Thursday, January 29, 2009
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Monday, January 26, 2009
the photo I promised.
Janice and Madhu were in NYC over the weekend. It was very nice to see them.
Laura in her new salwar kameez.Thanks Kalyani
Chennai
Jan 3 (Sat)
We saw the various sights: the Shore Temple, Arjuna’s penance, etc. Then we took the bus to Madras. When we got to the hotel (New Woodlands in Mylapore) around 2:30, Ramu (Echi’s son) was waiting for us. As we found out later, the reception staff at the hotel kept denying our existence to everyone who asked for us, but he persisted. He spent a couple of hours with us, helping us do some errands. One of the errands was a visit to a clothing store and the streets around the stores were simply a mob scene. You couldn’t even walk and people kept bumping into you (seems to be a common way of pedestrian movement in India). Then he said goodbye telling us that he would come next morning to take us to his home for breakfast.
We were expecting Jayanthi that evening around 9:30. This was difficult because we were in the habit of going to sleep by 9. Kalyani did go to sleep while I stayed awake with the help of crossword puzzles. Jayanthi showed up around 9:45. The reception desk told her that no one by the name of Madhu was staying at the hotel even though she tried different versions of our name. She finally called Thulasi in Trichy and Thulasi called Ramu in Madras to get our room number and then called Jayanthi back.
It was really nice seeing her after all these years even though it was a short visit. She is on the faculty at the Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) in Hyderabad and her husband (Prajit) is at the University of Hyderabad. She is doing very well and has a bunch of graduate students working under her guidance. She has grayed a lot (she is 52). We did talk her into staying an extra night.
Jan 4 (Sun)
Ramu came and all four of us went to his house in an “auto”. It is possible to have four passengers in an auto if one of them shares the driver’s seat in the front. Later in Delhi, I saw an auto carrying five passengers, with two passengers in the front, one on either side of the driver! Ramu lives on a quiet cul-de-sac not too far from Mylapore. It is a very nice house (the upstairs portion of a duplex). His wife Rama (the first “a” pronounced short and the second pronounced long, like “rum-aa”) is very nice; very happy to see us. Her mother lives with them temporarily; the mother has four sons and three daughters, almost all of them living in the Madras area. She became a widow when she was in her late thirties (she is now 82) and brought up the seven children on her own. She is very pleasant and gets along well with Rama and Ramu. We had an excellent breakfast. We sat around and chatted. We visited the Kapaleeswara Temple in Mylapore.
Around 2 p.m. Madhu’s niece Lalitha’s husband Sankar came and took us to his house. (Jayanthi went off to visit a cousin – Sivaswamy’s sister’s daughter.) Lalitha’s house is only a short distance from the Bay of Bengal. When the Tsunami occurred in 2001, they thought that it was an earthquake. The tide rose and came up to a house not too far from their own but then receded. We had a very nice lunch. Lalitha does a kind of artwork: the kind you see a lot at Indian homes showing a god or goddess with a great deal of ornate work involving inlays of gold foil and semi-precious stones. It takes her a couple of months to finish one piece. She also has conducted classes. Sankar is “retired”. He was on the Board of Directors of Indian Railways. Now he is more busy than ever teaching courses at a local center on information audit.
Sankar and Lalitha took us back to the hotel and on the way showed us a store that sold Carnatic Music CDs and DVDs. Jayanthi, Kalyani and I returned to the store a little later. I was like a kid in a candy store (except that I did not have a limit on how much I could spend). It had the most fantastic collection of complete concerts. I bought about 35 CDs. They cost about a hundred rupees ($2.50) each. Then we went to have dinner at Hotel Savera (which was right next to our hotel). This is the same hotel where Madhu took us in 1980 for a dinner.
Jan 5 (Mon)
Jayanthi left for Hyderabad in the morning. Kalyani and I went to the Government Museum (right next to the Egmore station). It was an interesting place and the portion we visited had a lot of archaeological exhibits. Then we went to Higginbotham’s bookstore.
That evening we went to a Carnatic Music concert with Ramu, Rama and her mother. It was at a place very near our hotel. It was free and the artiste was one of the leading vocalists: Sanjay Subrahmanyan. Ramu and his wife go to a lot of concerts and Ramu seemed to know a person of some influence; so we got excellent seats. The concert was simply fantastic. He was so good; you can actually sense the audience totally enthralled in the music. At one point there was a collective involuntary audible sigh from the audience. I have not attended a concert like that in a very long time. He elaborated the raga Kalyani, no doubt because he recognized her presence in the audience.
After the concert we went to the restaurant in our hotel for dinner. It is one of the best South Indian restaurants, probably even the best.
