The Idea Star Singer on Asianet

I generally avoid most of the over hyped stuff except the iPhone (of course, I don’t own one, but anyone can drool over it, right?) and the Die Manschaft (German Football Team). With that mindset, I gave the major chunk of Idea Star Singer 2007 (ISS07) the miss, along with Super Star 2007, Big Star 2007, Small Star 2007 and anything else in between.

However, as I had heard a bit about the singing prowess of Najim Arshad — the eventual winner of ISS07 — from those who religiously followed the event, and saw countless ads in Asianet about the live telecast of the grand finale that was being held at Chandrasekaran Nair stadium in the heart of my home town, Trivandrum on Sunday, 19 April 2008, I decided to check it out.

It was a decently organised event (great by Kerala-standards, perhaps), and the competition itself was sublime, except for the average male singer who finished rather expectedly at the bottom of the heap in the finals. I was listening to “Parayaan maranna” — rendered so wonderfully by Thushar — for the first time, and was spellbound by the magic of the song. Ramesh later told me that he had tried to make me listen to this song when I visited him a few months back, but somehow I was not in a mood to listen then. But I am glad that I waited till I heard Thushar sing it.

That day I decided to follow ISS08 with a bit more fervour and interest. I would say that I am not disappointed with what they have dished out so far. As expected, the initial rounds were dotted with a few good performances here and there, but now that it has reached the second round (or whatever round), there are fewer contestants and hence consistently greater quality. Another huge factor that is making ISS08 far better than how it started out, is the return of two pillars of ISS07 — the great great music director Sharath (remember the gems from Kshanakathu or Pavithram, anyone?), and the former Miss Kerala turned anchor Ranjini Haridas. That has injected the much required life into the program (in the moments when the singers are not actually singing).

The contestant who has impressed me the most has been the versatile Vivekanand (I would be surprised if he doesn’t end up as the eventual winner). Of course there are a few others, but he seems to be a couple of notches above the rest of the fold. I can vividly recollect how well he managed “Parayaan maranna” (yes, the same song!) in his audition round, and later how well he rendered “Nirangale..paadu..” (an awesome composition of late Ravindran maash, sung ever so beautifully by the one and only Yesudas, from the Mohanlal starrer, Aham), and to top it all, how easily he managed “Subha muhurthamaayi..swasthi” (the same three culprits, but the movie is “Kamaladalam”). In fact, I had never given the latter song the respect or the place it deserves in the pantheon of great songs, probably because I was too young when that movie came out to really appreciate the nuances of this great song, but Vivekanand made me realize what a gem of a song it really is! His latest has been the duet round performance in which he sang “Ponnil kulichu ninnu”. He really is a prodigious talent, and I hope he go on to realize his potential and dreams.

The others who have left a lasting impression on me include Somadas (who rendered a few songs in a way only top notch singers could), Prashobh, Abilash (he is probably an average singer, but I like him for his humbleness and the ease of rendering), and Manikanta Das (he sang “Thanner thotti thedi vandha” from Sindhu Bhairavi really well, and recently sang “Pramada Vanam” in a way decent way). I don’t have any favorites among the ladies (I personally feel the laides’ talent pool is not as good as the men’s this time around).

Malgudi Subha (of “Chaiya Chaiya” fame) nailed it when she said on the show, appearing as a celebrity guest, “Kerala is the only state where you can dish out melodies consistenly and people actually lap it up”. That insight, to me, is what differentiates this program from the numerous other stupid programmes that appear in Tamil or Hindi. Some of them are good, but you won’t be treated to songs of the highest calibre, so consistently.

If you are like me, and are not able to follow the event on TV on a daily basis, there is hope. There are a few good samaritans out there, who upload the videos to YouTube, allowing us to dig in and watch the performances again. It looks like one of them has decided not to upload anymore since Asianet is going to upload the videos themselves on their site. Here is the link to the two best sites covering ISS08 out there:

Amidala’s Youtube page (audition round coverage)
Idea Star Singer 2008 unofficial homepage (audition and initial stages of second round)
Devi Souparnika’s DailyMotion page (I couldn’t find the latest episodes in Youtube)

Thanks for reading thus far and I hope you too enjoy what promises to be a sumptuous and musical ISS08.

