Le Royal Meridien

Le Royal Meridien - Chennai

When this 5 start hotel came up in Chennai near the Kathipara junction towards the start of the century, it was a fascination for Chennai-ites. Each of us would want to get a glimpse of its interior at some point of time. When the opportunity did come when corporate scene of Chennai changed with IT blooming and companies could afford to treat us with a meal in Le Royal Meridien, the majestic hotel did live up to the expectation.

With the Kathipara fly-over coming up as the most popular butterfly fly-over, Le Royal Meridien got tucked inside and lost the earlier prominence in that junction.

Recently with the covid situation, the hospitality sector has taken severe beating, this iconic hotel of Chennai was no special case. A take away restaurant that came in our neighbourhood was a start up by an ex-chef from Le Royal Meridien. He was pushed to go for his own venture due to the current situation the hotel is in. The Chef spoke to us about the hotel proudly and was sad that hotel is not like the old times anymore. This conversation inspired us to make a visit to the hotel.

On a weekend we went to Le Royal Meridien for lunch buffet. The lobby and reception area where empty. We could see very meagre hotel staff in the vicinity. Only one restaurant was open, the other were all closed due to no patrons. The lunch was a simple one with just one waiter catering to 3 tables. The food option were nothing to what the hotel used to offer when in full glory. When we paid the bill of Rs.3000 for two persons and came out of the restaurant, could not help going around the hotel and clicking pics. The marble flooring and the interior designs were still attractive.

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Anjaneyar Temple - Gerugambakkam, Porur

Very recently we came to know about the Anjaneyar temple built by actor Arjun is at Gerugambakkam. On a Sunday evening we drove towards this place. We need to detour from the Kundrathur main road to reach this temple and from then on we need to face a rough and patchy road. In just 5 minutes one can reach the temple. A small residential street leads to the temple. Very near it one could see few small stalls mushroomed up to sell pooja items. The vehicles have to be parked in the street near the temple gates. First is the corridor were few trees are seen. On taking left is the entrance to the temple and you can see the Lord Anjaneyar much ahead. Here too are few trees uniformly spaced out. There is a coconut farm adjacent to this temple. There is a shelter above Lord Anjaneyar, but for that it is a open air temple. Facing Lord Anjaneyar and to the left and right corner are two shrines - one for Lord Ganesh and the other for Lord Anjaneyar's - Lord Rama, Lord Lakshmana and Goddess

Pudhumanai Pugudhal (house warming)

கல்யாணத்தை பண்ணிப்பார், வீட்டை கட்டிப்பார் says an age old Tamil saying denoting the tedious nature of both as duties. The house warming ceremony denotes the culmination of building a house and entering into it for living. In a typical Tamil house hold, buying or building a new house is a pride and a dream. Building a house involves lot of rituals. First comes the 'Adikal naattu', laying the foundation stone. On an auspicious day, Just before the sunrise Bhoomi Pooja is done and the first stones are layed by the family and the builders involved. All present are given Prasad or sweets from the Pooja. This marks the kick start of the house building project. Once the building skeleton comes up with walls built and rooms differentiated there comes a time to fix the frame and threshold of the doors. This requires Vaasakaal Pooja to bring up the Vaasal. A team of married ladies in odd numbers form the main part of this ceremony. Navaratnas are buried below the Vaasal and e

Gandikota trip - Day 2 - Belum Caves

The second day at Gandikota was again a rainy onw with heavy thunders the previous night. Seeing sunrise was ruled out but we set out at 7AM after a quick refreshment. Most of the shops were shut due to power cuts since it's been raining continuously since last night, managed to get mini cup chai for Rs.10 and went to the right of the fort where we could see a different view of the creek. The air-conditioned tent accommodations are also here. Also, adventure sports happen here. The place was shabby due to overnight rains and the tourists had littered the place completely with bottles, glass pieces and food items. This happens in most of the tourist places, unless the visitors take the responsibility to keep the place clean, government cannot help maintaining. As we went through the restaurants nearby, no food was available due to lack of power. So we decided to drive to Jammalamadugu for breakfast. Within 20 mins we reached Jammalamadugu, it was a beautiful morning owing to weathe

Our wanderings and perceptions

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