FLASHBACK @ Ancestral

Flashback @ancestral

Hi................., am back to share the moments that I have spent at my ancestral. My family comes from a very small village in the Polur district(TN-India),my place is located at about 45 mins travel from the district headquarters. Our village is called KETTAVARAMPALLAYAM.

Let me initially tell u at what age I visited my ancestral for the very first time.......It was a hot summer of the year i completed my 10th std and was awaiting my results.

I can understand the question that raises in ur mind......
How is it possible?? u first visited ur ancestral at ur teen??????

YES, it's not that i visited there for the first time, it's the age that i first came to know about my ancestral!!!!!!!!!!!!

I  know how u all feel, but that is the fact that happened in my life.......let me first explain the situation first.........

FLASHBACK............

I was busy with  10th board exams ,my mom came running to me shouting very excitedly with a magazine in her hand.

she was telling me.....

hei inga paaru d...enga uura pathi PUSTHAKATHUla potirukkan!!!!!!!!!  

I  actually thought that she was talking and getting excited the place where her parents lived, and  reacted to her like.......

YE MA IPDI EXCITE AGARA VELLORE PATHY EDHAVADHU PUSTHAKATHULA POTUNDE THAN IRRUPAN,ADHUKU ENNA IPO............PO MA

but then she told me that........

ADA ERUMAI MAADE VELLORE PATHI PODALA DI KETTAVARAMPALAYAM PATHY EZHUDIRUKAN........

I reacted like......

WHAT?????????????

By then she told me all about the place and the celebrations there.........she just gave me an introduction ,I then learnt a lot when I visited the place.

I want all of you to join my travel........

My initial experience began with the travel from my hometown to the village. I can now read ur mind voice that says

"what's there in a travel? is it a travelogue?"

 my answer is..........

"No", this post is not a travelogue, but there are lots of interesting and funny incidents that i faced during this travel.

As holiday for a year's continuous work i got permitted to visit my ancestral along with my mom....

we started early in the morning, reached Polur by around 12 pm.i thought, this travel was really a tedious one but then i felt that the second half was like.........

ENA KODUMA SARAVANAN SIR IDHU.......        

Bus frequency was excellent(once in 45 mmins)...........Chancee ila,forgot to mention not  a  normal bus minibus................

Bus capacity was just 30+ but you know what?????nearly 75 people travelled........that was all because all of us were travelling towards the same village for the most important celebration that was taking place.

superb bus and the road condition was excellent........

Bus travelled.......everything went on well, bus was stopped at all places were the driver saw  a tea stall ,a bench and just 4 people sitting and chatting,

stopping stopping stopping........... everywhere  stopping.....................

finally i landed on my ancestral  land as Neil Armstrong landed moon for the first time....with lots of excitement happiness as if i have achieved something great.....

My uncles had come to take us home. The first word  I told them was,

PAAAAAAAAAA...........ENA MAMA BUS IDHU,OORUKU ORU STOP NIRUTHA SONNA IVAN OORU FULLA STOPPING  PODRAN,ORU BENCH PATHA NIRUTHIDRAN  PADUBHAVI.............

We actually had been there for the most important celebration, 100th year celebration of

 SRI RAMA NAVAMI UTHSAVAM, and this, was about my mom read in the magazine and screamed to me.

I was astonished to see generations of people from all parts of the world coming to their nativity, to remember and  to  cherish the glory of the celebrations made by their ancestral and i joined them to cherish the glory of my ancestors.

 Our entire family was present there and we were the last once to reach.the day we went there was the 8th day of celebration-THE SEETHA RAMA KALYANOTHSAVAM(wedding of Lord Rama & Seetha).

  Now let me tell you all about the SRI RAMANAVAMY UTHSAVAM celebrated at

 SRI RAMA BHAJANAI MANTHIRAM - 

Bhajan Mandir is a huge hall,  main idols are , paintings of Pattabishega Ramar, Ksrishner ,Kanji MahaPeriyava,Most imporant featture abou the hall is no flooring till date. It has only mud and we sprinkle water every now and then.Celebraions and customs have not changed for the past 100 years.

10 days from Ramanavami is celebrated as the Janana uthsavam of Lord Sri Rama.....This includes the last 3 days celebrations of  Kalyanothsavam(wedding ceremony),Pattabishegam(crowning as king), Hanumantha Uthsavam, even if youngsters are unable to attend the entire celebration, it has become regular for all of us to attend the last 3 days.all 10 days village people are provided with food at the Bhajanai Mandiram irrespective of the cast and creed.

The 8th day is Kalyanothsavam.......the entire occasion is celebrated in the evening with the photos of Permal and Thayar. Exciting thing occasion that occurs there is the dance performed by the elderly people considering themself as the grooms side and the brides side and celebrate the occasion as a typical Big Indian wedding for the God and Goddess. Believe me, people who dance here are those who have next who have next two generations, dancing around them but not as energetic as them. OMG..........., It seems that the entire happiness of the universe is there at that very moment.

The 9th day celebration is Pattabishegam......coronation of Dhasarathananthan Rama as Raja Ram. This is the outcome of the joy of people to welcome their new king, who has returned from 14 years of vanavas, he  who has had a great victory over Dhasananthan Ravanan.Celebration starts with bhajan songs and then Vedham,finally Pattabishegam with the golden coins.Finally people got back their beloved king and the queen. This means that people make them sit on the simhasanam of their hearts.The ultimate goal of all prayer's and  celebration is achieved.

