Palace of the Old Era

Visited the Padmanabhapuram Palace on our Trip to Nagercoil and you can have a tour of the place by seeing the photos. The place is really great and well maintained by the Kerala Government (although it is within Tamil Nadu). The whole place is made of Teak Wood thanks to the Kerala Architecture and special mention should go to the way the floors are made so shiny and beats our present day marble finish and a bed that is made of stone to give a pleasant sleep during the hotter days. Enjoy..........AM

Laurel & Hardy

Prem, having a king's meal, at Hotel Ashoka near Pantheon Road (where Fountain Plaza is). He was here on business for a day and was to catch the evening train. The three of us caught up for lunch, well past lunch time.

Venky and me had already had our lunch, so we settled for sambar vada and filter coffee. Venky is quite like his old college self and takes care not to put on weight. So in the end, Prem's lunch dessert of a vanilla ice cream remained untouched. We are all on various forms of diet restrictions - old-age ailments that now land in middle age.

I almost mistook Venky for a local political dada when I saw him in his white Scorpio. He is doing a PhD in Law from SRM university, for which he is legal adviser. His topic is "The evolution of the English language in legal judgments".

In contrast, Prem says he is only a small-time lawyer, not flashy and successful as Venky is.

p.s. They look more like two Hardys now, since Prem has put on weight.

Palmleaf paintings

from Orissa...

Radha and Krishna, the eternal lovebirds from India.

I have a fascination for elephants and processions involving elephants :)

This looks like a tribal village.

Wedding in Canada

This wedding happened in May. With their parents blessing them from India, dear friends of ours got married. I was a bridesmaid and Arul was the MC. It was all fun!

Northie splendour

A reception of a Jain wedding at Hotel Accord Metropolitan.
I feasted (apart from the vegetarian food) my eyes on the very
colourful and splendid designer saris that the women wear. In
comparison, my modest designer sari looked like the stuff N. Indian
women wore at home (that comment came from hubby dear).
In all, it was like watching a Hindi movie.

Update from San Diego

Hi Guys,

Its been a long time since I have blogged, sorry I will try to do more when I can. This year has been very eventful for me with lot of travelling. I got the opportunity to go to Helsinki & Espoo, Finland, and visit our Nokia head quarters. I went ot Finland in April but it was still cold. Got to tour Helsinki and get to know a little about its history. Got to see our headquarters in Espoo a little away from Helsinki on a lake made of all glass. Then in May I went to Costa Rica for a small vacation and I was surprised to see few similarities with Kerala, but I had a very wonderful experience. I got to see Arenal Valcano in action. A sight I will never forget in my life and also the opportunity to see rain forrest. I will be traveling to Dallas, Texas next month, to our American Head Quarters, I am not so fond of Texas though :( Its nice to see updates from Roshan and Usha. Congratulation Usha on your new house and new look. The house looks very cute and so do you :) Its was also nice to see Roshan's pictures on Kerala and Chennai. It is a nice way for us out side India to keep in touch with home.

Mount Road naps

The heart of the city gets to breathe and nap when the red lights are on at traffic junctions.
Remember our occasional trips from Tambaram to Mount Road? It was like going to another country - the long ride, Landmark, Best Wishes, BC and USIS libraries.
:)

And a bus stop near LIC building.

Christian dancers

This is margam kali, the traditional dance of Kerala's Syrian Christian women in a their very traditional attire of chatta (v-necked long blouse) and mundu (with a fancy fan-shaped tail at the back) and neriyathu (daavani in tamil parlance). Dont miss the kunukku on the ears and the golusu on the ankles.

But these are young performers, not grown-up women, the kind who did the dance in olden days. Youngsters brought from Bangalore for a huge fee for two performances. Sponsored by a friend of ours.

This was at our church on Saturday last, when the church held a perunnal and convention. I missed it since I was working late that evening, while V went with his father. The rain spoiled the last half, especially a splendid Kerala feast at the end for all who attended.