The beautiful game is back, and how?

At times, I have a bad habit of following sports in a manner that would be termed as maniacal by the non-lovers and by my mom :). I was sitting up late during most of June to follow the best football tournament I have seen so far — the UEFA European Championships 2008 (Euro 2008).

We have seen fantastic attacking soccer, great goals, a team that just won’t say die (till they met their match in that department) and caused a string of upsets (Turkey), a team that blew away the World Champions and the runners up, but forgot how to score goals when it mattered in the quarters (yes, Holland); another team that watched the opponents pass the ball with such immaculate beauty and precision that they forgot to compete in the semis (Russians).

Finally, it was down to a team that seems to be on the verge of redefining beauty and consistency in modern soccer — Spain, the 1964 European Champions — against a team that has been blowing hot and cold in this tournament, but who have scored 10 goals (three of them would feature in the top ten goals of the event) on the way to the finals here — the three time European Champions, Germany.

What has made this experience doubly sweet has been the absolutely fantastic coverage of this event by the best newspaper in UK — The Guardian. Their match coverage includes the review report, a fantastic minute-by-minute report (sample this and this to know what I mean), and an array of gifted reporters who write excellent posts in The Guardian Sports blog. Of course, some of you must have read the match reports in The Hindu in India, who (re)prints the articles from The Guardian at times.

In fact, The Observer/Guardian reporter Marcus Christenson had predicted a Spain v/s Germany finals at this Euro. I read the Malayalam version of that in Mathrubhoomi, who have played it up yesterday to announce that the Mathrubhoomi prediction was on the mark! The only saving grace was that it had his name and pix in that article, though any reference to The Guardian was missing. He got most of his predictions right, including Russia storming into the semis and Portugal loosing out to Germany. He went wrong in the case of Holland and Turkey (he underestimated both of them, but their run was not something we could predict, isn’t it?). He has predicted that the Germans would be the champs. And he was proved wrong there too.

Spain emerged the Champions in a final in which the Germans just were a couple of notches below their usual commanding self (how many times did Schweini miss making immaculate crosses for which he is well known?). Anyways, football emerged the real winner this time. Watch out for the European challenge led by Holland, Germany, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Russia, and France (they have a decent chance of coming up again) in the 2010 World Cup to be hosted by South Africa.

I hope they wouldn’t allow the Brazilians to run away with yet another World Cup. The best part is that ESPN has got the rights to telecast it in India, and their telecast of Euro was fantastic. Thanks for reading thus far and hope you like what you read in The Guardian too.

The Harishs at Chennai

The Harishs were in Chennai to spend 12 hours in the searing heat as they were getting bored of the Bangalore weather. Ok, I change that. The Harishs were in Chennai to visit Vidya’s grandmother, who wanted to see the kiddie. They came home in the evening, after spending the day with her relatives.

Ramesh and Raghu also came to meet Nano and the Harishs and to be with us for the dinner. Subru was the surprise package. He had informed no one that he is coming down to Chennai. This weekend Preethi’s parents are also here and so in all it turned out to be a memorable evening for all of us.

Nano (Vivek Krishnan) has grown up since I saw him last, and he was busy trying to learn how to turn around and lie on his stomach, though he couldn’t quite get his right hand out of the way. We all took turns to spend some quality time with him, though he kept going back to Vidya.

Preethi prepared yummy Pulav and Raitha for dinner and Harish had picked up a tin of Rasgullas. The best part of the evening was Subru joining us at the dinner table. I think this was the first time he had said no to eat something, anything!

We also witnessed the kick off of Euro 2008. I would love to see the mighty Germans win their first match at the Euro since 1996, and then go on to win the coveted Cup. But let us see whether someone again manages to refuse them the title.

I also used the occassion to fire up Preethi’s k550i and here is a collection of pix from the evening. Be warned though that the pix are a bit grainy thanks to k550i being not a very great camera phone, especially in the absence of very strong light.

Harish was returning by the 1130 train in the evening and since Raghu offered to drop them, Ramesh and myself managed to join the gang to see them off at the station.

