Our wanderings and perceptions

 From the time of announcement of Ponniyin Selvan I, there was a buzz around this movie and all us were waiting for it to hit the screens. It did on Sep 30 and we happen to watch FDSS - First Day Second Show :) Ponniyin Selvan is a historic fiction Tamil novel read by most of us during our teens or early twenties. So it easily makes an evergreen mark in us. While reading it we imagine the the scenes, give face to the characters and adore the story. Hence the mere thought of the novel coming alive in cinema fascinates us. Thus when the news of Maniratnam making Ponniyin Selvan in two parts floated, all of us were eagerly waiting for Sep 30. The pre release events and interviews from the makers almost prepared for a movie that is Director Maniratnam's adaptation of the novel. Never had imagined Maniratnam was also a fan of Ponniyin Selvan like us and also decided to film it. Favorite novel getting filmed by your favorite Director is a double excitement. Maker of classics like Nayakan

 We took a trip to Mahabalipuram and Pondicherry over weekend to accompany our friends visiting Chennai. Here are some snaps from the trip.

 On the Dassara day after the Jumbo Savari in the Mysore Palace we took passes form our friend to the Torch parade event by the Police force at Bannimantap. With the help of Google maps we navigated through the city that's in a celebratory mood to reach Bannimantap. But few meters away from it the road was blocked as the parade was coming out of the Palace and people who could not enter the Palace were witnessing it from here. As suggested by the youngsters there we parked our car in the car garage there for a fee of Rs. 100. But when we started to walk, there was absolute no space to move ahead in the dense crowd of people. An autorickshaw driver understood our situation and took us through a narrow lane behind a slum to the main road. We thanked him and proceeded walking for a kilometer and showed our passes at an entrance to the Police woman, She asked to walk for another 1.5 km as this entrance is for VIPs only.  We had to walk to through the lanes around Bannimantap and reache

The second day in Mysore was the culmination day of Dasara. We went to our friends home for breakfast and from there left to the Palace for witnessing the Jumbo savari, where the Goddess Chamundi goes on procession on elephant followed by more elephants and various cultural activities in the form of dances and parades. To get a good seat we were asked to go in early. We managed to get a seat which was some 750m away from the Jumbo savari. The elephants were ready and came in by 12:30 PM. By 3 PM the event started with the Mysore Maharaja family kicking it off with the pooja.  After the elephants started moving, the parade started. We saw different kind of dances, the parade was similar to the independence day or republic day parade that happens in Delhi. The highlights of the state of Karnataka were showcased in the parade. Its a well known fact that Kannada people are fond of Puneet Rajkumar. Today we could that when his photograph was carried over in the parade and the crowd erupted

 Mysore Dasara is a Royal Festival continued to even today. The 10-day festival starts after no moon day and closes on the Vijayadashami day. On the 9th day of the festivity we visited Mysuru and got to witness the festivity of the old and majesty city called Mysuru. On Tuesday early morning we left from Chennai to reach Mysuru by 2 PM. We had our breakfast at Hotel Alankar in the highway itself near Ratnagiri. The restaurant had a wonderful ambience and food to vouch for. Side dishes are given in small quantities but served more if required, avoids wastage in a way. Poori, pongal vada, idiyappam and chutney vada tasted yummy and price was nominal too. Hot vada in cold chutney is not for lovers of sambar vada. Driving further we took another break just before the electronics city at the Bidadi’s Thatte Idli just on the highway. We preferred benne dose rather than idli - it was super crispy, and ended with a tea.  Our stay at Sai Inn in Gokulam at Mysuru costed us Rs.3000 per night owin