My Musings

BANGALORE VISIT We two started on 2nd MARCH 2018 Friday morning by Double Decker Train to Bangalore. We got down at Cantt station where Ashok was waiting for us with his car. We reached home by 2PM. On 3rd March, we went to Whitefield with Ashok and Neeraja for seeing houses. Went to GV Kumar's house and chatted with Kamala chithti. 5th March MONDAY. Upanayanam of Aswatha Narayanan's grandson at RagiGudda koil. Vittalachar, his daughter Madhavi were there and we had a long talk with MVV. After lunch we returned home by 2 PM 8th March :: I fell ill. It continued till 27th March !! 10 March -- Srividya, Pasupati came. 11 March -- Krishnaraj, Gayatri came 18 March -- UGADI.  Rs 3700 sent to Bhaskar for Rama Navami 19 March -- TRVG and Saraswathi came and handed over the invite for marriage of HARI 20 March -- Dandapani Mama expired at Mumbai. 26 March -- Dresses for SS, AA purchased. 28 March -- NEW CAR VERNA PURCHASED BY ASHOK. 29...

Our Bangalore visit May 2013. Ever since Savithri informed us that she would be celebrating her 70th birthday at Hosur, we had determined that we would go there. And then she informed that she is having RUDRAM at her house by 15 Veda Vidwans on 12th May and she asked us to come without fail. We agreed and started planning. Initially we thought of travelling via Salem and so i booked our tickets to Salem for 2nd May and from Salem to Bangalore on 3rd May. From SBC to Chennai, I booked by the 0800 AM train of 15th May. But, after i booked these tickets, Arvind told me suddenly to take ADITI also to SBC for a week; he would come to SBC and bring her back. So our rescheduling started;  I cancelled the Salem tickets and booked three tickets by Shatabdi (6 PM) express for 27th April. Then, the Railways announced on April 23 that the new Double Decker AC express would commence from 25th Apr to Bangalore. I was eagerly awaiting for this Double Decker train, so I cancelled...

ARUN SHIFTS TO BANGALORE. Arun got a job at Bangalore and he joined there on 1st August 2012. He left Gayathri, Sowmya , and Sriram at Padur, Chennai itself for the completion of the Academic year 2012-13 Sowmya and Sriram wrote the entrance exam at Vag devi school Bangalore on 15 Dec 2012; Sowmya was successful but Sriram is to write again in Jan 2013. He wrote on 19 Jan 2013 and got admission. Arun paid 41900 for Sowmya and 41500 for Sriram on 26 Jan 2013. Thus the School admission formalities were successfully completed. He decided to shift to Bangalore by end-March and he started his preparations accordingly. He finalised a house (2nd floor) at Marathahalli, Bangalore by 1st week of March. Rent Rs 13000.00 and advance Rs 70000. He paid the advance and did the paal kaaychi kudiththal on 13 March. We went to Padur on 2 March and stayed there for 6 days. His home articles were packed on 28 March (we two went there). The packers (ICM Ltd) were tocome by 11 AM but they came at ...

Neeraja and Ashok performed this year's (2013) Sri Satya Narayana Poojai at their Bannarghatta Road house on Tuesday, the 26th March 2013. We could not go but Arun attended it this year. rajappa 27-03-2013 11:00 AM

PART 3. I covered upto 21 Jan 2013 in Parts 1 and 2. 22 January 2013 -Tuesday Evening we two went to Meenakshi Maal and purchased some items there. 23, 24, 25 Jan 2013 Spent in house only. 26 January 2013 Saturday Pathakota Temple, HOSUR. Morning at 1100 we went to Reliance Digital shop and purchased speakers for PC. Logitech USB model (rs 495.00) for me and Ashok. Evening 5-15 we two, Ashok, Neeraja left for Pathakota Sri Ramar Koil. Savithri also joined us at Hosur. We spent 15 minutes at the Pennai river at Pathakota and another 30 minutes at Sri Ramar koil. Read my blog elsewhere. Then we went to Sri Chandra Sudeswarar Koil also. Had dinner at a hotel in Hosur and dropped Savithri at her house. Returned to our home by 11 PM. Arun paid the school fees for Sowmya and Sriram. 27 January 2013 Sunday CHITRA SANTHE We two, Ashok, Neeraja, Arun went to the annual festival of Arts CHITRA SANTHE at Kumara Krupa Road. Read my blog elsewhere. 28 January 2013 Monday ...

