Tiruchirappali - yil oru Naal

Alas ! I realised what I was hunting for, some private natural space to write. If any of you knows some such place untoxicated of human romance practices, I would like to know of it for a safe place to write, calm in nature's couch.

The Travel - I cancelled my plan of visiting hogenakkal, (one place i thought will help me write about the haunting promontaries'). Even as I travelled, the right turn after of Kaveripattinam was still very tempting. I boarded the KPN at 12.30 noon to Karur on 15 Nov. It was a very very pathetic journey, as I reached Karur only at 8 PM.

Lavanya Kalyanam - To my dismay, I found none of our friends at Lavanya's wedding. Marriage makes women unreachable to their friends, I was always arguing against this, But it PROVED VERY TRUE INDEED ! May be tis time to check this premise with Lavy now ;) !

For the lack of thozhis, I hopped on to remain by her side all along, and picked up my usual job of the Bride's friend & assistant. I am getting an expert at it. The photographer was a pathetic one ! Chose wrong places to click poses, not enough natural lighting made it gloomy. I clicked as many snaps of her, the mehendi, hair dressing & make up. Such efforts are expended once in a lifetime and need to be captured at their best. I didn't do any great, but attempted it from being a faded memory. Lavanya's wedding photos, (please do peek at her jadai / hair dressing, it is awesome).

I don't know what would people spending hours at the mirror do :P if efforts weren't captured by the camera. I'd definitely drive nuts off the photographer for doing a lousy job ! Lavanya stood calm, cool and composed as always, That is what I love about her. All she did was took care of the make up and posed for me once again :)

Of late, I observed that marriages are translating into events of boredome to me, just another ritual ? Lavy's family treated me like one among them, i jelled well with strangesrs as usual, or there is better team work while under pressure :) Lavanya's Meesai Maama and Institute Aunty were highlights.

Tricy, in company of Sami and Alibaba - Having woken up at 2 am, I started running a parallel thread of where to head after the wedding, as couldn't imagine doing the attender's job all day, away from nature. Namakkal and Hogenakkal were the obvious answers only until Sami, Hari, Rams and his wife arrived at 6 am. While Rams & Co. headed home for Salem, Sami offerred to tour Hari & myself around Trichy. Not a bad choice, I gave in.

The wedding was over, we hogged at the breakfast table. Hari Babu had carried two pairs of clothes to eat as many times as possible without being noticed ~ jaJ. Moiyezhudhiya paname thanadhu mariyadhaikku kenja, unduvittu vandaar Alibaaba. Mattra Naalvarum perundhu nilayatthirkku paigalai sumandhu sella, Naan mattum en podhi moottaiyai aayasamaaga izhuthuchchendrean. Boarded a TNSTC bus to Trichy, it stopped nowhere.

Rest of the day in company of Sami (Yaaruchaami) & Alibaba alias Hari Babu, am obsessed with nicknaming people.

Chatter and the Miscillany - Kaveri and its distributaries (i didnt mean tributaries), on either side of the raod, Sami was delighted to discuss about the developments in the area during the British era. We then debated about why Namakkal district had to be separated from Trichy. But I must admit the British advantage point. There are railway stations at every village, to aid traders and vendors. I am forced to think this. Did we chase the British too late or at the wrong time ? On the same lines.. Version #1 (Historic) - They came, They saw, They captured, plundered and looted... Version #2 (Hypothetical ?) - They did come, they did see, they also wanted to live here.. with facilities they had back home ? May be they were bringing in much more than the freedom fighter could see, may be we should have asked for more than just setting us free ! We let them go easily without sweating for us. Never mind, we will entangle ourselves from the corrupted peninsula !

Trichy - There is something scintillating about Trichy. Trichy is another vacation home to me. Nothing unfamiliar about this place, but there is just so much more to explore. Hari and I booke tickets to Bangalore and Chennai respectively. It was not as hot as the place usually is. My train to chennai was at 10.20 and Alibaba's bus to BLR was at 10 PM. We then walked across the station to reach Sami's house. A lady greeted Sami as eppovandheenga Sami (Sami as in Sir and not his name) ? (chuckle it :)) . It is amazing to see the humble, affectionate and submissive eyes of my fellow tamil nattupura hero-heroines.

