A couple of colorful Kolam from the neighborhood, shot on the day of the Pongal festival last month.
A cow and calf
drove down our street on Mattu Pongal – the third day (Jan 15) of the Pongal festival celebrated to thank cattle. Each year we find a cow or two drove down
our street after the worship or perhaps to or fro from a temple visit since
they are celebrated on this day.
Actor Surya used
that word in Soorarai Pottru, following actor Vijay in Master and G V too
uttered the word '**tha' in his upcoming film while expressing his anger. I
don't know what that means, but it's definitely an obscene word. Heroes
are better off avoiding this as it may affect the growing generation.
I have heard
some people speak this word casually, but since words like this come up in the films, it too will definitely affect the younger generation when great actors
speak that word. I wish they do not create an "F word" culture in
Tamil!
I have crossed the Veedur Dam
several times when going beyond Villupuram on the GST road or NH 45 (or NH 138
according to Google maps), and I could only see a piece of the bank of the
4.5km long dam. I mostly took this national highway for long trips, as it is a prime road led to the southern districts of Tamil Nadu, and thus I never had
time to stop to look at the dam as we need to cover long distances in travel.
 |
| The entrance arch to the dam |
 |
| The 3 Tainter gates |
 |
| The view of the dam park and car parking |
The total height of the concrete dam
is 32 feet, and the earth dam is 37 feet; and among the 4.8 km long earth dam,
only 430 feet is a concrete dam. Besides the 9 spillway shutters, there are 3
Tainter gates - a type of radial arm floodgates used in dams and canal locks to
control water flow - which is something I find new. The dam has two little
parks, one at the entrance of the road, beside the archway, and another close
to the dam provides some nice shadows to the visitors and play area for kids.
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| Driving down to downstream area through the shadowy park area |
A colorful lane on the white town in Puducherry and aka Pondicheery.
The Indian rain tree opposite our house.
The ripe
leaves fall off the tree
In the
air, the destination undefined
Yet the
infinite wind blow
To keep it
ground and far.
The
falling leaves seems a blessing
On anyone
under its tree
Perhaps,
because these are mature leaves
Equivalent
to be greeted by adults.
The leaves
depart on a journey undecided,
Gives way
to emerging shoots.
Perhaps,
because it is called Indian rain tree
It showers in golden yellow.
Let’s begin the month (February) colorfully!
Kolam considered
an auspicious and morning exercise for women in general, as they bend down and
connect the dots, they do some math’s blending the body and mind. Due to knee
problems and space for drawing, keep mom away from following the custom, so my
aunt takes care of drawing kolam daily in front of the house as we share the
same gateway. Lately, there was a talk of keeping a maid to do the task daily
on our behalf. Not every day we drew color Kolam; so, it won't be difficult in
general, and many of our neighbors have such maids, who used to draw simple and
same design as Kolam.
The temple called by the name Shri Kailasanathar Kovil has Lord
Shiva is a prime deity and is worshipped in the name of Kailasanathar. The
inscription at the temple says it was built during Pallava King, Nirupathungan,
in the 8th century, and the temple was completely a renovated structure of its
original. And the temple is located at a place called Vasavasamudram, about 80km from Chennai on ECR.
It was a quiet
afternoon, and we drove there after having lunch under the shadows of trees,
surrounded by paddy fields and coconut trees. I could easily smell the
fragrance of fresh paddy grains every time the wind blows on, sending a
nostalgic feel to my senses. The temple beautifully stays in the water on
almost four sides, and the road to the temple is narrow through paddy fields
and village streets.
While I stayed
with the car, others went down to check the temple complex; though the temple’s
main gate and the sanctum are closed, people are allowed through a side gate to
circumambulate the temple. The images on the temple and river were shot by mom,
as I didn’t take my wheelchair, I couldn’t get close, or drove on the little
bridge across the water. I really enjoy the view and sound of birds and running
water off the paddy fields; it’s a wonderful place to enjoy peace.
I haven’t planned to go out during the Pongal holidays esp. to avoid the festival crowd, even though the government had forbidden people from visiting tourist places and beaches during the Pongal holidays to prevent the spreading of coronavirus. I went out on the Mattu Pongal day (Jan 15), and this day is usually crowded on ECR (east coast road), unlike the Kaanum Pongal (the next day), with a peak in-crowd, but the closer of tourist places left minimum vehicles on the road. Only the amusement parks were opened, with a fully loaded parking lot.
