Vacation Time !

I’m off on a long over due vacation this weekend. It has been nearly 5 years since my last vacation up north; Shimla and Kullu-Manali seem like a distant dream. This time I am off to Kerala and some parts of Tamil Nadu.

Start the trip with a visit to our “family-temple” of koni-amman as dad calls it in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu before we leave for Palakkad, Kerala to my grannies place. A temple being re-constructed (kumbhabhishekam) at my dad’s village is to be the highlight of the three days there (Videos). Food served on a banana leaf, sitting on the floor, with some 3000 people should be an experience to savor. Some pictures will be uploaded later this week of what promises to be a skin show, but not of the type the guys hope for, when I say I am vacationing in Kerala. Mom and dad have warned me about raising a stink when asked to wear this for the main pooja, so will have to go ahead and suck in the overflowing paunch.

BTW from the web-site (!!) of the village, "High in their spirits" (not of the right type ;))

Tradition bound people,
High in their spirits
Owning their faith in their culture
Never forgetting the
Deity of their village
Iyyappa, celebrate Sasthapreethi
Keeping up their
Unity with
Love and
Affection also
Meditating for the prosperity of the whole world

Off to Madhurai, TN and there on to Rameshwaram. Mom wants to visit all the temples there, and it should be a sweltering couple of days. Hope for a swim in the sea though it’s been ages since I stepped into a pool! Back to Madhurai, on what is supposed to be an “auspicious day” and will be subjected to crowds assembled there to pay respects to the Amman. Hope to get a chance to the stuff mentioned in The Age of Kali, but doubt it.

Chennai gets a couple of days towards the end of the trip. Hope to hit the beaches there too.

Should be some fun! Pictures will be uploaded as and when I get some network connectivity.