Trivandrum Diary

Couple of weeks back I was in Trivandrum to attend one of my former colleague's marriage.  Probably, this is the second time I have visited Trivandrum and got to see a city a "little" bit.

I travelled by the Trivandrum Express, which starts pretty early.  So if somebody is travelling in this express, they have to take a day off as it leaves Chennai by 3.25 PM! I have noticed since the last few train travels, I am becoming really hesitant in travelling anything other than 3 AC.  I have to now consciously work towards breaking this.

Few things which caught my attention:

• The Kerala houses which you see from the train are very enticing.  Not because of its size but for the greenery all around the house.  
• I don't know who and how the city's new areas are planned and developed.  I find it extremely difficult to accept the fact that all the roads are of 15 feet width.  Not more than 1 car can pass through at a time.  I saw it almost all the way up to Nagercoil on my way back. Whats the logic to have such narrow roads?
• A visit to Trivandrum is incomplete without a visit to the now world famous Sree Padmanabaswamy temple. On the day I went, during Navaratri, we were waiting for the puja's to get over and darshan allowed.  Everybody, more than 500 people, were neatly standing in a queue with no commotion or noise.  
• Thanks to the riches, the temple is now heavily protected by the Commandos in uniform at all the four entrances.  Kerala Police officers in plain clothes, a dhoti and angavastram, man inside the temple.  I don't know what to say, but you see policeman with revolvers hanging from their hips even inside the Sanctum Sanctorum.  

Overall, the city still retains the town like feel, which is good!

Attending marriage an alibi for that elusive long drive

I attended a neighbour's cousin's marriage. No it is not very uncommon in India considering that we consider neighbours as our extended family. But in this case I attended a marriage by driving 250 kilometers. This should start sounding little funny now!

When we got the invitation for this wedding, we thought that we would give it a miss as it is not even in Chennai. As the persistence of the neighbour kept increasing, my wife passed on the final decision to me. As usual, these kind of difficult decisions are left to me! I thought about it for a split second, and, surprisingly said "yes". I think the only reason why I said yes, was that I would get a chance to go for a long drive. I haven't gone on a long drive for quite sometime. And I am one, who loves driving on the highways. ok, ok, I hear you, Who is not?

In a place like Vellore, this Kalyana Mandapam is humungous. The name is Krishna Mahal. It is truly a Mahal. The Kalyana Mandapam was so huge that the dining capacity at a time is 450 persons. The main hall can seat somewhere like 2000 people. I dont think I have seen a marriage hall like this before in Chennai.

Overall, it was a good to have a day off from work and to do a long drive. With the current petrol prices, it is not highly recommended but once in a while you need this kind of luxury!!!

Kodaikonal Diary

• Travelling with an infant is a challenge.  This is a gross understatement of work involved.  We did this time with the little one and it was quite an effort.  The checklist you have, to ensure that you carry all the required stuff for the infant, is longer than the Sriharikota rocket launch!! We had to carry a whole lot of things starting from home-made infant food, utensils, medicines, diapers and water.  Yes, we carried 6 bottles of water as the better half believes that water is root-cause of all infant illnesses. Actually, it is true.  Change of water for infants leads to all sort of problems. 

• One thing which I wanted to write in this blog is about a departmental store we visited on the way to Kodaikonal.  Its called Shri Kannan Departmental Store and its situated on the bye-pass road. What really surprised me is the size of this departmental store?  Huge! I haven't seen any department store in Chennai like that.  I am wondering why none of the entrepreneurs in Chennai has looked at this option of building a stand-alone store like this at places like Porur or Poonamallee or Tirunindravur or Koovathur etc., I am sure definitely there would be patronage provided there are sufficient car parking lots. 

• My surprise with Kannan Department store didn't end there.  After reaching Kodaikonal, I was emptying the snacks which we bought in Madurai and realised that this Kannan Departmental store is not only in Madurai but also have branches in Coimbatore, Tirupur, Erode, Karur and so on.  Truly interesting!! Not sure, if all the stores of this size but this is one successfull entrepreneurship story in this trip.  

• I don't know what really excites us when we get to see a celebrity.  But there is definitely something when we see a popular person face to face.  They don't have to be of "Paris Hilton" heritage to raise your curiosity levels but even an Otteri Nari would do! You will understand what I mean little later.  I love observing people (ok, at times, it is called by different name!) and if it is a celebrity, it is all the more exciting.  We had our quota during this trip starting from the Chennai airport.  It started with Kushboo at the Chennai airport, the Home Minister, P Chidambaram and his entire family inside the plane.  We also had Actor Dhamu (Otteri Nari in Gilli film) and Carnatic Singer Nithyasree Mahadevan travel with us on the plane to Madurai.  The elder one was so excited with Dhamu and he wanted to talk to him.  So when we landed at Madurai, we gave him a piece of paper and asked him to get his autograph.  Dhamu was very kind and he didn't throw any tantrums! 

• Sterling Lakeview resorts was the place where we stayed.   Its been recently renovated and still the work is going on in few cottages.  This is just opposite to the Lake but away from the usual crowd and traffic.  As the resort has been build on the ridges of the sloping hill, you end up walking up and down all the time.  Going out for lunch and coming back to your room itself is a good exercise by itself! The cottages were new and nicely done and honestly I didn't expect these standards from Sterling!! We have to see how long they would be able to maintain it considering the fact that they have a not-so-great reputation.  I was told new management has taken over Sterling Holiday Resorts and they have brought in professional facility management services.  

• The entire operational staff of Sterling Holiday Resorts in Kodaikonal is comfortable speaking in one language, yes, it is Hindi with a strong Bengali accent.  Bengalis all the way at Sterling Kodaikonal, starting from Parth as the Chef, Biplav as the Housekeeping Manager and so on.  The Resort Manager is a Alok Pardhi and the Reception in-charge is a Sardar.  Hardly anybody can speak Tamil at Sterling, Kodaikonal!! But I think it serves them good for all the North-India folks who come to Kodaikonal.  For all the three days we were there, there were truckloads of Northies.  The evening programs at the resort are hijacked by these fun-loving Northies who don't mind shaking a leg or singing a song.  The Southies sit back and watch in amazement!!

