In poor man’s ooty

On the hills of Servarayan lies the popularly known poor man’s ooty, Yercaud. The name which derives from the Tamil words ‘yeri and kaadu’, which mean ‘lake and forest’. It’s almost pleasant and cool throughout the year and it could be reached from any where through buses and its nearest city is Salem. Placed at an elevation above 1500 meter from msl, the yercaud is famous for its coffee plantations, which was introduced in state in late 18th century by British.

As we climb on the hill, the weather started to wrap with cool wind and dry leaves crushing over the lonely road. The route takes us via coffee and pepper estates, and it wasn’t a bus route so it was vast empty and narrow with little hairpin bends and curves. The kuppanoor is the footstep of this ghat road that comes in between Salem and harur.

As we reached yercaud, it started to drizzle slowly and even while enjoying the climate, the disappointment came from the resort that we booked for saying they don’t allow pets… and even after much explanation they refused to allow. It’s indeed our mistake of not informing the resort formerly that we bring a pet (maya) with us and thought they will adjust if we say, but no way had we to seek for another place to stay.

We then moved into the town searching for rooms while raining outside, we met an auto drive who guide us to a cottage belong to someone. It was a two story building and they gave three of us a room in ground floor and for others in second floor, it was somehow comfort with mosquito menacing in night. The next day we shift to second floor, with the aid of cousins caring me away it was better than before from the troublesome mosquitoes, which fly from the nearby sewage canal that we fail to notice in night.

The cottage was little beneath the dead end road and was surrounded by trees, plants and shrubs; and one of the plants were attractive with huge leaves similar to lotus ones. Morning I wake to see wet everywhere and flowers bloomed in red and blue and small species like frogs, toads, moth, millipedes existing everywhere. The Maya who was excite to see those species was keen to catch them away.

There was a restaurant called Karuppaiya Mess at the junction near the lake was very familiar in taste and too good to have. Throughout our stay we get foods from here, but there’s limited choice of food. The view from our balcony wasn’t great but the little house opposite to ours was simply nice, with a small portico and two tiny elephants guarding each end of the gateway in stone. I’m not a person always or never wish for greater in life, even a small and simple home is enough, and in this way I wish I live there sufficiently.

To add, the swing inside the terrace was attracting everyone to swing ones!

WCTC - 2010

The five days World Classical Tamil Conference end on Sunday and it was held like a grand festival with everyone’s attention towards it. There were dance, music, award presentations, exhibitions, processions and symposium by Tamil experts and watched by thousands and lakhs of Tamil people gathered in Coimbatore.
This is the first world Tamil conference held after Tamil receiving classical status, which is the oldest literature among the living languages of the world. I watch the beginning session of this conference inaugurated by the President of India Pratibha Patil before the innumerable Tamil people, who come in eager to learn more about Tamil and listening expert speakers praising the language.

It’s truly honor to see Tamil experts speak in literally and foreigners interest to take Tamil as there language and do research to learn more and exhibit the classic to world. It’s truly great to realize for the first time obviously such a conference being held and inspiring many people those desire to learn and read more about the glories language Tamil.

I too listen to few symposiums spoken by Tamil experts and it feels honor to say I speak Tamil. It’s simply an eye-opener in many ways to Tamil literature and its historic path, thus one of the speakers Jagath Gaspar’s words were touching sense and knowledge and his explanations where among the best about human unity being Tamil community . He says the elaborated DNA chart says Tamil community has crossed 78 generations.

I just think while that being Tamil doesn’t separate us from being unity in humanity and where I see human is a tree and he needs a piece of land to its root to stand and being Tamil it is the language of everything and whatever grows above the soil is equal to everyone. For instance Tamil is like our homes where we could walk bare footed and stay very comfort, but stepping out isn’t same and not every place is like our home. Where society is a common place with difference in everything, and to comes across or grain experience we need to wear something in common other than Tamil. So learning other languages or giving important to one isn’t wrong and well necessary, but there isn’t a comfort place like home, where we’re ourselves.

A language is for communication and we caught up with language which comes easier for us to communicate, but I feel shame that we often communicate with combine language. Tamil is a beautiful language and when it comes out from those experts it inspires a lot to communicate completely in Tamil! It could be a tough task, but I hope if we try we could speak easily and I have an interest in learning new words and meanings that we unknown or only known in other language which is almost English.

While celebrating Tamil as a classical language, hope those however follow the conference like me might get motivate to practice fluent Tamil without influencing other languages, which isn’t less in profound or prior to other. Let’s celebrate the language, the tool of communication and development in society and relationship.

Quite 5

My blog completed 5 years on Sunday and thinking back it’s being a great pleasure having u all as my dear friends and besides sharing many things along this journey. I am quite enjoying this sharing of knowledge, love, trust, joy and courage and of course the passion that keeps me moving even my health resist sometime. I’m desperate a lot these day and whenever I feel tedious, I think about blogging and things I have to do comes to mind get me fresh energy and enthusiasm to put back my thoughts and experience towards here.

Thanks everyone for being here and further to share my space and cheer by hope and spirit. Happy blogging! :smile:

Ayyanar special

Couple of weeks before we had been to yercaud – a hill station in Tamil Nadu on the Eastern Ghats – and it was a great escape from the summer heat, though it wasn’t much cooler like ooty or kodaikanal, it was quite pleasant and relaxing. As we moved to yercaud, we heard the laila storm blows away the heat rage and turned the city much cooler like a kodaikanal and I guess it was the reflection where the cool drizzle and heavy thunder rain and wind in yercaud.

