Sabari Malai Darishanam

Date : 20,21,22 December 2012
Venue : Sabari Malai

It's the second time I am putting the Maalai, but going to Sabari Malai for the first time. Yes, first time, I couldn't make it due to some unavoidable circumstances.

This time, my Sabari Malai journey started on  8th December 2012, the day I have put the maalai. Since we have planned to leave for Sabari Malai on 20th December 2012, I thought of wearing maalai at least for 12 days. The same day Pratheep and Dinesh came from Chennai. And we have been tripping here and there for two days. Then my routine life wearing maalai continues.  To be frank, I didn't follow strict diet and practices during this period.  I was taking bath twice a day and going to temple daily. Last one week, I was skipping the night dinner as well.

Finally, the day has come for my first SabariMala trip.  December 20th, my brother had IBM interview, so I went to leave him in the interview venue in the morning. It's a busy morning. By the time, I came back Bala and Sakthi were there in my home. And we have booked to tie the Irumudi by 10:30AM.  So packed things soon and started our journey.

First we purchased the necessary things for the pooja and a bag for the travel.  We approached the counter for Irumudi and we were taken to the place where Irumudi will be done.  Since it was 10:30 already, there is no crowd at all and we were the only 3 to tie Irumudi at that time.  The Namboodari got all the items for Irumudi, done the rituals and kept the Irumudi on our heads.  That was really a wonderful experience.  That far, I have seen only other swami's chanting the divine ayyappa slogans, and that's the moment I did for the first time in my life.  Our Irumudi rituals are done.  We are not supposed to leave any other place other than Sabarimala after tieing Irumudi. So we stayed in the temple itself, since our train was only in the evening. We have been talking, sort of playing, fighting in the temple itself. Fortunately, there was a elephant in the temple that day. It became our time pass till we leave. I really wondered on that Mamooth, because it was eating continuously right from the time we see it to the time we leave the temple.Then we took the afternoon Meal in annadanam itself in the temple and waited for some more time before we start our journey. And finally the time arrived.

It was around 4:00PM, we left the temple.  We took a bus to City junction, but as it happens normally we were getting late due to Bangalore traffic. So we decided to get down in Malleshwaram and get an auto to Cantonment.  Finally, we reached Cantonment station much before the train was there.  It was a different experience of walking bare foot in the city places, tieing a dhoti around my waist. That's as different experience.   At last, the train had arrived and we started our journey towards Swamy Ayyappa..

Fortunately, the train we were travelling goes via my hometown Erode.  And since, that was my first Sabarimala experience, my parents are also bit excited.  They wished to see me atleast in the Erode station.  The train reached Erode station around 11:00PM.  I remember the moment, my Mom and Dad came running on the platform to see me before the train leaves.  I am lucky enough to receive their blessings as well on my journey.  The train reached Ernakulam Station around 4:30PM.  From there we need to go Kottayam (only from there we get direct buses to Erimeli and Sabarimala).  So we got another train from Ernakulam and reached Kottayam around 7AM.  Just outside the station, we got a direct bus to Erimeli and our Journey continued..

On the way, we had some breakfast and reached Erimeli at around 10AM.  There is a ritual to go to "Pettai Sastha" temple and a "Vaavar Sanithi"(Ayyapa's friends) in Erimeli before going to Sabari Malai. Another interesting thing in Erimeli is, you need to perform the ritual in a tribal gesture. There are shops who will get you to the tribal form and the band sets will be available for you to dance. This ritual is called "Pettai Thullal".  Pettai Thullal ends in "Pettai Sastha" temple and that completes the rituals in Erumeli.  Then we started our journey to Sabarimala..

It took around 2 hours to reach Pampa from Erumeli. It's around 2PM we reached Pampa, we had a quick bath in Pampa, the sacred river (Panthala Raja found Ayyappa as a baby in the banks of this river only).  Then we started our journey towards Ayyapa. It took around 2 hours to climb the hill. And really, that was an wonderful experience though it was not a easy journey. All the way, we were hearing chants of Ayyappa devottees.. We reached the hill top around 5PM. Since, we had the virtual Q passes, we din't wait much.. We are directly allowed to the queue before the Padinettu Padi (18 golden steps).  We waited there for 10 mins and I felt the real rush there for that 10 mins.. Sakthi was asking me to go in the centre of the steps, so that I can touch all the steps.. Otherwise, the temple staffs will pull us off in a hurry.. I followed sakthi and able to touch all the divine steps.. And now we are in "Sastha Temple", our destination.

