a whole book on How to Master the Tamil Language in Eight Months.
Ziegenbalg translated the New Testament into Tamil and established India's first printing press at Tranquebar in 1712. He was the first person in the world to give a sermon in Tamil (in the New Jerusalem Church built by him in 1718 AD).
A 1906 monument (picture above) built on the beach to Ziegenbalg survived the 2004 tsunami.
Records speak of a dark 27-year-period (1642-1669) when no ship sailed between Denmark and Tranquebar.
Among the casualties were two Norwegian clergymen who turned "unholy" drunkards and shocked residents by, among other things, taking to running naked around town. One of them, Reverend Storm, was sentenced to death: He was put alive in a sack with iron balls tied to his legs, and dropped into the ocean.
There's a reason I wish the dead could talk tonight.
Earlier, at the ruins of the fort, I found few signs of wonder or respect for the town's rich history. It didn't help that despite being there on a busy Saturday evening, we couldn't find any local guides around.
We look down a well, and are revolted by what we see: Plastic bottles, wrappers and filth.
Senthil has chosen a wall by the prison inside the fort to declare his love for Vara Lakshmi.
And other crazed scribblers have vandalised other parts with their phone numbers and names.
Across the road at the historic Masilamani Nathar temple, a family is finishing up a picnic, unaware perhaps that they're eating off a 14th century floor. Stray paper and pieces of biscuits that got away litter the place.We don't wait to see if they clear up after them.
Instead, we look above at the unique carving on the temple dome.
The builders temple drew heavily on the Chinese-style architecture to attract the Chinese traders who would frequent Tranquebar.
The town's residents lament the neglect plaguing their heritage town and its monuments. "It's the wish of the people that authorities come forward to renovate the Masilamani Nathar," says MA Sultan in Reminiscences of Tranquebar.
Another cause of regret is the lack of a rail service in town. The last train to Tranquebar ran in 1986, and the railway station has now been converted into a mass grave for victims of the 2004 tsunami.
Though a rarely filmed town, the Tranquebar train finds a place in a song sequence in the 1980s Tamil hit Oru Thalai Raagam.
The beach overlooking the Bungalow is reported to have the thickest ozone layer in India and is ideal for health freaks who want to prolong their lives or just rejuvenate. But Tranquebar is more than just a breath of fresh air.
Plan a weekend visit for a slice of history and a journey back into an adventurous, daring and exciting part of Indian history.
Photographs by Chetan Asher. First published on sify.com
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