Vanathy and Friends

There are a few plushies and toys which Vanathy has on all the time and she usually sleeps with a bunch of them around her. Here is a picture

1 & 2 : - Part of the Teletubbies gang. These are bought when Sibi was a kid and since he used to watch a lot of Teletubbies, these were some of his favorites. Vanathy does not watch TV (not even to the extent Sibi watched when he was 2) but inherited the toys and tagged them as 'Anna's toys'. She knows the name of Laa-Laa but is not interested in watching them on TV.

3. This is an interesting and the most favorite of all. Vanathy calls it 'Tose' (in rhyme with Nose). This toy has a little nose which fell off when she started playing with it. My father put a lot of glue and other stuff into it and stuck the nose back. When it was nose-less, Vanathy started calling it 'Tose' (aka nose) and the name stuck. Today this is the one toy without which she wont sleep.

4. Simply called 'Bommai' just a fav one for Vanathy.

5. All that was written applies for Elmo as well. Though she knows the name as Elmo and likes playing with Elmo in the sesame street website, she dont watch it on TV.

6. This is little teddy bear which she used to be very fond of but of late, this is thrown away for Tose. 

Apart from these, Vanathy also likes to play cooking popcorn, Thomas and friends etc.

Here is a shot of Sibi as Raja Raja Cholan in his school fancy dress competition. Dress and all accesssories made courtesy of my lovely wife with a picture of Raja Raja Cholan as guidance.

Apparently school admin likes to see their kings in the usual King's attire and so no prizes won.

Two Doctors

Last week we went out to get some items for Sibi's fancy dress competition. While shopping in Naidu Hall, Vanathy slipped on the floor and her back head hit a wooden panel. J noticed a slight cut and a drop of blood. Though Vanathy started playing immediately and showed no bad signs, we thought it will be better to show it to a doctor and started back.

There is this lady doctor(lets call her R.V) we used to go to in Adyar and we drove to her clinic cum home in Adyar. We reached by 8PM without knowing that she sees patients till 7.30PM. So we went and knocked on door. The maid answered and said the doctor is in. Then some other guy (probably the husband) appeared. He informed that doctor is not in and we should go to the casualty dept. in Malar. J was on the verge of tears. 

We remembered the other lady doctor we go to near our place in Velachery (lets call her J). She practices in the Egmore govt. children hospital and the clinic is open till 9PM. So I drove again back to Velachery. There was a crowd and it took another hour or so to see and hear that the injury is nothing to worry about. When we consulted, it was 9.30PM and there were atleast another 4-5 people waiting. When we were around, the doc informed the attender that she will see all the patients and so asked them to wait. I think it might have been another 1-1.5 hours before she finished seeing the patients and go home.

What is the difference between the two? The adyar doctor gets 150Rs for consultation and see you in a AC cabin. The Velachery doc gets 50Rs and consults in a non-AC room. Without getting into the class variances of the docs, it set me thinking about the attitude of both. Without being judgemental, we decided to stop seeing the Adyar doc and continue with the Velachery one. 