Luckily, we don't had any rush at that time inside the temple.. We just encircled the path around the temple, and finally had a full and divine view of Swamy Ayyapa.. It was a small dark place, with Ayyappa's idol in the centre and lit by the lamps.. That view was extremely beautiful and really refreshing.. We didn't felt the tiredness of climbing the mountain at all.  And then we came beside the temple.. As I am going for the first time, I need to tie a bell (which we bring from Erumeli) in the temple.. I felt a kind of frustration at that moment.. Seems it is good to have a bell tied by the first time goers in home.. So I was about to tie the bell, a big crowd surrounded and trying to snatch the bell from me.. I was saying them, that I will tie it first and then they can take it.. But they didn't let me at all.. Finally I didn't tie the bell at all.. I just left it to them.. I don't know what that brings to them grabbing it from me in such a harsh manner..Then we completed visiting the "Manja maatha" temple beneath the sannidanam and visited other small temples around..

We left to a place known to Bala for staying that night.. Finally we managed to get a place.. We went there, rested for some time and unpacked our Irumudi and took the ghee for abhishekam (we need to give it).. Bala gave it to somebody to get that done.. After 7PM, we had the "Annadanam" in that place itself and came out for a walk.. We visited the shops and hotels around for some time.. And it was around 8PM, we thought of going to sannidanam again.. We went for it, and this time, it was bit crowded and we were waiting around 30 mins to see Swamy Ayyappa.. This time, Bala asked me to come in the last lane, so that we can sit in the peedam opposite to the Sannidanam for sometime.. And luckily we could manage to sit there for some time.. And the closing time came, and felt the real rush then.. I was literally out of my control.. and the rush was moving me.. And somehow, we managed to see the glimpse of Swamy Ayyappa for the third time that day, before the temple is closed.. The temple is closed, and Harivarasanam was sung for the day to make Ayyappa sleep.. Finally, we purchased the aravana appam and payasam and had some prasadam there and went to sleep..

Next day morning, we got the "Abhishega" ghee as well..Then we thought we will start early, so that we can catch our train in the evening from Ernakulam.. We just came around the temple again and started our journey down.. We got down around 12PM to Pampa. Luckily, we got a direct bus to Ernakulam from there.. It was around 4 hours of Journey to Ernakulam.. Finally, we reached Ernakulam Junction around 4PM.  And we had a bath in the waiting room there itself and got ourself refreshed.. We had some hot tea while we were waiting for the train..

The train came on time, but it was full rush.. Though, we had reserved tickets, we came sitting all the way.. It's a good train journey after a good divine trip.  Me and Sakthi got down in Erode Junction, and Bala headed way back to Bangalore.. Sakthi got the bus to his hometown outside the stations and I took an auto to reach my home nearby.. I reached home around 1PM.. And since its the first time, the mother did some rituals and got me in.. I ended the last day of lying down that night.. And the next morning, i went to the near by Ganesha temple early in the morning and got the malai removed..  And that ends my first divine Sabarimala trip..

Overall, it was a good trip with a different feel and refreshing experience..

Swamiyae Saranam Ayyappa.. Swamiyae Saranam Ayyappa..

Anand's Marriage in Keelamudiman..

This is my travel experience for Anand's wedding to Keelamudiman village in Tuticorin district.  Anandraj is my college classmate. And this is the second boys marriage in our class that I am attending.  I heard some of the other boys got married already and have a kid even.

The marriage was on a Sunday, so I started my journey on a Friday night.  I came to know that Prabhu anna (my college senior) and some other juniors guys are also attending the marriage.  Also, I heard they are going to Madurai and then to Tuticorin. So, me too booked my tickets to Madurai to join them.  I reached Madurai Mattuthavani bus stand around 7AM in Saturday morning. Prabhu anna and two other junior guys were already there waiting for me to join.  We started our journey to Kovilpatti from there.  Actually, Keelamudiman is nearer to Kovilpatti than Tuticorin.  So, Anand has booked the rooms near Kovilpatti bus stand itself. 

