WHEN PERIYAVA STAYED AT SATARA Satara has the best basundi ever. Who would have thought? Bought for family and earned brownie points. The town gets its name from the Seven (Sat) Hills(Taras) surrounding it. A l ovely little place, with picturesque, narrow and hilly streets. People probably forget that it is also almost a hill station, considering it is close to three hill stations of Wai, Panchgani and Mahabaleshwar. Satara took me by surprise. And on the highway you can buy plump stawberries and figs. We travelled the busy National Highway No 4, for 120 kms to see the Uttara Chidambara Nataraja temple. It is the copy but smaller version of the sanctum sanctorum of the original Nataraja temple at Chidambaram. This temple at Satara was built at the behest of His Holiness Sri Chandrasekarendra Saraswathi Mahaswami, better known as Periyava. This was during Periyava's long stay of 11months at Satara, while he was en route to Pandharpur. No one knows why he sp...
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SHASTIPOORTHY IN FAMILY Which in essence means Sreeram, (Murali's youngest brother) has reached that significant number of 60. As per Wiikipedia, the Hindu calendar has 60 years which repeat themselves after every 60 years in an identical sequence. Meaning a person who has completed 60 has seen the complete calendar. Apart from that, in days of yore, survival was also an issue and hence completing the calendar was considered significant. And if the wife, after delivering all those children still survived when the husband turned 60, then a kalyanam was conducted to celebrate that. The cuter explanation is also that since the kids were not there when the parents were married (I mean, seriously!!), in sheer gratitude the children have started conducting shastipoorthy to honour their parents. There is some planetary confluence also, but suffice it to say that these occasions are a huge affair, apart from being expensive. Sreeram is a regular hoot and has quite the h...
HUGE WAVES AT THE REUNION I have been travelling quite a bit in the recent months. And each trip, five days off a suitcase, without my usual routine is now getting to me. And after some time too many people, too much socialising can really get me gritting my teeth. Having fun did not cease but you know what I mean. I just took my time writing about these memories because I was busy washing clothes, catching up with maid and the local society gossip and in general feeling good to be back to my chair and my remote..... But these two back-to-back trips were a treat. After the pampered Raj Bhavan stay in Jaipur we came down to Chennai and came to the VGP Golden Beach Resort. One among the oldest resorts, it was also known for being a location for film shootings. Our taxi driver informed me that serials are being shot into the nights even these days. In fact huge statues are still quite in vogue here and it is still a big-time wedding destination. And why not? The beach, fairly clean...
AJMER SHARIF DARGAH WITH DEVOTED CROWDS We drove into Ajmer to visit the Dargah. I had heard so much about it and sworn to visit it. The Governor saab indulged us. Higway No 8 was crowded and it goes right up to Ahmedabad via, Baroda, Surat and other places. Trucks, buses, cars and two wheelers abounded. Repair of highway is going on and so the siren whooped everywhere. At one toll booth one of the security guys would not allow us till we showed pass. He of course got a lesson in protocol. There is one dhaba famous for its 32 inch parantha, but we just had a sweet tea off a mud kulhad. And we reached Ajmer. Apart from the crowded roads, the highway is dotted with restaurants, dhabas, hotels, all along the way. Natural greenery but no agriculture because of lack of water. We had to go to Delhi Gate of the Dargah to be escorted and so we drove into the slimmest of roads with shops on either side. Shimmery stuff and had I walked I would have bought everything. It was dazzling ...
Wed, 15 Feb at 8:42 pm GUESTS OF RAJ BHAVAN, JAIPUR I am in a bit of a daze. Post breakfast, my toes and thighs toasting in the sun, I am watching peacocks crying out and running around in excited circles, just a foot away from me, while orange bougainvillea leaves fall over me in the slightest of the breeze. The parakeets and various other birds woke me up, along with the rest of the nearby world from the plentiful green trees that surround this well designed place. You may not have guessed but Murali and I are guests of the Governor Kalraj Mishra at Jaipur. Murali is on the advisory board of the governor for MSME and Employment. This time I am the attachment. Luckily M has to attend meeting while I can be lulled by the distant traffic sounds, the bird calls and the entire magical beauty of it all. They have these huge well appointed rooms with well designed beds and the warmest and softest of razais (someone actually asked me if I got up in the morning for a w...
EMPTY ROADS AND SOARING KITES It always astounds me when there are no traffic bottlenecks in Hyderabad city. On normal days there is always a reason for the bottleneck. And the worst ones are created for the VIPs, including Mana CM. Anyways all that was taken care of this entire week with everything being a cool ride and reaching destinations on time or before time. Thanks to everyone who was travelling in crowded buses to their home towns for this festival of the new alignment of the sun. All the favourite tea shops, bajji bandis, jilebi makers, vegetable vendors, bangle sellers had gone to Andhra Pradesh for the festival. The road leading to Kukatpally was a delight to drive on. In fact every road, every fly over, all junctions looked new, freshly paved and well behaved. Even as I write about it, it is time for us prepare ourselves to be back in the jam. On Pongal day we were invited by Gopalaswami and his wife Ranjani for lunch. They live in Vietnam and...