• The places we covered are the usual tourist spots but made sure that we don't stay out of our rooms for not more than 3 hours at a stretch.  The most enjoyable time was when I cycled around the Kodai lake.  The entire stretch is 5.5 kms and I did twice in about 30 minutes.  

• We also visited the Kurunji Andavar temple and learnt about the history of the temple.  The temple was built 75 years ago by an European Lady, Lalitha, who married a Srilankan Tamil, Ramanathan Chettiar.  She became a devotee of Lord Muruga of Palani and while she lived in Kodaikonal she would go to a particular spot everyday to catch glimpse of the Palani Murugan Temple.  Kind of Gopura Darishnam.  One day, Lord Murugan came in her dream and asked her to build a temple in Kodaikonal and hence we have the Kurunji Andavar temple. Since the temple was built in the year Kurunji flower bloomed, it was named so. FYI, the next kurunji flower blooming is in 2018.  

• I think we took a risk by going on this vacation with a 7 month old infant but thank God, we managed to reach home safely and in decent health.  Except for the little one, who caught some cold, the trip was overall without any major challenges.  Not sure, when we would be able to venture out next but till then this trip would remain as a reminder of the effort involved in travelling with a little one!!

Bangalore Times - Part II

Read the Part I here.


I always love to travel in the train when you can see whats happening outside. The most enjoyable part of my innumerable journeys to my hometown always used to be the last 2 hours when the sun is out in the morning and I can see a distant sunrise or farmer at his field or school children waiting at the railway gate. Those are the moments I cherish the most in any train journey. But in this one, I started at 9.30 PM and reached Bangalore at 4.00 AM!!

When you land in a city at 4.00 AM in the morning, you need to prepared well for the next course of action. Bangalore, which normally has an efficient pre-paid auto system at the City Railway station doesn't start until 5.30 AM in the morning. So left to haggle with the auto-drivers of Bangalore but they seemed reasonable. Still a long way to go for them to emulate their cousins of Chennai!

I was carrying a winter jacket fearing that Bangalore at 4 AM would be cold. But to my utter disbelief it was warmer than my expectation. But having carried a jacket, I didn't want to let go the opportunity to wear it because if you wear it in Chennai, people laugh at you! Cutting the story short, reached my cousins place, had a bath, went to the Mandap, which is the club house of their association and joined the small gathering of friends and relatives. Rest of the morning was spent socialising and in the evening packed the bag to reach another relative's house. Kept on rolling like that for the two days in Bangalore.

I think it makes sense to write in bullets few of my observations:

1. Roads are still a mess in Bangalore. Along all the main roads, you see Metro Rail work going on. At 4 AM there is no problem, but I can imagine at peak hours, it would be a miracle if you are able to cover a kilometre in 15 minutes.

2. The weather is still cosy. Going from Chennai, I find the arguments of Bangaloreans that it has become very hot as absolutely funny. It still remains a very "cold" place for me!!

3. Club houses with proper infrastructure to host games like badminton or squash are useful additions to your complex. I saw quite a number of people using the club house in the morning for their daily quota of fitness.

4. My love for living in an independent house got kindled again. I have all along lived in Independent houses before I moved in to Chennai. With the so called security threat, I never wanted to explore the idea of independent houses in Chennai. But after visiting couple of independent houses during my trip, my fancy of having one in Chennai has increased!! I know, it is probably out of reach at these crazy real estate prices, but why not still aspire for that.

5. I reached the railway station at least 2 hours before the train departure on my return trip. Thanks to my father who insisted that I wont get an auto if I leave after 9 PM!! So didn't want to try my luck in an unknown city like Bangalore.

6. Having reached couple of hours earlier, I was as usual observing people and I think I should have looked so naive. Otherwise, why should two people approach me asking to bear their return ticket cost to some unknown destinations.

7. First person to approach me was a guy who claimed was travelling from Bangalore to Tuticorin. He told me that he came with a group of friends but lost them and came late to the Railway station only to know that the train has left. He looked decent enough and claimed he owns a Jewellery shop. Looked genuine and shy while he asked for help. I think I should have helped but before I could really deliberate he was in a hurry and ran in search of somebody.

8. The second person was a typical fraud who smelled of cheap liquor. He was very insistent and spoke in Hindi. I resisted couple of times before I let my temper loose. Then he quickly walked away cribbing about me.

5. If you have a RAC ticket, you can very well conclude that you will get a confirmed ticket in Mysore Express. They added a bogie and I got a confirmed berth on my return trip.

Bangalore Times - Part I

Okay, now on to my recent Bangalore trip. It all started with an email from my cousin that she is having the Upanayanam of her son in Bangalore inviting me to come with my family. It looked like the thing we were waiting for! I and the missus immediately jumped on the offer since its been ages now we have gone out of Chennai. For that matter, gone out of the home. Yes, the second one is taking away all the time and it’s too much of preparation before you can venture out.

As we love to do in all walks of our blissful marital life, we started planning minute details of our impending trip to Bangalore covering how, where, when and what. As the d-day came closer and closer, things started going awry. I had lot of work to do in the office (yes, too many emails to forward and delete) and the little one developed cold and cough. We waited with bated breath for calm to return so that we could go to Bangalore. Hmm, nothing went according to the plan like Indian economy of pre-1991. You plan for something and end up having something else. To cut the story short, missus decided to stay back to take care of the little one and I would represent as a responsible “Head of the Family” (can’t get a better opportunity to assert it in this story)!!

Since our original plan was to drive down to Bangalore, never bothered to check train tickets. But now, with 1 man army it doesn’t make any sense to drive all alone. Went in search of a elusive ticket to Bangalore in an evening or a late night train after completing my office duties as a responsible Officer!! I can’t understand what all these people are doing by commuting endlessly between Bangalore and Chennai, day in and day out and just about managed a ticket to Bangalore. I don’t know why it happens to me all the time, this time too, I ended up in seat number 8. You got it right, I was just outside the second class Sleeper S13 lavatory!! Oh, I should tell you about the travails I have to go through before I could board this Mysore Express.

