Shrijit's wedding 25.10.2009

Shrijit one of my colleague and best friend in Jumbo is getting married, the invitation was long back by gtalk. I called Shrijit on 21.10.2009 on the day he came from Dxb and told to come by Allepey - Chennai and get down at Ottapalam, As Roby was in Trivandrum I called up and asked about his plans for going to the wedding he was not very sure about the plans. So I booked my ticket for Alleppey - Chennai Sleeper class and planned to take leave on Saturday and take the train at 5.20 pm. On Saturday Roby called me and told that he is taking the Trivandrum - New Delhi Kerala Express so as to get down at Thrissur for the onward to Pazhayannur and he added that it will be difficult for him to take buses from Thrissur and asked me to take the same train. So I cancelled by Kerala Express ticket and took a fresh ticket to Thrissur. Roby too sms'ed me that he was in coach S10 and from the station I boarded the same coach and met Roby. Not so boring journey because of the exchanges of news / info of about Jumbo and all other people we know.

Reached Thrissur at about 5pm and took a auto and went to North stand where buses to Pazhayannur will be there on lone bus was there and we took the seat and meanwhile we called Harish my dxb boss Shrijit informed that he may come for the wedding, Harish informed that he is having a wedding on Saturday and chances are bleak to attend Shrijits marriage. It was a weary journey which took about 1.30 hrs the conductor and the co passengers was very friendly and informed us the exact place to get down which was Pazhyannur Bhagawati Temple. As I was gone there before I recognised the place and we had a land mark too the Excise Office and from there have to took a right turn to Shrijits home on the corner we met Sujith he was very happy to see both and he took to Shrijits home and Shrijit introduced to his mother and other relatives and took to us the first floor, he told that there is a special ceremony in their family temple nearby so that we should take a quick shower and go to the temple. After shower we moved to the temple nearby with all family members, Sujith told the history of this temple which was built long back more than 500 years old this is built as per oracles instruction from the Pazhayannur Bhagavathy temple to cure the illness of the region long back now its taken by government.

The temple is idol is Vetaikoru Makan and after some time the main priest from the Bhagavathy Temple came and he took the kuthu vilakku and went to take a dip in the pond nearby and he was greeted with chenda, kuzhal and illa thalam and he entered the temple and took his wooden sword took 3 pradhikshanams and took a little about 10-15 minutes and after that he blessed all of the senior family members and blessed all the gatherings and after that the ceremony ended with breaking of coconuts and firecrackers.

Shrijits home and neighbours all are his relatives old tharavadu is the nearest house and he took there and explained all the nooks and corners of the house and took us to the balcony of the new home and meanwhile when we was returning from the temple he arranged a full bottle white for us. He came with some snacks for the booze party nobody esle other than me n Roby all the relatives were having their food. We started our party two of us some of the relatives of Shrijit came but not joined us all are non-alcoholics . We had a gr8 time meanwhile Shrijit called Abdulla and we had a small talk with him. Shrijit arranged the bedspace for us and told that we have to be ready for the grooms party which will be leaving at 8 am, so we put our alarm at 6.30am.

Roby woke up very early may be by 6am I was still on the bed awake and after some time me too got up, meanwhile people was pouring in and a batch by batch. So everyone wants to get ready Roby had the first shower it took some time and Shrijits uncle came twice to check the availability of toilet because the Chennai batch of people was also wants to have the shower. After having a quick shower we went down and had our wholesome breakfast Uppumavu, Battora, Idli and the sweet thing ( seer )

The grooms party was leaving by 3 big bus and few cars Roby and me was planning to by the bus, but Shrijit insisted us to accompany him as we came all way and the closest friends so we had a crampy ride on the Santro.Palakkad a drive of about 1 hr plus, the driver Shrijit was calling him Appapan he was a in the Army, so he was driving very fast and some time furious we had some close calls on some corners. The grooms parts does not have any navigator and nobody knows where the marriage hall, so we halted about 2 - 3 kms before the marriage hall and the cars which were following us took the lead to the marriage hall. The place was full of marriage halls left and right at last we reach our hall.

