Our wanderings and perceptions

Malarodu malar ingu magizhnthaadum pothu Manathodu manam ingu pagai kolvatheno Madham ennum madham oayattum Dhesam malar meethu thuyil kollattum These words of Vairamuthu rewinds our memories back to Manirathnam's movie - Bombay. Bombay now know as Mumbai is not just a terror struck place, India's money market, largest cosmopolitan city of the country but also has its own heritage. One such place is the Sion fort. Sion area is in the center of Mumbai and mingles with both the old south Mumbai and the industrialized northern part. Sion fort stands on a small hillock bearing history to pre-independence days, built by British east India company. Children throng the fort over weekends.. View from the top of the fort.. This fort can be easily reached being just 500 meters away from the Sion railway station. What we see if a worn away structure. A path way leads us to the fort. No restoration has been done so one can see ruined wall and s...

Mangalam seer Kanchi managar,  mannu Kamakshi misai thungam ulla natpadikam sulavey  thingatpaya maruvum pani aniyum  param unal thanil maghzyum  kayamukha ayingaran iruthal katchi Our want to pray to Kamatchi Amman was decided on a day's notice . Being 75 kilometers away from Chennai, Kanchipuram is just one and half hours away. On reaching Kanchipuram, we first went to the Kamatchi amman temple. The gopuram as seen in the above picture is under going renovation. Being a Friday Amman devotees thronged the temple in huge number. We were in a queue for an hour as there were no special queues in this temple. Archanai was done in express time. But Kamatchi Amman gave her Karunai darshan. In a padmasana posture Kamatchi's darshan is a treat to the eyes of mortals like us. The temple has a huge corridor. Being associated with the Sankaracharyas the temple has restrictions to photography. The temple tank was also under restructuring. ...

Naan Mugani Naraayanan Padaithaan- Naan Muganum Thaan Mugamaaai Sankaranaithaan Padaithaan Yaan Mugamaai Anthaadhi Melittu Arivithen - Aazh Porulai Sinthaamal Konmin Neer Therndhu. Such staunch believer of Thirumal was Thirumazhisai alwar. This weekend we decided to visit Thirumazhisai near to city (20 kms) housing the oldest temples. As soon as you take the right to Thirumazhisai from Poonamalee high road you can see the Othandeeswar temple gopuram with in few minutes on to your right hand side. The temple is under renovation. Once you get in the surroundings paint the advance in years. Typical to any Easwaran temple of ancient chola times, the Shiva lingam is the main deity with Ambal to his left; Othandeeswar also sits there in all holiness with his Kulirndhanayagi. After praying to the Easwar the inner most praharam starts with Vinayaka, Dhakshinamoorthy, Durga, Nataraja and ends with Kulirndhanayagi's glorious darshan. Once outside the inner praharam we wal...

Pachai mamalai pol meni pavalavai kamala chenkan Achuta mararere ayar tham kozhute ennum. Echsuvai thavira yan poi indiralogam alum Achsuvai perinum vendean arangama nagarulanea. The East Coast Road in Chennai in known for the numerous resorts, hotels and other locations of entertainment. How about we take a spiritual trial on the same road for a change? This is what we did this weekend on a half day journey. Our first destination was Thiruvidanthai - around 30 kms from the city. The Nithyakalyana Perumal temple is an ancient one. Being near Mahabalipuram area its obvious builders were the Pallavas. Being a weekend there was a big queue of devotees till the entrance near the gopuram. Due to renovation on account of kumbabishen scheduled in near future we were allowed to workship only the urchaver instead of the moolavar. Perumal provided darshan in full floweral alangaram. Coming out after the darshan strong aroma of tamaraind rice pulled us towards...

There is no Frigate like a Book To take us Lands away Nor any Coursers like a Page Of prancing Poetry – This Traverse may the poorest take Without oppress of Toll – How frugal is the Chariot -Emily Dickinson The Chennai Book fair conducted every year during January by the BAPASI was a huge crowd puller in the city this year too. The entry, exit and parking were neatly organized at YMCA this time. Rs.10 was charged for entry and another Rs.10 for 2-wheeler parking. Events held outside the book stalls were also equally attracting reading enthusiasts. Book releases, debates and lectures engaged the audience. The number of stalls seem to have out numbered this time. Huge collection of old English novels were available at huge discounts. As usual Kalki was the start author with his Ponniyin Selvan, Sivagamiyin sabadam and Parthiban kanavu were available all around the fair. Mini copies of Thirukural were to be seen on all the stall's billing tables. Children's book stores were...

I floats on high o'er vales and hills, When all at once wandered lonely as a cloud That I saw a crowd, A host, of golden daffodils; Beside the lake, beneath the trees, Fluttering and dancing in the breeze. -William Wordsworth Chennai city has been bustling with events since the start of 2015. One such event for the reading minds was provided by The Hindu in the form of 3 days festival called 'Lit for Life 2015', http://www.thehindulfl.com . This yearly fest brought famous faces from the bestsellers writing scene like Amish Thripathi and Chetan Bhagat, bureaucratic faces like Vinod Rai and Sanjay Raru and also the journalist angle in the form of Rajdeep Sardesai and P Sainath.   Here are few of the events that we witnessed, The discussion on Good governance with Vinod Rai, Rajdeep Sardesai and Sanjaya Baru was a welcome topic with each one pitching in their views frankly. The question time at the end made Rajdeep agree that media lacks governance. During ...

Rajnikanth - a name no more, its a brand. When the man decided to gift his fans with his movie release others made sure the brand is cashed-on on the event of his birthday. One that caught the eye was the e-greetings by the governmental postal department. Coming to his movie, we were lucky enough to get tickets on just the second day to watch Linga. Rajnikanth has literally carried off the film in his shoulders with the sparks of Santhanam for support. Other actors appear has mere minions. The Super star has been the hero of Tamil movie world for 40 years now is itself a magnificent achievement and speaks volumes of the brand called - Rajini. An actor in his interview said God has stopped manufacturing people like Rajini, very true. No one till now or in future will be able to scale such height starting from the lower most like the super star!