It was the last day at work before leaving for the much awaited trip. Packing, cleaning, planning at home and a lot more planning, delegating and meetings at work till 6 in the evening. I was running late for a meeting that Friday in the morning when I made that very short turn to park my car in a spot next to a wall, knowing I am making a mistake but didn't have enough time to remedy. The left side of the car hits something, I back up, I hear something metallic scratch my car, I go forward and I hear it again and after a few back and forth I park and car, get out and see that a metallic thingy that holds some pipe has literally cut my car horizontally across in the middle all the way from the passenger side door up till the gas tank opening. I didn't even have time to stand and worry about it. The day was so busy at work that I actually forgot about it until I came back to the parking lot in the evening.
More packing, cleaning coming back home in the evening, replying emails till late at night and then there arrived the sweet moment early in the morning when I saw that taxi arrive at our door to take us to the airport. At last it begins. A time to relax, kick back and take my mind off of work.
The journey:
It was a much awaited trip for all three of us. Me solely to run away as far as possible from my work, S looking forward to celebrate his third birthday at Madurai with a car cake and P getting ready to feast on parota/kurma.
(I am going to refer to my kid as S and my husband as P as it is much easier)
We had to take 4 flights to reach our destination. (Seattle ->LA, LA->Dubai, Dubai->Chennai, Chennai-> Madurai). But that did not hamper our spirits a bit. I was actually looking forward to all the time together as a family without having to worry about the never ending list of house and office work. We were able to engage S with coloring and picture story books that I managed to watch couple of movies on board (‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows 1’ and ‘We are family’). The travel was quite enjoyable and comfortable till we got to Chennai domestic airport. I had plans to change clothes and freshen up a bit but the restrooms there were unusable for any purpose let alone change your clothes. That airport has a long way to go in terms of usability and comfort. Two more hours to go and we were running out of things to keep S entertained. All the little surprises I had for him in my travel bag were spent and our batteries were draining out. That airport reminded us of a train station where in constant announcements were made of boarding and departure with an annoying and loud- “YOUR KIND ATTENTION PLEASE’. Why not just update the arrival/departure boards and provide clear Gate names?
It was a little before 6 AM when boarding for our flight was called for. The humid air and the early morning sun hit us, as we went on a bus to the airplane and brought me back all the old memories of the innumerable sun rise I have watched from our terrace in Mylapore and how I used to love them. (Yes, even though I am a night owl I used to get up early during exam season in India). The 2 hours chaotic wait in the airport was forgotten and it felt great to be back.
Madurai airport has been extended/remodeled and it rocks. I hope they get international flights to Madurai soon. Other than that Madurai was its usual self, no other noticeable difference this time except it has gotten more crowded and more polluted. Any restaurant that looked new last time had become dirty and dingy because of the sheer amount of people that flock every day. Bell hotel and the Jayaram Bakery (spacious, not crowded) in the bypass road were my favorites this time. Also, I discovered that the ‘Pudhu Mandapam’ has many stores with a lots of cute stuff. Raw silk materials for Salwar or kurtas, silk shawls and scarves, handmade paintings, pillow covers, dance costumes and imitation jewellery and lot more interesting stuff.
There is no better time than early mornings in India. The jet lag kept us awake in the early mornings and no complaint there. I loved waking up early - raiding the kitchen for food, enjoying the early morning silence, coffee (with ‘murukku’) and the sunrise..ah, the sunrise. I realized how much I miss those mild sun rays that hits you gently with a very mild chillness in the air. S enjoyed with us sitting in the upstairs ‘thinnai’ in P’s house, sipping his milk away and calling out ‘Mr. Golden Sun is out amma’. The rest of the day once the sun comes up in full swing (which starts about 8 AM), you get parched as a dog and see spots when you are outside is a whole different story. The power outages are no fun either. Now almost all the houses have back up batteries running few fans and lights that lets you survive the outages.
My father is a proud owner of a Suzuki Alto now. We have had our share of 2 wheelers at our home - a Bajaj m80 which was there till I was in 5th standard in Chennai (which used to carry the 4 of us), a Kinetic Honda bought in Tirunelveli that sustained the flood in there and came with us to Coimbatore and all the way to Chennai, a BSA SLR bicycle that me AND my brother used in Tirunelveli (sorry bro), Bajaj Sunny (which my father got for me when I joined college in Chennai), a Bajaj Spirit that replace Kinetic Honda and at last a Bajaj Kristal that appa got for himself after he got me and my brother out of the house and settled down in his new house in Madurai. But seeing a car parked at our home was a whole different feeling.