On the day of journey, the evening looked exciting and I was on my way to the railway station 100 minutes before the departure time. At that precise moment when I left home, I wanted to call up and tell my father that I was leaving home a good 100 minutes before the train departure time. He couldn’t have more happier for this than anything else!! With so much of time left and a single luggage in hand, my crooked brain thought of a wicked plan. Yes, I would take the MTC bus to go to the Central Station. I strolled to the bus-stop and the rain started drizzling. With no power to know what is in store, I boarded a 17C to Central Station. I think the rains were just waiting for me to get on to a god-forsaken bus and started pouring. No, it came crashing from the heavens. In a matter of few minutes, I was cribbing myself why I took the MTC route. The bus started leaking from the top, water splashing through the window and with a drenched co-passenger for company, this is going to a memorable ride.

By the time, the bus reached Valluvar Kottam, I have already lost 45 minutes of my 90 minutes. I consoled myself that it is going to take another 25 minutes at the maximum to reach the Central Station and would still be left with 20 minutes before the departure time. On the VH Road, the bus started slowing down and came to a halt completely with no signs of rains easing out. Time started ticking and my blood pressure started increasing. I should have taken a call taxi and that at least would have taken me straight to the Central Station rather than this 17C showing me historical places of importance like Sterling Road, DPI, Egmore RS etc., Alas, can’t help now. Stuck inside a bus for another 15 minutes with no great progress, I decided to get down only to realize the water level is 2 feet deep on the road. Just managed to stop an auto-rickshaw and requested him to take me to Central Station with 30 minutes to go. To my despair, he took a turn and returned back to be in the same place where we started.

The trip to Central Station was turning into one unforgettable ride with Auto wading through knee deep water now. I was mentally prepared to let go and return back home in case I miss the train. I am not going to take any tension for this. But the Auto driver helped me in a big way and left me at the entrance, no, a good 50 yards before the entrance of Central Station, with just 10 minutes to go. For people who know Central Station, this is definitely going to be a close call. Ran, ran and ran like mad for the next 8 minutes exactly to reach my compartment with 2 minutes to spare. My treadmill sessions in the gym really helped. I slowly started realizing why my father leaves 4 hours before the departure time!!

Glasgow vil Saapattu Raman!!

Glasgow is a cute little city.  With a population of 800K it can be probably considered a decent sized town in India, but in Scotland it is one of the biggest cities.  When I reached there it was cold beyond my comfort levels. To go from 35 degree Celsius to -5 degrees celsius in a matter of 20 hours is too much.  First couple of days I found it difficult to manage but got used to it as the week progressed.  Then it is the time to return home!! As in any other western city, the air is clean.  I dont know when our cities are going to clean like that. Within a week I landed in Chennai and got little exposed to our pollution levels, got cold and fever.  I think it is better to stick around Chennai only.  Good and pollution free environment doesnt suit me at all!!

First time in life, I relied on Google maps to navigate my way and find places in Glasgow.  The places I tried to figure out are nothing but the Indian restaurants.  I zeroed in on 3-4 Indian restaurants to go but finally ended up eating from one single restaurant all the seven days.  I was not very explorative and even my colleagues in the office got little annoyed that I am not trying out newer places.  But for me once I settle on  some kind of rhythm, I find it little difficult to come out of it.

The Scotts have become a big lover of Indian cuisine if I go by the number of them seen in Indian restaurants.  I heard one of my colleagues say that they have only 2 restaurants in their town and out of that 1 is Indian .  Can you guess the other one, it is Chinese!!! Scotts love to eat Indian curry and they come in droves.  When I think back if we Indians would be that accomodative in exploring other cuisines, I get an answer which is a clear "No".  Atleast, I am not going to be that. 

Being a vegetarian in these western countries is still a problem.  You dont have much choice and you end up eating some exotic stuff, which you have never heard in my life under the impression that it is vegetarian.  The best option is to get a bowl of french fries along with any stuff you order.  At least, I end up eating that.  Guess too much about food. 

But one thing I have to tell.  I found that to my great annoyance in Glasgow that I need to really work on my Hindi speaking skills, if at all I have any!! When you go to an Indian restaurant, from the shop owner to the bearer speaks to you in Hindi under the impression that you know that language.  I have to reply in English and invariably the next question veers around from where I come from? Yes, I am from Madras and I dont speak Hindi!!

PS: Couple of times before I got used to the name of Glasgow, I mentioned it as Glaxo to few people.

In Glasgow for a week

In Glasgow for a week on work.. Should be back in Chennai next week.  This place is cold and the day I landed here, the city welcomes me with the coldest day of the year.  Cant get worse than this, I say. Nevertheless, enjoying the weather which I would never get in Chennai.  Interesting experience and observations to follow next week. 

First hand experience with "kuruvis"

Before I start writing about my experience on this, let me say what Kuruvi means. Kuruvis are the kind of people who travel extensively from India to another country to smuggle foreign goods ranging from cigarettes to liquor to mobile phones to gold.

During my recent trip from Colombo to Chennai, I came across this industry of Kuruvis. They are ordinary looking people and would pass as any blue-collar worker who is returning to India for his holidays. But the essential difference between a blue-collar worker and Kuruvis are that Kuruvis fly in and out almost on a daily basis, if not on a weekly basis.

The flight we were travelling, Srilankan seems to a favourite one for these Kuruvis. The modus operandi of Kuruvis from what I understood from my fellow passenger on that day (who is a regular traveller on that route) is to travel from Chennai to Colombo in the morning flight. At the Colombo airport they pick up duty free goods, much beyond the legally allowed value, and travel back to Chennai by the evening flight. It is just like somebody going to work in the morning and coming back home in the evening!!

