To the Land of Karimeen and Chengara Heritage

Well another long gap before the post. I've been away to kerala for the weekend and wasn't it the much-deserved break i needed? Just for three days and i feel so refreshed- no work, no schedules, no worries.... peaceful! It was jus the three of us - my mom, elvis and I... dad decided to ditch us this time. So we set off on fri evening to catch the mangalore mail, which was until then, not confirmed!! my bro-in-law promised us confirmed seats, even though our waiting list numbers were somewhere in 200s!! 'Believe' - i told myself and set off from my office. Thankfully the tickets got confirmed just at the last moment! the compartment was packed with passengers, reserved and otherwise!! there was a family of four with two young boys and they had burgers and fried chicken for dinner from marrybrown (the details are for your information only!;)) i was wondering what their parents were teaching them just wen i saw the dad of the boys having a burger himself!! duh, no comments!

Elvis was thrilled (at the sight of burgers and chicken, partly) and about the trip partially! he's never been to kerala and he always wanted to. we were jus yapping and passing our time and the day closed and we were off to our berths. dawn broke and we had to get down at shoranur for our connecting train to my sweet little hometown angadipuram. but that was a wait for about 2 hours. the passenger train takes about 45 mins to my town and it has one of the best scenic views en route. completely covered with lush green and early morning rays peeping through the trees - what a sight! elvis was clicking away. i havent uploaded the pics yet, i'll post those pics in my next post. got down at my station after a while and off we were to my uncle's house. Home at last! traveling surely takes you for a toss during pregnancy. i was glad i got home without much complaints but for a nagging backpain and broken sleep. breakfast was served, pleasantries exchanged and elvis was dazed! he found himself amidst a lota mallu folks.. hehe... time for him to learn a new lang!! :P

Saturday lunch was lavish... elvis was hell bent on having karimeen. so i made sure there was fish for lunch (though not karimeen). some gravy and fry - whether he liked or not, i hogged and had a bloating stomach till late evening! :D In the evening we were off to our temple to make arrangements for the puja on sunday. just when we were about to step out, one of the pujaris called us back for having payasam prasadam - double bonus at the temple! i wonder how the prasadams taste all the more heavenlier in temples, quite interestingly! two down for elvis - he was mesmerised with the taste! back home we were so loaded up noone wanted anything for dinner. i had requested for rice porridge and chatni. Yummm... but the size of each grain of rice was a scary affair. i managed to gulp down some and off i was!

Sunday started with the temple. there was crowd worth a trissur puram (for people wondering what it is, you can figure it out from google, am lazy you know :D) mann... it took us about 2 hours to get over with the formalities and come out with two vessels full of prasadams, koottu payasam and nei payasam. back home with a glass of payasam in hand! :) lunch was on us, elvis and i decided to take everyone out for lunch (its different that we had selfish reasons to go out ourselves, for the karimeen of cos!) so we were there, 8 of us, at this famous restaurant in town dying to dig into the fish, and bingo... we were just lucky! they were having some fish fest at the restaurant. there you go - 3 karimeens pollichadhu and one ordinary fry for yours truly and lots more. well i jus had a sweet corn chicken soup, fish fry and mutton pulao, thats all :D Have i ever told you am a foodie??? oh almost forgot to mention elvis' delight. he was seriously digging into that large karimeen and a ceylon paratha. had we been there for a tad longer, he would've gone in for a second round of karimeen, but i must tell you, for just 100 bucks it was truly worth it.

ok ok... back to basics. post lunch, we headed to chengara heritage hotel. ok, this i NEEd to tell you all about. this chengara heritage hotel has an ancestral background - a background linked to my mom's family. chengara belongs to my mom's ancestors (mom's name being chengara puththanveetil radha), as in my mom too partly grew up in this house. it seems my granny was born there. Its a huge mansion, rich and grand, with around 15 rooms, a huge pond, large lawn and amazing architecture. the pic shown in the site is the actual structure of the mansion without any change or damage done. the property is 108 years old and still going very strong. my mom was narrating her tales about the place with such awe in her eyes, elvis and i were transported back in time. there is so much story written in those walls, i was literally lost. mom was so happy. elvis was amazed. this is just my second visit to this place and i feel a remote sense of belonging already. i can imagine the flush of nostalgia my mom must have experienced. she was simply gleaming! the place is now a heritage hotel with guest rooms, restaurant, bar and a function hall which was in those days a place to burn wood for cooking. but i must admit, the place is so very well maintained by those people... most of the rooms are untouched except for tweaking here and there. what an experience! i shall post the pics of this place as well. i feel so proud to be hailing from such a background, from such ancestors. wow, the feeling's simply amazing. we then headed to some relatives' houses and were back home by evening. the night went peaceful with images of that place running in the head.

monday was rest day and i was completely taking the day off for the journey back home that night. by evening we were signing off and left the place for the passenger train to shoranur and then it was the usual. i wouldnt say it was uneventful journey back home cos only two of the three got confirmed seats. my name was in waitlist at 13. luck i say! horrible night in train and elvis had to sleep on the floor :( come perambur and we jumped off from that horrible train swearing never to book in second class again. dad picked us up from the station and i was back home smiling. no matter where i go i need to get back to chennai to feel truly home... only to curse that i had to rush to my office in a coupla hours :(

o oh! the post became super lengthy. chalta hai... you see i write only occasionally and when i do i can manage only this. so excuse me! :D

A confession, a poem and what follows a wedding, obviously!

