Belated Good Bye and Belated welcome

                Belated bye bye to the sweet 2018 and the same belated welcome for a healthy, peaceful and subsequent 2019. Being happy to be late than never. Late only in this post but a grand farewell and a standing ovation fused there as every year at 12 midnight between 2018 andn2019 with the prayers and greetings.


                Really, abundantly thankful to God for making me accept things as they were with great fortitude in 2018; life has to go is the truth. With the same blessings and hope, we are truly confident to make the coming year as happy as possible and make others happy, which is nothing but reconciliation.


              It may sound silly, even strange ; the last couple of months of 2018 was most endearing to me, as I was able to resume my writing. The years 2016 and 2017 had been totally blank, with not even a single post in both my blogs. The reasons may be a hundred and one but feeling was one; that of guilt.

          The year 2018 dawned at New Zealand; the first time, out out of the boundaries of our homeland. The joy was none the less exuberant, flooded in the colorful fireworks at the City Tower, Auckland. Awesome was it! 


       2018 was special with the dawn at New Zealand faraway from Coimbatore; again this year also it is away from Coimbatore. We welcomed the New Year with the Poojas and prayers at our ancestral home in Sattur. Highly hopeful that God will bless us and the entire family with good health and the subsequent  wealth, born out of it ! Once again welcome ,  2019!  

       





      

Hibernation and Rejuvenation

          Long hibernation..unduly long..more than three years since my last post..unbelievable..the urge to write was always there; more was the guilt. Looks like something supernatural, as if some charm was preventing me to sit and write,pursuing my passion; finally the day has dawned. Many a days, the constant but lingering thought was, with which topic to start with; that also flashed in a moment. The historical Tamirabharani Pushkaram, which has taken the river and our hometown, Tirunelveli to global heights.


         Sans no belief in astrology, the Pushakaram did not come close to my heart but the fascination for the perennial Tamirabharani and Tiruneveli, the town of my birth, education, marriage and even the place of my son's birth was something beyond comprehension .A couple of years back, happened to read the fiction, The River Sutra by Gita Mehta, sister of the Orissa chief Minister, Naveen Patnaik.


        The story carried me to Nasik and the river Narmada and also to google for the beautiful images of the river and the cities on its banks. They in turn took me back to the days of our great civilization and culture.  No wonder ,the bonding between me and the enchanting Tamirabharani grew still stronger, prompting to make a trip to Tirunelveli. With the oscillating mind and no proper travel plans, the travel in public transport buses from Coimbatore to Tirunelveli and back was a  little bit tedious but the feeling was that of immense joy with a great sense of rejuvenation.

Super San Antonio

         
       The mesmerising River Walk is one of the main attractions in the city of San Antonio.We could spend only three hours in the city of San Antonia after attending the wedding of my cousin's daughter in Austin.A co passenger who happened to be from Chennai,flew with me from Kansas City to Dallas.He had done his Master's in San Antonia and lovingly insisted that, going all the way to Austin, though only for two days, the River Walk of San Antonia, just two hours drive should never be missed.


      The grandeur of the boat ride through the river for 40 minutes covering the entire city with its hotels, offices, historic buildings on both the sides of the river was awesome.Actually this is not a kind of river like any other river with sand banks on either sides but concrete walk ways and buildings, something rare and also picturesque.


    This wonderful view of river with the buildings seemed to be a miniature of Venice, despite the fact that Venice is more excellent in its majesty and magnitude.My brother from Detroit and a paternal cousin from Tennessee, also invitees for the wedding had backed up this trip from Austin to San Antonia and back.

          A word of thanks to them and the co passenger !

The Gala Wedding

           The gala wedding of my cousin's daughter held at his place, Austin is one the happiest and memorable moments of my second visit to US.Meticulous were the arrangements in each and every aspect, be it the decoration of the marriage podium and hall, the costumes of the bride, bride groom, their parents, hospitality shown to the invitees,the food etc.


         Weddings are always joyous occasions for us to bless the couple, to meet our relatives and friends, to renew the connections with the acquaintances, to become nostalgic and go down the memory lane, and also enjoy new contacts and of course the delicious wedding feasts.When the wedding is organised in a distant land, it becomes an event of double joy, happiness and enthusiasm. 