Kovilpatti was hardly 2 hours journey from Madurai. So, we reached Kovilpatti bypass around 9:30AM.  From there, we reached the hotel and met some faces which I was quite familiar like Babu, Karthi and Vasanth.  But others are completely new to me.  But, I really had a very good time with them all..

After some time of old and new stories, everyone of us got ready to go out.. I think it's Vasanth who proposed that plan to go "Thirparapu falls". There was a fun there. I will tell you little later.. We waited for the car for around an hour and finally we started our journey to the falls.. We traveled in the NH7. It was an awesome road, we were literally kind of flying. I was expecting that the falls will be somewhere nearby and will be less than an hour Journey. But it was more than an hour, since we started our Journey. There is no trace of falls and questions started to arise.

One answer shocked most of us.. The driver was saying it will take another 2-3 hours to reach the falls. Yes, the falls was in Nagercoil district in the borders of Kerala. Most of us were in the same misconception that the falls was nearby. On hearing the driver's comment, we just stopped by the side and started to discuss, whether we should proceed that long. And as expected, the decision was to proceed. So, we had a 3 hours of journey and finally reached the falls..

On the road side shop, we had some bajjis and gave some work for the ferocious stomach acids. Then we walked down the narrow passage to the falls. The falls had a little water unfortunately, but it was a pleasant view. Luckily, the crowd was low at that time, and it was mid afternoon. So I was really excited for a falls bath after a very long time.. If I remember correctly, I bathed in Kutralam falls during my second year of college(nearly 7 years before)..

Though the water was less, the bath was really excellent. The heavy blows on the back refreshed me like anything. I just thought of the days when people lived close to nature in villages compared to the fast and artificial life today in cities/towns.. At least, I had some experiences of  village life in my childhood. I feel pity for the coming generations to miss all those.

After one hour of superb bath, we packed to leave. Already we were hunger, a superb bath aroused the hunger to a new extent.  We attacked a bajji shop there and shattered the bajji's and bondas there and had some watermelon and got the hunger down a bit, but still feeling hunger. Then, we started  back to Kovilpatti.  On the way, we went to a hotel for dinner.  I was expecting the spicy south side food there, but unfortunately we had Kerala style food with coconut oil in everything.  But having no other go, we finished our dinner there itself and ended our day in the hotel room again. As expected, the night passed with "saraku" and lot of "blabberings".

The next day, we started around 7AM from Kovilpatti to Keelamudiman. It took around  an hour through the dry lands to reach Anand's home where the marriage was scheduled. When we reached there, few things are really different. First, the innovatively designed banners with lots of fun and the Groom himself welcoming us in normal lungi with marriage in another half an hour.. We spent half and hour wondering in the streets there to pass the time..

The ceremony started around 10AM. The ceremonial stage was just a 10x10 stage before Anand's home with a small pandal for the others to sit. Apart from these different setup than a regular marriage, a lot of fun happened during the marriage. The kutties(don't mistake - i meant the small boys) were all given with the snow sprayers and few more decorative items. When the knot was tied, those kutties went really ferocious and filled the heads of the bride, groom and the iyer's head with complete snow.

After the marriage, a small reception was arranged in the nearby Govt school ground stage. I have never seen such a simple marriage in life so far and I really loved the proceedings. By the time, the bride and groom were getting ready for the reception, we spent our time playing cricket and rolled taps(athan pa - bambaram) after a long time. Then the bride and the groom visited the reception stage. \We hurried to wish the newly married couples, since the next plan was lunch obviously and that too with Chicken Briyani. After two rounds, we managed to get the seats for all of us in a row and had a heavy lunch. After the heavy lunch, we just visited the couple to inform them and leave. But, the next bus was only after an hour to Kovilpatti, so we waited in the bus stand with some vetti talks.. 

Finally, a bus was arranged and we reached Kovilpatti in an hour. Actually, I have booked my return ticket to Bangalore from Tuticorin itself. But most of the friends, who came to the marriage have booked their tickets from Madurai.  So I also changed my plan to board the bus from Madurai and started to Madurai with them.  We reached Madurai Mattuthavani bus stand around 7PM and had a simple dinner in a bus stand hotel. While others waited for their buses in the bus stand itself, I left to the travels office in Periyar bus stand.  This ends my Tuticorin/Madurai trip for the marriage.

A bike ride on the Bangalore Nice road..

