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..