Vellore - Kanchi trip - Day 2 -3

Day 2 started with a hearty breakfast in the room and checking out of the hotel. Our first stop was Vellore fort and the Jalakandeshwarar temple. After going around the temple, which was maintained very well, we drove around the fort and then left to Katpadi to vist a childhood friend of J.It was a reunion of sorts wherein J is meeting her school friend after about 12-13 years and so they had a lot to catch up on and I just did a dutiful baby sitter part going through their old albums and trying to find a way to pass time. So after much diffcult parting, we hit the road back to Kanchipuram. We missed out on vising the Virinchipuram temple as it was past noon and waiting means missing some of Kanchi's temples.
We reached Kanchi by 1PM on the 16th and checked into GRT Regency and after lunch, took a break till 4Pm. We started at 4PM with a visit to the Kailashanathar temple and it was amazing with overcast skies(again) and the temple standing majestically. It was fantastic to visit the sculptures and walk around leisurely.We moved on to Ekambareshwarer temple and another huge temple, not as well maintained as Kailashanathar, but none the less was looking great after all these years of history behind it.
Next we visited Kamatchi amman temple and the crowd was enormous and so decided to visit the Varatharaja Perumal temple.
After a 5Km drive across Kanchi, we reached the magnificent temple of Perumal and being saturday, the temple was crowded but were able to visit the staired cases of Perumal and pray to him. Couldn't help the comparison with the vainglorious temple in Sripuram.
After a heary dinner in Saravana Bhavan, we retired for the day.
Day 3
After checking out in the morning, we went to the kacchapaeswarar Temple and spent some time before going to the Kamakshi amman temple again. Again, the crowds were heavy and we decided against standing in the hot sun with the kids in the queue and decided to go to the Ulagalanthar temple. By the time we reached the temple, it was noon and the temple was closed.
After lunch in Saravana Bhavan, J went around a few saree shops and we started back to Chennai. After a breif stopover at the Rajiv memorial in Sriperumbuthur we reached Chennai by 4PM.

Vellore - Kanchi trip - Day 1

After thinking for weeks for a place to visit during the Independence day weekend we decided to go to Vellore and Kanchi by a road trip and have some fun.
That was an easy decision and trying to find things to do in these two places was much more difficult. Here is a little travelogue on what we did.
Day 1
Started early in the morning towards Vellore. This is a deceptive little statement. 'Early' was 3AM for Jeysri who woke up to cook/pack the breakfast and lunch for the day 1. And for the rest of us it was about 6AM and we were on road by 7.30AM. As always, we started with lots of fun and being early had its advantages as we did not have much traffic on road and were able to hit NH4 without issues and by 9 we have crossed Kanchipuram and stopped on road for a quite breakfast alongside the fields.

After breakfast, NH4 turns into NH46 towards Vellore and it was a breeze driving with overcast skies and a surprisingly cool day. We reached Vellore by 10.30AM and checked into a hotel called Baby residency. Immediately after we started towards Amirthi forest.
After about 20-22 Kms (1 hour at least as the roads are not in good shape) in the road from Vellore(I mean, what is left of a road) you will reach Amirthi. The drive is very scenic with open spaces, corn fields, paddy fields and single lane driving with kids running behind cars (as seen in Tamil movies!).In between we crossed a river (shall I say ford it?). Actually we have to drive right on the river bed and drive across. There was no water and so no issues.

Anyways, at Amirthi entrance, there is a local food shop and a mini zoo (if you can call 4 porcupines, 10-15 pigeons, 4 peacocks, 1 crocodile a zoo at all!). But the fun lies in the trek to the Amirthi falls which is about 1.5Kms inside from the entry point. The trek is not difficult and the path is laid with red sand and slabs of stones and there is a view point to boost. The falls itself didn't had any water but through the trek it was drizzling and the forest views were fantastic.
After the trek we started back towards Vellore and had lunch in one of the vast open fields near road.

After taking some well deserved rest in the hotel room through the afternoon, we dressed up to visit the newest attraction in Vellore, the golden temple in Sripuram. The road gets congested as you near the place and parking is haphazard outside and inside as well. The crowds are unbelievable and true to being a temple for the god of wealth, a 250Rs ticket eliminates the hassle of standing in a long queue(day we visited waiting period was about 2 hrs) and puts you bang in the star shaped pathway to the temple itself. The temple itself is sort of a let down and we walked around and tried to look for people who have come actually to pray and found none. The place reminded me immediately of Akshardham temple in New Delhi which in turn reminded me of the amusement parks. The crowd start looking upwards as they near the golden part of the temple and with shops in every corner, the bhakthi aspect of the visit is nowhere to be seen.
We drove back to the hotel with mixed feelings towards the visit itself and took the much needed rest for the day

MRTS to Mylapore

One of the recent happenings in Velachery is the opening of the MRTS station, thereby connecting Velachery with Northern Madras via a railway network along the beach corridor. In fact, from last week's Vikatan, I came to know that the first proposal was made in 1956 and it took approximately 50+ years for it to reach Velachery and the original proposal talks about the line till Mahabalipuram.