On the way back we took the beautiful Beach Road (you were so right, Raghu. Vidhya and Harish would have loved the view and the well maintained road instead of the usual Royapettah route), and since Ramesh and Raghu were discussing about Dhoni’s new Chennai flat (though Dhoni himself has refused it as rumour), I took them inside MRC Nagar so that they could see the flat from outside. Not too sure whether they were impressed or not with what they saw.

Thus ended a wonderful day for all of us, and looking forward to the next meeting of RiceBowl Avenue kids, though when it is gonna happen, I don’t know now.

Sir’s Sapthathi celebration at Trivandrum

I had been to Trivandrum on 11th May for attending our beloved Sir’s Sapthathi celebration at Ayodhya Nagar Temple, Sreevarahom. Joining me were Harish (with Vidya and Nano) and Sarath (who managed to make it despite a very busy schedule with Manju and Veda mol) and Madhu.

Sir, for the uninitiated, is Mr. Duraiswamy, retired Assistant Executive Engineer, Kerala Water Authority. He started taking tuition early on in his career to help his family out financially. The habit, luckily for us, continued through the majority of his career. He played a very vital role in shaping the life and careers of many students including yours truly. I was a kind of student who was complacent and lazy and extremely prone to fits of inaction (when it comes to studies) and he worked hard to ensure that I had pretty good grades in SSLC. It was more like a gurukulam with a bunch of us staying there overnight to concentrate on studies during our SSLC days. I am sure Sunil and Sarath won’t forget those days in a hurry as we had some great fun during that time.

It felt good to know that what we did did bring lots of joy and happiness to Sir and Mami, though whatever we ever manage to pull off will pale in comparison with what they have done for us over the last 20 years. We managed to gift Sir an assembled PC and we are deeply indebted to Krishnan Mama (Harish’s father) for taking care of procurement and logistics.

The evening was mostly musical with Sarath playing the host and keeping the crowd enthralled was performances by Abhilash (who has made it a habit to win awards at events like SuperStar; a hugely talented kid who is learning Hindustani from Ramesh Narayanan), Sarma Mama (who had been with our beloved Thaadi’s Tharangini) and his daughter and son. Madhu played the spoil sport by refusing to play the violin (to be fair to him, actually he couldn’t bring it from Chennai).

People from all walks of life (Sir’s friends, former students, relatives) turned up to felicitate Sir and Mami. I am planning to start a shawl shop in the near future with his collection! :)

It was also a chance to catch up with old friends and other people from the childhood days. Met Jagadeesh and Paramesh and many others after a dozen years. Good that at least a few from the NSS batch of 1993 made it big!

Jiju and Sunil couldn’t make it since Jiju is in US and Sunil has shifted to Hyderabad.

Without further ado, here is the link to some of the pix from that musical evening and from the Ayush Homam that followed later in the week that I missed out on.

Mahesh got married to Vidya this Monday

I will update this entry later on this week (hopefully, especially considering the quality of the time the Chottupura kids got to spend together), but for now, pix would suffice.

Here is the link to Mahesh’s wedding snaps taken using Preethi’s SE k550i which doubles up as our digicam. I was not able to change the Album cover since loading the list of pix inside Picasa is taking too much time, and I have to rush to work now.

Bangalore trip and baby Harish

We had been to Bangalore over the weekend to meet Harish and his as-yet-unnamed baby. Ramesh had the honour of vising Harish’s a week back, and it was our turn now — me, Preethi, Mahesh and Subru.

We had a great time in Bangalore, though Mahesh (Jakku) could join us only by Saturday night, thanks to Saturday being a working day for him. We met Harish’s baby twice over the two days, on the first day with Subru, and on the second with Jakku.

On Saturday, we had been to the Metro (some real great discounted shopping at the expense of 4 hours and leg pain induced by walking across the sprawling complex), the Iskcon Temple, and of course our good old Adda (to savour yummy Butter Naan and Kaju Masala). This was the first time Preethi was eating their, and she too loved Jakkamma’s Kaju Masala.

On Sunday, we managed to get up really late, leave home late, spend some quality time with the baby again, and meet the good old owner Mami at our ex-Cambridge Layout rented house. After eating an awesome late lunch, we went to the Brand Factory — a nice concept shop where you get branded items at good discounted price throughout the year (Chennai can do with a few of these).