Short Trips from Madurai:
I wanted to do a road trip from Madurai to Chennai - stopping at Pillayarpatti, Karaikudi, Thanjavur, Kumbakonam, Cauveripattinam, Chidambaram, Pondicherry and Mahabalipuram exploring the many temples for their architecture on the way. But we were able to only squeeze in a one day trip to Thanjai Periya Kovil (also known as Rajarajeswaram during the Chola period and more officially called Brihadiswara Temple now) and the Darasuram kovil (officially known as Airavateshvara Temple).
Patti Oor:
I also managed a half a day trip with my parents to ‘Patti oor’ (Patti Veeran Patti - a village where my father’s family is from). My father’s 2 brother’s and 2 sister’s family live there. I revisited there after almost 7 years. The old house where my ayamma, pataiya used to live has been sold to a different family and new houses have been build for the next generations in patti itself. I choke up to think that the our old house belongs to someone else now. It is not that all the memories I had there are all fun-filled ones but that is the only house that holds memories all the way from my childhood.
That is the only house that has remained constant in my life while we shifted from place to place due to my father’s work. I think that is the reason why I am still clinging on to it. Images of the off-white fan that spins oh so slowly, the big black switches in the switch board that takes an effort to switch on and off, the spooky stairwell that had a dim light which every time I climbed I thought a lizard or a cat is going to fall on me, the 2 green painted pillars in the main hall which we would lean on with a pillow to watch TV, the dining room that always reminded me of my pataiya who used to sleep underneath it with a ‘visiri’ and a ‘thanni sombu’ by his side (I know, who sleeps under a dining table? He had the weirdest habit), vague memories of my ayyamma using the old ‘veragu aduppu’, (the kitchen was remodeled to have gas stove I believe after the first daughter-in-law came to the house), the dark nights the family has spent sitting in the light from the Arikaen lamp due to power outages...the green ‘irumbu petti’ that had my pataiya’s name and initials which my periamma used to open up whenever there was a wedding to give jewellery to each of us to wear for the occasion, the feast the ladies of the house would cook up if one of the maapillai is visiting.....Anyways keeping my sappy sentiments away, on our way back we saw the most beautiful and bright yellow full moon rise up behind the mountains. Once we came back to Madurai did I know that it was the closest full moon in 18 years. It is a drive I will remember for a lifetime.
It has been a little more that 8 years since my parents moved out of Chennai, rebuilt the house in Madurai and settled down there (just when I got married) and this is my sixth time back to Madurai from the US. Our stay was short this time, we spent exactly 17 days in Madurai. The usual couple of days I plan to be in Chennai to catch up with friends there and shopping was dropped. We spent most of the time shared between my parents home and P’s parents home. I love the fact that P and my parents get along great and he loves staying in our house just as how I get along great with his parents and love staying in his place. And home is the best place to be when at Madurai.
More packing, cleaning coming back home in the evening, replying emails till late at night and then there arrived the sweet moment early in the morning when I saw that taxi arrive at our door to take us to the airport. At last it begins. A time to relax, kick back and take my mind off of work.
The journey:
It was a much awaited trip for all three of us. Me solely to run away as far as possible from my work, S looking forward to celebrate his third birthday at Madurai with a car cake and P getting ready to feast on parota/kurma.
(I am going to refer to my kid as S and my husband as P as it is much easier)
We had to take 4 flights to reach our destination. (Seattle ->LA, LA->Dubai, Dubai->Chennai, Chennai-> Madurai). But that did not hamper our spirits a bit. I was actually looking forward to all the time together as a family without having to worry about the never ending list of house and office work. We were able to engage S with coloring and picture story books that I managed to watch couple of movies on board (‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows 1’ and ‘We are family’). The travel was quite enjoyable and comfortable till we got to Chennai domestic airport. I had plans to change clothes and freshen up a bit but the restrooms there were unusable for any purpose let alone change your clothes. That airport has a long way to go in terms of usability and comfort. Two more hours to go and we were running out of things to keep S entertained. All the little surprises I had for him in my travel bag were spent and our batteries were draining out. That airport reminded us of a train station where in constant announcements were made of boarding and departure with an annoying and loud- “YOUR KIND ATTENTION PLEASE’. Why not just update the arrival/departure boards and provide clear Gate names?
It was a little before 6 AM when boarding for our flight was called for. The humid air and the early morning sun hit us, as we went on a bus to the airplane and brought me back all the old memories of the innumerable sun rise I have watched from our terrace in Mylapore and how I used to love them. (Yes, even though I am a night owl I used to get up early during exam season in India). The 2 hours chaotic wait in the airport was forgotten and it felt great to be back.