A very happy and belated new year to all you out there! Hope its a wonderful wonderful new year for all! Hmm... i've been late, i know! I havent replied or responded to your lovely blogs, i know! I've almost stopped writing here, i know i know! I've been awarded and i've turned a deaf ear to it, not quite exactly... i was just late and lazy! I didnt even wish my bloggies a new year - very bad of me!!! So i lay down my confessions and ask for your forgiveness, will that bring a smile to ye all? I hope it does, pls say so! :(

Hell, its been a looong and winding couple of months for me and i almost thought i lost interest in blogging! Well, thats not the actual case u know, thank god! I've been itching to write for quite a while but i just couldnt sit down to write like a normally do. And partly i was on a guilt trip feeling miserable to have missed even reading my regular bloggies, leave alone writing one. I was worried if i would ever get back to blogging, so you can imagine the acute mental block i was in (excuse??) Well the reasons have been plenty and excuses even more :D I accept but it wasnt deliberate u know, it just so happened!

Alright alright, loads of crap talks! Blogging seems very new to me again... i've gone back to writing like a novice, not that i was a pro anyhow! C'mon every blogger feels that he has improved with time, isnt it? I just seemed to have gone back, duhh!!! Doesnt matter, I'll have my time! :D

So here i'm in this new year late by 9 days! Ok before i crap talk more, there's one great news i'd like to share with you, cos you all mean a great relief to me and i cant go without sharing it with you... how can i?? Ok here's the clue, read the poem below and you'll know, hopefully! :D

Over the ups and downs of my life
i came across this beautiful form
i knew the sun couldnt set anymore
its just beginning to dawn

i cried over it, i laughed over it
i tried yelling and sometimes i lay calm
tears rolled down in joy and came out agony
but the feeling was cozy and warm

130 days for the world to witness
the colorful rainbow to appear
ho, i just cant wait to hold and cuddle
the little one who will bring in a lot of cheer

is it a he or she, i dont want to make a guess
let the suspense break with a tear of joy
when i will hold my little angel in my arms
and forget knowing if its a girl or a boy!

Yes, i'm going to be a "mother" soon - on may 19th to be half precise! These due dates can be a lil deceiving! Elvis and I are having mixed emotions about our baby, all for good! We are quite concerned about the health of our baby and i even more. I've already started feeling her inside, she's bouncing about and i even felt her heartbeat (her? i need to provide some gender to the baby, right? lets just assume its a she for the time being, not that am against a he!!) Its a wonderful feeling but my work and lack of time leaves me with really very little time to spend with her. I sometimes even wonder whether i'm enjoying my pregnancy :( lucky are those who are not working, am sure they experience each and every bit of pregnancy! Hummpphh!! My advice: stop working atleast when you're into your 2nd trimester if you really want to enjoy this phase!! And trust me, hell loads of emotions play around you. At times you feel you're on top and at times you're dumped deep down. Its really undescribable! The worst part of the whole phase is the continuous dosage of multi vitamins! Guess nobody escapes that... so my advice again, eat healthy way from the beginning or atleast when you get engaged. All that you eat will reflect on your baby! And pls pls take good care of your whites. Have loads of calcium intake, your teeth will take a toss in pregnancy, EVEN if you've had no bad records before. I was careless before and now i've been advised to undergo a root-canal treatment :( Everything, trust me, everything counts! I have a feeling that am acting like a mother already but its just some words of caution for the women fraternity out there, esp when some weddings are on the cards [swar, hint hint!! ;)]

Presently am much at peace now. No morning sicknesses or any such. First trimester was quite a trouble for me as i was always tired and feeling sick and groggy eyed! But luckily i had no vomittings and didnt get bed ridden too. Thank heavens! But boohoo... i'm growing out of my clothes at lightening speed. Dresses arent fitting me anymore and i hate the morning rush to work. I wonder how i'll look in full term. I will prob'ly look like a balloon, hehe! Right now, i'm just beginning to show. My baby bump is getting prominent though i can pass off as an off-proportioned woman still... hehe! I feel funny looking at the image staring at me in the mirror. Its weird i tell u! Anyyyywayyyy... its all part of the package. My doc says the baby's pretty normal and healthy inside. That's enough and I'm happy.

So that's about the good news this year. I hope to keep my posts updated with all the happenings, inside and out! ;) So long, catch you guys soon enough. Wishing you all again a great year ahead. Love ye all... muaahs!

Sansmerci - I've been chatting with you quite regularly so i guess I can be excused for not reading or responding to your blogs :D I just did reply to two of your blogs though! Do i get the first place in your award giving ceremony? :P Hehe... jus kidding!! Thanks babe.

Multimenon - Man, you're the one who really made me feel so guilty. You've been such a sweetheart popping a msg in my last blog and buzzing me in fb and constantly checking on me. Really sorry for not responding to your blogs. I promise to be good :) And thanks a ton for the award!

Rest of you all - please dont ignore me anymore. Include me in your reading list again. I will try to be a regular, at least write some crap and pass off as a decently frequenting blogger! :D I feel good being back! Yahooooo!!!