KOTILINGESHWARA TEMPLE, Kolar, Karnataka This Sunday (3 Feb 2013), we woke up early (early for a Sunday) and took bath and left house at 07:10 in Ashok's car. We (Neeraja, Ashok, Vijaya and I) left for the KOTI LINGESHWARAR Koil near KGF, 110 km from Ashok's house. We drove thru Silk Board, Marathahalli, Whitefield. This is not the shortest route but we went to see Ashok's office SAP and Arun's hotel at Whitefield ! We drove thru Old Madras road, a 6-lane highway to Chennai. We crossed Hoskete and then halted at Narsapur at 08:45 to have breakfast at KAMAT UPACHAR, a crowded but a good hotel. We resumed our travel, went on to KOLAR town, and then Bangarapet. Driving further, we reached KGF, the erstwhile Gold Fields, now no gold, nothing ! At a place called Kammasandra, a few km from KGF, the famous Koti Lingeshwara Temple is located in a 15-acre land. Founded in 1972, this koil has ONE CRORE Shiva-Lingas all over, row after row ! What a breath-taking sight ! ...

CHITRA SANTHE. Every year, on the last Sunday of January, Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath (Kumara Krupa Road, Bangalore 560001) arranges an exhibition of paintings and other artworks by Karnataka artists, old and young. It is called CHITRA SANTHE. A breath-taking exhibition for the entire day from 9 AM to 7PM. The exhibition is held on the pavement on both sides of the Kumara  Krupa Road, for over 2 km long. Traffic is banned for the entire day. The 10th edition of this festival was held yesterday, Sunday, 27th Jan 2013. Over 2000 stalls were there by artists exhibiting their lovely art. We two, Ashok, Neeraja, and Arun left house by 9:30 and reached the venue by 10:30. Since the CM's residence is also located here, there was a huge police presence. We strolled along the stalls; even 12-13 year students had their exhibits. Even with a quick browsing it took around 2 1/2 hours to cover the 2 km route. We were back home by 2:30 PM after a satisfying day. Wonderful experie...

Hope you read the Part 1. If not, read here . Now, Part 2. PART 2. 13 Jan 2013 - Sunday - BHOGI We invited Savithri from Hosur to join us for the festivals. She came here today by 12:30 noon. We performed the Poojai after she came. Then I offered her our Pongal seer. Evening we five left for Reliance Digital in search of a CD player for Savithri. We did not get one to our liking, so we came back to Meenakshi Mall CROMA shop and purchased a Philips CD player (MP3, MP4, FM radio) USB input also. Ashok purchased a Panasonic Phone. What a huge shop! 14 Jan 2013 - Monday - PONGAL Neeraja kept the Pongal Paanai at the auspicious time. Then we went to the terrace and performed the Poojai there. Karumbu and Manjal were available at Jayanagar. Ashok performed the Poojai. Neeraja prepared Sakkarai Pongal, Ven Pongal, Vadai etc. We had along discussion with Rama at Hyd re Sashti apthapoorthy for Sathyamurthy. At Chennai also Pongal was nicely celebrated at Padur and Kalakshetra Avenue...

PART 1 The last time we visited Bangalore was in Feb 2012. (Read here). Now we planned a visit but many other pressing engagements in Chennai precluded such a visit. Most importantly, our grandson ARJUN was born on 2 June 2012 and he kept us very busy. Finally, we started on the early hours of 5th Jan 2013 by Brindavan Express for Bangalore. We packed our breakfast and lunch for the journey. Arvind dropped us at the Central in his car. The train reached Bangalore by 2:15 PM; Ashok, Neeraja came to the Station in their car and we drove him. My mama's son Mr JAGANNATHAN lives in Bangalore, Jalahalli and he had invited me to come and meet him. We phoned his wife CHITRA and fixed up an appointment for tomorrow. 6th Jan 2013, Sunday. We started for Jalahalli at 11:30 after a lunch of Pulao. CJ's house is far away, nearly 40 kms from ours. We reached there by 1:45. CJ (75) and his wife Chitra live alone in a 3th floor flat, but his two sons live in nearby flats. He is some...

Our previous visit to Bangalore was during Nov 2011 . [Read here]. This time, we started from Chennai on Wednesday, 15th Feb 2012, by Lalbagh Express (3-35PM). Krithika dropped us at Adyar Depot busstop at 2-10PM. [Vasu and Sruti also came with us in the car - they proceeded to TNagar]. We could get a bus after 20 minutes and that created a little tension. However, we could reach the train on PF 10 by 3-10PM. We travelled as usual by AC Chair car. The train reached Bangalore Cantonment by 1015PM and Ashok was waiting for us. We reached home by 11-15. Earlier, we ate Chapati - Avaraikkai Koottu in the train. Friday, 17 Feb :  We two went to the nearby MEENAKSHI MALL. A huge mall. Sunday, 19 Feb: Anand and family came; they had lunch here and left at 3PM. Monday, 20 Feb : Vijaya's 1965-classmate Mrs Mahalakshmi visited. She is from Banaswadi. Neeraja prepared bajji for her. She left at 4PM after spending nearly two hours with Vijaya. Tuesday, 21 Feb: Steig Larsson , a ...