The only regret has been the inability to meet Beeba, Syam and their kid, plus their new home. If you are reading this Beeba, am sorry for not turning up at your place.

Summing up, it was a great trip, and being back in Bangalore with the gang of friends after a gap of an year (longest break in the last 7 years) made it doubly special. To Ramesh and Apple, we did miss you more than once. Hopefully, we would meet again soon for Jakku’s wedding in April.

Lots of pix from the trip here, thanks to SE Cybershot k550i. Low resolution videos from the trip to be posted soon.

Mysore Kannur Trip and some pix

We had been to Mysore over a weekend, two weeks back, to attend a wedding. From there we traveled to Kannur to visit Periappa and Periammai. Nothing much to write about the trip — Mysore was simply great and cool. Here are some pix from the trip.

What fate awaits Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple?

In my previous post on the Lakshadeepam trip to Trivandrum, I had mentioned that there “have been a few controversies surrounding the temple over the last few months”. I didn’t touch upon it since I thought most of the readers would know about what was going on. However, Apple had asked for the details of the controversy, and that sparked this post :).

Well, it is pretty simple, buddy. It all started with a local court delivering a landmark judgement — the Travancore Royal Family cannot lay claim on the temple; the State Government should take a decision on who should administer the temple. On the same day, came the allegation that the State Government is following a hidden agenda against the Hindu places of worship, especially considering the wealth inside the temple.

Then came the news that the State Government is not intending to take over the temple, but would take a decision in consultation with the royal family. The last controversy I heard of involved the Executive Officer — that he is a Christian.

I am sure the temple has seen far better days than this, and I would pray for the future of the temple, since these days humans decide the fate of Gods (sometimes rightly so, though I am not sure about this particular instance!).

If, God forbid, the temple is taken away from the purview of the royal family (who had taken care of this great temple for more than two and a half centuries with utter  dedication and devotion, and without reverting to crass commercialization seen in most other big temples), the next best thing to happen would be to have a separate Devaswam or Trust in the mode of Guruvayoor Devaswam.

This would be far better than leaving the administration of the temple to the State run Devaswam Board, especially since it is virtually assured that for five years out of ten, the Government will be run by Atheists. Frankly, I don’t have anything against either the Theists or the Atheists, but it is just not right if one group were to “administer” the activities of the other!

Just in case you are wondering what this fuss about the royal family is all about, read this article in The Hindu to get an insight about why this royal family is different and simple. Travancore is just plain lucky to have had such intelligent and talented rulers taking care of the state.

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Trip to Trivandrum for Lakshadeepam, January 2008

We had been to Trivandrum to witness the Lakshadeepam ceremony at the Sree PadmanabhaSwamy Temple on the first day of the Malayalam month of Makaram (Jan 14th, 2008). Lakshadeepam is celebrated once every six years, and I have been pretty lucky not to have missed any one so far except the one in 1978 that took place when I was just a day old! The last two Lakshadeepams (2002 and 2008) were sheer fun and time for reunion with friends and family, especially friends since we had drifted ways after spending quite a long time at the Chottupura Street together as kids.

Day 1 (12-Jan-2008): Arrival at Trivandrum

To begin at the beginning, we (Preethi and me) left Chennai on Fri, 11-Jan-08 to reach Trivandrum by noon of Sat, 12-Jan-08. As is the norm these days, we landed at Reghu’s place where Periamma and Periappa were eagerly awaiting us. While we were having lunch, Rema (my cousin) and Thylu Mami came to Periamma’s place, and we spent some time catching up with them. Later in the afternoon, Rajesh (Rema’s husband) came with their daughter, Aparna. Thus, we met the whole Rema family at Periamma’s place itself.

We had already planned to visit Sarath, Rema and Ananthan that evening, and luckily Harish came along with his car to take us around. He wanted to go to Palayam Hanumar Kovil, and thanks to me, managed to go everywhere else except Palayam.

Sarath and Manju were blessed with a baby girl, Veda, on 14th of December last year, and we decided to go there first. Veda had just been bathed and was in a sleepy mood while we arrived. She was crying as Manju’s (Sarath’s wife) mother handed her to Preethi, but the moment Preethi held her, she stopped crying. After spending a couple of more minutes there, we bid adieu to them, taking the blessings of Sarath’s grandma, who had come visiting him. Harith was looking forward to start the next phase of his career with TATA AIG.

