I woke up to the terrible feeling of cramps in my legs. I was still in the bus, on my way home to attend a friend’s betrothal. I was not sure of making it there on time. The bus was already late by 2 hrs, thanks to the tense situations at the Kerala- Tamil Nadu border, all in the name of some Mullaperiyar issue. After being immobilized for 2 hrs at the border, the bus finally took off from the Walayar checkpost…Suddenly you could feel & sense Kerala ; the enchanting greenery, the imposing Western Ghats & the refreshing morning air. Never had all this been so alluring ,until I started staying away from home. No longer is anything taken for granted. I particularly love traveling when it’s drizzling. If it’s a heavy downpour, you have to close your window and just sit there sulking & watching the fog developing on the glass panes. But if it’s a slight drizzle, you can leisurely keep your windows open and bask in cool air and enjoy the sight of glistening leaves & the rain drenched tiled roofs of kerala
The last 3 yrs I had been living in 3 different states..A year back, I was in Tanjore in TN.. The first thing you notice there, is the feeling of “ghee on sacrificial fire”. It used to be too damn hoooooot. And we had to walk a long way through the treeless campus to reach our class. We used to literally race to the class to sit inside the a/c. It must be one of the reasons we never bunked any classes:) There was nothing to do out under the scroching sun.My attendance level was too high to suit my character .We were too happy to sit inside the class & doze off
Another thing you notice in the campus is the ease with which you can locate fellow mallus inside the campus. They are the only ones who walk under the fiery sun with an umbrella. I guess the Tamilians & Northies are used to these environmental conditions. So as I walk around with a red poppy umbrella, if I come across anyone with a blue/green/red poppy umbrella, I can confidently walk up to them & ask “enthokkeyundu visesham”( how are you)
But the nights in Tanjore are quite in contrast with the days. Nights are heavily windy, especially during the ‘aadi season’ . They are crispy cool with clear, star studded skies. At hostel, we used to take our mattresses up to the terrace, and lie down there under those heavenly skies ,chatting all the way into the night. We used to try figuring out the constellations and the non-existent comets, that fire away in the night sky (comets will usually be a figment of somebody’s flourishing imagination)..
Then, there was this farmland behind our hostel with rose farms, paddy fields & sugarcane fields. The swaying paddy fields are a rendezvous for the peacocks. If you are shrewd & careful enough to stand like a statue/scare crow, the suspicious peacocks will sometimes allow you watch them. But the moment you take out the camera, some sixth sense makes them to flee away, cackling its horrible cry.(it’s cry is similar to a cat’s cry with a little more volume & bass) . And for some unknown reasons, we gals used to derive much pleasure, by sneaking into the rose farms & taking away some of those pretty flowers.
Then I miss the fun we had in the hostel, the hanging-outs after each exam, watching tamil movies, breaking bday eggs on friends’s heads, sitting late in college in the name of projects & seminars(but browsing most of the time)
The place is famous for the big Brahadeeswara rock temple, with its mind blowing architectural beauty,built during the reign of Chola King, Raja Chola. The tall architecture is designed such that it’s shadow never cast upon the ground , at any time of the day
Posted by
Flyaway Mind
Posts
14 comments:
great post, and good pictures.
Its how we keralites are moved by that fresh air which you can feel at that valayar checkpost.
The vivid descriptions of your college at Thanjavoor just takes us to the country side. Beautiful!
Yeah...when the hostel wardens are really fed up with the people like you,they would have kicked you out of hostel for some time.Then there is no other way ,but to take your pillow and go to terrace and count the star's.It really resembles the scene at 'Munnabhai MBBS'.When it happens at bangalore you can always
say (pronounce the following as if drunken fellow does)"koi thare dikhye nanhi padtheee..lagtha he banglore pe bada POLLUTION hey bhai"
uve described d scenic beauty really well. builds up an imagery in the mind. must been soothing to the soul
@how do we know: thnx...keep visiting
@popabhi: ya..we cant help notice that on one side of western ghats, its all dry & scroching, while on the other side its the dense greenery & heavy downpours
@popoye: i guess, you are talking from ur personal experience, being thrown out many times from hostel..alle? that's when u went out to explore the idukki forests, as u told me..rt? heehe...:)
@ajay: there were not many places in tanjore to hang out..so we used to go for evening walks to these farmlands, to scare away all peacocks:)
>>>
Suddenly you could feel & sense Kerala ; the enchanting greenery, the imposing Western Ghats & the refreshing morning air
>>>>
Thats something which I too value too much...really really a great feeling.
Nice post!
It reminded me of my train journey home after 3 months of job training, the longest stretch away from home. And I experienced the same delight and rush of feelings as I saw a board at Valayar "Thank you for visiting Tamilnadu. Welcome to Kerala".
First time here and really enjoyed. Keep posting!
Regards,
Reshmi
This blogs are for those people who wanted to see glimpses, of themselves and feelings that I’d thought I’d long lost, every now and then.Hello..
i must say that you are a bang success in achieving the purpose of the blog.To make the feeling of extreme nostalgia on people
.Sometimes it feels like childhood all over again.In the blog there is that familiarity that we yearn for. There is that warmth of an elaborate embrace to the past.Keep it up...
now that template is WOW.
i mean seriously - WOW!!
i thought i was the only one that would jump off the bus at the checkpost to smell the air.
now that is a little weird - cause i go home like every three weeks.
or maybe no.
great post!!!lovely...that i could see everything you described. but....is this a complete one??? i felt like u withdrew urself before finishing whatever you wanted to write :(
maneesha
and yeah...reading ur blog was always different. i could never define it but guess its exactly like wht syamkrishnan describes.
mmuuaahhhaaa...happy n proud to be ur friend ;)
maneesha
@ajith: hmmm..a feeling which i want to relive often...otherwise i'll feel homesick
@reshmi: walayar checkpost is really a gateway to the feelings of 'back to your roots'.keep coming resh
@shyam: happy to know the post invoked those long-lost feelings & nostalgia in you
@toothlesswonder: jumps off the bus? hope u got in before it started off without u ;))
@maneesha: even i dint know how to end the post..i guess thats why you got the feeling left-in-the middle ...good u noted that:))thnx buddy...
good blogs...
@dd: thnx pal...
Post a Comment