Happy new year...

I was planning for a trip to visit some of the places mentioned in Ponniyin Selvan and after talking about it with my wife since our marriage and after 2 kids, we were finally able to take off this Dec 31, 2008 for the trip.
Having in mind that I have 2 kids to take care of, I have to restrict the trip to most of the well-treaded roads and had to be content with visiting some of the places I have already visited. But then, it turned out to be one hell of a blast for all of us in the end. Here is a travelogue of the same.

Day 1 Dec 31, 2008

Chennai - Viranam Eri - Gangai konda cholapuram

We started by 5.30AM on Dec 31 with Gangai Konda Cholapuram as our first stop. Hitting NH45 early helped in avoiding most of the Chennai traffic and after passing through the toll plaza we stopped for a quick breakfast in Achirapakkam. The hotel (Ganesh Bhavan) basically runs a swindling operation in the guise of a hotel. Though the food is good, prices are exorbitant and better to avoid this. Moving on, the road was fantastic to drive on and we made good time till Tindivanam and after which the road work is still going on and roads are just OK. We took the detour to Panruti before Vilupuram and hit the gas till Neyveli and were forced to slow down till after Vadalur due to some real bad roads. We drove along the viranam Eri thinking of the 'Adi perukku' Vandiyathevan witnesses. Good monsoon this year means there was water all along in all the rivers and canals.

We went past the Viranam Eri and reached our first destination, Gangai konda Cholapuram. I've never been to this temple here and everyone in our party (my parents, kids and wifey) were excited to look at a near replica of the Big temple. Sibi was all excited about the cow-god (Nandhi) and was more impressed with the Yali sculptures. In every temple we visited, he started looking for Yali and was wondering whether they are powerful than lions.

We were just in time before the noon puja and after watching it to heart's content and letting the kids play in the surrounding lawns for sometime, we started back to our next stop, Kumbakonam.

Kumbakonam - Darasuram - Thirunageswaram - Oppiliappan temple
We had our lunch and checked into LeGarden Inn in Kumbakonam. It was actually a serviced apartment with two bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, a kitchen, hall and a dining area, which was quite a deal. After a little rest in the afternoon, we started again for Darasuram around 4PM. Airavatheeswarar temple was so fantastic we spent more than an hour roaming around still coming out feeling we haven't seen everything. We engaged a ASI guide and there was a trove of information he came up with for the panels, the 'Raja gambeeram' mandapam, the pillars, the overhead panels, the chariot-style etc. Sibi was busy counting the Yali's he could find and generally running around.

We left Darasuram and after a cup of tea from the local boiler shop, we proceeded to Nageswaram and Oppiliappan temple. We went back to the room after a tiring day for us and the kids. But then J had other ideas and dragged me along for a shopping trip in the shopping district of Kudanthai. After visiting 'Seemati silks' (a landmark I heard so much about in my school days courtesy of Trichy AM station), we bought the new year cake and came back to the apartment.

We cut the new year cake by 10.30PM and hit the sacks immediately to make sure to prepare for the visits the next day.

Updates

Its been a while since I last updated this blog. And a quite a lot of things have happened in between.
We went through a scary night waiting on Vanthy throwing up due to food poisoning and got through it safely. It gave us a chance to visit VHS and it was quite a change from the big hospitals which just fleece you or your insurance. That in itself is quite a lot to write about.
Then Diwali and the monsoon came together to wreck the travel plans of a lot of people and we ourselves managed to catch the train by wading through water and rain and luckily, by starting early.
Diwali itself was uneventful but Sibi had a lot of fun firing crackers with his cousins and having a lot of fun. Overall, that in a nutshell is what was happening.
And I am reading through a couple of Wodehouse's, 'Then kumariyin Kathai' by A.K.Perumal, A bio of Einstein by Ronald Clark.

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.