We saw the various sights: the Shore Temple, Arjuna’s penance, etc. Then we took the bus to Madras. When we got to the hotel (New Woodlands in Mylapore) around 2:30, Ramu (Echi’s son) was waiting for us. As we found out later, the reception staff at the hotel kept denying our existence to everyone who asked for us, but he persisted. He spent a couple of hours with us, helping us do some errands. One of the errands was a visit to a clothing store and the streets around the stores were simply a mob scene. You couldn’t even walk and people kept bumping into you (seems to be a common way of pedestrian movement in India). Then he said goodbye telling us that he would come next morning to take us to his home for breakfast.
We were expecting Jayanthi that evening around 9:30. This was difficult because we were in the habit of going to sleep by 9. Kalyani did go to sleep while I stayed awake with the help of crossword puzzles. Jayanthi showed up around 9:45. The reception desk told her that no one by the name of Madhu was staying at the hotel even though she tried different versions of our name. She finally called Thulasi in Trichy and Thulasi called Ramu in Madras to get our room number and then called Jayanthi back.
It was really nice seeing her after all these years even though it was a short visit. She is on the faculty at the Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) in Hyderabad and her husband (Prajit) is at the University of Hyderabad. She is doing very well and has a bunch of graduate students working under her guidance. She has grayed a lot (she is 52). We did talk her into staying an extra night.
Jan 4 (Sun)
Ramu came and all four of us went to his house in an “auto”. It is possible to have four passengers in an auto if one of them shares the driver’s seat in the front. Later in Delhi, I saw an auto carrying five passengers, with two passengers in the front, one on either side of the driver! Ramu lives on a quiet cul-de-sac not too far from Mylapore. It is a very nice house (the upstairs portion of a duplex). His wife Rama (the first “a” pronounced short and the second pronounced long, like “rum-aa”) is very nice; very happy to see us. Her mother lives with them temporarily; the mother has four sons and three daughters, almost all of them living in the Madras area. She became a widow when she was in her late thirties (she is now 82) and brought up the seven children on her own. She is very pleasant and gets along well with Rama and Ramu. We had an excellent breakfast. We sat around and chatted. We visited the Kapaleeswara Temple in Mylapore.
Around 2 p.m. Madhu’s niece Lalitha’s husband Sankar came and took us to his house. (Jayanthi went off to visit a cousin – Sivaswamy’s sister’s daughter.) Lalitha’s house is only a short distance from the Bay of Bengal. When the Tsunami occurred in 2001, they thought that it was an earthquake. The tide rose and came up to a house not too far from their own but then receded. We had a very nice lunch. Lalitha does a kind of artwork: the kind you see a lot at Indian homes showing a god or goddess with a great deal of ornate work involving inlays of gold foil and semi-precious stones. It takes her a couple of months to finish one piece. She also has conducted classes. Sankar is “retired”. He was on the Board of Directors of Indian Railways. Now he is more busy than ever teaching courses at a local center on information audit.
Sankar and Lalitha took us back to the hotel and on the way showed us a store that sold Carnatic Music CDs and DVDs. Jayanthi, Kalyani and I returned to the store a little later. I was like a kid in a candy store (except that I did not have a limit on how much I could spend). It had the most fantastic collection of complete concerts. I bought about 35 CDs. They cost about a hundred rupees ($2.50) each. Then we went to have dinner at Hotel Savera (which was right next to our hotel). This is the same hotel where Madhu took us in 1980 for a dinner.
Jan 5 (Mon)
Jayanthi left for Hyderabad in the morning. Kalyani and I went to the Government Museum (right next to the Egmore station). It was an interesting place and the portion we visited had a lot of archaeological exhibits. Then we went to Higginbotham’s bookstore.
That evening we went to a Carnatic Music concert with Ramu, Rama and her mother. It was at a place very near our hotel. It was free and the artiste was one of the leading vocalists: Sanjay Subrahmanyan. Ramu and his wife go to a lot of concerts and Ramu seemed to know a person of some influence; so we got excellent seats. The concert was simply fantastic. He was so good; you can actually sense the audience totally enthralled in the music. At one point there was a collective involuntary audible sigh from the audience. I have not attended a concert like that in a very long time. He elaborated the raga Kalyani, no doubt because he recognized her presence in the audience.
After the concert we went to the restaurant in our hotel for dinner. It is one of the best South Indian restaurants, probably even the best.
