A lot of rain and a few updates..

Finally a couple of days without rain here in Chennai. It has rained heavily throughout TN this time and it was sad to see the plight of people all around. Living in suburbs submerged in water, it is not easy to see your dream home drowned in water. All the encroachments and unplanned building is taking its toll.
Went to the Guildy Children's park yesterday. Although my wife takes Sibi every now and then, this is the first time and I was surprised to see that it was maintained well. So, there is scope that people will put trash in trash cans and keep a place neat. This gives some hope for the other 99% of the city looking like a huge dumpyard. Thats a little exaggeration but close to truth.
And the Cooum and Adyar rivers are in full spate and it was wonderful to see something other than sewage running in Cooum. But I also noted that the saidapet kuppam along cooum is fully submerged now and cannot but imagine the misery of the people living there. All the things that they value, the assets, are washed away in one flash flood and kind of hard to imagine the resilience it will need to re-build the lives again and again. Sad, but reality.
Another effect of the non-stopping rains is that Sibi's school is on leave and in the months of october and november, he has had school for about 5 days. Even he is bored and is incessantly asking when the school will re-open. Keeping him entertained is in itself a tough thing these days but he takes fun in playing all by himself and that helps a little.
Anyway, Sibi is becoming a lot more playful and talks really well and asks so many questions these days, it is getting difficult to answer him. He just makes me feel so good at times but also so mad some times. Yesterday we watched 'The bourne identity' together and he loved 'Home alone' the other day. He likes dancing and it was lot of fun to put on the music and start dancing with him. He has some good/strange moves.
And ofcourse, take time to visit this site on the Big temple in Thanjavur. This has a lot of interesting links and information.
I bought a bunch of books sometime back and am still to start even one of them ('Green Dwarf' - Charlotte Bronte, 'Double' - Dostoevsky and another one by Elizabeth Gaskell). Need to start sometime soon.

Aiyanars and Viral fevers!!

After a long stint with a viral fever and a couple of marriages and receptions (not for me!), it certainly tires one out to think of the trials one has to go through. The most interesting part of the last couple of weeks is the trip to Tuticorin and the marriage reception of Hari.

First the trip to Tuticorin. Not that tuticorin in itself is a good place, but we went to Thiruchendur, Eral and the Arunchunai katha Aiyyanar temple. It was raining all along and combined with bad roads, I am still recovering from the body pain it has caused. But the route was beautiful and with villages names like 'Thanneer panthal', the trip lent a wisp of poetic air also. The coastline of Thiruchendur has changed after the Tsunami but the temple remains the same. The seas have become rough and there is little resemblance of the beach that once was there. Eral has a temple on the banks of Tamirabarani (or a tributary of it, not sure) and it is a fascinating little temple. The most fantastic one is the Arunchunai Katha Aiyyanar temple in Ammanpuram beyond Thiruchendhur. Located in the midst of three 'sunais' or ponds, the temple houses the Arunchunai katha Aiyyanar. The sand is completely red in color and the surroundings exquisite. But the temple is crowded these days and on a sunday afternoon, the temple was brimming with people. There is a huge statue of the Aiyyanar mounted in a horse in the temple and a lot of other minor gods with names like 'Munnodi Murugan', 'Bairavan', 'Isakkiamman', 'periya natchi' etc are around. Aiyyannar worship in real terms is ancestor worship and what it means is that these are real people who lived a while ago and did something to merit being worshipped as gods. 'Arunchunai katha' is a clue but unfortunately, the real story is not known to many and I am still ignorant as to how the Aiyyanar saved the 'sunais' (although heard that the Aiyanar is actually a palayakar who saved the area from the foreigners and from religious conversions, not sure how he saved the 'sunais' yet). Here is a story on how he saved the sunai, but not sure how true this is. There is another temple for Karkuvel Aiyyanar (in Therimedu) which we couldn't visit for want of time. This is the family ancestor temple from my maternal side. Per my maternal grandfather and paternal grandfather, my ancestors were originally from these areas (therimedu and surroundings) and what it means is that my ancestors worshipped these same gods as I am doing today. And most of all, by exploring these areas with Sibi gives a totally new sense of learning about our roots together. There is still so much to read and know.

The marriage reception of one of my college mates happened and I went there in the hope of meeting some old friends. I did met a lot of them but there was absolutely no sense of happiness or a rush of adrenaline on seeing so many friends. Is it just that I dont treat them the same way as I used to do 8-9 years back or just that I have moved on with my life?. Puzzling.

Other than that the past 10-15 days is one of suffering from viral fever and taking heavy antibiotics and sleeping. Now am feeling a little OK. Sibi is doing fine and a gala time in his school children's day celebrations. He has grown a lot but Jeysri still stays at 21. Another puzzling thing!!!

Diwali, Sibi and Konastai

Its been a long gap since I last wrote. Anyway, belated Diwali wishes. We had a great first family diwali in India and Sibi enjoyed so much of it that he took to fire crackers very well. Anyway, it was rains, flooded roads and closed offices for most of the past 1 week. It was really good to see all that rain but it was boring to end up sitting in house all day without doing anything. And did a lot of shopping in the weekend and had a great Diwali!!

And Alliance books has republished all novels of Vaduvur Duraisamy Iyengar. I remember reading the detective Tigambara Samiyar's exploits at my grandma's house in Sivakasi long back while in school. But I never got to read a complete novel during that time and I am planning to get this set soon. It will be interesting to read the entire novel. BTW, anyone has heard of Konastai, who wrote in the 1940's?. I am searching for his novels also after reading a sample in my grandma's house long back.

Other than that, things are going as usual and Sibi is getting naughtier every day and I am not sure where to start on this. But of course, he has taken a liking to stories and everyday in the bed, instead of rhymes, we tell stories to each other till he dozes off. We had his head tonsured in Palani in the 2nd week of October and he had a musical toy which was grabbed by a monkey (he cried a river for that!). So, you should watch him explain the story of the monkey and the hat-seller. So funny and always with a reference to the 'monkey in palani'. Nothing like that. The long leave for rains, diwali and Ramzan has made him yearn for school and he wants to go to school now to avoid boredom at home!!

கீழடி அருங்காட்சியகம்.

உலகம் முழுவதும் இருக்கும் பல அருங்காட்சியகங்களுக்கு சென்றிருக்கிறேன். நியூ யார்க், கத்தார், துபாய், வாஷிங்டன், லாஸ் ஏஞ்சல்ஸ் போன்ற நகரங்களின...