The Kuruvis, numbering almost 20 in that flight, has very cordial relationship with the flight attendants and stewards. It seems they almost know each other by their first names. Can't be anything if you are traveling on a daily basis on international flights. The "kuruvi" who was sitting in front of our row was making so much of noise and disturbance during the entire 1 hour flight. He was busy packing and re-packing the cigarettes and liquor bottles throughout the flight time. He hardly bothered for any seat belt sign or on the safety of hand luggage even during take-off. He was keeping loose lugguage, in this case, Jack Daniels whisky bottles beneath his seat. The air-hostess came and mildly chided him to keep it in the overhead bin but that was of no use. He hardly bothered about it and neither she insisted on it. Just to silence some other passengers who were very irritated by the behaviour of this person. Mind it, this is on an international flight!! What about safety of other passengers??

I was told that these Kuruvis are part of the bigger gang and the people who actually travel on a daily basis and physically carry the goods are small change in the entire chain. They work for Rs500 - Rs1000 for every trip. Thanks to excellent connections and commissions, the airport and security staff allow these "kuruvis" to go without proper immigiration and customs checks. Few "Kuruvis" do this daily journey as a kind of self-employment tool!

To give you a small example, I was told that a Jack Daniels full bottle of whisky costs Rs750 at the Customs Free shop in Colombo and they are able to sell the same in the outside market for Rs1500 per bottle. Therefore, they make a tidy sum of Rs750 per bottle.

It seems to be a thriving business and was very curious to find out how these Kuruvis were treated at the Chennai Airport by the Customs officials. I followed the "kuruvi" who was sitting in front of me and to my astonishment he was walking boldly without blinking his eyes through the green channel. I know for sure that he was carrying at least 10 Jack Daniels whisky and a huge carton of foreign cigarettes on that day. Our customs officials, as expected, didn't stop this guy and he was long gone before I could come out after the Customs officials questioning!!!!!!!

This world provides plenty of opportunities for self-employment and this one is truly fascinating!

Questions to ask before a foreign tour

The moment we decided to go on a foreign tour, the following are the questions which come to my mind:

Should we go on our own or through a tour operator?

This is the most important question to be answered before you embark on the tour. If you are global traveler and have good experience traveling across the world, you know the nuts and bolts of international travel, cheap places to stay etc., then it is fine to explore on your own. Else, it is advisable to go with a tour operator. Any decent tour operator would ensure that you get to see the important tourist attractions, would arrange for local transport and will help you in emergencies. The downside is it is little more expensive than “do it yourself” stuff. We decided to go through a tour operator.

How many clothes to carry?

We had packed our bags full when we embarked on our 7 day trip. We took a cautious approach by packing extra clothes for all of us. In hindsight, I think we could have managed with only 60% of the clothes what we have taken with us.

Would we get vegetarian food items?

Yes, you would have sufficient vegetarian options if you are visiting only KL and Singapore. We again erred on the side of caution by packing our bags with ready to eat food, snacks, pickles etc., In hindsight, it was a total disaster and we almost took back 75% of what we had taken with us. My advice would be not to bother carrying vegetarian food stuff and snacks if you are visiting only KL and Singapore. There are plenty of vegetarian options and you will be able to manage. But if you are visiting other places in Malaysia like Lankawi or Maleka, it would be advisable to carry some stuff with you.

How many days are enough?

The standard tour package for KL/Singapore comes in 6 days/7 nights from most of the operators. If the tour operator plans it well, it is an ideal time period. But there would always be more to see and do in these places so if you are keen, you may be able to increase it by couple of days. You can tell the tour operator and he will book you a hotel room for the extra two days. Of course, this costs you extra money.

We decided to return back with the tour party and didn’t extend of our stay. Probably if I had extra holidays I would have loved to extend it by at least 1 day.

Is it for relaxation or for sight seeing?

If it is for relaxation and not for sight seeing, then these kinds of packaged tours to KL/Singapore would not work. There are definitely better places to unwind than KL or Singapore in India itself. These places are only for sight seeing. So be prepared to stretch yourself physically during the tour. The tour programme is going to be packed so you can’t crib about that later. So the tour to KL/Singapore is not for relaxation.

How much money to take?

The tour charges you pay locally in India take care of the most of the expenses onsite. The major expenditure would be entry fees to amusement parks, memorials etc., so you don’t need to carry huge foreign exchange with you. It is good to carry couple of international credit cards to meet any contingency. But if you are planning huge shopping trips in these countries, it is always better to carry foreign exchange from India. At few places, the foreign exchange conversion rates are not favorable.

Is it necessary to have travel insurance?

I feel it is mandatory to have travel insurance when you go on pleasure trips like this. In case of any medical emergency when you are there, travel insurance helps you to meet most of the medical costs. Travel insurance for limited period of foreign travel is available at very attractive prices. We took travel insurance for 3 of us for 7 days at Rs1500/- which gave a cover of USD100, 000. That is quite a sum.

Is it cheaper to buy things abroad?

My experience from this tour is it is not cheaper to buy from places like Singapore or Malaysia. It is on par or higher in most of the cases, particularly with electronic goods like mobiles, cameras, PSP, laptops etc. The only exception is LCD TV’s. It is way cheaper, say by Rs15K or so compared to India. The other big downside if you purchase from these countries are the non-availability of International warranty. They provide only local warranty which is not applicable to India. So check with the vendor if the product you are looking at has international warranty.

Ulagam Sutrum Valliban!!

Came back to India last week after spending 6 days in Malaysia and Singapore during the first week of May. Spent 3 days in Malaysia covering KL and Genting Highlands and 2 days in Singapore, with 1 day completely lost in travel and waiting at the airport!!

We went as part of a package tour organised by Surya Travels, T Nagar, Chennai. These are interesting places and you definitely need more time than 6 days to do complete justice of sight seeing. I will write a separate post on Malaysia and Singapore.

One thing I admired the most in both these countries is the quality of Tamil spoken by the natives of the country. Even after so many years being away from Tamilnadu, they speak very good Tamil and retain most of the cultural aspects.

Kerala Government - is there someone awake?

We all know that Jet Airways is having a tough time managing their Pilots strike for the last 6 days or so. Almost 90% of the flights are cancelled on a daily basis and we truly know what kind of bad public opinion Jet Airways has earned over the last week or so.

