Finally the day had come for me to travle to chennai..

Finally the day had come for me to travel to chennai. it had been a very long wait ..I had waited for the offer .. I had waited for the work permit .. I had waited for the interview dates .. And now it was here ... It was a pleasant surprise when murali mama was at the door and said the driver is at your service, it was a big relief that I don't have to go out in the chilly morning looking for autos and bargaining with them to go on normal fare ..
In 10 mins we were at the contonment railway station, the station was already crowded .. as if I did not know that fact .. Yet I was surprised .. Went inside the station and daddy went to enquire where the s2 bogie (Kannada word ) will stand ... I turned left and saw that there were name plates written S1, S2 so on .. so myself and appa started walking towards the platforms .. Ours was S4... And in the reservation areas there were so many chinkis .. To me it was it was not a rare sight .. As I have seen them when I had traveled to Germany. But others in the station including appa was amused seeing them .. Soon the train came and stopped in the platform .. by then I had observed that our train 2608 bangalore chennai express would be the next one not the one that had stopped. The train that was in the platform was bangalore coimbatore express .. Obviously appa was confused .. He kept looking at the boards, and kept on confirming that if that was our train .. I told him as much as I could and finally had to be stern ...He was convinced that our train was yet to come.
Bangalore coimbatore express left the station, the tv screen got refreshed and they then started showing our train details, in a short while, the train came to the platform .. from the beginning of this entire trip i.e. from the days of planning till then i have had apprehensions about travelling second class in the trains .. that is becuase it would be a long journey to chennai and one would need some confortable seats and clean facilities inside the train .. but because of confusion while reservation of the tickets .. I had to settle down with 2nd class tickets .. coz we had already cancelled once and haaaad lost 80 bucks (!!!) .. bloody govt, they are parasites.. they live on others money.. they dont have the capcity to generate wealth .. but they have the capacity to eat public's hard earned money... they took 2o rs for the reservation and another 20 rs is taken for cancellation also .. bunch of Bs
we knew that the train would stop only for 2 mins there... even though there were reservation lists on the compartments i got confused ..in a hurry not to miss the train we got into s3, and we asked the passengers .. if it was s4 :-) such things always work when you know if you ask the wrong information someone will surely tell you the right infmn .. so someone did point towards our left and said ' next is the pantry, just go inside and the compartment next to pantry is S4..' we went as per the directions.. the pantry compartments were very long with ofcourse the smell of the kitchen ....
Then came the issue of the seats, our was 74 and 78, during the ticket reservation, it seems the reservation officer had told appa that it would come infront of each other .. ofcourse there was a seat infront of 74, but it was not 78 .. it was on the left side of the 74th seat .. and it was occupied by someone.. then that guy said pls occupy 75, as ours too was like you... we had got different seats... we sat and settled down and the train moved ..
It first stopped at KR puram, and after that we passed by the whitefield route and i started showing appa the regular route that is taken by my shuttle in the morning while going to office. after a while the train was on the non residentail industrial area .. i observed some white things on the trees .. it took me sometime to understand that it was fog .. that was the first time in my life i had seen fog... it was thick white cold clouds situated as a layer at the half the heights of the trees .. the lady next to me asked me if she should close the windows , and i gladly nodded my head .. to my relief i soon fell asleep ..
when i opened the eyes.. dad was asking if i would like to eat anything .. probably that is why i opened my eyes .. i refused .. asi dont eat anything on the jurney .. i again tried to sleep but i could not ..by then we had reached jolarpettai .. the passengers infromt of me got down .. and couple of muslims came and occupied those seats .. one of them called up somebosy on the cell and said the train is late by an hour so he too will be late by an hour .. thats when i felt that nothing can be done about the system .. it only fails ..nothing happens on time .. for no particular reason .. or am i being unreasonable ... after an hour i again fell asleep .. and when i was awake it was 11:30 .. dad was excited that within 45 mins we wold be at out destination.. slowly he too raelised that the train was slow .. and we finally reached chennai at 1 PM ..