        Only the venue of the wedding happened to be miles away from our hometown but it was very much our wedding in respect of all the rituals, traditions and customs right from the auspicious Rose Manjal Thirumana Pathirikkai, Mappillai Azhaippu, Yanai Kudhirai Arasanipanai,Mulaipari Thelilthal, Pallangkuzhi Aduthal, Appalam Udaithal, Thengai Uruttuthal and so on,without any compromise. The real efforts, a natural outcome of the mutual love, care and interest of the close knit family seemed obvious, making the event grand and memorable.

      The Colour Purple, also an acclaimed novel by Alice Walker, a living legend among the American authors, was the theme of the wedding.The alternate invitation for the wedding, the the decoration of the wedding dais and the back drop, petals on the dinner tables and the glittering Sarees looked pretty and gorgeous in the purple colour. 

      The occasion made evident how my cousin's family maintains the ties with their friends and relatives.Such a huge crowd,from not only the local place but also from different parts of US and a few countries on both the days, one on the day of wedding in a star hotel and the next on day of the reception in one of the halls of the University of Texas was said to be unprecedented in most of the weddings held at US.

            The South Indian food arranged was very delicious and enjoyed well by the Americans.Many of them in our costumes of Sarees and Kurthas looked graceful.My cousin's family personally took care of each and everyone of the invitees.They were very overwhelmed at the presence of their cousins,relatives and friends from far and wide.

          Watching the weddings online, is known to us.Now,thanks to the 
parents of the bride, the auspicious occasion was enjoyed live by about two hundred of our relatives with fun, blessings and a sumptuous buffet in the Banquet Hall of Hotel Aryas at our home town, Tirunelveli. A novel and noble gesture!

        May God bless the couple with all prosperity and joy in their married life.

                

                    
               

A Happy Reunion

               A big thanks to my cousin and his spouse for organising the wedding of their daughter in the last week of August in Austin, that coincided with my visit to my daughter's house in Kansas.

               My last visit happened to be a great reunion of the three classmates in the city of Detroit.This time Austin turned to be the venue for the joyous wedding as well as the memorable meeting of siblings, aunts, uncles, relatives, niece and nephew from far and wide.

              The happy announcement of the wedding of my cousin's daughter at Austin, his home for more than twenty years was known to me five months prior to my departure to US.The very moment, I decided to attend the wedding.More than being my cousin,younger to me by two years and exactly of my immediate younger brother's age, he was very much a childhood friend for both of us in Tirunelveli, our hometown till he left for Coimbatore for his Bachelor's and Master's Degrees at the prestigious and magnificent Tamil Nadu Agricultural University. 

           On the occasion of the birth of my son in late 1970s, the greeting cards congratulating on the arrival of the new one, not common in those days sent by both of them, my cousin, a student of TNAU,Coimbatore and my brother of the Regional Engineering College, Trichi,now renamed NIIT are still cherished by me as treasures.

         In those days of living together in the same town paved the way naturally for strengthening the ties with the extended family members, developing an intimacy, the quality of compromise, feeling of security etc.No games with the computers, ipads but all outdoor games like Kabbadi, Killi, Pambaram, so on under the canopy of the branches  of the Mango and Tamarind trees. 

     For us girls with no gender bias of excluding boys, indoor games galore, naming a few are Cards, Thayakattam, Pambukattam, Pallanguzhi and Kalachi, a game  played by the girls with the throwing and catching of seven pebbles one after one in rhythmic motion using both the hands.Can there be a better indoor exercise for the entire arms, wrist, eyes and above all developing a focus with the eyes and a power of concentration with the mind simultaneously!Not the days of indoor equipments for exercise, investing a sizable amount!

    Going  to take bath and swim in the great perennial river, Thamirabharani, the life and pride of Tirunelveli, playing Pandi, other games and drawing water from the well could act as conditioners for physical fitness.

    Be it Kapparichai livu, Quarterly holidays,Arapparichai livu, Half Yearly holidays,Muzhu Parihcai livu, Annual vacation, a commuting by a town bus with the fare  of 20 paise  could bridge the gap of five miles between our houses.It was also fun going to movies, discussing them, taking sides with the great  heroes of those days, Sivaji and MGR, Jayshankar and Sivakumar.

    The crown of all the feathers is the visit to our family temple called Malai koil, nestled in the beautiful, sylvan settings of the Western Ghats.