As we pack up in Chennai, it was scorching sunshine and even thought it doesn’t reflect much inside the car, the environment was damn hot. Just not even to forget or exit we can’t keep heads off, and it was such intense the heat waves. We could call it as the worst days of the year, while the temperature crosses 41*C. Not to forget the dry and bored highways that lacks everything except good road condition until we turn near tirupattur, a state highways that lead to Salem en route Uthangarai, Harur and Kuppanoor, where the ghat way begins to yercaud.

Not to forget, the road from tirupattur to kuppanoor was lovely laid, even though it was a double lane there are many ups and downs making the ride interesting with beside huge trees and stretching hills and often visiting villages are completely reminding me the earlier days of ride. Not to forget the huge statues of Ayyanar with a sword in hand that come on the way was noticeable.

The Ayyanar – guardian deity who is believed to protect the rural villages – was sitting so majestic on a stage and accompanied by a white horse rode by him are painted colorfully, which is a common sight in rural Tamil Nadu. The Ayyanar was also surrounded by few more statues and one of it was a ten hand statue holding various weapons, and stamping on someone evil and a sword piercing the body. In most Aiyanar temples, the various clay figures and idols reflect the social hierarchy and the gods are ranked acceding to the social and economical hierarchy in the village.

The Aiyanar temple built in an open space – with a little compound wall around the Ayyanar – like every other such temples that have no building and only figures get importance. In many villages the Aiyanar is ascribed as traditional family deity by various communities and clan groups, and these temples are usually built on the outskirts or at the border of rural villages throughout Tamil Nadu and the way they represent are in village guarding position.

The Aiyanar is a Tamil word derived from the root word ‘aiya’, which is a title often used by Tamils to call respectable people; and the popularity of aiyanar became even more pronounced from the chola’s period onwards.

As we move near kuppanoor, the temperature began to reduce and wind started to blow heavily as we land at check post for coffee. It was great blowing wind, so cool and rising with sand and dust to branches and leaves to fall off and on road, it was something refreshingly new. After climbing least elevation on ghat, we find another Aiyanar statue among the bamboo forest and interestingly it was accompanied by statues of tiger, goat and snake-charmer.

The statue was just striking red in color and the place was quite silence, except the sound of crushing leaves and a dry stream appears near the temple. While climbing down the hills after visiting yercaud, we saw buzzing people around the temple, where some rituals going on along sacrificing goats. But we didn’t stop to watch and just viewed while passing away. It seems like the temple was some families traditional diety, and people gathered for some family ceremony.

Ayyanar worship is a very ancient ancestral clan-based worship system linked to nature and fertility worship. The festivals of Ayyanars are celebrated in sacred groves during spring season by all the related clan. The ayyanar temples are always associated with weapons such as trident, sickle or lance. The priests are usually non-Brahmins; and however animals such as chicken and goats are offered to the deity, the sacrificial offering is pure vegetarian, according to wiki!

disorder, along drongo

As mind was thinking something seriously this morning related to the increase in blood sugar, the birds chirping around my place does console my mind as I couldn’t relax easily since received the blood test result two days ago. Just like an end, there’s a beginning, the treatment I go through the pulmonary consolidation is yet to end next month and my X-ray report says the lung fields are clean now. Thus, totally relaxing though, the diabetic that discovered last year has touched 175 in April and showing 185 is now about to increase my anxious.

At earlier I never took serious about this disorder, and only knowing the sign that it increase approximately just put me into serious thoughts. Though I have experience of watching diabetic patients at home via father and grandmother aided with medicine everyday and dad go on walking everyday without fail has put me into discussion within myself. As doctor has advised to keep away sugar completely, and doing exercise regularly and following a diet could maintain the level, I’m uncertain about these issues even though I could live without sugar, doing exercise and on diet, still there’s something disturbing me a lot.

Hence we didn’t consult a diabetes doctor, our general physician has said to avoid certain things as food to prevent from increasing sugar, and I doubt how well my little physical exercise would give hand without walking – not the miles my dad walk. The medicine I’m taking for the last six months to pulmonary consolidation has put me in tired of swallowing tablets and I couldn’t imagine a situation if it happens to swallow tablets my life time, just like my father, grandfather-mother in there older and middle age – where the diabetes rose head usually.

Diabetes is a common disease these days and falling so earlier begins the struggle. It isn’t a great creature to scare me as I have a huge one inside me, but balancing the both could need more ability and strength to fight. Hope I do my best controlling the beasts beside, and score less without loss. Life is precious and we have to face the constitution it has for us to wear.

Keeping away the anxious, disorder and medicine, the weather that prevails here is fabulous and quite drizzling from morning. The clouds has been surrounding Chennai for the last two days, and raining somewhere and drizzling everywhere, the people are pleasantly adequate without the scorching sun and heat. To add pleasant the birds has took visage thinking of evening and I used this chance to feed little birds that come across chirping and settle down on branches.

One such bird is the Black Drongo (Rettai Vaal Kuruvi), I received today morning on the widespread Gulmohar tree opposite to our house (see picture). The bird is an often visitor to this tree and every time I tried to capture, it fly away before I get ready to click. Gladly this time it taking refrain sometime allowed me to capture her beauty in silhouette; though her visage itself black in color and low light in weather, the picture comes out naturally good. I’m happy to capture this moment and thanks to nature, in every way it appears.