YOUR EXISTING AD GOES HERE
My brother said,
let's go for a ride on ECR, and the idea of visiting the Kadalur check-Dam came
on the way. I came to know about this dam from my cousin-sister, who checked
the dam last year. And I wanted to check the dam then, but the pandemic made it
impossible, and I learned later the recent rain had brought enough water to the
dam to overflow.
It's always a
dream to see water in the Palar river, which often looks dry, other than little
pools of water. The Palar river rises in the Nandi hill of Karnataka and runs
into Andhra Pradesh, and then into Tamil Nadu, for a length of 350 km before
merged at the sea. The dam is about 75km from Chennai on the ECR, and there’s a
signboard indicating the road to the dam (take left) before crossing the
river.
The check-dam is
built at the mouth of the river for about a km in length, and in between
Vayalur-Kadalur village, where the river meets the sea. The road passes through
the narrow streets of Vayalur village, ends at the north bank of the river, and
then a mud road slides to the dam. When we went, there were already a dozen
cars and bikes parked in front of the river, and many people were having fun by
sliding through the spillway and taking bath at the river. Despite the slippery
spillway and rocks around the dam, this seems to be a safe place to relax and
enjoy the bath as a family.
It was noon when
we arrived at the dam, and the sun was shining above our heads, so we could not
get clear pictures of the place as there was too much sunlight. I even couldn't
shoot the flock of pelicans taking flights above the dam site, and they should
have come up fishing at the dam. The water stays up to and beyond the bridge of
the ECR, which is something I have never seen before – the last flood I saw on
the Palar river was in 1997. We quickly moved from there as the sun was quite
sharp on us.
The dam is built in 2019 with funding from Kalpakkam Atomic Station and was opened by the chief minister of Tamil Nadu, Edappadi K Palanisamy. And the best time to visit the dam is post-monsoon, the only time when the river sees some flow of water.
Every year we
used to draw colorful Kolams, aka Rangoli, in front of the home to add
auspiciousness to the festival, and boiling milk and rice in a mud pot, on top
of firewood, is another kind of gesture greeting farmers and nature, and also
helping the pottery workers.
I always love
celebrating a festival beyond its religious beliefs and rituals, as I believe
festivals are mean to gather people and celebrate the spirit of togetherness. Pongal
is a social festival and farmer’s festive so wishing for their wellness is important
and being a pandemic period, we had no option other than limiting our celebrations although our celebration is always restrained to two families. But this year is
gonna be celebrated in the kitchen itself. Hehe
Talking about
the past year will only make it sadder than happier, and it is a year the world
will never forget for the number of losses mankind faced, but the consoling
fact was nature restored its place even if it is a temporary phase. Personally, 2020 is a devastating year for us
apart from the pandemic Dracula sucking the life from all over the world, some
lives were lost in our family circle and a couple of them were quite unexpected.
Though no life is lost for COVID-19, my uncle’s death was the most sent tremors
into our family than the cousin who died leaving back two little kids. No life
is left to comparable and life is a life that is replaceable by anything but
we haven’t been close with that cousin to deeply feel the pain.
This cousin is a good-hearted guy, and kindness would melt in
front of his smile, and he had never raised his voice or think to hurt anybody,
but he died out of high pressure and cardiac arrest. Perhaps because of this,
he hadn't shared his problems with others, and this is a problem with many of
our reserved types is to suffer silently. He’s a project manager in a reputed
IT firm and an affectionate kid to his mom and with a problematic married life,
should I need to define the challenges he got in front of him to cease his life?
My uncle
is just 6 months younger than my dad and thus they are like best friends and
whatever it is dad only call him first to know his thought before proceeding. I
would say he was an iron man who lived among us, and his support to our families is significantly
strong and there’s nothing he unknown, and has great grasping power to workout things
at observing. It was him, and it was on
his captainship my brother’s wedding in November held successfully. But he couldn’t
live less than a week to see them lead their life or any of our future events.
