2016 India trip

Wowww is all I can say about last year’s India trip. It is one of the memorable trip that I will cherish forever. M and I took turns, had an overlap of one week and kept kids at India for 7 weeks last summer.

There were are lot of firsts in this trip. We landed at Trichy airport and went straight to my hometown Thanjavur. Sneaked out to chennai for 3 days in the first week with parents in tow and spent the rest of the 3.5 weeks at Thanjavur. It was the first time I got to spend extended time with my brother at parent’s home after about 15 years!!! We roamed around the city with 4 kids every other evening, watched Kabali night show with my father (he dozed off even before the title was over and promptly woke up for the climax!!). Driving in the small town at 1am after the movie was a different experience.

Visited my native village (it was a painful trip with most of my previous generation not there anymore) , toggled between the parents and in-laws constantly, went to a book fair in local, read Jayakanthan’s tamil novel “Sila nerangalil sila manidhargal”, spent most evening chatting with neighbors/relatives sitting in easy chair at front porch, visited local temples numerous times to attend all that pooja arranged by Amma. At some point Adi wakes up to ask “Are we eating non vegetarian for lunch today?” and gets very excited if we reply with “yes”. Her theory is then it means we are not going to any temple today!!! I warned Amma clearly to take it easy during future visits.

I travelled back alone and the next 3 weeks of living alone in US seemed like a year. WhatsApp and Skype kept me closer to kids though.

Some pictures:

Birthday card for paternal thatha by Adi

At Saravana bhavan

Jetlag

Sangeetha’s poori

Sangeetha’s cone dosa

All aboard upper sleeper berth to Chennai

At Maya bro’s wedding reception

Indoor playing

Imaginary school bus with all amenities

Brihadeeswarar temple – 10 mins away from home

Hiding spot

Getting ready for lunch

Home grown veggies special lunch – banana flower poriyal, banana stem kootu, mango kuzhambu, keerai masiyal

Cousins galatta

Matching game with Nephew

Yours truly in the middle

I can do homework with eyes closed. I am talented yaa

Look at that style! This pic has my other favorites too – tape recorder, cassette holder, sewing machine, beeg wooden box

Mani mandapam

Cousin bro’s second home. That’s the terrace

Family deity temple pond

Family deity temple. Glad to have found it after 12 years!

Ready for Jallikattu?

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