We got down at the chennai central, and gladly saw dhanalakshmi aunty .. she asked us to stay in her house, but dad said we would like to stay in anna slai as it would help us to raech the consulate without any trouble. Then we deciede that we should have lunch and then go to the hotel. We cameout and so many auto rickshawwalas kept asking us if we require an auto .. it was bugging .. then I saw a hotel and aunty said she know a hotel by name vasanth bhavan ans she regularly goes their, i said then its fine, coz one should always go to a known hotel, but very surprisingly appa was unhappy and suggested that we should go to a brahmins hotel, it was too funny, namgoskra angaara akshate haakondu yaaru hotelnalli naavu bartheevi antha kaytha eruthare .. :-D ..
Anyways we went to vasanth bahvan, it was like one of our majestic hotels.. there were only ben in the ground floor, in the top floor there were women, but that was snacks section .. with a disturbed mind we occupied the table shown by the hotel guy .. the table was dirty .. a boy came and cleaned it .. ofcourse with dirt .. i kept reminding myself that iam outside my house and outside my hoetown .. so without putting my price i making tantrums i sud let this go .. actually i had no choice but to be silent .. but my heart was heavy .. damn it ... why cant i choose another good hotel, where i can happily eat some good food .. the guy came placed 3 banyan leave and soon the food was served .. i tasted the food and all of tem had garlic .. so i had no choice but to eat curd rice .. appa wanted chapathi and i wanted another cup curd so we ordered again .. and had the food .. we completd and went for hand wash .. behind me came appa .. he cribbed and said.. i did not like the hotel .. food was horrible .. i was so relievd that somone shres the same feeling so next time we could go for a better hotel .. we came out and again the autorickshaw wallas kept on asking us .. the rates that they demand are exorbitant .. they are baseless .. since many things had to be done that day we finalised on an auto for a fair over rate and started towards anna salai..
One thing that is very evident to a banglorean like me is that chennai has good roads .. does not have the mad traffic like blore .. then dhanalakshmi aunty asked the driver if he knew good hotels in anna salai .. after a while that guy said he know a hotel which is infront of the consulate .. but dad was not happy .. i decieded to try out this place before we went to see new woodlands .. we were now in front of the consulate .. and right infront of the cnsulate was a big flyover and infront of that on the other side was no hotel .. we continued further and after 2 kms the auto guy took a right turn and stopped in front of nandini palace ..
Myself and appa saw the room and decieded to take it .. dhanlakshmi aunty then left us at hotel and went back home. we got our luggage inside the room .. and rested for awhile and called up vasumathi .. it was 2:30 in the afternoon. I asked her about the temple and she said she will call m back after speaking with sudhakar. after couple of minutes se called us at the hotel and asked us to be ready and said sudhakar will pick us between 3:20 - 3:30 ,
And i notice the room door had no latch, i just shivered i pulled appa and we went to the reception and told him about the door and asked him to change our room, he then sent a guy and he told us that we could lock the door from inside and no one will be able to open from outside .. with half mind i agreed .. bcoz it was the same in germany also .......
myself and appa we both were very very tired .. i tried hard not to sleep .. by 3:10 i dragged myself to get ready .. by 3:20 we heard from reception that we had a guest waiting for us . Appa went to get sudhakar, but he refused to come inside the room ... we got ready quickly, switched off all the lights, i took all my doucuments, my purse and appa also did the same we came out and were trying the lock the door .. suddenly a guy came near us and said lock the door from inside and pull the door .. we did the same .. actually even i used to do the same when i was in germany ..
We got inside the car and zoomed off from T nagar towards besant Nagar. On the way couple of times i got confused as to why there are less people on the streets, for a second i almost assumed there was some strike going on and that is why people are observing bandh .... then i realised thats not the case .. all cities need not be necessarily like blore :-) , over crowded, over noisy ..
Sudhakar is a silent person, he gives information but very briefly, and answers to the point, it was difficult for me as i ask lot of questions and very opinionated and talk a lot ..