Next stop was Shangumugam beach! We spent some quality time there witnessing the sunset and putting the camera in the SE k550i to good use. Harish had his powerful Konica handy, and he too snapped away, showing us how powerful the zoom in his camera was. Once the sun was set, we decided to not travel to Palayam and decided to go to the Shangumugam Devi temple, just across the road.

Once out of the temple, I told Harish that I wanted to go to Thaliyal where my cousins Rema and Ananthan have moved into their newly constructed homes. I asked Harish to drop me at Ramesh’s place so that I can take his father’s Honda Activa and go to Thaliyal. We had barely reached Ramesh’s place and I was opening the gate that the power went off (it was the last day of load shedding in Trivandrum). Harish then offered to take us to Thaliyal, since he too had to visit his relatives in Karamanai gramam, which is about a km away from Thaliyal.

He dropped us at Thaliyal Junction with a promise to pick us up after 20 minutes. We visited Ananthan’s place first and then went to Rema’s place. This was the first time we were visiting Rema’s newly constructed house. From there, Harish dropped us back at Sir’s place where Mami prepared hot, crispy dosas for us. We spent the rest of the night chatting with Periappa and Periammai till we decided it was time to hit bed. Thus, ended Day 1.

Day 2: My Birthday (13-Jan-2008): Trip to Kanyakumari district

A couple of days before we were to leave for Trivandrum, Harish had floated the idea of visiting the Thiruvattaar Adikesava Perumal Temple during the Lakshadeepam trip to Trivandrum. For the uninitiated, Thiruvattar is a place in the Kanyakumari district, and this temple is very similar to Sree Padmanabha Swamy Temple in Trivandrum, but is centuries older than the latter. Kanyakumari district was part of the erstwhile state of Travancore till the Central Government decided to divide the states on linguistic basis in the 1950s. The Thiruvattar temple was also taken care of by the Travancore Royal Family and even today the festivals in the two temples happen at the same time.

I thought it was a nice way to spend a day, and since there were a few other places in the vicinity — including the Padmanabhapuram Palace and the Waterfalls at Thripparappu that Preethi had never been to — I was more than enthusiasitc about the idea. We discussed the idea with Mahesh and Ramesh, who readily agreed, and so the trip was on, and scheduled for the Sunday (13-Jan-08) which also happened to be my birthday.

However, to complicate things a bit, Mahesh and Ramesh were to arrive in Trivandrum only that morning from Coimbatore and Chennai respectively, and so we had to leave a bit late to ensure that they could also join. Thus, we left by 1000 hrs knowing pretty well that it would be late by the time we would reach back Trivandrum. But, what better way to spend your birthday than with your best buddies (who don’t remember it is your birthday ;) ) on a trip to places you last visited more than 10 years back. This was sure to be a trip worth my while!

On the way, Apple called to wish me on my birthday and while I was answering the call, the gang got to know about the occasion. Talks started about how I should be giving a treat that day and I decided to sponsor the lunch in some five star hotel ;).

We decided to go to Nagercoil first to visit my Chithappa and Chithi. Harish, Mahesh and Ramesh managed to play cricket for a few minutes with the kids on the banks of the Krishnankovil pond. After spending sometime at Chithappa’s place we proceeded to Hotel GauriShankar to eat meals. Luckily, they had only meals and my birthday treat for the six of us (including the driver) plus mineral water cost me a whopping 182 bucks! ;).

From there, we thought it would be wise to visit Padmanabhapuram Palace (PP) first. We reached PP by 1345 hrs and the Palace was closed for lunch break (1300-1400 hrs). PP would be familiar to those who have watched His Highness Abdullah, the great Malayalam movie of the 80s (how time flies!). To properly visit and understand the grandeur of the palace, it would take a whole day, or at least half a day. We compressed the trip to just about 2 hours and were out of the Palace by 4pm, thanks to the rumor that the entrance to the Thripparappu Falls would be closed by 1630 hrs. There is a lot to understand about the architecture and the paintings in the Palace but, we just couldn’t spend enough time there.