Final day of the celebration is the Vadayathi uthsavam or the Hanumantha Uthsavam.This is the final day, and all natives of the village ,for sure attend this celebration. Bhagavathas(Singers) carry with them the photos of Ram, Lakshmi and Hanuman, start walking towards the Shivan temple at the end of the street, they stop at every house, families in the house try to make them happy and cool them by applying sandol on them(since it is summer) then sprinkle rose water on them, then wash their feet irrespective of their age, to cool their feet for, they walk on the stony path under the hot sun, after this they people sing Bhajans in praise of Ram who has come to their house. there are no word to express how our mind, soul and heart feels when you see so many Bhagavadas singing and dancing......

I say you.....every individual must have that kind of spiritual experience....when you are there, you cannot remember anything except the temple, Bhajans and the fun that teaches us how to appreciate our Hinduism, Culture, Tradition.

Believe me I did not sleep for all three days that i stayed there, did not feel like sleeping at all.....

How will I wish to sleep???when there awaits so much fun and excitement for me to experience. this kind of celebrations boost up our energy level to run in the race  for the entire year.

I never miss the fun every year. So ,this is about my Native and Celebrations.

Hope you enjoyed knowing about mu place. Every place has got its own importance, culture, beauty and happiness hidden within it. Try bringing out those. So now recall your ancestral, the most beautiful times  you cherished there. Thought of your place reminds you about your parents, relatives and childhood friends and that itself will bring a beautiful smile in your heart.

Keep smiling :)

FlashBack @ HomeTown

     Hi............... this is a FlashBack of the days and locations that i have spent in my own HomeTown                                                                                                                                                                                

CUDDAORE(Tamil Nadu-India)

When u hear  of this  ,I know u immediately  remember the  most appalling  incidents  that had taken place ........Tsunami and the Thane. Yes, I belong  to that small town.
 cuddalore, my town were i lived from  the day i was born............

Apart from this there is another issue that some people remember  of this .Yes,the  fact is that the town is located  just  25km far from Pondicherry(hope we all know the reason........ha ha ha)But, am writing this page to appreciate the other beauties and importance of my hometown.

Let's begin with the reason behind for which the town is called so..........

Cuddalore->cuddal +ore cuddal  means sea(tamil)and this means that the town is located at a seashore.

Pride of cuddalore, the Silver beach. It is the second longest beach on the Coromandel Coast and one of the longest beaches in Asia .

Seashore was the beloved and the most admired place for all kids. You know , when u like some place the most, u tend to spend  the most  memorable moments  of ur life at  that lovely environment, I did  same .Last day of my schooling, My first outing with my thick nd thins.........,Silver Beach was a part of my life,till tsunami struck our shore on Dec 26th 2004. The day ,I still remember, the loud cries and agonies of the families that  reached the depth of our heart and automatically made all our lacrimal glands to work.

Finally we were provoked from visiting the most admirable pride of our town.......which most of us adore the most.

This  seashore supports the first occupation at the town, fisheries....we have a  huge Harbour with us, that connects to most of the countries supporting export  and import. This helps us contribute much to the economical  growth of the state. When i talk of fisheries  i remember  something........ Every morning i woke up hearing the  sound of a business man ,marketing...............ERAAA,NANDU MEENOI......

Even this occupation was affected to an extent due to the miseries that happened but thank God we were able to  come  out  of the crisis soon.

This regards the economy of my town..... Next when we come to educational aspect....

The First Chief Minister Honourable Late  Mr.Suburayalu Naidu  belonged  to cuddalore and was educated from the very same town. There are good number of quality  educational institutions  all  over  the  town.

In regards with tourism and pilgrimage ,we can find a lot of pilgrims during the peak time of board exams to offer  prayers to the  God of education Lord Hayagrivar resides at the
Oushadhagiri hill near  Sri  Hemambuja Nayaki Samedha Sri Devanatha  Swamy  Temple,Thiruvahindipuram. The temple is the only nadunattu Thirupatti amoung the 108 Vaishnava  DivyaDesam. The temple was the livelihood of the Srimath Vedhantha Dhesigar who, is one of the Guru's of  SriVaishnavam  and was called kavitharkika simham for his greatest  compositions in Sanskrit.  Temple located at the bank of river Gedilam.

      Sri Hayagriva swamy present here is believed to be prathyaksham (appeared in front )  blesses with  richness, good quality education, hike in business and so most of the parents performs  aksharabyasam (ceremony done to star schooling for their kids) on thursdays and offer ellakka maallai. I know  how mothers bring their board exam aspiring children and tell them.......... ANGA ENE VEDIKA PAKARA ,NANA EXAM EZHUDANANUM NU HAYAGRIVAR KITA VENDIKKO D MUDALLA.........

Next I want to tell you all about the Perriya Kovil of my place, sri Brahannayaki samedha sri padalishwarar swamy temple, Thirupadiripuliur the temple is one among the Paadal Pettra Sthalangal of the Saivites ,The temple is the heart of the entire town, around which the cuddalore town is actually built.

             

Apart from all these.........cuddalore is were I spent all my college days ,none of us can forget r first college life. Those were the evergreen moments of my life, The day I  meet my friends, Days I cried after fighting with them...., My last working day of my college,My graduation day, Reunion at college, Cuddalore had become a part in all footprints of my life.........I know for all of you  ur hometown means the same.

THANKS FOR KNOWING MYTOWN. HOPE U REMEMBER UR HOMETOWN AND APPRECIATE THE  HAPPINESS U HAD THERE

BUT, THIS IS NOT THE END OF THE FLASHBACK.............WILL BE BACK SOON