Madras to Chennai

After several long years I visited Madras .

The difference or the so called development is quite amazing! Old familiar buildings are not to be seen or have lost themselves in the new jungle that has grown around them! Roads have become bigger and smarter, but then you can't see or appreciate it in the traffic congestion!

For the foodies it is a delight with everything on offer, naturally at a price.

It is a Shopper's paradise as well, but not the kind that was Moore Market of yester years !

The new bus station is a sight , by its vastness, the crowds and the chaos . But buses run and run well.

The well behaved reasonably priced auto with the meter has made way for the pushy and arrogant " pay what I ask OR ELSE " breed of goons!

The transformation from Madras to Chennai is to be experienced to believe!

Temple treasure: Does God owe us money?

Temple treasure: Does God owe us money?

The year 1186

Karkadakam 1186 , the last few days of the Malayalam era is here!

If there was a pauper on the calendar it was this sad month of Karkadakom!

The month that is dull and dark with lashings of heavy rain with no warning, finally and hopefully culminating on Karkadaka vavu when even the moon goes into hiding and mortal men go hiding under their blankets!

So it was that over hundreds of years the able bodied men of Kerala would go religiously for Sukachihilsa , in modern day parlance wellness therapy, while the women would spend their waking hours reciting from the Holy books. Both apparently to protect themselves and their families!! And the Land.

But just as the silver lining on every dark cloud , Karkadakom rings in the beginning of yet another NEW YEAR !

The colorful and vibrant month of Chingam , a month unique in its celebrations , with boat races and floral carpets, dancing and singing and feasts that can put anyone but a true malayalee to shame!

That is the excitement of life – Karkadakom and Chingam - the twins on a calendar, so different but so utterly vibrant, both competing to excel in the traditions they have been pictured over thousands of years.

But then why the year 1186??

Madras to Chennai

After several long years I visited Madras .

The difference or the so called development is quite amazing! Old familiar buildings are not to be seen or have lost themselves in the new jungle that has grown around them! Roads have become bigger and smarter, but then you can't see or appreciate it in the traffic congestion!

For the foodies it is a delight with everything on offer, naturally at a price. It is a Shopper's paradise as well, but not the kind that was Moore Market of yester years !

The new bus station is a sight , by its vastness, the crowds and the chaos . But buses run and run well.

The well behaved reasonably priced auto with the meter has made way for the pushy and arrogant “ pay what I ask OR ELSE “ breed of goons!

The transformation from Madras to Chennai is to be experienced to believe!

Alleppey Mullackal Chirup

Come December, people think of Christmas!

Alleppeans remember with nostalgia Mullackal Chirup , the annual Temple festival at the Rajarajeswari temple, held every year in December!

More than the spiritual part of the festival, it is the gaiety of the market that appears from nowhere, along the main roads of Alleppey that attracts the thousands, babies to grannies! I am not forgetting the carnival, with the dare-devil drivers of the hell-well! I am yet to fulfill my ambition to become one!

As a little kid it was pure joy tagging along older women, crying for balloons of different colors and shapes, especially the magic variety that floated up above you! The hydrogen balloons made way for the balloon rabbits, which always landed on its feet, however much the brat in me wanted it flat on the ground! A year later the attraction was the cotton candy, affectionately called saliva candy!! In later years of my childhood I was amazed by the little boats that went zipping around in water buckets charged with just a drop of coconut oil and a wick light, producing the typical put-put of a real P8! I learned a great lesson in life when I stole one Anna, the equivalent of about 25 ps now, to possess one of these - a dream boy’s luxury cruiser! But alas, back home in hiding, it was a gallon of coconut oil and several match boxes, my cruiser never moved but for the waves created by my frustrated hands! Stolen Annas don’t get you anywhere!

A little older I would tag along with the ladies who went to look at the glittering glass bangles and other feminine things. But soon the interest in the bangles moved to the hands that wore them. Adolescence was a great time to spend during the Chirup festival. It is colorful and busy with young people thronging in from all over and all through the day. The procession with the caparisoned elephants and the percussion instruments is fantastic.

As the years go by and I get older I think of only the noise that come attached to festivals and wonder why as a nation we are so loud, my own church included. Don’t we all talk about pollution? But forget that noise can be as polluting as plastic and poisonous gases!

Gone are the days of enjoying the hands with beautiful bangles and the half saris.

'season'

In general parlance ‘season’ is time for business.

Tourist season is when we have tourists flocking in (??)

Human tourist or not, we do have avian tourist visiting our backwaters every year.

From as far away as Siberia they come to God’s Own Country to nest, feed and continue in their quest for survival.

They are a welcome site, like in the picture!

It is sad some still find their way to the tables of the hungry!

Some varieties are making our land their home, as some human foreigners are doing in these liberated times!!

Both varieties escaping cold winter!

We hear of Kettuvallam and our brain conjures up messages of floating luxury yachts going by the modern name – HOUSEBOAT! Yes, the modern Houseboat is the dream for any luxury seeking tourist with air-conditioned rooms, satellite television, and bed side refrigerator.

One wonders if all this is needed for any tourist apparently coming to enjoy the nature and quiet of this beautiful place!!??

Perhaps watching a movie on a houseboat is very special! Some movies are better than the backwaters of course?

This picture shows a Kettuvallam of yester years manually punting through the backwaters, probably carrying tons of stuff- rice or coconut. He would take a week to get from Kuttanad to Cochin.