That does not deter our "God's own country" tourism department to launch full page advertisements jointly with Jet Airways. Kerala Tourism has an agreement with Jet Airways and they have launched a joint programme. There is a website as well www.jet2kerala.com. The last 3 days or so, I am seeing full page advertisements from Kerala Tourism about their association with Jet Airways.

I am at a loss to understand how Kerala Tourism can be ignorant of the ground situation and goes about giving full advertisement about this offer. There should be somebody responsible in the Kerala Government who should be watching the current happenings in the aviation industry in India and re-schedule the advertising blitzkrieg. If they think it is a good time to advertise along with Jet Airways, then only God can save!!!

Maruti Suzuki Ritz - making me dream!

The car which is currently occupying my mind is Maruti Suzuki Ritz. I have seen it on the road and I really like its tall boy style. Easy to get in and get out, particularly for the elderly people. It looks very spacious and the engine looks really peppy. I have not test driven it but just watched Ritz while waiting at the traffic signals. The other day, a Ritz really zipped past my poor 3 year old Santro on the lights turning green. I have heard people comment about the shape of the car, but somehow I like it.

Maruti vehicles comes with easy maintenance and service facility and I am sure this Ritz is going to make waves in the market place. It comes in Petrol and Diesel and the price range for Diesel starts at Rs4.62 lakhs as per the TV commercial. On road price must be much higher.

My impressions on Goa - Part I

This is the first time I have been Goa though I had at various times tried to make a trip. When I landed in Goa, the first thing I noticed is that it is a replica of Kerala. The greenery, serene atmosphere and the peace looked exactly like Kerala to me, where I have been couple of times. What a similiarity between Kerala and Goa? I got the answer when I learnt that according to Hindu Mythology, the entire Konkan area comprising of Kerala, Goa and coastal Karnataka were created as a result of an arrow shot by Sage Parasurama. Still need to figure out why he shot the arrow to create Konkan area!! So it typically looks the same.

My stay in Goa was at The Kenilworth Beach Resort and Spa, a 5-star property (as claimed by the website) and also part of the Small Luxury Hotels of the world. Good of these hotel guys that they arranged for a pick-up from the Madgaon Railway station. We were picked up along with a couple from Bangalore in their late 40's, with Punjabi surnames. We started chatting with them and it so turned out that they are regular visitors to Goa and they live in Bangalore for many years. Before we embarked on the journey itself, called up people who been there before to find out how you have to be prepared for the trip. During one of these discussions with a friend, we were warned that Goa is difficult place for vegeterians. So we prepared ourselves before we left Chennai mentally. But that is not enough right.. you have to take care of your stomach as well. So went about buying snacks for a small fortune before we left for Goa. Snacks bag was bigger than my travel bag!!

We have planned for a stay of 3 nights and 3 days at this resort and plan to visit places nearby without straining too much. How many times we go to a resort for rest and rejuvenation. My idea is eat, rest and relax. Luckily the hotel where we stayed had a beautiful spread of vegeterian stuff. Thank God...

Have you realised that when you go to hotel and resorts like this, you tend to feel little nervous because what all is going to be charged and what not. We were not sure if the package we have opted for is going to cover all the three meals, how about the charges for usage of recreational facilities etc., So the first thing I did after reaching the hotel and finishing my lunch was to sit with the Guest Relations and got clarified on that front. Even after getting clarified that all meals are part of the package, we still had the doubt that if we would be charged extra.

Kenilworth beach resort is a compact hotel situated on the beach. The rooms are well furnished and I didnt have anything to complain. The housekeeping was good and the service was also quick. The only thing I didnt get was national newspapers. I was given a local English daily where it covers the nook and corner of Goa but very little beyond that. The vegeterian food spread was decent and you had all the options ranging from roti to rice to dhall to vegetable curry. Yeah, Sambar and Rasam were missing!!?

We did manage to go around on a sight seeing tour organised by the hotel which consisted of a visit to Mangeshi Shiva temple, St Francis Xavier Church and a cruise on the Mandovi river during sunset. On the third day, we managed to visit a place called Big Foot and an old Portugese styled mansion. Each one of them requires a para of description so I would leave it to a separate post. Each one of them requires a para of description so I would leave it to a separate post.

We took the flight back from Goa to Bangalore and then to Chennai. While going by train it took good 14 hours to Goa from Bangalore but in flight it hardly took 3 hours to be at Chennai inspite of a 1 hour stop-over at Bangalore. In Bangalore airport, even transit passengers like us were also asked to pay a Airport Usage Fee of Rs260/- per head. Thats a lot of money and everybody was cribbing big time about this.

Day 2 - Pondy Trip

Day 2 started with a visit to Tiruvanamalai' s famous Arunachaleswar Temple.  We planned to start early but ended up going to the temple only around 8 AM.   This temple is magnificient, majestic and these words really dont explain it fully.  I have been to Tiruvanamalai once earlier but that was many many years ago.  With the early morning Sun behind, the Rajagopuram looked divine.  I tried to capture it and photo is here. It is quite a big temple with couple of prakarams, four huge nandis and a Pathala Lingam(Shiva Lingam under the ground).   The temple is under the supervision of Archealogical Survey of India (ASI).   On the day we visited, the Lingam was beautifully decorated with flowers and it was a sight to behold.  I would have loved to stay on for more time for the peace and tranquility this temple brought in.  I need to visit this temple more often, atleast once a year.  Not a difficult thing to do considering the fact that it is just 180 kms from Chennai.  

From the Arunachala temple, we headed straight to the Sri Ramana Maharishi ashram.  Ashram has the samadhi of Sri Ramana Maharishi and his mother.  At the time we were there, the abhisekham for the Shiva Lingam was going on.  An interesting thing here was I found many westerners in traditional Indian attires like Saree, Salwar Kameez and Dhoti.   I understand that they live in the Ashram and they participate in the daily pujas.  There is a meditation room as well which Sri Ramanar has used when you he was living in the ashram.  I bought various books published by them which included a brief biography of Sri Ramana Mahrishi.  