Home, Amma and Transit - We were absolutely tired. Sami's house was amazing. It reminded me of our ancestral house in Madhuranthakam. Lots of Sayee portraits gave a testimony of their devotional practice. It was amazing to note a few moral quotes alongside. The house was clean, spic n span. Hari & I were surprised to see the Video Casette Player, popularly known as the Deck :), I decide to re-name Sami as Tholporul Sami :). Sami's mom is amazing, she has had the presence of mind to click every momen tof their childrens' lives. Saw a lot of snaps very carefully arranged to capture their childhood. Parents look at these while kids are away with no time to spend or be together :) I was surprised that she did all this even as she was a home maker. Not to denigrate, but trying to guage the amount of exposure she has had or earned even during the 70's ( I am making a guess about the time here).

I must talk of this great lady, my dear Mother. Fancy dress competitions, photos, magazines, eating habits, our games and the courage she instilled, everything is beyond the reach & imagination of every lower middle class child. But most kids of my age, would have had the same emphasis on education I suppose. I must thank her, for I am all this today because of her single handed efforts while Dad was kept busy and challenged by his touring job.

A good lunch at Sami's house, Vatthal kuzhambu was delicious. I could digest everything but the fact that Sami's parents had postponed their lunch on account of us. I felt very rueful. At 3.30 we started off in a brand new Ambassador (Yoohoo it is still in production..and Man it is just getting better and better !)

Sami's amma and I made fun of Alibaba and Sami who thrust their faces on eachothers' unable to hold off the catnap. I suddenly realised that the other two were laughing at me as we landed up at Samayapuram temple. Excellent Darshan for a friday noon, (Courtesy Vastram Balu). Barricades between man and god get relaxed only in Tamizh Naadu. We headed to Thiruvanaikkaval.

Before I prattle, Thiruvanaikka - The legend is here - This sacred place houses his Jala (Water strength). The garbhagrriha oozes water of Cauvery, whenever the river is to its brim, which makes it special to this temple. This is a temple with 7 layers of prakarams, saptahrushi mandira according to Indian Architecture. Sami narrated to us, the story about the spider and elephant behind the origin of this temple.

While at the premises, we marched past the 1000 pillared hall, i.e., Ayiram kaal mandapam. Paaraigalin innoru parimaanaththai paarthein, kavidhai varigalukku velai adhigarithathu. Rocks, best etched to beauty by man. We worshipped Kubera lingam, Adi Akilandeshwari, Jambu lingam, Vigneshwaran and Jalakandeshwarar. We Got to see the Sura samhaaram as it was kirthigai. Then we headed to Srirangam.

Srirangam My Boyfriend's abode as I usually refer this. Am simply in love with this temple. 108 deities, the tallest gopuram. I wonder if I will go on the VII Raja Gopuram during my lifetime, to catch a view of the lanka. I tried to explain about the vaishnavite cult to Alibaba, about the alwars. Sita is in her traditional 9 yards bridal sari only at this temple. We had prashadh as we came out.

Ayyangar aatthu thamizhe - Topic of discussion as we ate was the terminologies or the different name given at this temple. Curd rice is known as Dadhi-Annam and Manjapongal is a saltless variant of ven-pongal. The reason to specify the food incident is to let people know of the specific names to these prasadams, well the daily colloqy of iyengar race. A few to note will be the thiru-k-kann-amudhu (payasam / kheer). Rasam is known as Sarth-amudhu and Sambar is called Kuzhambu. More funny is that vegetables are addressed as Kari-meedhu. Its fun to publicise this dialect. I enjoy listening to it :) even if people make fun of my complete chennai slang.

Winding Up - Throughout the day, we were lucky to get some undisturbed darshan time despite the crowd and the ad-hoc plan. I only felt blessed, pampered and invited into the temple :). We went back to Sami's house, had dinner there and Sami treated us to some delicious Dosa from a near by hotel. While I parted, Sami's mom hugged and kissed me on my cheeks. She told me that she was happy to spend time with me the way she would, with Sami's sister. I was so very delighted and genuinely happy after a long time. At a male friends' house without any discrimination or wrinkles of discomfort after a LONG time. Sami gave a lift to Alibaba in his Namma Ooru Vandi. Next was my turn, he exhibited chivalry and carried my bag until I boarded the train, unlike the morning :-P. At first, I felt uncomfortable as it was unusual to make someone carry my heft, but the relief off that bulk for sometime erased the discomfort. The cockroach laden train arrived, the usual thanksgiving and the sigh of having found new friends ready to move on made the day pleasant. The right remedy at a time we all felt shrinking from the loss of a few friends to the institute of marriage. Life goes on :)