Close Encounters

We decided to attend Param's marriage at Coimbatore on Valentine's day weekend. A good chance to break the monotony... hope my wife is not reading this blog :-). Wait a second, why it the blog titled differently... read ahead to know the answer. In 'Panchathanthiram' style, the participants along with the hero Mahesh were myself, CK, Murali and Dillibabu. All set to leave on Friday night by Nilgris Express at 9 PM. Myself, CK and Mahesh took MRTS from Thiruvanmiyur and reached central around 8:30 and saw Murali who arrived ahead of us. While we were busy packing our dinner from Rathna Cafe and Marrybrown, Babu noted for his excellent time management has just passed Chintadripet station. But never underestimate Babu, he is noted for his composure as if nothing has happened. At that instant, someone travelling with him would have seen him as a person enjoying the ride and not as someone who is suppose to catch a train at 9. Well, thats Babu!.


2 minutes to go....all except one boarded the train. We quickly settled down. Lucky to get all tickets in the same coupe of the 3A compartment... and eagerly waiting for Babu's arrival. At last a lean figure slowly crosses the window... and there he is. For the next few minutes Babu was busy wiping blood from his ears. Our co-passengers were couple of middle aged guys who were smart enough to convey the message that they wanted to sleep asap in the lower berths...and a girl.



Readers not having personal acquaintance with the group are advised to skip this passage as they contain hidden pun intended double entendres. Someone told that the name of the girl was blabla..and her age was.... Not a difficult task to guess the culprit. The train starting moving...as expected on time. We enjoyed our Briyani and Mahesh his Idlis... These were Idlis bought from Ratna Cafe, and not homemade ones. Please don't ask me from whose home! Did someone turn down the offer of preparing idlis for us ? May be!. We were chatting for sometime... and slowly everyone retired to bed, a moment eagerly waited for by one so that private call sessions can be started. Well, 'private' only for the remote speaker, since most of B1 passengers showed signs of disturbed sleep. Not an easy job to convert a sarcastic remote speaker's "Chi Thu" into a submissive "Can I change my name to Thu or Chi as in Chinese style ?". History in the making !!!

Coimbatore Junction welcomed us. Wake up guys otherwise we will end up in Mettupalayam. Without much difficult we spotted the Hotel booked for us...Grand Plaza. Rooms were exceptionally good. All of us refreshed, sipped cup of hot coffee and then took a short nap before we start our TopSlip trip, an event planned by our Manager Babu. We all were ready by 8:30 AM, enjoyed our complimentary breakfast at the hotel and buckled up into the Qualis. Our rule to halt the car every 5 miles was never compromised be it some pharmacy or Babu's "Sev Elani" (Orange/Red coconut) quite popular around Pollachi. Around noon we reached TopSlip and after a short break immediately set off to Parambikulam Wildlife sanctuary.

God's own country have their own rules... to let people in only in batches of 14. So we joined with another group to commence our safari in their van. Cost per head was 150 bucks. After our lunch (Kerala Meals + Fish) at the "only" eatery available, we set off at 2:30 PM. Someone attempted to eat fish only to realise later that his fingers only performed a port-mortem of the fish. Bond helps such souls. Safari took us to couple of big dams along and helped us sight the following faunas - Wild Elephant, Wild Squirrel, Black Monkey, Peacocks and Deers. Definitely I was so surprised to see the size of the bark of Kannimara Teak considered to be the largest naturally grown teak tree of the world. Safari was OK types... came back to the border and picked our Qualis and started our return journey. When we were just about to exit TopSlip suddenly some animal crossed the road like a flash. Someone shouted "Puli Puli...". We all watched with jaws wide open a young Cheetah barely 5 foot away giving a death stare at us. Chill in the spin... after few seconds it decided not to give us a try and vanished in the woods...Thank God. Cheetah is gone...can you please leave my hands now Babu ? Next few minutes everyone was busy discussing "what if..." stories. Does the blog title suit the situation ?