We meet
him frequently or to say at least once in a week or two, it was hard for us to
think or feel he’s no more but we feel regret for our aunt who misses him the
most as a loving wife. They lived like made for each other and as a cool and
casual couple. They lead any of our functions
from the front and now seeing her confined to home hurts really. I hope she
returns to normalcy and continues the way she was earlier. I know she too knows
life has to move on, more than any of the other, as she already came over her
daughter’s demise a decade ago. My thoughts go for her…
Thank you
Actually, I
thought of creating a record as I believed my Dell laptop would last another
year to complete a round of 10 years. But I could have made it if I could spend
one-third of the amount spent on a new one. I know it would give me trouble
even if I spend the amount as the touchpad lost its senses – I couldn’t be
comforting all the time with a mouse and a broken bezel, and I needed an
upgrade, so I decided to spend the money on a new laptop. Though I couldn't
think of any other laptop other than the Dell, I also no need to say why as its
sturdiness is world known, but a friend suggested me to go for an Intel i5
processor and Dell's laptops at this range are out of my budget, so I went for
the Asus which came under my budget.
The only
difficulty with the Asus Vivobook was its change in some key positions on the
righthand side of the keyboard. But the typing is much easier than before,
perhaps because of the soft-touch keys, and being a new laptop thing looks
easier. I need to install MS-office and photoshop, the prime software’s I use
on my computer, separately, and add backup files from the previous laptop hard drive. I’m
overall content with the gadget and need to work more to use its various
features.
A rainbow walks my street… Let's begin the year colorful :)
Hi guys, hope
you all doing well and had a wonderful festive season of Christmas and New Year.
I wish the year 2021 brings all good things to people all over the world and witnesses
the end of the pandemic. It has been a few weeks since I blogged and this is a
long break I took after a long time because of the loss of my laptop. The laptop that was back from service didn’t last a few days and the technicians tried to save the laptop without changing the motherboard
but failed to result in buying a new one after days of research.
I wish you all
Happy, COVID-19-less, and Healthy and Wealthy New Year
My laptop shut down without a warning on Saturday, and I tried to wake it up but it stopped responding. The dell Inspiron n5110 laptop is with me for the last 9 years and it doesn't require service for the last 3years where I only had to change charger and keyboard. I know I was in need of change and it kept showing me many a sign that it’s getting old but it continued to serve the purpose of me. The technicians at the dell service has given 50% hope to retrieve the laptop or else I need to look out for another. Unlike other social media, blogging is not a easy thing to do with mobile so was the absence of posts here. Until I get back the laptop I can’t visit all of you and posting is uncertain too. Take care of you all
Despite the
pandemic restrictions and alert and alarming Nivar cyclone, the last week's
wedding of my brother went on well and trouble-free as along. What we
anticipated wasn’t far disappointing, but instead, reversed in order of what we
planned.
We headed to
the wedding hall earlier than we planned as we had no idea when the cyclone
would hit hard or reach its extreme, so we informed the cook to prepare lunch
for us, and the bride’s family too
reached the hall by the afternoon for the evening reception. There’s a custom that
the bride should be invited only from the temple rather than going straight to
the wedding hall had been broken down by the Nivar cyclone.
The day the reception and wedding was surrounded by gusty winds and
pattering rain, agree to blow along the resonating Nadhaswaram and Thavil – our
traditional music instrument used in weddings and any auspicious functions. Our
family friend Selvam and his team of instrumentalists hit the notch in their
playback instruments. Perhaps because this’s a wedding everyone looked out for
for a very long time, and the enthusiasm hasn’t left him alone.
Everything went on planning or timing we set on other than fewer
disappointments. We anticipated more people for the reception and less for the
marriage, but the cyclone kept the twist, thereby reversing the order. The
threatening Nivar cyclone had kept away many people from attending the evening reception
as many don’t want to take a risk paid a visit to the morning wedding. But
there weren’t people up to our expectation, and we understand the situation
wasn’t favorable to us and there’s a waste of food for about 200.
Glad we decided to advance going to the wedding hall and halted there
for the night, instead of coming home and return in the morning, like how we
planned first. Sure it would be a bad
idea to execute our former plan in the gusty wind and rain, and our stay at the
wedding hall was comfortable too. The room allotted for us on the ground floor
was spacious with two king-size beds, reminding the cottages we hire during our
travel, was convenient to stay and watch
every aspect of the wedding.
