SATTUR, Our Town, Our Pride

                              Our hometown,no doubt is always a matter of pride for most of us and of course is the joy associated with our occasional visits to our hometown.This time, it was not a visit but a little longer stay of nearly 5 months with the extended break from my work.A reconditioning and remodelling of our 80 years old ancestral house became inevitable.The location of the house,sandwiched exactly between the old Trunk Road and the new four lane NH makes everything right from all the shops,temples, banks,railway station,bus stand,library,theatre etc. accessible within a walking distance of maximum, 10 mins.
                            Life in a small town has its own advantages, the best being free from the hassles of taking a town bus or an auto or a cab or our own vehicles for our day today activities and small errands.Hence absolute freedom from the trouble of parking our vehicles. There seems to be a giant leap in the growth of our town during the last four or five years.The bustling heart of the town makes me equate it with the Town Hall of Coimbatore, the place of our domicile.The ancient  Vinayakar Temple,Murugar Temple, Siva Temple,Perumal Koil and Mariamman koil,located close by with the vegetable and fruit markets ,the town can be said to be a miniature of Mylapore,Chennai(doesn't it sound a little "over" ) minus the commercial establishments,corporate offices,posh shops,towering appartments and the heavy vehicular traffic.All the temples celebarate their respective festivals throught the year.The week long PANGUNI PONGAL of the Mariamman Temple is a wonderful local festival drawing thouands of people every year.
                          AZHAGAR ATTRIL IRANGUTHAL( Lord Azhagar entering the Vaigai river on the day of Chitra Pouranami) is always synonymous only with Madurai.But even in our town on the same Chitra Pourami Day,the well decorated Lord Azhagar,riding his horse enters the river Vaipparu to the joy of his devotees.In the town of Srivilliputhur,40 kms.away and the seat of the famous Andal Temple,thousands rejoice to worship Lord Azhagar entering the Arjuna Nadhi.
                          To sum up, plentiful may be pleasures,living in a city or a metro but life in a village or a town is a source of joy and pride.
  

A Belated Welcome to 2012

                          A wonderful welcome to 2012 by the end of May as this is my first post in 2012 due to various constraints.A farewell,full of gratitude to 2011 which was something very special to us with abundant blessings from God,the best being the birth of our beloved grand son Jiji.The very first month January,2011 was the 80th birth anniversary of our dear mom.After celebrating the joyous ocassion with her and the other family members in Chennai, Jiji greeted us in February on my landing in US.That was exciting as it was my first visit.Later both my son and daughter visited India with their families and Jiji's first visit  to his country of of origin.In October,all the family members visited the famous Amirthakadeshwarar udanurai Abiramiamman temple  at Thirukadayoor for our Sashtiabthaboorthi to be followed by the Grahapravesam of the newly built houses of our son and daughter.A very big thanks to God.

Kansas city to Bengaluru

                                           Just only one post in the last five months.Five months were like five days due to the wonderful time,we had with my son's family from New Zealand and my daughter's family from US.
                                         This post would document my journey back home from US in July.I left for US from Chennai but entered India thr' Bengaluru as there was be a time constraint,  landing in Chennai to board the flight to my home town,Coimbatore.My onward journey to US covering 26hrs. 30 mins. of 3 flights and 2 transits took only "15 hrs".Now flying westward,I left Kan. City at 3.30 P.M on July 20 and reached Bengaluru,via London at 4.30 A.m on July 22.The actual duration of about 26hrs.had taken  " 37 hrs ". Having flown in more than a dozen flights in the past 6 months,with not much anxiety ,the grandeur of the Chicago O'hare and London Heathrow airports,missed during the onward journey was enjoyed while returning. 
                                       The farewell at the Kan.City airport bidding,good bye to Jiji after a stay of 6 months was tearful.Yet,the fond memories of the birth of jiji along with the birth of my twin blogs in US lingered  on my way back home.                                       

To our alma mater, the great St.Ignatius' Convent HSS

                                      This post is dedicated to our Alma Mater, St. Ignatius Convent Girls HSS, the pride of Palayamkottai. The supreme delight of my visit to Detroit was, it turned out to be a great reunion of three friends, one a US citizen, another a Canadian Citizen and the third an Indian citizen but all the proud products of the great St. Ignatius Convent HSS, Palayamkottai.


                                       Almost two months are going to be over after my landing in India. Preoccupied with so many other activities and travel, I could not post any thing, making me even guilty for not giving priority to my interest in writing. Finally the day has come.
                                       

                             Nearly three and a half decades ago ,a set of about ten to twelve girls used to sit in a circle under the shades of the tree  and have lunch, exchanging not only the the items of food but also the views on all subjects on earth, articles from newspapers, magazines etc. Happy, memorable and carefree days. Not even one among the teen aged girls had even dreamt, three of these school mates would meet, drive on the roads of US and enjoy a week end in their "fifties". In those early 1970's ,going to US was like going to Paradise

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                            I am from India, one of the friends has settled in Toronto, Canada and the other one has made Detroit her home .Both of them work for MNC's .As there was a slip in my Canadian Visa, my friend drove all the way from Toronto to Detroit to spend the week end with both the school mates. Back in India also, right from being the First lady of India, women excel in all the fields and are equal to men. Yet my friend, driving all the way alone for 4 hours ,which is very common there, to meet a class mate, made me proud and happy.