It's a Friday early night 9PM.. I am waiting for my train in City junction to start my 8th consecutive weekend travel.. It's really tiresome, but I love this new experience of continuous travel.. I just love it.. At this breezy evening moment, just thought of blogging my biking experience in the Nice road.. And here it is..

One fine Wednesday evening, I got a call from some unknown number asking for blood donation in Narayana Hrudayalaya Hospital.. First, I thought I would not go, but I didn't say no.. I said I will call back in half and hour and confirm about that.. After half an hour, he himself called me again to ask my plan.. Finally, I accepted..

Next day morning, I started early in the morning (around 8AM, I haven't started to my office even this early in recent past:-)).. Narayana Hrudayalaya was nearly 50KMs from the place where I stay.. But something made me to accept that and go.. I started my ride, and went through a different route of BEL circle, New BEL Road, Mathikere, JC Road .. and finally reached Hosur road around 9AM.. An hour for just 25KMs.. Yuk.. Crossing Madiwala, I didn't felt much difficulty in reaching the hospital other than a little back pain.. As expected from a complete 2 hours of journey in Bike.. 

When I reached the hospital, a thing shocked me a bit.. Actually, the person who called me said its an emergency and they need the blood within 11AM for a surgery.. So I thought it may be for his relative or so.. But what happened there was different.. Seems in Narayana Hrudayalaya, you need to get few persons of specified blood group to donate the blood before they start the surgery for a patient.. Narayana Hrudayalaya was known for its low cost surgery, but they do it on a condition to get few blood donors.. And in my case, the surgery for the person's( who called me) father was kept on hold since he couldn't get the expected number of blood donors..  I was really shocked to know about this.. Finally, the purpose of the visit is done, and I started from the hospital and decided to work from home for the rest of the day..

I haven't traveled over the Electronic city elevated flyover in bike so far.. So, I thought I would take that.. But unfortunately, I missed the toll and forced to take the usual route.. But few meters ahead, standing in a signal, I saw the "Nice road" beginning.. Ashok (one of my roommate) used to say about Nice road meeting Tumkur road.. That was the only clue I had about Nice road.. My home was off Tumkur road.. So, suddenly a thought ran over my mind and there starts my Nice road experience..

I was standing in the mid of the road at the signal.. So slowly turned left to take the service road joining the Nice road and started my Nice Road journey.. The first thought that ran in my mind is,  "Am i going in the right direction?", coz it gives me a feel like I came from home to hospital in north-south direction, but traveling towards west direction in the Nice road.. But in few minutes I understood that there is no other option for me, since I couldn't find any U-turn to the distant I can see.. With a small confidence, I continued my Nice road experience..  Within next few minutes, came the first Toll gate.. I paid Rs. 19 to continue my travel.. I thought that would be the first and last Toll.. But, before that thought ran out of my mind, came the second Toll.. This time, paid Rs.48/-. The  m thing that ran over my mind is "God, there shouldn't be any other toll".. I just enquired the toll guy about the distance to Tumkur Road junction.. He said "40Kms sir.. (my eyes opened widely for a moment).. But, You can reach in 15-20 minutes sir.." I didn't say anything, just tightened my helmet and started again.. 

For next few minutes, "40Kms" was occupying my mind completely.. Gradually I started liking the ride over those dark, clean and wide Tar roads.. Yes, that was really an awesome road.. My speedometer gradually started to show 70.. I could see the coconut farms piled at a remote distant, small lakes here and there, plain scaly and sloppy landscapes, large houses looking like small matchboxes at a far distance, four wheelers flying besides me in 100's.. With all these excellent views, my bike was floating in the Nice road amidst the Huge rocks..  

In a distant, I again saw a toll plaza and started to chuckle.. But luckily, it was not the way I need to take.. It was another entry to the Nice road from some other place..  Driving for more than 20 Kms, I started to feel a bit tired.. So, just stopped for a moment by the road side and relaxed for a while and started my journey again.. I just liked traveling like this.. Within next 10-15 minutes I could see the Nice road meeting the Tumkur road.. Finally I could see some place names familiar to me like "Nelamangala", "Dasarhalli".. So, I am finally convinced that I took the correct path.. From the Nice road, Tumkur road Junction, it hardly took me 5-10 minutes to reach my home.. That ends my Nice road experience..