The next stop on our trip was Sathanur dam.  This is a picnic spot but on a hot summer day you don't find these places amusing.  When others were busy doing boating, I read the biography of Sri Ramana Maharishi.  Among various other things which really astonished me was the fact that Sri Ramana Maharishi came to Tiruvanamalai as a 17 year old boy and didn't speak to anyone for 11 long years as he meditated in various places in Tiruvanamalai.  This included his mother and uncle who came to persuade him to return back to Madurai, his hometown.   Once he was found meditating inside Pathala Lingam room within the Arunachalaeswara temple.  The room had vermins which started eating Sri Ramana Maharishi's legs but he didn't get disturbed by them.  Finally he was found when the temple authorities went inside Pathala Lingam room to clean it and surprised to find the Maharishi meditating there with no signs of pain inspite of blood oozing from his leg.  Nobody knows how long he was inside that room.  That was his focus and concentration he forgot the pain, hunger and other natural things.    Need to read a lot more about his life and teachings.  

The lunch at Tiruvanamalai turned out to be a damp squib at Arunai Anantha, a resort kind of place.  We waited for 30 minutes to get served, with poor quality food and poor service.  After lunch, I felt really tired having already driven 400 odd kms in 30 hours.  Took a quick nap before we headed straight to Chennai.

The drive of 180 odd kms to Chennai was on the GST road which was much easier.  All along the route, I was terribly annoyed to find residential plot lay-outs every other km.  It is too much of real estate and I can't appreciate that.  

Mahabalipuram, Pondy, Cuddalore, Tiruvanamalai, Chennai (Read like how the conductor shouts in a mofussil bus-stand) - Day 1

Yeah,  exactly I went like a mofussil bus from Chennai to Mahabalipuram, Pondy, Cuddalore, Tiruvanamalai and back to Chennai in 2 days flat.  I drove 600 kms end to end on my Hyundai Santro and it did help me by not giving any trouble.  Better it doesn't, because I have spent Rs6600 for servicing it just before I went on this tour.  We were accompanied by our cousin sister, brother-in-law and their son.  

Day 1: (Mahabalipuram, Pondy, Cuddalore)

We drove to Mahabalipuram first and the idea is to have a quick look at the rock sculptures of 5 rathas, Arjuna's penance and the shore temple.  However, you plan it doesn't matter you end up spending more time than envisaged in 5 Rathas and Shore temple.  The last stop is the Arjuna's penance, which I have seen it before.  But I couldn't leisurely look at it.  I just rushed through took some photographs infront of the monument and moved on.  I dont like these things to happen but due to paucity of time during these kind of tours, you end up doing things which are not to your liking.   Do you know, in front of Arjuna's Penance, there is a fantastic Perumal Temple which is more than 1000 years old.  We did visit and pray and had a delicious "thathiyonam" (curd rice) prasadam.  

Enroute to Pondy, we finished our breakfast, rather a late one around 10.30 AM in front of the Great Lakes School of Business Management on the ECR.  I have been Pondy atleast 5 times but never managed to visit the global village, Auroville.  So I was determined not to let go off this opportunity.  In Auroville, 2000 people from 43 countries stay and there is a big meditation hall in the shape of a golden ball, called Matrimandir.  To meditate in this hall, you need to take permission atleast 2 days in advance.  

We went in,  had a look at the Matrimandir and took snaps standing in front of it.  Without snaps, what is there in the tour? At times, I feel that we travel hundreds of miles to just stand in front of a monument and take photographs.  We dont spend time understanding the significance or the efforts involved in building it but we are just happy taking a snap in front of it.  Mind it, to reach the Matrimandir, which is gold plated you have to walk 1 km.  For elderly people, there is an electric car which takes you.   There are stalls in Auroville which sells soaps, agarbathies and perfume made using natural herbs.  When we checked out the price, we were really astonished.  A natural soap, weighing 75 gms costs Rs65.  Not much of sale happening but people keep looking.  We should have stopped at that but we ventured and looked at their boutiques.  Beads, short kurtas, perfumes and candles are all being sold at very high prices for the Indian consumer.  Probably, they are targeted at the visiting foreigners, where their EURO and Pound can buy it. 

After Auroville, went to Pondy and found out a hotel by name Ram International.  The lunch was fabulous but more than that the hospitality of our table bearer was excellent.  He was so good that he served us as if we were royals.  I think more than the food, people make these businesses successful.  This bearer, who in his 40's, really made it a wonderful lunch.  We tipped him generously (of course,  generous according to Indian standards) and left for the Pondy beach. 

Pondy beach should no way be called a beach because there is no sand.  The beach has been barricaded with stones and then a concrete pavement.  You can walk on the pavement but you cant touch the water.  Spent sometime there before heading towards the Aurobindo Ashram.  The streets around the Ashram are very neatly maintained and there is absolute silence around the ashram.  There is a "no horn" sign around all the streets of the Ashram and people follow it truly.  Inside the Ashram, as usual, there is absolute silence.  I have vivid memories of visiting this Ashram as a 12 year old boy and after that I have visited it atleast another 3 times.  Every time I visit,  I always think that I should go and read about Aurobindo and the Annai, their thoughts on life, why they chose Pondy etc., but I have not done it so far.  Even when I went in this time, I gathered the same feeling.  It is only a click away now on the web but somehow it doesn't occur.  For these kind of things to happen, there should be some divine intervention, I guess. 

Straight out of the Ashram, Santro started towards Cuddalore.  There is nothing special in Cuddalore but as a part of our tour program we have two important temples to cover.  Pataliswaram Sivan Temple and the Hayagriva temple (the God of Learning) at Tiruvandipuram.  Both these temples are few kms away from the Cuddalore so has to go to Cuddalore.  Again here, these temples are more than 1000 years old and they are truly astonishing.  I keep wondering how the flats built 25 years ago are crumbling but these temples have withstood the test of time for more than 1000 years.   We did manage to have a good darshan at Hayagriva temple but the Devanatha swamy Perumal temple was too crowded for the evening pooja, we have to just pray from outside.  If we had waited, it would have taken more than an hour to complete the darshan.  