                        A delicious dinner was arranged for all of us, including my sister in law from Chennai and my brother's family. I spent the night in my friend's place and the three friends went down the memory lane with the recap. of the good, old happy days. Both the friends, though for different destinations left India in the same year 1985.The friendship continued through air mail letters, costing around Rs.10,  something precious in those days. Today even a 100 rupee seems to have no value.


                 The contact through' Face Book may be instant, wide and fast. It  gives us " pleasure" which can never be the same as the joy derived from the airmail letters of those days, safely treasured to be read repeatedly. This "joy and pleasure"  can be felt only by those who have experienced both ways of contact.
                                                        

The awesome Niagara Falls.

                             There isn't much that hasn't been said about the awesome Niagara Falls, one of Mother Nature's most impressive extravaganzas.The entire drive along the side of the lake from Detroit to Niagara Falls was simply exotic with the amazingly beautiful green vegetation on either sides of the highway.The mighty Niagara Falls can be said to be  the "Queen of the Waterfalls" by us, who have enjoyed the beauty of  our princesses like the falls of Courtallam,Pavanasam and even the wild Meenmutty Falls of Wayanad,rightly to be called the "prince', accessible after a dangerous trekking of 1 km.The two tours "the Maid of the Mist" and "The cave of the Winds" take us close to the waters of the grand spectacle.The colourful parks,the pathways, the beautiful tulips and the nearby city of Buffalo have lots to offer to the lovers of Nature.A whole day must be the least to enjoy the city of the Niagara Falls with the colourful illuminations at night.Unfortunately,with other plans for the next day, only 3 hrs. could be spent by us in Niagara ,devoting 13 hrs.for the drive up and down,for a distance of 614 kms. + 614 kms.A big thanks to my brother,not only for driving akka and anni from Chennai to Tirunelveli and back,the same day ,taking a day off from work but also letting his ears open without any option to the conversation between two ladies( back in India,we never get such time),which we proudly proclaimed to keep him alert behind the wheel.

                       The Niagara Falls of the US side is pretty much closer to Pittsburgh than to Detroit.Let me end this post with this story,may be useful to a few, to update things frequently.My original plan was to visit the Niagara of the Canadian side for more than one reason.First of all,it is close to Detroit,my brother's place,secondly my school mate and close friend lives in Waterloo, just a 100 miles away from the Niagara of the Canadian side and above all the immense joy of visiting one more country.Canadian visa could be obtained by surrendering the passport in person and collecting it after 3 hours at the Canadian Embassy,Detroit.The confidence of this facility made us never to bother about the official website,other than checking the requirements for the visa.To our shock and dismay, 3 weeks before my departure to Pittsburgh and Detroit,we came to know that the "same day visa service" has been withheld from March 13, due to some reasons.It was too late to send my passport by post for the Canadian visa and also alter my travel plans,scheduled well in advance.Not checking the website earlier along with the booking of the flight tickets made my daughter regret and amma's missing the prospect of visiting,yet an other country made my son more miserable than me. Kaikku ettiyadhu,vaikku ettavillai! Many a slip between the cup and the lip.

The Maid of the mist

                                                       

The Rainbow bridge connecting Cananda and USA

                                                                          

Canada on the other side of the Niagara

                                                 

The Cave of the Winds

                                                

Detroit, the legacy of Henry Ford

                                             The indelible impressions made by the Ford Rouge Factory Tour, the Henry Ford Museum, The Greenfield Village and the echoing of my Social Studies teacher's words," Girls, Detroit is known as the automobile city" made me give Detroit, this title, though I don't know if I'm right.Anyhow, the name that comes to one's memory, with Detroit, is Henry Ford


                                           The Ford Rouge Factory Tour was really exciting and interesting.The factory is in Dearborn and the tickets have to be bought in the premises of the Ford Museum.We were taken in the Ford bus to the factory, a few miles away.Inside the final assembling unit of the Ford trucks,it was very thrilling to see from elevated walkways up, the vehicles sliding one after the other in the moving assembly lines and stopping at the required points for the doors,moon roofs,steering wheels,wind shield screens etc. to be fitted up.The robots moving their arms and fitting the windshield screen was the greatest attraction with no thoughts of moving away from that point.Panel screens and the staff explaining the process make the tour more valuable.