We were finally at vasumathi's place in besantnagar, when we got down from the car, appa whispered in my ears , iam glad we dint opt to saty this far .. i was glad too .. cos appa had cribbed that i had not asked vasumathi if i could stay in their house during my stay in chennai.
Soon we were inside the house and vasumathi greeted us, and as any other indian family household she offerd us some coffee ... it was a very good coffee .. their house is very nice, i like the interiors of the house. the sofa covering combination is the best .. i like the mix match concept, even the curtains were elegant and suited the ambience inside. Becuse of the portico, i felf there was less light in the hall, otherwise, very nice house .. must be a big one ..
Vasumathi soon got ready to go to the temple, my document bag was heavy, so i asked if i could leave it in their house .. vasumathi autnty then called kitty and asked her to keep the documents with her till we returned .. we then left for the temple ..
It was a good journey, vasumathi explained about the roads, temples, beach side resorts ... she is like me .. good in conversations .. we crossed the toll and in 10 minutes we awere at the temple . by then it was 5PM. we had covered the 37 kms journey in just 40mins..
The temple surroundings were very calm. there were less people and lesser number of stalls. Sudhakar parked the vehicle .. and we all got down.. and there was this calf it got excited seeing me and started coming towards me .. oh god .. i was sso scared . ... i walked fast and diverted the calfs attention.
By then vasumati was at one of the stalls trying to buy garlends for the god. Appa said he wants one more for him, and even after bargain it costed us whooping 110 rs ... we went inside the main temple .. and then inside one more prakara, finally inside the garbha gudi, and there was this big stone statue of god bhuneela varaha swamy .. i felt very nice and peaceful seeing the god.
The priests took the garlend from us and asked if i had to be married .. then they all said yes, so he did the necessary formalities and asked me to wear one of the garlends.. it was very weird .. yet i wore .. he asked me to keep the garland till i get married and gave one more garland to appa and asked him to keep it in our devara mane for two days and put it on a tree once it dries .. I was then asked to take 9 rounds on the outer prakara .. but before that we had to go to laksmi temple just beside the varahaswamy temple. We went their and the priest performed the pooja and gave us the blessings .. i dont know why i felt the godess's eyes was somewhat .. in kannada it is called as vakra drishti .. and i felt really bad .. as godess laksmi symbolises wealth and prosperity, also when the priest gave the blessings, he blessed me an early marriage where as for sudhakar he blessed that he should be successful and prosperous .. that time i felt very bad that i did not get the required blessings .. bcoz it was very important ..
i took 9 round around the temple first prakara .. finally covered the andal and ranganatha swamy temple. Iam sometimes too very superstitious.. when i was about leave.. a cat was about to cross my way.. in fact that made me change my path and go towards ranganathswamy temple. I was too very disappointed first becuase i when i saw the goddess lakshmi instead of showing me her lovely eyes, the godess sight was somewhat and again the cat thing ..
With a heavy heart i left the temple .. again those naughty calfs .. a calf actually took a step .. a big step and i mean jumped a big step where our was standing and came towards me. i shouted .. and others who were there were laughing ... may the cow got confused seeing my green duppatta.
We then zoomed ouff towards the chennai city, we first crossed the toll and we were soon in the busy road, the evning was pleasent, vasumathi apologised and said they had a prior appointment and they cannot cancel it and we should have dinner and go, she asked me thrice , thrice i refused..in 40 mins we were in front of her house .. we got inside the house and relaxed for a while, soon the snacks was served and i happily hooged the food. The snacks were khara avalakki that had cucucmber and godhi payasa .. appa gave most of the godhi payasa to me.. i really liked the payasa .. even though i dont eat sweets .. i could eat the payasa ... my dinner was over. Then vasumathi aunty asked for cofy, i refused and appa agreed, then i too took it when she gave cofy to appa,and obviously he criibed it is too much.