Left Cuddalore around 6.45 and has to drive 120 kms to reach Tiruvanamalai for the night stay.  We were in two minds to drive in the night and reach TVMalai or stay back at Cuddalore or Panruti.  But decided to drive and reach Tiruvanamalai or otherwise we would loose couple of hours in the next day morning.  That night drive was little difficult as it was only a double track road with no centre median and beaming headlights.  I had to be extremely focussed on the road.  After a strenuous 2 and half hours of driving, we reached Tiruvanamalai.  

Rendezvous with SAV School

This time when I was Tuticorin I was determined to meet my Accountancy teacher Mr Paneerselvam of SAV Hr Sec School. I am convinced that what I am today is due to the sound fundamental knowledge of commerce and accounting imparted by this great teacher. (Now you know who needs to be blamed!! ha!! ha!!) It has been atleast 10 years since I met him. He was a wonderful teacher of Accountancy and Commerce in my XI and XII standard. He was our Class Teacher as well. The way he taught fundamentals of accounting are still evergreen in memory. He used to lay lot of importance on discipline as well. There are many stories on how he used to be a real taskmaster but in hindsight it is all for the good of the students only. He commanded the respect and adoration of all my classmates. Even today when I meet up with my classmates, his teaching was fondly recalled and we have all enjoyed it to a great extent.

I went to SAV School and met him on an afternoon. Age has caught up with him and he is balding but it didnt anyway diminish his wit and acumen. I appraised him of what I am doing and thanked him profusely for all his mentoring and guidance. Even after many years, he still remembers the day I joined the SAV School for the XI standard commerce stream. When I got decent marks in X standard, I was expected to join the Science stream and aspire to be an Engineer or a Doctor, as a natural progression. But I got inspired by my elder cousin brother who did his C.A and I was determined to join the Commerce Stream and that too in SAV School. Those days SAV School Commerce stream was the place to be if you wanted to study Accountancy and Commerce group. By the time I was leaving Karapettai after my X standard, the school has already introduced the commerce stream. They wanted me to join it but my mind was elsewhere, to be with my friends in SAV. Somehow I managed to dodge the Karapettai School Headmaster and got myself admitted in XI commerce stream in SAV. The reason being, it is closer to my home and SAV Commerce stream had a reputation of highest order. Partly due to teachers like Mr Paneerselvam.

Coming back to the present, my Sir was lamenting about the poor intake of students into the Commerce stream now and the lack of interest for it. I was told that SAV school overall is at the receiving end of the mushrooming of private schools. The students strength has dropped to 800 students from 1400 students or when I was there. Many classrooms has been kept locked and the number of sections in each class has been drastically reduced due to lower number of students. What a fall for this great educational institution of more than 150 years of existence. My father and uncles studied in this school and it has produced many a stalwarts including yours truly!!?? I was truly shocked to know that my Economics teacher Mr Madhavan (Madhu) is no more. He died couple of years ago due to a massive heart atack. More than a teacher, he also lived in my same locality and I know him for many years. Very sad.. but that is what life is all about. All things happen sudden and abruptly.

After that I went around the School and took some photographs of the buildings, "Pei" maram and all in true "Autograph" style. But once in a while you need a dosage of nostalgia to keep yourselves up and running. Isnt?

The journey

Once you are into the train you feel excited about the travel. I like watching the distant lights and the cool breeze which blows across, particularly during the winter months. On the way to Chingelput, you have Paranur Railway station. This RS has been wonderfully well maintained thanks to the fact that it is within or very close to Mahindra World City.

I dont know how, but I have this great luck of always getting myself a seat in the last coupe close to the toilet. You are blessed with an odour which you have to endure for the next 12 hours. I started observing my fellow passengers, couple of them were State Government employees. They were returning to Tuticorin after their departmental meeting at chennai. They would have also missed the train due to Vijayakanth's rally but managed to catch the train in the very last minute, literally.

Going by their conversation, I felt that Government job is not a joke. They are relatively middle-management Government Officers who are required to travel very frequently to Chennai and other districts for meeting. They also have deadlines to meet and reports to submit. The only difference between Government and Private sector is that their deadlines are little more meaningful, like submitting a report by the end of the month...

The advantage of having an upper berth is that you dont have to wait for the fellow passengers to start sleeping. I slept off early waiting to meet my friend tomorrow morning at the Tuticorin Melur station. My friend, Balaji, has been in Tuticorin, born and brought up there, and has been working with a shipping company. He has been working with the same shipping company for the last 10 years and he is happy about it!!

My friend was at the railway station to receive me and take me to his home, which is literally a stone's throw away on the Andal Street. The street has undergone some change in a way, because you have separator lines drawn. It was very funny to see a road of the size of Andal Street having a separator line. You can imagine how it would look like when the width of the road is only 20 feet. Thanks to Tuticorin becoming a Corporation from Municipality.

My friend jokingly said that there are few things which have cropped up due to the fact that Tuticorin has been upgraded as a Corporation. Traffic signals at couple of more locations, median lines on the roads are the only advantage he has seen since becoming a corporation.

Catching the train to Tuticorin!!

Over the weekend I was off to Tuticorin to visit Lord Murugan at Tiruchendur. It was a very pleasant trip as I managed to meet many of my old college mates and even my teachers. But the time between I left home and reached Egmore was a story by itself.

The travel started with me leaving home a good 90 minutes before the train departure time to catch the Pearl City Express on 18 Oct at Egmore. Thanks to our Captain Vijayakanth's party rally on that day, Chennai was condemned to worst possible traffic. I took my own slow strides to walk to the nearest bus-stop, completely oblivious of the traffic chaos on the Chennai roads, and happily waited for around 10 minutes waiting for a direct (!!) bus to Egmore. After waiting for 10 long minutes, I decided that bus won't work and I should catch an auto to reach Egmore. I waved for couple of passing autos but all of them are full. Then I gathered all my courage to go to the nearest auto stand and asked for Egmore. Becos of the fact that "stand autos" are prohibitively costly. That day I didnt have a choice. I need to catch the train. The driver coolly asked for Rs200/- citing the traffic congestion. I didnt have much choice since I have already lost 15 minutes and with only 75 minutes to go in the mad traffic, I become little nervous. Got into the auto and before I could travel for a quarter of a kilometer, I realised that I am not going to catch the train as it has already taken 5 minutes to cross that distance. Then I remembered my father's advice of going to the nearest railway station and catching a train to reach Egmore would be the fastest route.

