Yindia!!!!!!!!! Day 6 - !! Overwhelmed by calmness!!

Finally managed to wake up for the sunrise...... it was Sunday and we got ready to go to St Joseph's Church for Mass. Uncle Mani's son Jegan, drove us to the church which was not too far away. The church was nestled in between coconut trees... so nice one... There weren't many benches and almost everyone sat on the floor. The whole mass was in tamil so i didnt understand anything... and while i stood up trying to focus on praying ..a man suddenly tapped me on the shoulder... and asked me some thing... but for the life of me i couldnt understand his tamil... i think he repeated himself three times... until F.I.L turned around to see whats happening... he too looked at me puzzled.. The man repeated himself one more time and then only we realize that he was not talking Tamil... he was talking in English... he had asked me if the car outside belonged to me... ME!!!??... he wanted me to re-park it somewhere else... his accent was so thick ....it was nice that he asked me in english... did i really look that out of place :) but i think he should have just talked to me in tamil....kekekeke ...





We went over to Jeyenthi's sisters place just down the road for breakfast and waited for Jeyanthi and family to meet us there. They had stayed at her mum's place (The first house we visited when we landed in India)the night before.

I got a little lost while because everyone was speaking in tamil but i was enjoying eating some good crispy tosai ... i tried to grasp some of the words but it was hard to participate in any of their conversations ...

Jeyanthi wanted to bring us to meet her eldest sister... her place was quite a drive away... but it was an interesting drive... On the way there we took a detour to Srirangam Temple which is the biggest 'working' hindu temple complex in the world.



F.I.L, Rose and I got down to have a closer look while the rest stayed in the car because it was freaking hot... 40 degress Celsius ... We were short on time so we didnt go too far in... the massive gopuram was fascinating... beautiful!!!...







The heat was really getting to us... it was a delight to get back into the air-conditioned car... Driving around Trichi you see alot of road works being done... hopefully this will bring some much needed change to the chaotic look of this city .....

Kumar took many interesting back roads to avoid the jams to reach Jeyenti's sisters place. But these back roads really open your eyes to the real living conditions the majority still live in... the poor in Keelapatur was nothing compared to this...

Anyway as we pulled to the house which btw has been newly rebuilt and was now three stories high... as usual the roof top landing was my favorite part of the house.... But this time it was just way too hot to stand barefooted on... it was 40 degrees Celsius after all.

After some yummy biscuits... We then went over to Jeyanthi's mother's house for lunch. The whole house was buzzing with activity ... relatives and friends... actually the friends in some way or rather related too..

it was a tiring day but it felt good... i was also feeling alot better... no more fever and my throat felt a lot better...

Once we were back in F.I.L house i as usual went up to the roof to watch the sun set... it was hot but the wind was starting to pick up... Standing up there watching Keelaputur unwind... the saturation of noises you hear ...its amazing... a chaos of sound.... its simply amazing...

Then suddenly in the midst of all that chaos ... i heard a faint chant in a distance ... i had no idea where it was coming from... and it seemed to get louder as i slowly focused on it.... and as the sun was setting it made me feel calm... i was actually overwhelmed by calmness... it was exhilarating.... .... and when the sun had disappeared behind the horizon and the hues of the sunset were replaced with twilight... the chant just stopped... and i was broken away from its embrace.. i felt soooooo rested... like i had just finished a fabulous massage or something... i just really dont know how else to explain how i felt at that moment...





Keelaputur looked different that night... We walked to visit another relative who lived nearby... i was sure i had the same look these children had ...as they played sparklers outside their home...




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Yindia!!!!!!!!! Day 5 - Uncle Mani's Infectious Smile!!

My throat was already bad before coming to India.. Then getting drenched in the rain in Anthirapillai and being totally not prepared for Coimbatore and Kerala's chilly weather.... i had lost my voice and was burning up with fever....

Had a superb breakfast of tosai and chutney and took a couple of panadols... Then we got ready to leave Coimbatore...

I wasnt as trigger happy with the camera... Even Kumar commented that he hardly heard the camera's click this time... I was almost like a zombie... We were all tired and the road trip was long and bumpy ...


We stopped at Karur Town for a short while for tea and some tit bits... Karur was a bit more warmer then Coimbatore but the wind was just as chilly....





As we continued our journey back to Trichi it got warmer and warmer... and we reached Trichi... it was a balmy 38 degrees Celsius...



As we crossed one of the bridges across the Cavery river we noticed that the river served as a launderette as hundreds of people were washing and putting cloths out to dry... This time of the year the water level is low as it is controlled by a Dam nearby..

We reached Uncle Mani's house and as usual were greeted with his infectious smile and laughter... he had a cozy house surrounded by a garden full of fruit trees. He even had a grape vine growing in front of his porch.Uncle Mani gave us a tour around his garden. At the back there were 5 different types of Mango trees. Too bad it wasnt in season. Coconut trees, Jambu trees and many more. His land was surrounded by padi fields. Although it was so hot it was very shady and as usual windy... that really helped becos the heat was getting to me... i couldnt stand up.. the fever was really getting to me... luckily Uncle Mani's best friend who was a doctor was there... and he wrote me a medical subscription which i received after a superb late lunch and a really good evening nap...







Uncle Mani's family wanted to celebrate our wedding anniversary even thought it was almost a month before that. They even bought champagne to toast ... so sweet of them lah...I just had a sip of champagne and just drank water the rest of the night... Spent the rest of the night getting to know all of them but i decided to call it an early night... my head felt so heavy and a little woozy..maybe becos of the meds... but I swear my face was aching from smiling and laughing so much... it felt like my wedding day all over again...minus the alcohol ... kekekeke...



To be continued
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