God, Abbas and the falls....

June 8th- June 15th, 2008.

Day 1

Finally, I'm back at ground zero. Though the trip to Kutralam was great and mind-relieving, there's nothing better than home sweet home. So, if you ask me what's the best thing about my trip to Kutralam, I'll say it is the journey back home !

On my way to Kutralam by train, I asked my fellow passenger whether there would be any chance of us (family of 4) to bath alone. That man looked at me through his glasses for a second, tch-tching as if I was mad, and said " My God, are you nuts ? The fact is first of all, there's no rain at Kutralam and second, if at all there is, crowds of people will already be bathing there anyway." He turned away and shook his head, maybe cursing God for making me his neighbour. I went back to reading Godfather by Mario Puzo, a little let-down by the news.

Our room in Kutralam was specially booked for us, courtesy one of my Dad's infinite friends and boy, I must thank him for it was the best room I've ever seen throughout my travels. I mean, the room itself was ordinary but it was the view. Extraordinary. The Kutralam falls right in front of you and you could feel my excitement. I just wanted to reach out and touch the skies.

Of course, there was no water falling but the rock itself was magnificent. Nature's wonders never cease to amaze you. I, of course, felt a little sad that I could not see it flow and I didn't have much hope either. The sky was clear and the temperature, hot !

Anyway, I had no time to dwell over the matter and brood, because we went out to have lunch. The name of the hotel was Akshaya and it would turn into our favorite haunt in the days to come. The food was just about excellent and the service, great. We came back to our room (A.C.,thankfully...!!! )and unpacked our bags and then I took a short nap.

I woke up with a start as my mom shook me awake. " Come on now.. let's go sight-seeing... " she said. So, I looked out of the balcony towards the waterfalls and I was disappointed. There was still no water fall. " Come on now, we'll go visit Old Kutralam, we'll see if there is any water there. " So, it was then that we set upon what I thought was a surely fruitless journey to Old Kutralam in search of water. We caught hold of an auto driver, Abbas, who must have surely not believed his luck.

Our driver, Abbas

Anyway, once we reached Old Kutralam, my family (save me) were stunned to find no water ( and no crowd... ) there too. What else do you expect ? So, we had an unenviable job of just looking at the rocks and the birds. I managed to catch a few of them on camera.

A crow, delicately poised

The rocks, not the falls...

On my back, cornered...

But, then suddenly came this gentleman along with his life companion (his dog) and threw us a cheap lifeline at Rs. 100. He said that he would go to the mountain top and push water from there so that we could take a bath. We were a bit skeptical but we decided to give it a try. At least, fly and fall instead of lie and sleep, right ?

God, and his friend...

Anxious wait....

Beyond our wildest dreams, water began to fall and we were shocked to even move for a few seconds. Then, we joyfully, took a bath... Just the four of us...

My mom and I...

My mom, my sis and I...

I guess life plays many games... I couldn't help but think of the man on the train. Water was falling and we were surely, alone and bathing !!! Seeing us bathe, some people came over and waited for us to move out.But, we were in no mood to. After all, who gets to bath in hundred rupees fall everyday ?

When we finally finished bathing, we couldn't help but notice eager people rushing towards the falls. But, then the flow of water had stopped, God descended from the mountains and proclaimed that there is absolutely no more water up there. Hurrah !

Part-II The dream continues....

June 5th, 2008.

Part-II

Dear diary,

So, here we are after the half-time interval... For all those who found the film interesting in the first half, expect more of the same. And for all those who didn't ? Well, if you could manage to get through a three hour Vijay film, surely, this will be bread and butter for you guys.

The hero was accompanied by Ms. Kanimozhi, Ms. Tamilacchi, Mr. Subramanium, Mr. Arcot Veerasamy (no... not T.R...), Mr. Veeramani and others, but we're talking of heroes and not bits and pieces players.

I would not like to go into the details of the function and how each of the poets performed, but if I say my mom was the best on the day, you'd probably say that I'm blowing my own trumpet, so I'm not going to. Those present at the function can justify, anyway. And, maybe, I'm not that big a poet or a tamil literature maniac to judge people on the basis of their poems but even a lay man can judge a poet on the basis of the number of claps that you get. That might also not be fool-proof as some over-enthusiastic supporters, might want to show their love for Kalaignar by clapping for every mono-sylabble that is uttered.

Whichever way you look at it, my mom won hands-down. And anyway, this isn't a competition or a race where winner takes all. So, as long as one enjoys the function, the better it is for the poets themselves. Though, for my mom's wit in writing a 'daughter-to-father' letter to Kalaignar himself, I would still rate my mom's performance as one of the best, come what may. Kanimozhi was in awe, (as was everyone else) when she said " Unnai paadatha Kavignar illai, paadathavan Kavignar-e illai " and in splits when she said " Atleast give me an MP seat... " but again as I said we are talking about heroes here.

After the function ended, Mr. Karunanidhi went upto my mom and said " nalla paningamma. Santhippom... "

That was not all. A crowd of people (!) flocked around my mom and pestered her for autographs and amidst the melee, I nicked an autograph from her by posing as a commoner. There was just too many people around her for her to notice. It was a solid thirty minutes before she could escape and get into our car. Throughout the journey home, we dissected and discussed the function over and over.

As soon as we reached home, I asked my mom for dosas and she gladly obliged, her role as a poet now forgotten. When I woke up this morning at seven, I saw my mom at her table writing for the function. I went into the kitchen hoping to alteast have two slices of bread for breakfast, but she had prepared dosas for breakfast and sambhar, rasam, pulikozhambu, vaazhai kaai poriyal, kootu and thayir for lunch. Wonders never cease...

My mom is also the official chauffuer of the family as my dad doesn't drive, and she also handles all the finance of the family. She also hits the gym, goes to office till 6.00 pm, prepares breakfast, lunch and dinner and also coffee or tea ten times a day at various timelines according to the whims of the family members. Apart from this, she attends various functions like this one and writes short stories, poems for magazines and lyrics for films. I'm not proclaiming my mom as the best in the world, all moms are, but I'm just saying to a certain Shobaa De in no uncertain terms that you don't need to shun family in the pretext of writing.

When we have moms, we take it for granted that they need to serve us for life before we dump them at an old age home. My mom and I fight to no ends, every day in fact, but it's all part and parcel of life. It's almost become a ritual and we enjoy performing it. Maatha, Pitha, Guru, Theivam (Mom, Dad, Teacher, God...) can never be more relevant.