The night wasn’t easily forgettable apart from the gusty wind and
rain blasting outside, there’s something disturbed the sleep, and it was a cold
night that didn’t allow us to use to twin a/c in the room. The bride and the
groom looked fair at their wedding/reception outfits and makeups what didn’t go
right at the engagement. After the
wedding, the couple went to Tirupati to fulfill the request from the bride’s
side.
I wore the mask thoroughly at the wedding, while many didn’t care a
bit. I keep insisting my father wear the mask. But during the rituals, it goes
off. I keep the mask away only when I
got to pose for a photo!
We were worried about conducting the marriage in the pandemic
period, but the cyclone steered the wheel differently. We stayed at the wedding
hall till everyone leaves and we moved out only after loading the things the
bride brings home as Seeru (gifts from her parents) in the mini-truck, and we
also made sure that we didn't miss anything. We are almost content with the
happenings at the wedding, and the couple is happy, and the sis-in-law is quite
calm and familiar to practice though we haven’t met before. And everyone had
our part of smiles through the event.
A group photo of our beloved families after the wedding session and the one standing 2nd from the right (with a big mustache) is our uncle who passed two nights ago in a heart attack.
Brother’s wedding arrangements were going in full swing, and with only two days left for the occasion – of Nov 25th evening reception and Nov 26th morning marriage – the invitation process came to an end with Panthakaal on Sunday. Panthakaal is a pre-wedding ritual, where a wooden pole is planted in front of the house (a few days ahead of the wedding) after prayer for a trouble-free wedding ceremony. In the bygone era, word of mouth was the only source of communication; so pole planting ensures the passers-by get to know about the wedding and also the good news is passed to others.
Now, following the
Panthakaal, Nalanggu is performed on him for the remaining days to the wedding.
Nalanggu is an activity of applying turmeric paste on the cheeks, hands, and
feet of the bride and groom by the married women, and as a blessing, saffron is
applied to their forehead. Mostly
it’s a 3-day ritual, and we are having guests visiting us every day to perform
the rite, and my brother is at hold at home from Sunday. Other than relatives, we invite friends and
neighbors to visit us to perform the ritual, and for me, I get something
special to eat at home in the evenings and at night as we have guests.
Everything goes well until now, and our house got a cheerful look like
the wedding lights that set home in the festival glow. But not to forget, the
Nivar cyclone is nearing us and threatening to mess the celebration mood as it
is predicted to strike exactly on the dates of the wedding. We
have no option other than facing anything that comes our way, but we hope the
cyclone passes off quickly before the event began.
The last few weeks were
kind of huff and puff for the parents, and presenting the invitation has kept
them away from the afternoon naps and our bedtime to past 11 pm. My uncle's
family next door has taken care of me while my parents were away on an inviting
spree, we still can’t reach out to many of them as we got a very short time, and
the pandemic is another troublesome kicking ass as well. Conducting a marriage
in a situation of social distancing and mask-wearing is a different experience
we’re looking forward to, and hope things work well for us safely and securely.
We had a couple of boys from the backstreet to join the festival night, and we lit some fireworks in the street. I enjoyed watching and taking some photos and videos of fireworks, and my favorites were the sky shots. It's only during this time (of Deepavali), we could see the dazzling show of fireworks in the sky, and the firework mode in the camera is an inspiration for me to shoot a perfect sky shot. But it seldom happens to me, and the GoPro helps me get some decent videos of the fireworks that are waiting to be edited before upload here. I downloaded video editing software and got into trouble as it slowed the system, I uninstalled it, but the system lost its speed and probably would need an OS reinstall.
Just a week left for my brother’s wedding and everyone is so busy with work schedule, and taking the laptop to service is not possible and insisting couldn’t be right at the moment. So perhaps my blogging couldn’t be regular because I find it really difficult to make a post or upload photos in-between the lag. Deepavali is always connected with nostalgic memories, and it becomes impossible to drive away from the thoughts of celebration, and I couldn’t stop comparing the past with the current. Though the trend has changed a lot these years – the sound of crackers and smoke level had also drastically reduced this year – couldn’t create the festival mood naturally these days. I hope you guys had a great festival of lights. And don’t forget to check the short video below, having some glimpses of the celebration.
கண்கள் வழியே காதல் மலருதே
கொடியேன நாளங்களில் புது ரத்தம்
படருதே
உற்சாகத்தில் இதயம், வேகம் எடுக்குதே
வெயிலோ மழையோ, à®®ெய்மறந்து போகுதே.