Though it was a very long and tiresome trip(that too after a blood donation), I liked that experience..

PS: Unfortunately, I forget to take some pics in the excitement of Nice road trip. I felt really bad about it.

Pratheep's House Warming Ceremony

Place : Mayiladuthurai, Trichy
Date :  26, 27 Jan 2012

It's a Wednesday, I went to office after a long dilemma of whether to work from home or to go to office.  As usual, planned to start early but ended up starting late from office.. My bus is by 9PM from Shanthi Nagar.. Somehow rushed up and finally reached Shanthi Nagar bus stand by 9 exactly..  As usual, couldn't get a proper answer from the TNSTC people and somehow found the bus and boarded it.. Kidding my hunger, the bus came out of the bus stand by 9:30PM and there starts my journey to Mayiladuthurai...

Crawling like a snail, I believe the bus didn't crossed the Bangalore borders till I slept.. Somehow the night passes and I woke up when the bus reaches Neyveli.. And finally reached Mayiladuthurai by 9:30AM.. 12 hours of travel..Oops.. If I remember correctly, this is my third visit to Mayuram and to Pratheep's home..

Ragu was already in Pratheep's new house when I reached the lodge.. Got freshen up as fast as I can and wandered in the streets of Mayuram to get the gift.. In Bangalore gift shops, I can't find the expected gift below Rs. 350/-, but there in Mayuram, I couldn't find a gift more than Rs. 350/-  A bell banged my head on how we spend meaningless in cities.. In both cases, the purpose is same - to greet someone.. But at a higher cost in cities.. Somehow packed the gift, and Pratheep was already waiting in lodge to take me to his new Home.

At last, the purpose of the trip.. Reached Pratheep's Home.. Ragu was sitting silent as usual, dived into his mobile seeing the score in which India lost very badly.. And met Pratheep's Amma, Appa, Periyamma, Chithi, greeted and exchanged smiles with other known faces.. The Home looked really good with three sides covered by other houses and a green landscape in the front.. Outer walls glitter with grey paint and pink lines in between and the inner walls wore a yellow cloth with completely vitrified flooring.. Then started our as usual chats (vetti katha than) and went for the most important thing.. Of course, a full course meals with crispy papad and sweet payasam..

Then Me, Pratheep and Ragu went to Pratheep's old house(just walkable distance - but felt hard after whole sum lunch) and rested for a while there..  We planned to go for the Matinee show of "Nanban".. Our plan was collapsed due to the unavailability of bike at that moment.. So we ended up having a good nap there.. As all three of us hasn't slept properly the day before, that nap was really a good one.. We got up by 4PM and had a walk to the market streets of Mayuram.. Had some spicy pani puri's and masala puri's there.. This reminds me of our long walk during college days.. Yes, we three used to walk from our college to PSG CAS after the dinner during our final days of college.. Really golden days I would say..

We reached the Lodge and had some chit chats again for a while.. Then Pratheep left, as Me and Ragu were ready to leave Mayuram.. As a final touch for the Mayuram trip, Me and Ragu went to the famous "Kaliyakudi hotel".. Seems Ragu's dad had asked to visit Kaliyakudi at least once.. But we are highly disappointed with the food there on that day.. Anyway, its again a  good day in Mayuram..

Then I started to Trichy around 8PM to my brother's room.. I couldn't get a direct bus to Trichy, so went to Kumbakonam and from there to Trichy.. Finally reached by 12PM.. Luckily my brother's room was walkable distance from the bus stand..  By the time I went there, it was complete silence and dark.. So just winded the day with a sleep..

 Next day, My Bro had an interview.. So he started early in the morning and said he will come by the noon.. I somehow managed to spend half a day alone in his room.. Then in the evening, we went to the "Uchi Pillayar Kovil"..  This is the first time, I am going there.. So it was a good experience walking through that crowded shops, and climbing those steep steps to meet Mr. Ganesh.. The temple was just small and luckily less crowded that day for a peaceful Darshan..  And it was really a good view of Trichy from the hill top.. We could see the Srirangam temple tower lined by lights amidst the clouds in a far distance, the Trichy-Chennai highway glittering with it's street lights, numerous house stacked as match boxes and above all the Mighty waters of Cauvery surrounding the city beautifully.. Spent some beautiful minutes there with some photos and sweet ladoos.. Then we went to Saradhas textiles for a small shopping (perusa ethum ella - orae oru track pant)..  And finally ended the day back in my bro's room watching Osthi..  Friday morning, I started early from Trichy and went to my home town.. And that ends my Mayuram and Trichy visit..