But that apart, the impact of this extended line can be seen immediately as this has completely changed the way Velechery was commuting (not to mention the un(der)developed Madipakkan and other surrounding areas. One has to visit the station to see the kind of change a good public transport system can bring into the city.

I took my first ride 2-3 weeks back when we decided that we will park the car in the station and go to see Kapaleeshwarar in his abode in Mylapore.
Now, we repeated the same yesterday. There is huge parking lot in front of the station and the crowd is minimal on a Saturday. Of course, Sibi is taking this line till beach for sometime now. So we have to wait for the pink or the yellow trains to come or otherwise, Sibi will not board. I never fully understood the reason for this but suits me to spend sometime in the station with the kids watching the trains go by. Vanathy has taken a liking for the 'choo-choos' hearing much from her brother on the subject. So both of them go crazy whenever they see a train.
The approach road to the Velachery road is a mess but if you pass that by, the parking lot is concrete-paved and is quite good. The train passes by Taramani, Perungudi, Indira Nagar, Thiruvanmiyur, Kotturpuram, Mandaveli to reach Mylapore.

I've never been to Kapaleeshwarar temple till about 3 weeks back and has taken a instant liking to it. The vast kulam with the abundance of fish, the busy streets with the roadside shops, the vast corridor and the lord Himself who reminds me of Madurai every time I visit the temple make the trip very special.
Yesterday we took a walk around the temple and went to Giri trading agency which specializes in puja materials and bought a few books as well. Had dinner in Saravana bhavan and returned home. Imagining the same trip by car trying to negotiate the Mylapore traffic gives me the shudders.

Today visited City center for a bit of shopping but was taken aback by the crowd in Lifestyle. But when you come out and look in the 'Ambedkar bridge' behind the mall, I saw a old couple in the bed on the pavement with dirty kids running around. A typical sight in the city but it also made me wonder whether we are so tuned to these sights that it doesn't register the poverty which drives this kind of inequality and the politics which keeps it the same way. Whether these will make any impact on the minds of my kids is another thing that I keep thinking about. May be I need to talk to them.

Kone falls

Last weekend we drove to the Kone falls. Kone falls is in AP near Puttur.
The trip started after I read a couple of entries in the BSmotoring site. The falls is in a place called Kailashkona in SH-51. Though the site gave some outline of the directions, I found an entry in Google Earth and was able to deduce the directions to a certain extent. And the clarity of GE pictures means I could pinpoint a few landmarks as well.
We (me, J, Sibi, Vananthy and my father) started at about 9AM in the morning towards Koyembedu and continued on the JN road till the Red Hills flyover. Taking the left of the flyover, the road becomes NH 5. The road is 4 laned with median and very good to drive on. After about 30 Kms, the L&T toll plaza comes. Once you pass the plaza, take a left and you are on SH-51.

GE calls this road NH205 but I couldn't find any marker with that sign on. There are a host of villages coming in the TN side of this road with both livestock and people crossing at regular intervals. After uthukkottai, you enter AP. Once crossed over, the villages becomes lesser and road wider and with paddy fields on both sides, its a pleasure to drive on.
We stopped a couple of times to show Sibi the paddy crop and how it grows etc. We drove on SH-51 and the first doubt that we lost our way came when we entered Puttur. When enquired found that we overshoot Kone by about 7-8 Kms. We drove back 8 Kms and the sign clearly said Kailashkona.

The last couple of Kms was a single lane road approaching the falls itself. Once you reach the parking and climbing about 50 steps, the falls come into view. Its not so much a falls when compared to courtallum and all. But the water falls from high above and is pleasant to take bath as the falls sees fewer visitors. We had a long bath and after chasing away the monkeys, drove back 2-3 Kms to find a big enough tree to put the sheets in for Lunch.

After a good lunch, drove back the same way and reached home by 5PM. The trip is good in the sense the drive is not taxing and you have fun in the falls and return back by evening to spend some time at home as well.

Six differences

Sibi, when 7 months old Vanathy, 23 months old.

Can you spot six differences?