But on Sunday, we all took part in the closing ceremony when we had a procession round the church with muttukuda (ornamental umbrellas you might have seen at Kerala festivals), chendamelam (drums) and breakfast of appam and chicken curry courtesy the church. My son got a tiny umbrella to hold - many people hold the umbrellas as a votive (nercha).

Unfortunately I dont have pics of the latter - one forgets to carry the camera on crucial occasions (like today when my daughter started her new school at WCC).

p.s. I will think of uploading a video of the dance IF I find time at home.

Hospital chapel

We were invited to another wedding last Sunday.. it was different than the earlier wedding .. the bride is from North India(Dr.)her family and grooms fly settled here (DRs), she had jewels and her wedding clothes with lots of beaded and other work shade of red.... (sorry just got a photo sat at a corner.wonderful chapel.)

when both of us arrived at the wedding place.There was lots of fresh flower decoration at chapel and rec.Beautiful. .(well ..it was at a hospital chapel-which could seat quite a no of people-which is near the emergency ward.. so was feeling queer!)They told us to look for center lobby.. we went to that entrance and saw there was just few car parking spaces.. went to ask directions..a couple with a child .. spoke to me as i was walking past.. i did not get it .. i looked at the attendant (security).. he said it was wedding.. Only then it stuck me.. the couple asked me if the queen was having a baby or what?..i thought they were commenting thanks to almost same color(as rosh churi-orange) with green border Saree..Poor things saw the bride with her troop all dolled up walk by..with flowers etc!..And i think they were just getting discharged with a new baby!It must be a eye full for them.

Found the parking only near emergency..then had to walk in through that.. so felt a bit queasy.. when we reached the first floor walked through some wards..and seeing many well dressed guests felt better..then saw the groom and groomsmen..they directed us to the chapel entrance.. can't believe such wonderful work inside and looks like a big church.

Wedding went off well with a good no of representative from grooms side.. they had earlier in the morning a Hindu wedding..so most of them looked already tired.. we went only for this.. and reception afterward at a place which is 1/2 hr south drive..

The appetizer was all high quality.. it was in one of the 5 star hotels here,from that room one had to move to another.. where reception was held.. there sit on tables allotted to u.. some wise person messed up the hard work of others, hence we could all not find our table nos.. so it got delayed.. we managed to find ours and just went in.But many did not find and they just gave up.. finally hosts told all to find a seat and apologised.There is introductions of both immediate family then others in the group.. then toasts , songs, dances, slide show, bride,groom dance,parents and others join.,then it becomes a open floor.. it was so late , kids were not with us.. we finally left with out eating dinner.

Met our former Principal , (even before i came to study),spoke a few words with him. Sir, was happy to see us their kids are here.. they visit once a year .Also met some other members their who are related to our family. Met few friends from a church we used to go at first when we first came here.

Rise and shine

Working in a large office with a sizable women workforce has its advantages. One being that at least one woman will give a positive feedback and make your day when you wear a new dress. While people closer to you are bold enough to give negative feedback, unalloyed compliments flow from an occasional stranger or passing acquaintance.

Feeling slightly embarrassed in a shiny kameez, which a friend of a colleague said reminded her of Hritik Roshan's outfits in Jodhaa Akbar, I proceeded to the canteen for a cup of coffee. An old face in the workplace, from another department, looked at my outfit curiously and smiled. That made me want to go under the table with the tea tumbler. A while later, she came over to me and said: "Your dress looks great!"

Phew! That was comforting to say the least. "Well, actually I was feeling a bit embarrassed wearing this to work." I didnt tell her that my hubby had forbade me from wearing it to church or anywhere I went with him.

"Did you go for a wedding?" she asked sympathetically. That is the only occasion journalist staff get bold enough to wear glitzy outfits or kanchipuram saris to work.

I let her think so. Anyway, she made my day. Or at least made it a bit better.