By the time we were out of PP, we were tired and thirsty, thanks to the whirlwind tour of the vast palace. If at all you happen to be in this part of the world, there is a wonder drink called “Narnari Sarbath” which would cost you about Rs. 2 per glass. We drank a few glasses each, while Preethi also had a Nungu. From there, we rushed to Thripparappu only to find that the falls would be open till about 1830 hrs.

We swiftly purchased the towels and shorts and climbed down the steps that leads to the Falls. What followed was sheer fun. The whole gang stood under the falls for what seemed like eternity, while poor Preethi became the watch, mobile, specs and wallet bearer ;) (thanks dear). I had never bathed for so long in my life, especially at a waterfall (remember, I visit Courtallam every year). It was a quarter to six by the time we decided to call it a day at the falls. On the way up to the parking lot, we had tea and snacks. Snacks included Milagu Bhajji and Ulli Vada, and I was eating the latter after more than 10 years. Aah! The little pleasures of life!

It was time to move to Thiruvattar, and we reached the Adikesava Perumal Temple by a quarter past six. We rushed inside, had the darshan before they closed the sanctum sanctorum for the evening Deeparadhana. In Kerala, this break can last up to 30 minutes, and we didn’t had the time to wait so long. Ramesh and Mahesh had urgent stuff to do at Trivandrum that evening. So, we had the darshan of the main deity, and also visited the Thiruvambadi (which is being renovated) Krishnan. From there it was back to Trivandrum, and on the way there was a small detour to collect Lakshadeepam entrance pass for Mahesh from some onam kera moola (remote area) of Trivandrum district ;).

We had dinner at Harish’s place (nice, hot Chapathis with Mixed Vegetables curry) that day and from there reached Sir’s place by 2230 hrs to seek his blessings on my birthday. Finally, we reached Reghu’s place by 2300 hrs. Thus, ended a fantastic day — a day all of us would remember for a long, long time to come. We did miss Apple a lot and he later said he missed being there as well, and would have definitely made it to Trivandrum, had he known about our little trip.

Day 3 (14-Jan-2008): Lakshadeepam Day

This was the day for which we had come all the way from Chennai — the day of the Sixth Lakshadeepam (since I was born). I had some work in the morning outside and so rushed out to finish that with Ramesh. Ramesh’s mom had invited the gang (we two, Harish and Mahesh) to have lunch at their place. Before going there we visited Gomathy Mami’s place and my home (to meet the tenants) and then proceeded to Ramesh’s place. Here, we managed to offload the 300 odd pix taken so far in that trip into our pen drive, and free up the space in the phone.

We had a fantastic lunch session there, chatting all the way through lunch. Ramesh’s mom was feeling giddy by the end of it and I would assume she would never make the mistake of inviting all of us together :).

I had some work at the Post Office post lunch, and Mahesh took the group in his car to the North Gate of Sree PadmanabhaSwamy Temple where the Fort P.O. is located. As I was doing my work inside the P.O., Mahesh so graciously got us all cheap cone ice-creams :). So, though we couldn’t make it to Archies this time (despite discussing the possibility each day), we did had ice-cream. We parted ways after deciding to meet at Ramesh’s place at 1730 hrs to go watch the Lakshadeepam Seeveli that night.

We returned back to Ramesh’s place around 1700 hrs and since I had some time, went out to take some snaps of the West Nada of the Sree Padmanabha Swamy Temple and also took some snaps of Sir at his favorite temple — the Kailaseswaram Arasumoodu Ganapathi Temple. I still remember the shabby state that temple was in till Sir decided to take it upon himself to renovate the temple with the help of the Devaswom Board and well wishers.

By 1745 hrs, everyone had gathered at Ramesh’s place and we decided to leave early so that we can watch the Seeveli from our favorite spot — near Thiruvambadi, but facing the West Nada, and just in front of the huge lamp post in the Northern side. We managed to reach inside early enough to find that spot not being taken yet. We sat there for two and half hours, chatting and discussing the events in each other’s lives. We also watched a huge bull (easily 8 feet long) and a horse being ushered into the temple for the Seeveli.