We two left Chennai on Saturday, 29 Oct 2011, 1140 AM, for Bangalore. With Ashok, and Neeraja in their Ford Figo car. It was our first travel to Bangalore in car. It was a bit sunny and bright till we reached Kanchipuram junction (1-30PM); however, once we travelled 1 km ahead, it started pouring - very heavy rain, torrential. Rains continued, no abatement, till we reached Krishnagiri. We reached house at Bangalore by 7 PM. Car travel was most enjoyable. 30 Oct 2011 - Sunday We went to Meenakshi Mall, one km away from Ashok's house. A huge mall on 4 floors. Ashok purchased lots of things. 01 Nov 2011 - Tuesday. At 9 AM we left for City station from where we boarded the Shatabdi Express at 1100 for Mysore. Ramani also came with us. Read about our Mysore trip in detail in a seperate post. A marriage function was there in Mysore. On our way to Mysore in Shatabdi Express 02 Nov 2011 - Wednesday Attended the marriage at Mysore. Back in Bangalore by Mayiladuthurai Express 6-45...

Mr Gokulan of Mysore is a distant cousin of Vijaya and he and his wife Jayanti Gokulan invited us for the marriage of his son Barath Narayanan with Saumya d/o (late) Suryakumar of Pune. The marriage was at Mysore on 2 Nov 2011. Both he and the bride's side are related to Vijaya, so we decided to attend the marriage, though we haven't met Gokul at all. We went to Bangalore on 29th Oct with Ashok and from there we proceeded to Mysore on 1st Nov by Shatabdi express. Ramani also came with us. We reached the Kalyana mandapam by 1-30 in the afternoon after two hours travel. Indira and Lalitha had already reached from Chennai in the morning. A large number of relatives were present. Many of them we meet after a decade or two; some of them we met for the first time. The relation of Vijaya with these persons is ::: Vijaya's mother is ANNAPOORANI ==> Annapoorani's father is CHELLAPPA (grandfather of Vijaya). Chellappa's younger brother was NARAYANA IYER ==> Nara...

Our previous visit to Bangalore was during mid-Dec 2010. Now, Neeraja - Ashok decided to perform Satyanarayana poojai on 18 Feb 2011; they requested our presence. So we came to Bangalore on 17 Feb 2011, by Brindavan Express. In the morning at 0530 AM at Chennai, Arvind dropped us at Adyar depot where we boarded A1 bus to Central Station. Originally our tickets were wait-listed but "confirmed" later. Unfortunately, our seats were in different coaches - mine was in C2 whereas Vijaya's was in C3. However, we could get the seats exchanged with another, and Vijaya came to C2 coach. On reaching SBC, we decided to take a bus from Kempegowda Bus Station (KBS), previously known as Majestic. We walked the short distance and boarded a Vajra AC bus (route 365) for Meenakshi koil. Fare = Rs 35 per. Kempegowda Bus Station, Bangalore  This is the first time we are going to KBS and travelling by a bus.  KBS is a huge bus-station but decently organised. Next day, (18th Feb) was ...

Earlier this year, we went to bangalore during 25 March -31 March 2010, for the Satyanarayana Poojai that Ashok-Neeraja performed on 29th March. Now, we left Chennai on 19 Nov by the 1-35PM train for Bangalore. Ashok received us at Cantonment station at 8 PM. Karthikai Deepam was celebrated on 21 Nov, with appam, and two different Poris. HOSUR :: On 23rd (Tue) morning at 7-30 AM we went to Hosur to attend the Poojai performed by Savithri ( full details here) . We were in Hosur for 2 days and returned to Bangalore on 25th by 1130 AM. GET-TOGETHER :: There was a get-together on Saturday the 27th at Ashok's house. Lalita, Kumar, Janani, Pradyun, Ranjani, her child Sahasra, Anand, Aishwarya, child Aditya came. Ashok brought Bise bele bath, Vangi bath, Carrot halwa, beans curry from Namma Ura and Neeraja prepared white rice, Rasam, aloo curry. It was a great occasion. SRIVIDYA'S HOUSE :: KVS athimber's sraththa thithi was on 28th Nov (Sun) and we two went by bus to S...