Spent my Saturday and Sunday in home town as usual (athavathu vetiya pozhutha pokitu), and came back to Bangalore on Monday morning for my routine...

Mani's brother marriage trip..

Place : Madurai, Virudhunagar & Sivakasi [ for a short time:-) ]

Date : 21 & 22 Jan 2012

This journey starts with Me & Sakthivel (@ Sutri) reaching Kalasipalayam.. We had a simple dinner at a hotel opposite to Bangalore medical college and boarded the bus.. We've booked the tickets up to Virudhunagar.. But Sutri blabbered something "Why can't we get down in Madurai?".. That's it, our plan changed and we got down in Madurai :-)

Saturday morning, we reached the city of Pandiyas.. (Now called as the fort of so called DMK's "Annan" - Mr. M. K. Alagiri. "B.A.,"-vam. -Nan apadiyae shock ayitaen).. We stayed in Hotel Vijay (0452-2336321) near bus stand.. The hotel is not that cheap(Rs. 600/day), but had a decent and comfortable stay..

We booked a local tour package (Rs.160/head) in the hotel itself and started our tour to "Thiruparangundram" Murugan temple (First divine house of the six Murugan temples).. This was my first visit to this temple, as I remember.. We had a pleasant and wonderful darshan of Lord Muruga (called as the "Tamil God") with less crowd in the temple.. But, now-a-days temples are becoming business centers.. Worst part we experienced is, a guy forcefully kept the flowers in our pooja tray and collected 10 rupees.. I am not against the small business in temples for livelihood, but I hate such cheating fellows in the name of God.. Next, we came back to Madurai bus stand and had Nelli Juice (Amla Juice) and Ginger juice ( it's a first try for me at-least).. Then we roamed on some Madurai streets to buy the gift for Rathinavel's (@Mani) brother marriage..

At last, we started our city ride.. There were around 25 people in the bus, but worse thing is only 5 people are Tamils, remaining all are North Indian people.. Funny thing here is, the guide asked Rs.20/- for parking and other expenses.. But, some North Indian aunties(who seems to be from a upper middle class family) argued with that guy for more than 30 minutes for that..


First, the travel guy took us to the "Thirumalai Nayakar Mahal", the remains of an ancient palace, which is known for its Gigantic Pillars.. I have seen this place in "Iruvar" movie already, but I don't know that is this place.. It's good to be there for a while.. Then we went to "Gandhi Museum", where the cloth worn (with blood stains) by Mahatma when he was shot was kept preserved and then we visited "Mariamman theppakulam" and had some bright light photos..

 

Next, we went to "Pazhamudhir Solai"- another divine house(6th) of Lord Muruga.. It was a short and beautiful temple situated amidst small green mountains.. Luckily, the moment we there, there was a Golden Chariot Ula.. Good to see that.. I liked that temple.. In the bottom of those mountains, lies the "Kallalagar temple - a form of Lord Vishnu.. we went there just before the temple close and had a nice dharshan of Gigantic Kallalagar with some hot Pongal:-)..

Next, we visited a small temple on the way and finally dropped in front of the "Meenakshi Amman temple".. We rushed there as the temple will close by 9PM.. This is the only place where I felt the crowd for the day.. Anyways, we had a good darshan of "Meenakshi Amman".. Unfortunately, we couldn't see "Sundareshwarar" temple as it was closed just at the moment we reached there.. Anyway, we roamed around the "Golden Lotus" pond and the "Four gigantic gates" of the temple, had Madurai famous "Jigarthanda" and ended the day back in the room..

Next day(Sunday), we started early from Madurai to Virudhunagar for Mani's brother marriage.. Virudhunagar was one and a half hour journey from Madurai.. The fun of the day happens here.. The bus stopped in Virudhunagar old bus stand.. But we thought there will be a new bus stand and didn't get down there..  From there the bus started and kept moving for a long time.. After half and hour.. I said "Namma Sivakasi poitu irukomo??".. And Sutri looked outside on some boards and said "Mark, you are right?".. Having no option, we exchanged some crazy laughter and got down the bus and got a Virudhunagar bus and finally reached Mani's town..