After Tea Breaks, Pharmacy Breaks, Sev Elani Breaks, Temple breaks, Banana Breaks we at last reached Coimbatore. Well, banana break reminds me of an interesting episode. A banana lover set out on his mission to buy a bunch. After repeated rate negotiations the vendor finally gave up by peeling off a banana and thrusting inside the mouth. Without much option, finally he bought it for Rs. 10/- (Rupees Ten only). Just then, a beggar was behind me... I quickly dismissed him by paying something. He slowly walked away and stood behind one of our guys who was busy on his cell phone. Not willing to give any breaks to his "precious" call, he quickly signalled the beggar that whatever I paid included his contributions too. What an idea... Sir ji. !

With a quick refresh at our hotel room, we rushed to Param's reception. Oh yes... we came to Coimbatore for Param's wedding only ;). Better late than never. Param in suit give us a warm welcome and after few minutes of chit chatting we finished our dinner. Exhausted we reached our room and everyone slept soon. Clock strikes 10:30, some one's hands start shivering and he immediately retires to a solitary place with his mobile and vanishes. History in the making !!!

Next day morning we reached the Mahal by Auto, witnessed the wedding ceremony... then the plan was to go to Marudhamalai Temple. We wanted to taste "Angannan Briyani", but it did not live up to our expectation. Veggies and Vegans went out hunting herbs. Rejuvenated by TR's "En Thangachi Kalyani" we set off for Marudhamalai by bus via Gandhipuram. 108 steps to climb... definitely a hectic task for me. From the top, view of Coimbatore was fabulous. We swiftly climbed down the steps and picked the bus on time. The bus ride almost dislocated every organ inside every one's tummy. The driver enjoyed every speed breaker with a gallop as if he was riding a horse.


Back in Grand Plaza, Babu was quick to complete the checkout formalities. 2A coach this time in Nilgris Express. We got side only lower and upper which makes no difference between a 2A and 3A coach. Of course, the rituals at 10:30 continued unabated in the train. Reached Central at 5AM and our "Panchathanthiram" story ends for now... We will meet again with another interesting episode.

Caring the Dracaena sanderiana

What are we talking about uh ? Any guesses ?
Yes, its the botanical name for Lucky Bamboo, commonly know as the bamboo plant. I first thought it was the actual "bamboo plant" that can survive drought conditions. But its not true. It is a shrub that requires fresh water and indirect sunlight abundantly to keep it hale and healthy. I learnt it the hard way by sacrificing few stems. Direct sunlight turns its leaf yellow and sometimes may even burn them. Also do not let the water turn too murky as its detrimental to its growth. Replace water once in 2 weeks at least. Water with less Fluoride and Chlorine content is better. This can be achieved by exposing tap water in the air for 24 hours before using to water the plants.

Ever wondered how a twist is given to these plants ? Well, that requires lots of patience and its difficult to achieve at home. Commonly, gravity and directed light sources are leveraged to give such appealing shapes. Enjoy !

Diwali @ Pondicherry

All set to spend this Diwali at Pondicherry. As usual, this was a mega project for my wife Salma and I needn't say how complicated this would have been with my son Ryan. Hats off to her efforts, it was an impeccable execution. The plan was to leave on Saturday at 11AM, but our car wheels began rolling only at noon. First pit stop was at ICICI Bank Vijayanagar and the second one at HPCL Gas Station at Bypass road adding another 30 mins to the delay. Finally we all set off at 12:30 PM.

I thought this time I would take the GST road to Tambaram instead of Velachery Main Road via Medevakkam. As usual the traffic woes made us progress in a snail's pace. An hour gone and my odometer just showing 30kms ! Thanks to Chennai Traffic. Now that we have crossed the bottleneck portions of the road, its time to blast off. In the next one hour we were at Tindivanam covering 90kms with most of the stretches driving at a comfortable 110+ kmph. Who says NH45 is bad ?

