Trip To Madurai

This trip to Madurai was a memorable one in many ways.

Wanted to stay in the GRT Regency, Madurai. Two relatives suggested a very old and popular hotel existing from years ago - Neww College House.

My paternal uncle had got married when I was about 14 years old and during our visit to Madurai we had stayed in a very popular hotel some 30 odd years back and I have always wished I could somehow locate that hotel in our annual trips to the temple city but could not. Will this trip prove lucky?

We were directed to walk a few yards from the railway station to locate this hotel. Sure enough it was very near. We booked 2 AC rooms (#70 and 71) which were just behind the reservation counter. Then as I looked around, the layout came back to me. Yes this was the very hotel we all had stayed so many years ago. We had parked all our family cars (Fiat) in the huge inner courtyard of this hotel.

Besides nostalgia, there was not much else to remember for the one day we stayed there! The AC won't work until the room boy juggled with the switch. We wanted to wash our feet and when we turned on the tap, it came off! It was quite a task to fix it right back. The flush simply refused to oblige. Off I ran to the other room to check how it was there. #71's flush worked but there was no hygiene tap. We were 4 of us, but there were only 3 drinking glasses. It was a good 2 hours before the room boy handed us one. Except for 2 bath towels there were no other room supplies to boast of.

The next morning, half the day was spent at the temple, offering rose garlands and singing the Lalitha Sahasranamam in an isolated hall which housed the Meenakshi-Kalayana Sundareshwarar temple which was closed. As if in answer to my prayers the doors to the temple opened as I finished singing HER praises.

As we came out we saw so many Japanese, Americans and Britons, all wearing brand new dhotis with traditional borders. They were all clicking pictures of the lone elephant, who kept blessing anyone who could spare some money for her upkeep.

Soon it was lunch time. Friends had recommended lunch at the Sri Ram Vilas Mess. We took an auto which took us straight to the hotel. This was another 15 year old messing facility. The food was piping hot, fresh and good.
On a banana leaf, we were served a beetroot poriyal, cauliflower-peas koottu, tomato soup, curd pacchadi, semiya payasam, mango pickle, rasam, appalam, sambar, fine ponni rice. The meal was very simple with minimum oil and no masala in any dish. All for Rs.50 per person.

We walked along the way in search of the irruttu kadai halwa. The shop had shut down sometime back. Yet there was another one - The Prema Vilas, Town Hall Road - selling some very good tirunelveli halwa. Off we went there and picked up a kg of it.

After a few hours of restful sleep, it was time to have dinner and rush back to the room to pack up and leave. Dinner was at Bombay Hotel which advertised Rajastani, Gujrati, UP and Bombay meals but we had no choice as only Rajasthani was served. Dishes served were cluster beans masala curry, kadhi - a curd based liquid dish, dal, green chilli deep fried with a light masala, mango pickle, curds, piping hot umlimited phulkas and plain rice. This too was simple and tasty at Rs.60 per plate.

This was a fulfilling and peaceful trip.

Mahalakshmi.

Native Place

The common question asked after people are introduced to each other is, "What is your native place?" This means from which place/village do you come from (read ancestral village).

"Native place" in India is an equivalent of "The weather is good..." in UK. It is like breaking ice.

It gladdens many hearts when they hear their home towns or villages mentioned by total strangers at chance meetings. There is a special bonding and bonhomie after that as if they belong to the same family! Even if they don't belong to the same village, it is alright as the conversation centres for a few more minutes about what the place is famous for, like the Kumbakonam Degree Kaapi, Madurai Malli, Idli and the Irruttu Kadai Halwa, Tirunelveli Halwa, Palakkad Samayal, etc.

Among Tambrams (Tamilian Brahmins) some of the popular places mentioned are
Tanjavur, especially the Ganapathi Agraharam (this temple is desolate except for pious NRIs who manage to juggle time to visit it and carry back the tough modakam/kuzhakatai which has a long shelf life. In fact there are many NRIs who support the temple financially, through their generous donations), Kumbakonam, Madurai, Tirunelveli - Kalladakurichi, Ambasamudram, North Arcot, Coimbatore, Palakkad, etc., etc.

People have moved far away in pursuit of careers.
In cities like Chennai, Mumbai, Bangalore, native places make for faster bonding and creating an easier working atmosphere.

Visiting native villages is a big event for many of us if we were born and brought up there.
For those of us whose parents or grand parents themselves have shifted base, could just mean an overnight visit to the family diety (Kula Daivam) where traditional family rituals are performed.

After nearly two and half years, we plan to visit Madurai this week, to seek the blessings of Meenakshi Amman and Sundareshwarar and offer dark pink rose garlands which has been an age old family tradition on my in-laws side.
May The Divine Pair bless us all.

Mahalakshmi