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Published: November 1st 2012
guru puja
Guru puja at the start of Navratri celebrations.Air India has a reputation of being completely no-frills and that, it certainly was. Our plane arrived into Dubai an hour late and so we left there an hour late. Interestingly, whiskey was apparently free on board and so quite a number of the menfolk enjoyed the priviledge. Got into Chennai at 5:30AM. Chennai is toridly hot. Sweltering is another good word for it. Being a northern-born girl, I do not like it. Dry heat I can deal with, its the high humidity that gets me. Anant's parents do not have air conditioning, only a couple strong ceiling fans. Still, it is sweaty, sticky hot.
Anyway, Sundaram-uncle is hosting the 9-day Navratri festival at his house and adjoining Sri Ananda Lakshmi Mandir in Mylapore. So after a quick breakfast at home, we headed over to the Mandir and stayed until lunch. Lunch was served traditional South Indian style on a banana leaf. Good home-cooked food! Since we will be gone during astami and navami day when ladies are usually given sarees, I got a saree early. It is quite nice, a red silk blend with orange border. The afternoon was spent shopping for Indian clothes and visiting the first of
Traditional lunch
South Indian lunch served on a banana leaf. many relatives. Along the way, we noticed that a new branch of Grand Sweets has opened up. Anant was certainly pleased as it is located closer to his parents' house.
One night we went for dinner at the Park Sheraton hotel. A young man and some of his friends came to sit a table near us. Turned out, the young man is Dhanush, a well-known Indian actor. Anant's cousin, who was with us, pointed out this fact. Anant shook his hand but I do not have pictorial evidence of the encounter. Oh well! Then, just the day before, a famous Indian singer was sitting in the car next to ours. Small glimpses of the rich and famous. Lucky us, I suppose.
On 21 October, we will fly Indigo Airlines to Bhubaneshwar, Orissa. We will spend a day and a half there before boarding an overnight train over to the western side of the state to Rourkela. Rourkela is where Anant grew up and is "home" for him. He was last there almost 22 years ago.
Stay tuned. Next stop: Bhubaneshwar and Cuttack.
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