I get down and Roby also followed because from here Shrijits wedding ceremonies begin so we are not part of that relatives took the lead and a colorful flock of people with Aarti was about to receive Shrijit to take him to wedding place. The wedding hall was full may be about 500-700 people, wedding was very simple a simple tali tying and exchange of garlands. After the wedding all went down to have the lunch. Me and Roby waited to meet Shrijit on the dias with his sweet heart we had a small chat and moved to lunch hall and had our lunch.

After lunch we went to Olavakode railway station and inquired about the trains to Trivandrum for Roby and one train was there at about 1.22 that was Dhanbad - Alleppey Express Shoranur via so Roby can take the Venad Express from Shoranur. We took the tickets and waited for the train and the train came at right time and our journey began after about 1 hrs train had a unscheduled stop for about 45 minutes. We reached Shoranur at about 3.10 pm I enquired one of the railway crews about Venad he told it left at about 2.30pm so Roby missed his Trivandrum train. Janashatbdi train was there Roby enquired for that but got the bad news its only for booked passengers, so I told him to take the same train Dhanbad - Alleppey and get down at Ernakulam South and get any available trains to Trivandrum or continue the same train up to Alleppey but he doesnt like travel by bus he opted out from this.

The train was slow and about to reach Ernakulam North railway station so requested Roby that if the train stops at Ernakulam North I will get down because its only 5mns walk to my home. the train had unscheduled stop and got down and reached home. And called Roby that time too the train has not reached Ernakulam South which is only a 5 minutes ride from Ernakulam North, at about 6.pm I called Roby again to enquire the status then he told that all the passing trains had left and only train to Trivandrum is at 11.30 pm so its was very very bad news for Roby, after this I had know news about Roby and no calls from Roby and got the news from Shrijit that Roby has flew back to Dxb.

Aagons 3rd birthday 07 03 2009

Jaimey invited us for Aagons birthday tha was falling on Saturday, we had to go to Maradu for seeing the Maradu sample vedikettu ( fireworks ) it was on the same day but we planned to go for the early morning fireworks which was at at about 5 am Sunday. Jaimey also reminded me to take fotos of the birthday celebration so we have to attend the same without fall. Bought a small gift of Aagon and meantime Judan called me usually he is a later comer for all events but today he is right on time.

Jasmine was busy with writing the words on the cake and everything was ready for the party the, the room was decorated with baloons and all kids had birthday caps and masks it was very nice to see kids on that Akaash was first reluctant to join the kids but after some time he also joined. They were waiting for their cousin recently married and when they came all was set to cut the cake but Aagon was not in a mood to cut the cake and after some pressures all Jasmine hold his hand and cut the cake and some was trying to burst the thing filled with gilts and papers and after some time it burst and the whole room was filled with gilts and all had gilts on their faces women folks had a tought time cleaning the room.


Jaimey invited for some cold refreshments and rice and chicken curry was ready and we had that and later icecream was served and it was a one of the best birthday party I have ever seen.

Shibus Wedding 23.02.2009

Shibu is one of best friend I met in dubai, he used to frequent my room to have dinner almost everyday when I was in dubai and had a nice time with them alongwith others. Because of this friends I had an opportunity to see the  a slice of life in Dubai.  

Shibu  came back from Dubai in search of a bride nowadays hard to find we had a get together when he came in Ernakulam and after about 2 months Shibu breaked the news that he is getting married and it was on 23rd Feb 2009 it was a working day for me same time Sivarathri, so I informed my office that I will be leave on that day.  

I took a ticket for the Ekm - Tvm express which will departing fom Ekm railway station at 5.50 AM.  So on 23rd Feb ( monday ) I woke up at 5am and had my usual chores and rode to ekm rly station and parked by bike and took a return ticket and 2 news papers to push time in the train and  I was moving on the platform suddenly a I saw two people running infront of me, so me too join the run and went to platform 4 then I saw the train was moving .... no way to get that train.

Returned the ticket got a auto went to KSRTC bus station and one Trivandrum super fast was parked, seats are plenty so I conveniently seated and started my journety to Tvm. As it was Sivarathri and most is having a holiday the roads were empy and we had a nice journey. 