By then, sudhakar, suparth were ready to go out, and i asked for my bag, and surprisingly, vasumathi gave me and appa gifts, she also gave the gul pavate unde that was made by kollapurada kobbari prasada. I was happy and ofcourse happy by their hospitality. She then did namskara to appa(!!!) i was too surprised .. ummmm .. god bless them ...
They then offerd us to drop half the way, this supartha also came, he took the first seat and myself , appa and vasumathi took the back seats, we were then dropped and sudhakar helped us with an auto, the guy demanded 60 bucks!!!. Reluctantly appa and myself got it the rick, .. after a while we were at the hotel, i got down and went towards the room, appa paid the auto guy and follwed me inside .....
And guess what , the lights were on in the room .. good heavens, god save us .. oh boy .. oh boy .. i was very angy and appa too realised that the room was opened coz before we left we had made sure to switch off the lights, appa said he will speak in the reception as to why the room was opened, the we decieded to take up the issue during checkout.
but i was psyched .. then called up home, spoke with amma and anni, felt a little better, then i was not hungry, but appa was, so he started cribbing, then i told him iam not hungry and in no mood to go out with him, so he understood that nothing could make me go out of the bed .. he then decieded to take a small walk outside, but i was psyched and i feared and asked him to come soon.. and ofcourse he did take alittle more time when he returned and i was almost in tears by then i told him not to leave me and go .. he understood that i was really in fear.. he then assured he will not go out leaving me alone their.. then we both opened our condiments from blore and ate and ate and ate .. and ate :-) ... i then packed the bags, cleared the mess as next day i will have little time to packup. Then i told appa that i will not take bath the next day as i was psyched that somebody might barge into our room as it had happend that day. He did not say anything .. then i dont know i felt a little relieved and said i will take bath ..cos i have to be fresh in front of the VO.
it was 11 in the night, i pulled up the bed sheet that i had got and tried to sleep, appa thought, that there are no bed sheets provided by the hotel, i told him its right their on the bed, but it never went to his ears, and he kept cribbing that i should have asked him to get a bed sheet from bangalore. ..then i told him to share mine.. but he was unhappy, then finally it went inside his head that the bed sheets were ther only.In teh middle of all this we heard some noise fron the bathroom area. I was worried coz i suuspected that was from geyser, appa too was worried as it sud not get us to any trouble in the midnight, so we again called the reception, even after the 10 mins, nobody came, appa called again, and in couple of mins a guy came, and inspected the bathroom and said everything was fine, the noise is from the adjucscent kitchen... and assured us that everything is fine and boasted that it is agr8 hotel .. and blah . blah ..
Yet i was not getting sleep, i was worried and worried .. i had almost decieded that i am going to sit wide eyed the entire night .. then after half an hour, i felt i can handle this in a better way .. i pulled the heavy chair and table towards the door and felt that even if someone come inside i will have time for action cos they will have to cross the heavy barriers ... i was relieved .. and went to bed .. slept like a log that night ...
It was soon morning .. I had kept the alarm at 6:45 .. i got up and went directly to bathroom, i took my own sweet time to get ready, after sometime, i could hear appa asking me come out, i got so bugged .. i almost shouted back .. then he shouted back and said .. will you comeout or not it 7:30 !!!! .. i came out and in a hurry got a ready.. appa too got ready and by then it was 8:10!!!
Appa was restless, when i was getting ready and finally he pulled me out of the room at 8:15 .. we wanted to have cofy abut appa said he will have only in brahmins hotel ... LOL .. we came out and was looking for the auto .. then the hotel guy came out and asked us if we were going to the consulate nd we nidded our head, he asked us to take the a rickshaw that was there in front of the hotel and said take this rick, but do not pay him, we will pay him for the trip.
We got into the rick and went towards the consulate office.. by then there was a queue already, about half a kilometer long in front of office, our auto guy dropped us, Myself and appa wnet towards the office main entrance .. appa said that i should ask the security, i got ready to go and stand in the queue by then security only came and asked me .. i told him my interview is at 9 , he said, just show your interview letter their and get inside and he asked my father to wait at the same place where others were waiting.... To be continued ...:)