Now comes the next crucial NH66, which is still a double lane highway connecting Tindivanam and Pondicherry without medians, but to my surprise I see the 4-laning of this stretch had already made good progress. This is one of the project I have been waiting for years when I used this strech very often. A project approved during the previous Vajpayee's regime under "Bharat Jodo Pariyojna" has taken such a long time to kick off. As a hard core nature lover, the felled huge trees lying battered shattered by heart. I have admired them for several years since my childhood. With all trees neatly numbers, I remember (g)olden days when I used to count them while travelling by bus. Now they are gone! The only thing that brought relief at this point is a huge chunk were still left. Only to be cut later ??? I hope that doesn't happen. I still feel the Engineers could have planned applying their mind in spirit to design the trajectory in such a way that minimal trees were harmed.

Around 3:05 PM we were at our home. After Ryan finished his lunch, we enjoyed our yummy fish. Relaxing at our garden rejuvenates any tired soul. For the first time I see our garden without any coconut trees. Mom told that the last 2 were cut down as they grew very tall dangerously leaning towards the building. Looks like the recent monsoon rains has kept all plants flying in high spirits. Aloe vera was the top attraction. As usual I engaged myself with some gardening activities to set right few things. My favorite Palm plant given my friend (Late) R. Jegadheeswarar stood majestically with all its glory.

In the evening, myself and my dad left in car for some groceries purchase. While returning we visited JIPMER, the recently declared "Institute of National Importance" by Dr. Anbumani Ramdoss and several new blocks including the Super Speciality Block inaugurated by Former President Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam. My dad never misses any opportunity to take me to his BioChemistry department. We parked the car outside and we both entered the department. Probably the securities thought I was another doctor discharging my night services in shorts and t-shirt. :-) As my dad was showing me a demo of how the new Auto Analyser from Randox (UK Firm) works, I recollected the old machine from Bayer which was in the next room. Cuvettes - nice name - the tiny plastic containers that mixes sample (blood/urine) with reagents. Oops its late now, mom has already called dad to check the status...so we rushed back home.

Enjoying Diwali Sweets, movies et al... finally we packed off on Monday evening 4 PM. This time the delay was only for 30 mins, and our wheels started rolling at 4:30PM. In 2 hrs 23 mins we were at F1B, Regal Palm Gardens. The newly constructed Airport Flyover and Kathipara Grade Separator posed a magnificient view with all the serial bulbs. Several people stopped by to take a glimpse of the view and were busy taking pictures. Our apartment people were very busy bursting crackers and Ryan was curious to watch them all. So that brings an end to another memorable episode of our Pondicherry trip with good memories that we carried along apart from sweets, savories, a dozen "kopura thenga" and mani plant. Mani plant was brought in exchange for Lucky Bamboo plant taken from Chennai as a good will gesture. :-)

Journey to the center of the Earth

My first 3D movie... that too in RDX (Real Digital Experience) @ Sathyam Cinemas. With much expectations myself and Salma planned for a Friday evening show. Chennai Traffic was at its zenith especially in Cenotaph Road and Turnbulls road junction. Seems the dream of the riders for a grade separator there will remain a dream for ever. After negotiating bikes, buses and cars we reached Sathyam Cineplex almost on time. We picked up our favorite Cold Coffee, Sprite and 3D glasses for Rs.20/- each and settled down in SERENE.

More than the movie, I love the ads they screen before the movie. Journey begins... with the 3D glasses on...cool nice experience. I would definitely advise anyone who haven't experienced a 3D movie to try this one. The difference was very clear... we can enjoy the depth, which is missing in 2D movies. Some of the special effects in movie will give you knee jerk reactions.

The Plot:
Brendan Fraser, a vulcanologist goes in search of his brother along with his nephew and guide Anita Briem. The volcanic soil caves in and the trio find themselves deep inside surprised to see a whole new world beneath. They also find the remains of Brendan's brother and his notes guide the crew in the strange world. The story revolves around their adventurous journey miles below and how they come out through a geyser.

On the whole, the movie was a wholesome entertainer.