My Musings

Arun - Gayathri booked their flat with XA realtors nearly 18 months ago, in late 2009. The plot is at Padur village, in Old Mamallapuram Road (OMR, now Rajiv Gandhi Salai) 22 kms away from Thiruvanmiyur. The registration papers were signed by Arun at Tirupporur on 19 Nov 2009 (read here). The flat was ready and the Key was handed over to A-G on 5th April 2011. Even though A-G wished to have the Gruha pravesam in Feb/March itself, the builder wasn't ready; finally the GP at the new house was performed on 17 April 2011 (details here). Once GP was performed A-G started with the woodwork (modular kitchen etc). New electrical fittings like split AC, fans, lamps were bought and fixed in the new house. Date for shifting was fixed as 4th June. As we two had shifted to Thiruvanmiyur a week earlier, we went to A-G's house (10 minutes by walk) by 10AM with lunch. We were ready but the packer didn't turn up. He promised he would come the next morning at 6 itself! Next morning...

We shifted from A1/14/1, "SAIRAM", 22nd Cross Street, Besantnagar, Chennai 600090 on the evening of Sunday, 29 May 2011 to our own house at Kalakshetra Avenue, Thiruvanmiyur. This is the fifth house we have lived in Chennai since our coming to Chennai in Dec 2001. First was the Mandapam road house in New Avadi road (Dec,Jan), Kilpauk, then was the Aspiran Garden house (Feb 2002 to 30 Aug 2005) at Kilpauk, third was the Karpagam Avenue house (30-August-2005 to 28 Nov 2009), the 4th was the Besantnagar house (28-Nov-2009 to 29 May 2011) This is a newly constructed house owned by Krithika and Arvind. The structure that was there earlier was brought down and this construction started. The bhoomi-poojai was performed on 21 Jan 2010. The ground level will be the parking place and above this will be 2 floors; the southern side will be for the erstwhile owner of the site; on the northern side, Arvind will have the 1st floor and Mr. Ganapathysubramanian (Krithika's father) wi...

Our life at Besantnagar started on 28 Nov 2009 (Saturday) On the morning of 29th Nov, I explored the areas in the locality – the Elliots beach is about  7 mins walk, Sri Vallabha Vinayakar koil 10 minutes, bus terminus 9 minutes, Sri Ratnagiriswarar koil 7 minutes, Saroja’s house 15 minutes, vegetable shops 6 minutes walk. All very nearby and convenient. The house has three bedrooms. A large garden on the three sides of the house. Three balconies of which two open to the garden. The third one is a closed one. Very airy and brightly sunlit. No need for either fans or tubelights. Incidentally, Aditi likes the garden very much. After some difficulty (“address proof” needed) we got the Gas connection on 8th Dec, thanks to Mrs Tilakam Mohan who helped us. The first refill on 9th. We got the Aavin Milk card on 11th (“address proof”). My BSNL telephone was connected on 1st Dec and activated on 2nd. Broaddband configured on 5th. ACs were fixed by 2nd. Arvind’s BSNL phone activ...

We came to  Karpagam Avenue, Raja Annamalaipuram, Chennai 600028, on 31 August 2005 . We were asked to “vacate” the house as the owner needed it for his office. We arranged for a packers and movers (Rs 3500/-) and shifted residence on Saturday, 28 November 2009. The packer came at 1030 and packed things and made the first trip at 1310. Earlier Vijaya and Krithika had packed our clothes, books, and other small things in 15 cartons and kept these ready for loading. Arvind and Krithika went in the first trip, and returned by 2-45. Arun took leave to help us; he brought lunch – சாம்பார் சாதம், தயிர் சாதம் - and we ate our final meals at Karpagam avenue at 1-30. The rest of the things were loaded and the 2nd and final trip was made at 5-15PM. I came with Arun in his car, Vijaya came with Arvind-Krithika-Aditi. Final bye-bye to Karpagam avenue ! We reached the new house at Cross Street, Besantnagar, Chennai 600090. Unloading and arranging things. We had our meals at Ar...

We had a very happy and peaceful life at Karpagam Avenue 3rd Street, Raja Annamalaipuram, Chennai 28 since 31 August 2005. All good things come an end — in the first week of Oct 2009 the house-owner (Mr Ravikumar) wanted us to vacate the house as he needed it for his use. That was a stunning blow to all of us, more so because Arvind had enrolled the child ADITI in Harishri Vidyalayam only recently after paying a hefty amount. The school is nearby to Karpagam Avenue. Arvind and Krithika started looking for another rented house and got one at  Cross Street, Besant Nagar, Chennai 600090. Another 3 BHK house, but a little older. A large garden surrounds the house. Rs 20,000 rent per month. The house seems to be good, and the location is convenient. On the morning of Friday the 20th November 2009 we went to the house and performed the பால் காய்ச்சிக் குடித்தல் ceremony. Arun, Gayathri visited for a brief while. We plan to shift on Saturday, 28 November 2009. Rajappa 22-11-20...

We came to Karpagam Avenue, 3rd Street, Raja Annamalaipuram, Chennai 600028 on 31 August 2005 from 77/85, Aspiran Gardens, 2nd Street, Kilpauk, Chennai – 10 where we lived for 3 1/2 years from Feb 2002. The house owner at Aspiran gardens was Mr Ratnakar Shenoy and at Karpagam Avenue Mr Ravikumar. The landline at Aspiran garden was 2644 4995 and at KA 2461 6845. This house at KA is a 3-BHK and very convenient. Being near to Mylapore, Mandaveli, MRC Nagar, RA Puram was a boon to us. Particularly Mylapore, which is just 25 minutes’ walk from KA. Vijaya and I used to frequent the South Mada Veedhi and Giri Traders almost daily. We visited many temples in Mylapore, RA Puram like Sri Kapaliswarar, Sri Velliswarar, Adi Kesava Perumal, Madhava Perumal, Veera Anjaneyar, Vinayakar, Iyappa, Saibaba koils. We used to visit many Sabhas, like Chettinad, PS High School, Bharatiya Vidhya Bhavan, Asthika Samajam, Sri Parthasarathy Sabha (Bheema Sena Garden) etc etc. There is no place in Che...