Shibu called me when I reached Haripad and asked me to get down at Kazhakootam the stop near to his house.  At about 10.45 I reached Kazhakootam and phoned Shibus friend Leo he came in Zen and picked me up and went to Kaniyapuram church saw Shibu waiting to enter the church me to went to church and saw the ceremonies and after that I got a call from Leo and we had a some refreshments  and met Varghese who was also in Dubai and so I got company.  We had our lunch and moved to a place near Shibus house and there also we had some refreshments and moved to Shibus house and waited for Shibu and his freinds were busy decorating his bed room with flowers and fragrances.  

At about 4 pm Shibu came with the bride and there is was ceremony in the house and after that they entered the house and we had also some snacks from there and Leo dropped us at the Kazhkootam railway station and our train was at 5.50pm and we got a seat and our journey to Ekm , Varghese get down at Harippad. me reached at ekm 10.10 pm

Ooty 2009

Nilgiri Mountain Train journey it was a dream journey heard about this lot after lot of web search, blogs finally decided to go on this train.....

Cast : Jaimey, Jasmine, Aldrin, Aagon, Judson, Jancy, Anu, Achi, Me, Roopa n Akkash

Driver : Rajesh mode of Transport : Tata Sumo

time : 16.1.09 to 18.1.09

After a discussion with Jaimey, Judan and also had a word with Rajesh because he is the key perosn to this trip ,booked the ticket for 17.1.09 booking was done on 19.11.08 almost 2 months before because this train has only 4 coaches so if you book early you will get tickets are else you will have to plan for a different date. 2 months passed fast I was busy browsing all web pages about Ooty and made some maps and keys places to see. January 1st week was very busee with Ayyapankavu Temple festival so we didnt get much time to discuss about the trip and menus for the trip. We all meet at Jaimeys house on 15.1.09 a day before the journey and charted out things to be made and things to carry with us. Jaimey was assigned to buy Vella Appams, and they will make Pal Appams Pal Appam is for breakfast in the train. I was assigned to make chicken curry and chappathi and Judson was assigned to bring drinking water and he also bought some snacks, chips and hot n cold beverages for the trip.

16.1.09 ( Friday )
So the D day 16.1.09 i was busy in the morning went to buy chicken and flour and groceries for the chicken and chappathy went to office managed to sneak out at 5pm so that I can go home and take a shower and be ready for Rajesh who will be coming by about 5.30pm. As our bag was kept ready not much problems of packing we were ready by about 5.30 then Rajesh came and we went to Jaimeys house, Jaimey was not he was gone to buy the Vella Appams and Jasmine was busy packing the bags, Aldrin was watering plants on the terrace we have to call him down and tell him to get ready. Meanwhile Rajesh and me was busy packing all things in order all food items were packed in a thermocool box so it will as fresh at the same time I was calling Judan to be ready it was around 7pm we left Jaimeys house. At Judans house it was the final packing all bags were neatly kept and tied with with polythene covers and two 20 ltrs of drinking water cans also were above the Sumo and the remaining items food stuffs, stove were kept securely in all nooks of the Sumo under the seat and we left from there at about 7.20 pm. Informed Chandran ( courtesy Ani he was his colleague ) who will be taking to us in and around and made arrangments for our stay at Hill View, Kotagiri

Our first stop was at Edapally church to put kanikka and a prayer for a safe journey, and the next stop was on Angamaly for buying some medicine was bit confusing searching for a drug shop first we stopped at a book shop and finally we got a shop with medicines and after that we had a nice road but some major works was going on Angamaly, Chalakudy junction some flyovers are coming up and we told that Rajesh we will take our food, he told that we will take it at Vadakancherry there is a nice place. We reached a nice and neat place its a shop with some stairs with glazed tiles but its a scary down side because under the stairs its a deep trench so we were little careful to keep a watch of our kids. The food for Friday was taken by the respective family so we had vegetable pulav, Jaimey & Judson rice... with lot of curries beef roast, prawns fry and prawns dry fry, koorka upperi Aldrin didnt like rice so we give our extra pack of vegetable pulav to Aldrin he was happy.