அவள் அல்லி மலரோ அல்ல, அழகில்
குà®±ிஞ்சி மலரோ அல்ல, வியந்திட
à®®ுல்லை மலரோ அல்ல, மணத்திட
மனம் ஒன்à®±ிய பிறகு எம்மலருà®®் சம்மதமே .
அவள் à®…à®°ுகே இருந்துà®®் à®®ௌனம் பேசியதே!
வளையோசை மட்டுà®®் தனியே ஒலித்தது
இமைகள் à®®ூட மறந்து உற்à®±ு நோக்குதே
கருவிà®´ியின் கொள்ளை அழகில்
- விà®´ிகள் விலக மறுத்து
சிà®±ு பிள்ளை போல் பிடிவாதம் பிடிக்கிது.
à®®ேகம் திரண்டு மழையென பொà®´ிந்தாலுà®®்
இமைக்கா நொடியில் பரவசம் ஆகுதே.
----------------- -----------------
Love
blooms through the eyes
Like
the vines, new blood spread in the veins
In excitement, heart take the speed
Either it's sunshine or rain, mesmerized.
She isn’t a lily in beauty
Or Kurunji to be surprised
Nor Jasmine to be fragrant
When the mind is united, any blossom
is consent.
Although she was nearby, silence
spoke!
The whisper of bangles sounded
alone
The eyelids forget to close and stare
At the robbing beauty of the iris
The eyes refuse to roll
Stubborn like a small child.
Even if the clouds gather and
rain
The unblinking seconds be ecstatic.
Last week, I got to
travel to some relative's house to present an invitation to my brother's
marriage (Nov 26th) along with the parents, cousin, and uncle, and a few of them were
distant relatives similarly staying at a distance of about 60 to 70 km from our
location. So my parent thought that it would be an opportunity to take me out as
I haven’t traveled anywhere (other than going on a half-day trip to
Mamallapuram last month) since the announcement of lockdown in March. One of a
relative’s house located on ECR got a colorful Ganesh temple (pic above) at the end of their road.
In
later years the loudness of crackers had become not my kind of thing, but my
passion for fireworks hadn’t come down quite. The night fancy fireworks were my
favorite thing from the past decade, and every year I buy fireworks, to only
watch it turning my night into delightful light, and colors as someone lit
fireworks on my behalf. Deepavali always surges an excitement in me and roll me
down the slopes of memories of childhood, what I consider the best part of my
entire life despite my belief of best is yet to come. The festival was in a
real festive mood then, and the anticipations were high, to look forward to
this day all the year perhaps because I was active then to ignite fireworks on
my own to see it blast with great joy.
These
days I almost forget this day until the day gets closer. My kind of celebration
shrinks a lot at every passing year, and I was confined to my house alone rather
than going around the neighborhood to enhance my festival mood by watching
things happening around relevant to Deepavali. People’s interests had become
varied from me, and they have their own set of activities to look after, and I don’t
complain about it, and I can’t demand that they should take me out, and on these
occasions, it was the cheerful memories of childhood keeps me going. It’s just
10 days to go for Deepavali, and I started to look forward to how to celebrate the
festival, despite the pandemic drawback, I wish everyone had their best part of
the festival.
She came rolling into my
life like a snowball
The furry coat, like
snowflakes, goosebump
As she comes caressing
around the legs
To lay head, cozily
around the wheels
In hope, I won't hurt
her, as I lived up to her.
She forced into my life like a
syringe
Though it hurt, she eases the
pain to the least
Like an ointment over the
wound, her licks
Wet the heart, to hate her, to
become impossible
Unavoidable trouble to walk all
our paths to delight.
She’s someone I fought to forget
As her memories are quite fond, to forget
Never did I felt pain like this at the heart
Missing someone ever been closer, to
Share space in the bedroom for eleven years.
She's pressure on life to always end with a cheer
And I ever got angry with her for human error
The black marble eyes often convey a message
Of love, affection, and care in reciprocation
I never dream of her staging a lifeless drama.
She’s truly an angel in the world of us
Still, I keep away her thoughts, yet a year to pass
Nothing disturbed me like what she did in my life
The furry soft were spike sharp when I feel at last
She departed, leaving us in the clutch of hearts.
Ps. To know more about her (Maya) click Here