Madurai airport has been extended/remodeled and it rocks. I hope they get international flights to Madurai soon. Other than that Madurai was its usual self, no other noticeable difference this time except it has gotten more crowded and more polluted. Any restaurant that looked new last time had become dirty and dingy because of the sheer amount of people that flock every day. Bell hotel and the Jayaram Bakery (spacious, not crowded) in the bypass road were my favorites this time. Also, I discovered that the ‘Pudhu Mandapam’ has many stores with a lots of cute stuff. Raw silk materials for Salwar or kurtas, silk shawls and scarves, handmade paintings, pillow covers, dance costumes and imitation jewellery and lot more interesting stuff.
There is no better time than early mornings in India. The jet lag kept us awake in the early mornings and no complaint there. I loved waking up early - raiding the kitchen for food, enjoying the early morning silence, coffee (with ‘murukku’) and the sunrise..ah, the sunrise. I realized how much I miss those mild sun rays that hits you gently with a very mild chillness in the air. S enjoyed with us sitting in the upstairs ‘thinnai’ in P’s house, sipping his milk away and calling out ‘Mr. Golden Sun is out amma’. The rest of the day once the sun comes up in full swing (which starts about 8 AM), you get parched as a dog and see spots when you are outside is a whole different story. The power outages are no fun either. Now almost all the houses have back up batteries running few fans and lights that lets you survive the outages.
My father is a proud owner of a Suzuki Alto now. We have had our share of 2 wheelers at our home - a Bajaj m80 which was there till I was in 5th standard in Chennai (which used to carry the 4 of us), a Kinetic Honda bought in Tirunelveli that sustained the flood in there and came with us to Coimbatore and all the way to Chennai, a BSA SLR bicycle that me AND my brother used in Tirunelveli (sorry bro), Bajaj Sunny (which my father got for me when I joined college in Chennai), a Bajaj Spirit that replace Kinetic Honda and at last a Bajaj Kristal that appa got for himself after he got me and my brother out of the house and settled down in his new house in Madurai. But seeing a car parked at our home was a whole different feeling.
Short Trips from Madurai:
One evening we went to Melakkal (about 20 kms from Madurai) to see Vaigai river. After the good rain spell it had some water flowing and the water looked clean. We saw people making ‘oothu’ (digging hole next to the river to fetch clean water). The river bed was not as clean as I would have liked it to be.
One other evening we went to ‘Samanar malai’ in Nagamalai - a large rock hill which has remnants of Samanar (Jains) living in the many caves up the hill some 2000 years ago. They have carved steps on therock now to climb the hill with railings to hold. You can climb all the way to the top to see a little water landing a few statues carved atop. The view from the top is amazing especially during sunset. There is a lovely little lotus pond on the foot of the hill with innumerable fish that just mob in when a morsel of food is thrown.
Many books written in Tamil have references to Jainism and many are written by Jains. Thiruvalluvar is one of the prominent who is suspected to be a Jain. Apparently Tiruparankunram, Samana Malai, Anaimalai and a lot more similar stone mountains around Madurai have remnants of Jain life there. And looks like there was a time when Jains outnumbered the number of Hindus in this part of the country. This piece of information is something I was not aware of and found it to be very interesting. Now there is a ‘Ayyanar Temple’ right on the foot of the hill by the pond.
Thanjavur/Kumbakonam:
Many books written in Tamil have references to Jainism and many are written by Jains. Thiruvalluvar is one of the prominent who is suspected to be a Jain. Apparently Tiruparankunram, Samana Malai, Anaimalai and a lot more similar stone mountains around Madurai have remnants of Jain life there. And looks like there was a time when Jains outnumbered the number of Hindus in this part of the country. This piece of information is something I was not aware of and found it to be very interesting. Now there is a ‘Ayyanar Temple’ right on the foot of the hill by the pond.
Thanjavur/Kumbakonam:
I wanted to do a road trip from Madurai to Chennai - stopping at Pillayarpatti, Karaikudi, Thanjavur, Kumbakonam, Cauveripattinam, Chidambaram, Pondicherry and Mahabalipuram exploring the many temples for their architecture on the way. But we were able to only squeeze in a one day trip to Thanjai Periya Kovil (also known as Rajarajeswaram during the Chola period and more officially called Brihadiswara Temple now) and the Darasuram kovil (officially known as Airavateshvara Temple).