                                         From the the observation deck on the top floor,we can enjoy the largest green,living roof of the world,an environmental innovation and protection.Documentaries illustrating the history of the world famous industrialist and how he realised his dream were screened in the legacy theatre.Another wonderful feature of the tour was the colourful array of the Ford vehicles from the earliest to the latest.

                                       Henry Ford Museum is,yet, an innovative vision of the great auto maker's interest in taking the inspiring past, the stories of the men and women who have changed the world ,to guide the posterity.All the sections like Agriculture,Heroes of the Sky, Automobiles in America, With Liberty and Justice for All etc. have some significant  exhibits and events that revolutionised the lives of men.

                                      To cite a few notable exhibits are the Bus,in which Rosa Parks declined to give up her seat to a white,sparking a great civil rights  movement,the camp bed used by the first President George Washington, the earlier air crafts,tractors,locomotives, the chair in which Lincoln was shot dead and the cars used by the various Presidents including the limousine in which John F.Kennedy was assassinated. As a scholar of English Literature, I was thrilled to see the desk used by Mark Twain, the famous American writer of the evergreen children's classic, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and the furniture used by the great essayist Edgar Allan Poe.A whole day or at the least half a day must be reserved to cherish the memories of the past under a single roof of 12 acres.

                             The Greenfield village is another great contribution of Ford,to depict how the Americans lived and worked, with independent buildings to demonstrate the crafts like pottery,printing,glass making etc.There are also the relocated homes of some eminent personalities like Thomas Alva Edison, a contemporary and a close aide of Ford ,the Wright brothers,Noah Webster,the great American who compiled the  dictionary and many other homes from the times, the country was founded to the present day, in a vast area of 200 acres.Greenfield Village is a great attraction to enjoy with the family in Detroit.


                           My sister in law from Chennai and myself had a very good time with my brother,his wife and the kids.Both my brother and sister in law kept off from their work in turn, to take us around their city.We enjoyed the Tamil,spoken with an American accent of English by the kids,a piano recital by my nephew and the Carnatic tunes of my niece.There was also a delicious dinner hosted by one of our relatives,settled there.

                              The supreme delight of my visit to Detroit was, it turned out to be a great reunion of three friends,one a US citizen, another a Canadian Citizen and the third an Indian citizen but all the proud products of the great St.Ignatius Convent HSS,Palayamkottai.




                                         
      
                                    

Pittsburgh,beyond my imagination

                                     Pittsburgh,  like any other city of US, is  a developed city with a downtown full of sky scrappers, a city of malls and the usual chain of stores and the seat of the renowned Venkatesa Perumal Temple.This was the image conceived by my "small brain" prior to my visit to the city.Far beyond my imagination,the scenic beauty of the city at the confluence of the two rivers,Allegheny and Monongahela to form the Ohio river with the back ground of the elegant and towering concrete structures is a wonderful sight. The beautiful view of the city,the three rivers, the golden triangle and the high rising buildings, all flooded in the night lights from Mt. Washington is rightly said to be one of the most beautiful vistas in US.This glorious sight should never be missed by those who drive by car to Niagara as it is only a 4 1/2 hrs. drive from there, if they are lucky enough to be blessed by the "god of Time."
                              The university of Pittsburgh looks like a"garden town within a city." The Cathedral of Learning, the second tallest educational building in the world with 42 storeys is a historic land mark.It has something unique to the the visitors.The Nationality Classrooms, as the name implies located in 2 or 3 floors of this cathedral, recreates the furniture, the podium and the black board of some of the countries of the world along with the arts and craft,the interesting and impressive characteristics of  the respective nations.
                           The Venkateswara Temple located on a small hill,surrounded by a lush green, beautiful vegetation and accessible after a few U turns brings back memories of our Ezhumalayan.Last week one of our Iyengar family friends,living nearby us said ,during their visit to Niagara for a couple of days by flight, they could spend only a few hours enjoying the falls while much of the time was taken away by their drive to the temple and back to Buffalo,the city of their stay near Niagara.Such is the power of this Lord Venkateswara with Thayar and Andal.Close to this temple is the Hindu Jain Temple housing all deities under one roof,promoting world peace and harmony.
                       Yet,one more temple on the way, is the Shridi Saibaba Temple in a calm and serene atmosphere.My niece, at whose invitation,I visited Pittsburgh, was brought up in Mylapore,near the Shridi Saibaba Temple.Baba, I believe, has blessed his ardent devotee to live in a city 1000 of miles away, yet to worship her favourite Baba and her husband's family deity, Sri venkateswara frequently.Thanks to her,her husband, my sister in law and the sweet little prince for making my stay comfortable and delightful.The Carnegie Science Centre, Museum, zoo, places worthy to be visited but missed as I could stay only for two days.The third day, my sister in law and myself left for Detroit paying a fare of 1 $ each for a distance of 350 miles still in a comfortable double decker mega bus,with the joy of getting an opportunity to travel in the public transport.