Mani took us to his home, and from there we reached the Mandapam.. Pratheep and Docomo(Dinesh) were already there.. We had some chit chats for hardly 5 minutes.. Then one of us said "Sari, vantha velaya papoma??".. Next moment, we were in the dining hall:-) 

We faced a different kind of marriage there.. Yes, the marriage happens in two halls.. Bride's hall and Bridegroom's hall.. The Groom will start from his hall and goes to the Bride's hall on Elephant, the marriage happens there and the newly married couple comes back to the Groom's hall on a decorated horse chariot for the reception..  Few more interesting things.. When multiple marriage happens on the same day, there will be a lot to choose who will use the elephant it seems.. And the marriage doesn't have any Pundit chanting Mantras.. It's just like, an elder person in that community speaks about both the families, the couples and few general things and finally the groom ties the knot to the bride and start their journey of life together..

 After finishing the lunch, we returned to the room, rested for some time, had some chit chats and roamed on the streets of Virudhunagar, had some hot bondas and tea.. Pratheep and Dinesh had their bus from Madurai, so they started before us.. Finally, Me and Sutri boarded the train to Bangalore.. And there ends our two day trip..

A bike trip to Karanampalayam dam..

Oct 28, a Friday after Diwali.. Me, Senthil, Selva, Arun & Karthi..

As usual, on Diwali day(wednesday), we tried getting tickets for Movie.. But this time, its really bad.. We couldn't get even a single ticket for 7-am Arivu in any of the theatres(We haven't tried to get a ticket to Velayudham at all).. Really got pissed off and decided to watch the movie on Saturday..

I was held up with some office work and deliverables on Thursday.. The complete day goes in that.. And then comes Friday.. I got up @ 9AM and just done with my morning duties and found the remote.. There comes the call from Arun.. "Machan, enaiku SPOT-ku povom".. That's arun's way of saying an outing.. I really got interested and immediately said ok.. Then I asked for the place and he said some place.. It really din't register in my mind.. I haven't got out with them so far in my days in Erode.. So I was really excited.. Badly, my father started early to office that day.. So couldn't get the bike from him.. But we had enough bikes to go..

Senthil, Arun, Mohan and Karthi came to my home in the afternoon.. As usual, the plan is to start by 12, but we ended up starting by 2(Punctual guys - including me).. At last the ride begins.. Me and Arun in his Apache.. Senthil and Karthi in theirs.. and Luckily, it was drizzling mildly and the climate was really awesome.. I completely enjoyed the ride.. It was around 25 Km from home.. We reached Karanampalayam in 30 minutes.. And that place was too good than I expected.. We had a small walk amidst the banana and sugarcane farms to reach the Dam..

Had a pleasant view of the waters from a distance and had a small chit-chat(vetti kathaigal than..) in the shores.. Then we started towards the waters.. We found a rock amidst the waters to sit and dipped our foots in the chilled water.. Had some photo clicks obviously.. There is where I saw a lot of  fishes jumping against the water stream for the first time.. The forceful water and the jumping fishes surrounding us was really a pleasant view.. Moreover, that place is not crowded and completely surrounded by green farms.. It was a long time, I have been like this.. It makes me remember my school days when I used to go with some of my other friends to rivers and farms with my parents knowing.. I felt how much I was really missing in my life staying away from such a lovely place to live..

We spent some good time in karanampalayam dam and started our next visit to some other place(I don't remember the name and arun said its a view point..).  But it was a real tragic comedy.. For going to the place, we asked the railway gate keeper to open the way and all.. But what we ended up seeing there is a just a graveyard.. We gave some gasty looks and started to move from there with laughter..

Then we started to "Padakuthurai" in "Solar".. On the way, we went to Selva's house and had some delicious diwali sweets/savouries there(Nalla sema kattu).. Then we started our ride to Solar.. There also, we were made fools..By the time we went there, the temple over there got closed and ended up returning to our homes with our heads down.. We all finally reached Arun's house and rested there for some time.. Suddenly one of use talked about eating fish.. Getting tempted, we decided to go to town to eat Fish fry.. Arun was suggesting some places.. We started to town after some time and reached the Fish shop..  We had some spicy hot fish fries with some cool school day stories and laughters.. That ends the day out and everyone ended up reaching home around 8PM..

