Stat update

By the way, traffic is awesome at mount road, not that you are not aware of it.

Kamaraj auditorium

Im now at kamaraj auditorium attending the reception of the same couple who celebrated their 60th anniversary. The effort that they have put in is excellent. Another chance for me to get together with my relatives while im still on land :-)

At the dentist

Im now at a dental care facility. My father and I visited them yesterday for a general checkup. Now we are taking care of some cavities which Dad had for a while. The treatments here are extremely costly. I guess the investments made on modern equipments had to come from somewhere:)

Back in Chennai

Im back in Chennai now after a long two day tour of various temples in Nagapattinam district.  The family function was a Sastiyapdapoorthi, a celebration of 60th birthday/a long happy married life.  The procedure is simple.  All rituals followed during an actual marriage are repeated ceremoniously(literally).  The gathering ends with the married couple blessing others instead of the couple getting others' blessings like in normal hindu marriages.
     We then came back the same way we reached there.  On the way, my uncle got mad at one of the guys working at the Toll centre near Dindivanam.  Nothing big happenned, since the mistake was on their side.  They overcharged the van that we were travelling in and decided to take their own time in doing it.
      Today and tomorrow, banks have gone on strike and so my plan to approach my bank regarding a certain procedure(don't want to discuss what that is, since some of the followers don't need to know) went eschewed.  I then booked a course with the HIMT for the time between march 13th and march 24th.
      And finally, the highlight of the day was that I received information about my next sign on.  I will be signing on again on the Safmarine Chachai this April 1st at TPP.  Granted the route is not that appealing, and the ship will be facing its annuals this time of the year, but then, familiarity doesn't always breed contempt(hopefully!).

Some pics from this tour

Stat update- at kethu temple

We had trouble finding the temple in the first place. It turns out we were approaching from the west though coming from poompuhar would have been much easier.
In the temple we were asked to do a few ritual steps including going round the temple seven times(which is difficult considering the size of these temples)
We then visited poompuhar beach after which we went directly to thirukadaiyur. Im still at thirukadaiyur waiting for the family function to get over.

Seergazhi temple

The temple's paint reminded me of the designs at the big temple Tanjore. Thoniappar temple has a mesmerizing effect due to the statue's large size and the clarity of facial features. this temple has the unique nature of having 8 bhairava shrines under one roof. Sattinathar statue is equally impressive(see pic)

Chidambaram temple visit

Our group just left the chidambaram temple and are proceeding to seergazhi.

Coffee

Our group of people just had coffee at a rather desolate area near acherappakkam. the coffee was served in brass tumblers in coimbatore style. for those who want to try, the shop is a few kms ahead of Melmaruvathur.

Before thirukadaiyur visit

Im right now on my way to thirukadaiyur to attend a family function. The trip has been refreshing till now thanks to the early morning fresh breeze. We are hoping to cover a few other places on the way. Stay tuned for more.