Our next stop was Mettupalayam no on slept reached all kids had a nice sleep, Akaash woke up when we stopped at Mettupalayam our hotel Kaveri was very near to the bus stand Jaimey & Judan went up and woke up the receptionist and me to went to and enquired about the rates he offered 2 double rooms at Rs.600 Judan was reluctant for this and they went up and saw the rooms and they came up with a single 3 bedded room costing Rs.450 it was good offer but I was not okay for that because 11 people sharing one toilet to catch the 7.10 Mettupalayam - Ooctamund passenger will be little difficult. So all kids and their mother took the bed me and Judan and Akaash on the floor all mobiles were put on alarm at 5.30 am so that we can comfortly get ready. Kaveri hotels is very nice and clean

17.1.09, Saturday ( Mettupalayam )
At 5.30 am hell broke loose Jaimey is reliance phone had a nice alarm almost every one woke up next was Judans not so impressing and mine is the rooster call every had a laugh on that. So every one was busy doing the chores and getting ready and almost every was ready by 7am and we reached they Metupalayam station at 7.05 am its about 1km ride from the hotel we were in a hurry to catch the train we saw black smoke from the Nilgiri Mountain Train and we reached our compartment FS1 and searched for our seats but we were surprised to see that all our seats are alloted to some other passengers luckily the ticket examiner was near the compartment. I showed him the Electronic Reservation Slip and he checked with his reservation chart and told the passengers who were sitting there to vacate, and politely told them that the people who have booked the seats have come and he cannot do anything, we felt sorry for them but they were alloted some seats later. Two UK citizens was also seating in our booked seat but we didnt moved them showing courtesy to our visitors. At the scheduled departure time ie. 7.10 am the train started moving it was going back memory I have seen old steam engines through the railway tracks near my home so not new to me but all the kids enjoyed the ride it was just going back and front and after that we had a different noise it was the gear it was large pulley which will be enabling the train to climb the hills some times it will be engaged for the uphill climb and some times it will be not be used for the level grounds.

Breakfast was being served on the train every 1 was hungy it was pal appam with stuffed cherry Akaash was searching for the cherry and he found some our co passengers she is Carmel King she is a freelance photographer and her husband a teacher we had nice time chatting with them shared our food. The train will stop frequently to fill water because steam engine lot of water make steam so we had a break to free our legs because the wooden compartment is a cramped one and some photo snaping opportunity because the tracks are going through the mountains and valley. After a brief stop the train chugs agains moving through the tunnels and viaducts not so impressive because I had expected more about this all along the hills were dried up and not much greenery. All of them were not enjoying the ride, we have already planned to get off at Coonoor station, there Rajesh will be waiting and Chandran will be waiting for us so we reached there at about 11.30pm nice weather. Jaimey bought some hot samosas was very nice from the railway station and we were moving to our Sumo parked in the railway station. Suddenly a railway police man came and stood near our Sumo and was talking to Judan then Chandran as he was local man he talked to the policeman and enquired about the problem then he told that he smoke cigarette which was not allowed and told the pay a fine of Rs.200 and Chandran had a chit chat and waxed the hands of the policeman with a Rs.50 note we had a big laugh about this during the whole trip.





Our next planned stop was Pykara Dam, Lake and Pykara on the way we stopped for a place Valley View a impressive view of the valley and we can see the Nilgiri Railway Tracks and some beautiful hills. And on the way we planned to stop at the Botanical garden I was not interested because it was a time killer but inside kids had a great time rollling down the lawns Akaash was not very interested to leave that place. On the way to Pykara it was almost lunch time we was searching for a nice place to have our lunch after a lot of twisting turns on the roads we found a bus stop it was a nice place . Inside the bus stop we put some old news paper on the seats and kept all our food items and Judson and Jaimey was struggling to start the kerosene stove and last it started burning, first we heated chicken roast and rice was ready in the ricer cooker and made some hot water for drinking all had a nice lunch and someone invited some monkeys and they came one by one and there was lot of them when we are about to leave. After that we stopped at the Pykara dam way as we walked inside our friend Chandran told that we cant go to the dam due to the recent bomb blast and tightening of security so we proceeded to Pykara falls I had and a lot of expectations seeing the pics of this place the place was about 5-10 minutes downhill and Jaimey & Jasmine was not interested in this place saying that they have seen this place. Me, Judan with all others went down for a look for the falls but the place was dried up and we can see only small pools of water and some small water falling down but cant say its a wate fall Aldrin had a nice time, Akaash along with Anu with the help of Jancy and Judan cooled their heels on the cold water after some time we went back. One the way up we saw Aagon having a cold shower in one of the pool and we all sat on the green lawns and kids had a nice time rolling down the lawns. After this we had a cup of hot tea near the Pykara falls we had also some raw groundnuts me n roopa had that but nobody else took it because they are afraid that it may cause stomach upsets.