At 2030 hrs, the Seeveli (circumambulation) started in all its traditional gaiety and splendor. We were really lucky to have been there on that day and watch the procession. There have been a few controversies surrounding the temple over the last few months, and for once, everyone forgot all that and immersed themselves in the beauty and sanctity of the Seeveli. The Hindu has a good report of the event. The function was attended by more than 20,000 people.

Aswathi Thirunal Gouri Lakshmi Bayi, of the Travancore Royal family sums it up the best: “It is uncommon to come across a temple which is able to adhere to long established tradition braving the winds of change without compromising on the performance of rites and rituals which are considerable here..This is the only temple in known history which has been fortunate enough to conduct the Laksha Deepam without break from the time of inception of the festival in January 1750 AD“

I must also add that this was one of most well organized Lakshadeepam’s in my memory (which spans the last 4 Lakshadeepams — 2008, 2002, 1996 and 1990). In 1990 I was living in Trivandrum, by 1996 I was at Palghat doing my Engineering, in 2002 I was in Bangalore, and now I am in Chennai. Where will I be in January of 2014? I don’t know! But I would love to be back in Trivandrum for the Lakshadeepam for sure. I was attending a Seeveli after a gap of more than four years and hence it was doubly sweet. This was also the first Seeveli that Preethi was attending (in the temple), and she too liked it a lot. Sunil couldn’t get inside the temple; though he witnessed the event and the fireworks from the Eastern Gate of the temple.

That night we had dinner at Mahesh’s place (good old Sevai and Pulissery with lots of Pappadam) and since we had Ramesh’s bike on loan, we didn’t have trouble moving from Ramesh’s place to Mahesh’s and then from there to Periamma’s house to spend the night.

Day 4 (15-Jan-2008): Pongal Day

This was the day we were to return back to Chennai, and hence I tried my level best to spend as much time at Periamma’s place as I could. However, Ananthan had asked me to have lunch with them on this day, and he promptly called at 0800 hrs to remind me about the same. He had just returned from Guruvayoor after conducting Thulabaram for his three year old son, Bharath. We spent the morning visiting Lakshmi Chithi and going out to buy Banana Chips to take with us to Chennai. I strongly recommend the Chips shop opposite Chennan Potti kadai. It tastes damn good and is fresh too. In fact the last two times, we waited there for 15 minutes to ensure that we get chips fresh out of the oil.

We reached Ananthan’s place for lunch and they had prepared a grand feast. It was unfortunate that we couldn’t eat much since we had to travel that evening. Bharath was just waking up from his sleep once we finished lunch, and after spending a few more minutes there, we left Thaliyal and reached back Periamma’s place. In between we dropped in at Gomathi Mami’s place to collect our dinner for the train :). So, in case you are wondering, I would hardly starve for food in Trivandrum.

We left Trivandrum by Ananthapuri Express that evening, and for the first time in about 10 years I felt a pain while leaving Trivandrum. Is it the nostalgia associated with the place you grew up in? Is it due to the handful of boyhood friends who continue to be one’s dearest even after 20 years? Is it the age that makes me weak and think along these emotional lines? I wouldn’t know, but the fact remains that today, after a week, I miss the place. This has not happened in the last 10 years. I did feel a lot while leaving Trivandrum the first time, way back in 1995, but has never felt like this since. In fact while at the temple, Harish brought the idea of coming back to Trivandrum for good, and we all thought it is a worth-while dream to cherish and look forward to.

Oh, and lest I forget, here are the links to the pix taken at Trivandrum and of those taken during the trip on my birthday.

Thanks for reading this pretty long post. Take care and be well.

Update1: We didn’t make use of the rather poor video recording in the k550i, but Preethi managed to capture a minute of the action at Thripparappu. You can’t see me, because I was seriously in love with the water (for a change) and you can see Harish rushing towards me at the very end.

Apple does a Kenneth Anderson

My good friend Arun, known affectionately as Apple (no, not because of his roundness ;), is in the midst of jotting down the memoir of his recent adventure trip to the forests of Melghat, Maharasthra. He has a flair for good writing and he has put that flair to good use in Parts 1 and 2, with a promise of more to come. He is also a talented photographer as borne out by these high quality pix of his adventure. A good read and some great shots — highly recommended.

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