Though its not a planned trip.. I enjoyed each minute I spent that day..  Had a nice time after a long period..

Mysore once more.. but completely unplanned..

Pratheep was in bangalore last week for a training.. Our plan is meet in our home during the weekend.. On Friday(9th september 2011) evening, machan(Senthil) said we will receive Pratheep from Majestic(Bangalore city station). Actually the purpose was dual. One was to receive Pratheep. Another was to have some spicy chicken in KFC.  So we went all the way to Majestic. But our second purpose got totally collapsed, the KFC in Majestic was closed it seems.  So we end up taking a Chola puri from one of the hotels near Majestic and went to station to pickup Pratheep.  Finally we met Pratheep and all three of us reached home in a cool mid-night..

As friends do when they meet, we do some chit chat sitting in our hall.. And there is small fight to watch between Air force one Movie and cricket match in TV, and ended up watching both of them here and there.  And then comes a question "Whats the plan for two days?"... Me and Senthil said a couple of places like Mantri mall, Movie, Lumpini garden etc.,  At the moment we are about to finalize the plan, Pratheep asked a question "How far is Mysore?" and there starts our trip to Mysore again.. But this time with a broken hand:-)

We started to plan for Mysore.. Discussed all the options of train/bus starting early/late and ended up booking the ticket in Saturday(10th September) Morning 11'o clock Sadhabdhi (think I spelled correct :-)). We planned to start early, but asusual got by 9 and had a hurry bath and rushed to station and wondering there for some time to take the ticket printout.. Finally we got the ticket printed and boarded the train.. We enjoyed those meals in the train(forcefully, since we paid 300 bucks for a 2 hours journey).  Finally we reached Mysore by 1'o clock in the afternoon..

First we booked a room to put our baggages(out of two bags we carried, we left one in the room) and booked a taxi for a site visit.. This time we stayed in Hotel Gupta, near KSRTC bus stand.. That's a bit costlier one, we got to stay in a better room last time in MTR hotel.. And while waiting for the taxi, we had some hot bajjis and few bananas.. For first day, we planned for Chamundeshwari hills, Srirangapatna and Brindavan garden.. But we could cover up only  srirangapatnam and brindavan garden.. As it is Onam time, everywhere its crowded with more Kerala people(especially girls:-).. Good thing in that bad crowd).. 

First we visited Srirangapatnam's Jamia Masjid(which was said to be constructed by Tippu).. Last time we din't went inside this, but this time we did..  Then on the way, looked at Tippu's death place.. and Tippu's palace.. By the time(3:30PM) we reached Ranganathaswamy temple, it was locked and said to open by 4PM.. So in the mean time, we went to a dungeon(prison) near the temple on the shores of river cauvery.. Both the dungeon, and Ranganathaswamy temple are new to us.  We din't went to these one in our last visit.. After finishing these two places, we fought with the driver for a while to take us to the Daria Daulaght Bagh(another Tippu's summer palace), which I liked most when we went last time to Mysore.  Then we headed to Brindavan garden and saw a huge crowd(piles of cars and heavy vehicles).. So we decided to start soon from there in order to not get trapped in the returning traffic.  So we spent some 30 mins in brindavan garden seeing the first two songs of musical fountain, having some hot chats and some bird watching ofcourse:-) and started from there to room.. That ends our first day.. It was full tired, so we just rested in room with the TV..

Next day.. Asusual planned to start early and ended up to got up by 9 in the morning.. We rushed up checking out the room to Chamundeshwari temple.. And its a huge crowd there too.. We got some 20 rupees special ticket, waited for 30 mins or something and saw Chamundeshwari devi finally.. Though its crowded, its a good place to visit.. And we started to see the palace, but with the continuous torture of machan we went to the Zoo and wasted 30 mins seeing the same animals again.. And finally we reached palace by 1:30PM and spent some 1 hour seeing the Majestic lives of those British Ching-cha's and started to catch our train around 4PM and reached bangalore by 7PM..  That ends our Mysore trip..

Though its not a planned one, we enjoyed those two days.. It reminds me of those unplanned trips in college days to Valaiyar, Kovai kutralam etc., Overall a good weekend trip..