The next stop was near the lake the boat house all counters were closed because it was about 6.30pm so Chandran our Kotagiri friend enquired the security whether we can go inside then they said it was free and we can go in we saw some rides all kids were happy to have the ride but we couldnt because they are closing. We had family snaps near the lake and Jaimey & Judan even sat on one of the empty boats it was bit cool there so we had some woolen caps that cover our ears and kids all had some gloves to keep the cool away. On the way to our lodge hill view
Chandran told that we can hav a look around the tea factory but when we reached there nothing was happening and they told that tomorrow will be a working day so that we can have a look around tomorrow. So on the way back we went to Chandran's sisters house, he has made arrangments to make some rice for us and they also gave some vessels to steam our readymade food i.e vellaappams and iddlis t make it fresh. Jasmine & Jancy was busy with heating the food and we had our food and I went to bed early, dont know when others went to bed, the room was very chilly and we had a nice blanket from the hotel and we also put our socks we dont feel the cool.
18.1.09 ( Sunday)
Breakfast was with appam and potato masala they steamed all the vella appams and iddlis it was fresh as it was made not much taste difference had a nice breakfast and tea after that we was off to Kodanad view point it was about 25 kms from Kotagiri nice views on the way lot of tea estates stopped at one estate and all ventured to the estate and we had a nice photo stop at this place lot of pics and after that we moved to Kodanad one more stop with a beautiful view of the hills and finally we reached the Kodanadu view point its place we can see beautiful view of the hills and a water falls very far and river winding down through the valley. On the way back we saw a Toda house and someone told that it was burial place so no one came near the house I went and took some pictures of the Toda house.

Back from Kodanad our next stop was the flower nursery which was run by Chandrans sister we expected some bloomed flowers but dissappointed becaue flowers were packed when they are not bloomed then only they get the value for that we had a short walk in the nursery and moved out and our next stop was at the tea factory and its the first time most of us seen how the tea is made so I was very curious as Chandran was working there we were taken to every places and had a detailed view and explained all the process of making of the tea.

It was almost lunch time we went back to our hotel had lunch again Vellappam and potato masala and some non veg dishes ( meenthali ) its beef cooked with red chilly we can keep this stuff for weeks after lunch we packed all our bags on our Sumo as we dont anymore stops everything was tied up on the carrier and secured and we was off to sea waters falls it was bit late and it visibilty was low and a steep climb we reached a place surrounded by tea estate and the road ended there. Chandran asked the locals where we can see the falls then they told that there is a view point its safe to go there and not safe to go through the jungle where we can go near the top of the falls as its late we will find some wild bulls on our way. So we walked our way to the view point nice steps to this place between the tea plants and reached there and saw the falls as water was very less we can see the silver streak of water on the top of the hill and down below the valley it was a nice place which we should have a little earlier to see the spectacular place around its deep valley around 300 feet deep. As the place was little dangerous with steep cliff for our safety we moved from that place quickly. And our back home was journey was about to begin we came through the Kotagiri - Mettuplayam route it is a route with less traffic compared to the usual Ooty - Mettupalayam route and down hill we had some nice view of mettupalayam and we had our dinner at Kovai ( Comibatore ) at about 10.45 pm after that it was non stop upto Cochin. reached home at about 2.45 pm had a shower and went to bed.......