    Above all drenched in the love and care of all the aunts, uncles, Achi and Thatha, the golden days of the childhood, partly enjoyed by our children could only be heard but rarely experienced by most of the kids of the future generation!

    

Grandpa Turned Corporate

             A very Senior Executive in an MNC, that is my younger brother was nothing but a wonderful Thatha to my grandson, Jiji of four and a half during his stay with us for three days at the residence of my daughter at Overland Park, Kansas.

            My brother was on a purely personal trip to US to attend the wedding of  a cousin's daughter at Austin, Texas. En route he had a break with us.Despite being a busy executive, he graces us with his presence on all the auspicious occasions of our big family, be it a Wedding, Engagement, 60 th B'day or 80 th B'day.Yet it would appear that he was physically present with his mind full of preoccupations about work.True, that the face is the index of the mind.

          The picture became totally different for the three days,on playing the role of an affectionate grandfather perfectly. Jiji also felt very comfortable calling him Thatha, hundred times a day, getting glued to him at home or at the outing or on the drive to his preschool or swimming class.Both of them were kids in their role play, reciting of rhymes and dance. All this seemed to be a typical flash back of the good old happy days,he spent with my son of the same age during his vacation from the IIM nearly three decades back.

       These days," Tension " has evolved into a buzz word even with the toddlers, a word unknown and unsaid by us till a few years ago.

       The best panacea is taking time off to disconnect the modern gadgets and reconnect with a mind cent percent charged only with love and care.

         

Uzhavar Sandhai at Kansas

                            Uzhavar Sandhai, only the name is Tamil but the Farmer's Market of the Kansas City where I felt very much at home with the crowd, is thousands of miles away from our home state

                           A couple of weeks back, while sharing my reflections on Adi Velli and missing my nativity,never had it occurred to me then that soon my visit to this Farmer's Market would make up for the loss and carry me very much to our local markets.That may be the daily Uzhavar Sandhai, just a ten minutes walk from our house at Coimbatore, other weekly Sandhais  within a radius of three kilometres from our residence, the mammoth Friday Sandhai at Sulur.The attractive Sandhais pictured in our Tamil films mostly in the fight scenes can be a perfect replica of the Farmer's Market here minus the hero and his enemies.

                  One side we can see  colourful tents selling garments, in an other stall small toys are heaped and so on.Then the long roofed corridors with the farmers standing behind the tables with their products on the table in small bowls called baskets.The tags with the price per basket is on the table.Their vehicles mostly vans and trucks  used for transporting their farm proucts from the farms can be seen parked near them.Right from our Vendaikkai, Katharikkai, Kothavarai, Murungaikkai , Vazhaipoo, Avaraikkai , Araikkerai, Murungaikkeerai all very fresh directly from the farms beckon us to buy everything.

                 What was so  joyous,surprising and exciting was the sight of the Pachai Sundaikkai,green and raw. Even in our hometown, Coimbatore, this Sundaikkai  is got   mostly from the kitchen gardens and rarely available in the markets. This Sundaikkai is very much relished by my daughter.During her visits to our hometown,at times it is sad that she has to forgo them, neither available in the kitchen garden nor in the market.So what else can make a mother happy to find the beloved vegetable of her kid in a faraway land, which has become her home!

             This green Sundaikkai is sold as Thai Brinjal or Pea Eggplant.Here Brinjal is tagged as Eggplant in all the Indian Stores and so also in the online cookery recipes.Our Brinjal and sundaikkai is much used in Thai Cuisines.

           Tender coconuts and Karumbu Juice delighted us as it was hot here in the mid of August.Similar to our Sandhais, cookies and eatables, not branded are displayed and sold in small sack.A number of small shops like our petty tea shops with the sound of the music could be spotted round.

           What made me happy and feel at home is the surging crowd holding the children in the hands or pushing  them in the strollers.Such a crowd has not been witnessed by me so far in the hospitals, big malls or even international airports.

            One more aspect of this Market worthy to be recorded is only cash payments, quite contrary to the system of swiping the cards everywhere even for transactions of less than five dollars.This seemed to me a different side of US.In and around the market,men singing and seeking arms could be sighted.

          Be it it India or the US, markets and masses go together!

          That is universality!