The sun was scorching hot with a vengeance when we arrived at Periya Kovil. But we braved it and experience was totally worth it. I have been to this temple once before but I only have a vague memory of it, one without any appreciation for the architecture or the history. By the 19th year of this reign, Rajaraja I had a vision to build a temple. The temple was consecrated on the 25 th year of Rajaraja’s reign on 1010, now standing 1000 years old. An imposing stone structure which apparently is made up of 130,000 tons of granite built within such a short duration and standing up majestic after 1000 years. Pictures Here.
P and I went to the Darasuram kovil while my parents stayed with S as he napped in a hotel room in Thanjavur. The temple was deserted except for a group of french tourists. This temple was built by Rajaraja Chola II in the 12th century. The main complex is set to simulate a chariot on wheels drawn by horses. It has a resemblance to the big temple but is smaller and has a lot more sculptures and intrinsic carvings large to really small ones carved with details on the main structure walls, pillars and the porch. Pictures here.
We quickly stopped by Thanjavur Palace built by partly by Nayaks around 1550 AD and partly by Marathas. Pictures Here.
I have made a note to visit ‘Gangai konda Cholapuram’ in my planned road trip (whenever it happens) as it has another famous Sivan temple built by Rajendra Chola son of Rajaraja I. The night drive back through Trichy on the 4 lane road was very scary. The driver hit 110-120 km/hr and I kept my eyes peeled open looking out for any vehicle that is going to sprang up in the wrong direction or any pedestrian running across the road. These are common things that happened during our drive in the morning. So you really cannot lay back and rest that you are going on a free way. That drive was very stressful for me.
We quickly stopped by Thanjavur Palace built by partly by Nayaks around 1550 AD and partly by Marathas. Pictures Here.
I have made a note to visit ‘Gangai konda Cholapuram’ in my planned road trip (whenever it happens) as it has another famous Sivan temple built by Rajendra Chola son of Rajaraja I. The night drive back through Trichy on the 4 lane road was very scary. The driver hit 110-120 km/hr and I kept my eyes peeled open looking out for any vehicle that is going to sprang up in the wrong direction or any pedestrian running across the road. These are common things that happened during our drive in the morning. So you really cannot lay back and rest that you are going on a free way. That drive was very stressful for me.
Patti Oor:
I also managed a half a day trip with my parents to ‘Patti oor’ (Patti Veeran Patti - a village where my father’s family is from). My father’s 2 brother’s and 2 sister’s family live there. I revisited there after almost 7 years. The old house where my ayamma, pataiya used to live has been sold to a different family and new houses have been build for the next generations in patti itself. I choke up to think that the our old house belongs to someone else now. It is not that all the memories I had there are all fun-filled ones but that is the only house that holds memories all the way from my childhood.
That is the only house that has remained constant in my life while we shifted from place to place due to my father’s work. I think that is the reason why I am still clinging on to it. Images of the off-white fan that spins oh so slowly, the big black switches in the switch board that takes an effort to switch on and off, the spooky stairwell that had a dim light which every time I climbed I thought a lizard or a cat is going to fall on me, the 2 green painted pillars in the main hall which we would lean on with a pillow to watch TV, the dining room that always reminded me of my pataiya who used to sleep underneath it with a ‘visiri’ and a ‘thanni sombu’ by his side (I know, who sleeps under a dining table? He had the weirdest habit), vague memories of my ayyamma using the old ‘veragu aduppu’, (the kitchen was remodeled to have gas stove I believe after the first daughter-in-law came to the house), the dark nights the family has spent sitting in the light from the Arikaen lamp due to power outages...the green ‘irumbu petti’ that had my pataiya’s name and initials which my periamma used to open up whenever there was a wedding to give jewellery to each of us to wear for the occasion, the feast the ladies of the house would cook up if one of the maapillai is visiting.....Anyways keeping my sappy sentiments away, on our way back we saw the most beautiful and bright yellow full moon rise up behind the mountains. Once we came back to Madurai did I know that it was the closest full moon in 18 years. It is a drive I will remember for a lifetime.
It has been a little more that 8 years since my parents moved out of Chennai, rebuilt the house in Madurai and settled down there (just when I got married) and this is my sixth time back to Madurai from the US. Our stay was short this time, we spent exactly 17 days in Madurai. The usual couple of days I plan to be in Chennai to catch up with friends there and shopping was dropped. We spent most of the time shared between my parents home and P’s parents home. I love the fact that P and my parents get along great and he loves staying in our house just as how I get along great with his parents and love staying in his place. And home is the best place to be when at Madurai.
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