Pilgrims' progress

Hi everybody. I trust you all had a good weekend. We got a pretty long one since yesterday was Republic Day. Gone are the days one sat in front of the television watching the parade from 9 am to 12 noon. The excitement of seeing Kerala's float (this year the theme was the Thrissur pooram, I learnt from the Surya news at 10.30 pm) in those days cannot be explained. Nowadays there are so many things to excite us that watching the country's prowess on tv doesnt hold any attraction. The only wave of excitement was seeing Kerala's own AK Antony, the Defence Minister, performing the duties of the Prime Minister (who is recovering from a cardiac surgery).



Our Velankanni trip went fine. It was tiring but fun. Two of V's first cousins and their families came along. There were 10 of us in all in the 13-seater van, including the maid. Since I had a late night shift the previous day (reaching home only at 2.30 am), we managed to leave only at 11 am. The onward journey was made leisurely, stopping at a sprawling hotel in Tindivanam for lunch, a beautiful stretch of land with paddy fields to stretch our legs at 5 pm (that helped as Ash had his 5 o'clock meds to take) and a late evening tea in Chidambaram.



We (me and V) promised ourselves that we would explore the temple in Chidambaram and the dargah in Nagore the next time we went.
We reached Velankanni only past 9 pm, to find that all the hotels were full. We went back to try our luck in Nagapattinam, district headquarters. By the time we reached Nagore further down and got housefull notices at 2 inns there, we were all tired, hungry and on the verge of despair. Luckily for us, the third and last hotel, had 3 rooms to spare. We went to bed past midnight, after gobbling the two casseroles of idlis we had brought for the kids, setting the alarm for 5 am. Since one family in the team had to catch the night train to Kerla on Sunday, we did not have much time to spare.
We spent some two hours at the church, which was crowded when we reached at 7 am. Thankfully, the early morning mass had just got over and the crowd soon dissolved. And when we were about to leave at 9 am, after the customary prayers to St. Mary and Infant Jesus, the Malayalam mass could be heard through the loudspeakers. Half the pilgrims to the church are from Kerala, so all signboard in Velankanni are written in English, Tamil, Malayalam and Hindi. I could hear Malayalam spoken all around me.



One elderly Malloo lady saw Ash and nudged her daughter to take a look - unlike people in Tamil Nadu, who are either sympathetic or subtle in their enquiries, Malloos can make you feel embarassed with their queries and looks. Something I had just gone through during my Xmas vacation. V therefore is more conscious of exhibiting Ash, a ghost of his former self, in public.

The return trip was faster, but the potholes on the roads made us women queasy. We reached Pondichery in time for a good thali meal, passed the Beach road and the French town there, and reached Chennai at 6.45 pm.

The kids enjoyed the trip though by the 2nd day, all were tired. Luckily we had Monday to take rest. Ash however came back worse off. Probably the dust/dust mites in the van, the cold weather and the aircon in the van, and breaking the diet rules had made his skin miserable and weepy. Food we could hide from him - cream biscuits the other kids shared with him, curd that came with the thali meals etc.

I hope Mother Mary, known as Arogya Mary or Our Lady of Health at the Velankanni church, will hear his pleas to cure his itching. We wait with hope. For Change, as Obama promises the world. :)