I struck a deal with the auto driver mid-way asking him to take me to Mambalam railway station instead of Egmore. Luckily, he also recognised that it is no use to drive all the way to Egmore and get Rs200 and agreed to take me to Mambalam for Rs100. Our auto drivers are very resourceful in the sense that they know the lanes, by-lanes, short-cuts and all possible ways if you completely surrender yourselves to them. My auto driver took me to the Mambalam station in a flat 25 minutes. So I am still left with 50 minutes to catch the train. I was whistling my way into the Mambalam station thinking that it is going to take another 10 minutes to go from Mambalam to Egmore on the track and what to do for the next 40 minutes at Egmore RS before the Pearl City Express starts rolling.

Alas, all my wild dreams fell flat the moment I entered the Mambalam RS. It has been many years since I travelled on a suburban train and I have to ask couple of people before even finding where to get tickets. Now at the Mambalam RS, tickets are issued on the walk over-bridge and I had the shock of my life when I saw atleast 150 people standing across 3 counters. Whom do you blame now? Myself or the maddening Diwali shoppers? Why do all these people come to Mambalam for buying their stuff? Cant they buy it close to their home? All kinds of thought cross your mind. Time available has already shrunk to 45 minutes and after seeing this Hanuman tail like queue, I understood that catching the train is becoming difficult.

I stood in the queue and for couple of minutes there was no forward movement of the queue. Your anxiety levels start increasing in those conditions and you start cursing the Government employees for their poor work culture. The queue started moving and in another 10 minutes I am out of the queue with my ticket in hand. I should appreciate the person who was issuing the ticket as people come with different ticket requirements and he patiently dishes out without any delay.

All the while, standing on the overbridge I was praying/hoping no train to Beach station passes by when I was standing in the queue. Otherwise, you have to wait for another 15 minutes to get the next train. Luck didnt run out and no train did pass through while I was waiting in the queue to get the tickets. With the ticket in hand, I walked down the stairs and stood at the platform expecting the train to come. But is it not so simple that train comes just like that. It makes you hope and pray! You start getting worries like are you waiting at the right platform, even though you know for sure that it is. You go and ask couple of people to get a confirmation. Finally, the train came and I got into the train. By then, it was already down to 30 minutes.

Trains are an efficient transport mechanism I must admit. I was at Egmore in another 10 minutes. Walked up and down the over-bridge and I managed to find my S3 compartment, I was left with hardly 12 minutes. But I cant think off what would have happened if I had chosen to continue my journey in the auto from my home to Egmore. I would have definitely missed the train. People who were travelling with me on that day were coming in after I reached the station with everybody cribbing about the Vijayakanth's rally.

Thanks to my father for telling me the Mambalam route, I made it on time and started the journey to Tuticorin. Though everybody dislikes when Father tells you to leave early to catch the train, definitely it is coming from lot of experience. Better respect it!!

Mural Paintings at Courtallam - hold your breath!!

Courtallam should be equally famous for its mural paintings as it is popular for the water falls. Courtallam is the place where the Chithirai Sabhai is based out of.  I understood from a board on the temple where I shot this wonderful pictures is the fact that there were 5 sabhas.  They are:

1. Thiruvalangadu - Rathina Sabhai (Gem)

2. Chidambaram - Kanaga Sabhai (Gold)

3. Madurai - Rajada Sabhai (Silver)

4.  Tirunelveli - Tamira Sabhai (Copper)

5.  Courtallam - Chithirai Sabhai (Painting)

But the saddest thing is I dont anything about these various sabhas.  If somebody knows about this, please let me know. 

The photos have come out very well considering the very poor light conditions inside the temple. What is really interesting is the fact that these paintings have withstood the test of time.  It is estimated to be more than 600 years old.  These paintings are drawn using herbal paint.  

These mural paintaings have undergone lot of abuse from various visitors with many people writing their names on top of the paintings.  In spite of that, it has survived the human onslaught.  A must visit place in Courtallam.  Ask for Chithrai Sabhai and any local person can guide you.  

For the treasure in this temple, there is absolute no control on entry or exit.  There are no care-taker for this temple.  The temple is undergoing renovation and as responsible citizen, I contributed something for the renovation.  

Courtallam - a place may not be worth the hassle!!

Courtallam is famous for its natural waterfalls on the eastern ghats, a top tourist attraction and a good 65 kms by road from Tirunelveli. Courtallam is a must visit place for all who go down south of Tamilnadu during June - Sept period every year. So I also went ahead with the plan of going to Courtallam.

There are many falls named like old falls, thenaruvi, five falls, sitraruvi etc., I decided to go on a weekday rather than during the weekend as I was warned of huge crowds. You have to stand in queue to have a bath at the falls. Luckily for me there was not much of crowd. We started visiting one falls after another but after a couple of them, the interest levels waned down. We felt like it is more of the same. We totally covered 4 falls and decided to leave. Yes, it is good to experience the falls but in my opinion it is definitely not worthwhile moving from one falls to another just to ensure we have stood below all the falls!!!

Few things which I noticed are:

1. Unruly crowd behaviour inspite of less number of people. Particularly, the ladies section was even worser than the male section. Lot of pushes and pulls resulting in commotion under the water.
2. No proper facilities to change clothes.
3. Exorbitant parking fees. For every falls you go you have to shell out Rs30/- irrespective of the time spent. I dont understand why they charge so much for car parking when no facilities or amenities provided.

My agony is, Courtallam is one of the foremost tourist attractions and it doesnt take much for the Government to arrange for world-class facilities. There is absolutely no proper change room, no good drinking water facility, no good urinals or toilets near any of the falls. Why we treat our tourist attractions and tourists with such contempt? When we are going to change the dont care attitude?