Saturday, January 24, 2009
More from Dad's journal--Mahabalipuram
Jan 2 (Fri):
We left for Pondicheri in the morning. The road was very nice: wide lanes and well paved. This, of course, makes a driver take more chances of overtaking other vehicles with very little margin for safety (even though our own driver was reasonably cautious). Traffic in India is amazing. In the cities, it is like the random motion of atomic particles except that actual collisions do not take place. There are usually 3 lanes of traffic each way even though there is only one lane. People merging from side streets do not even bother to slow down. But no one gets mad at the other drivers. We arrived at Pondi in the early afternoon. The hotel (selected from Tripadvisor.com) was dismal and the streets (where we were supposed to amble and look at shops) were narrow and crowded. So, Kalyani says to me: How about cutting our losses and going to Mahabalipuram right now? The hotel clerk was astonished that we would forfeit our money for the room: approximately $30 for just putting our luggage in and removing it!
The driver to M’puram thinks he is James Bond. He took all kinds of chances and passed cars and buses with very little room to spare. But he got us to M’puram in one piece. The hotel in M’puram is the Temple Bay Hotel. This used to be called the TTDC (Tamil Nadu Tourist Development Corporation) Hotel and we stayed there in 1980 and it was a great hotel then. Then it got taken over by the Central Government and it just deteriorated. When we stayed there in 1995, it was hot and just swarming with mosquitoes. I remember Hannah being totally covered by mosquito bites. Then, some years ago, a private group took over and it is now like paradise on earth: extensive grounds, gardens, swimming pool and luxurious rooms. The rooms are all built like condominium units with each room having a view of the Bay of Bengal. The cost matched the place: close to $300 per night. Kalyani and I felt that we deserved this pampering. In the evening, there was a Bharata Natyam performance by 10 to 12-year old kids (mostly girls but there was one boy in the troupe). We went to a restaurant on the beach, since Kalyani wanted prawns. I tried the Indian wine, which was quite good. The food was not that great, however.
We left for Pondicheri in the morning. The road was very nice: wide lanes and well paved. This, of course, makes a driver take more chances of overtaking other vehicles with very little margin for safety (even though our own driver was reasonably cautious). Traffic in India is amazing. In the cities, it is like the random motion of atomic particles except that actual collisions do not take place. There are usually 3 lanes of traffic each way even though there is only one lane. People merging from side streets do not even bother to slow down. But no one gets mad at the other drivers. We arrived at Pondi in the early afternoon. The hotel (selected from Tripadvisor.com) was dismal and the streets (where we were supposed to amble and look at shops) were narrow and crowded. So, Kalyani says to me: How about cutting our losses and going to Mahabalipuram right now? The hotel clerk was astonished that we would forfeit our money for the room: approximately $30 for just putting our luggage in and removing it!
The driver to M’puram thinks he is James Bond. He took all kinds of chances and passed cars and buses with very little room to spare. But he got us to M’puram in one piece. The hotel in M’puram is the Temple Bay Hotel. This used to be called the TTDC (Tamil Nadu Tourist Development Corporation) Hotel and we stayed there in 1980 and it was a great hotel then. Then it got taken over by the Central Government and it just deteriorated. When we stayed there in 1995, it was hot and just swarming with mosquitoes. I remember Hannah being totally covered by mosquito bites. Then, some years ago, a private group took over and it is now like paradise on earth: extensive grounds, gardens, swimming pool and luxurious rooms. The rooms are all built like condominium units with each room having a view of the Bay of Bengal. The cost matched the place: close to $300 per night. Kalyani and I felt that we deserved this pampering. In the evening, there was a Bharata Natyam performance by 10 to 12-year old kids (mostly girls but there was one boy in the troupe). We went to a restaurant on the beach, since Kalyani wanted prawns. I tried the Indian wine, which was quite good. The food was not that great, however.
Friday, January 23, 2009
Thursday, January 22, 2009
OSCAR NOMINATIONS
I can't believe Brad Pitt was nominated and Leo wasn't (for Revolutionary Road which I saw and it was amazing). I hope Slumdog gets best pic!!!
BEST PICTURE
THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
FROST/NIXON
MILK
THE READER
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE
BEST DIRECTOR
THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON - David Fincher
FROST/NIXON - Ron Howard
MILK - Gus Van Sant
THE READER - Stephen Daldry
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE - Danny Boyle
BEST ACTOR
Richard Jenkins for THE VISITOR
Frank Langella for FROST/NIXON
Sean Penn for MILK
Brad Pitt for THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
Mickey Rourke for THE WRESTLER
BEST ACTRESS
Anne Hathaway for RACHEL GETTING MARRIED
Angelina Jolie for CHANGELING
Melissa Leo for FROZEN RIVER
Meryl Streep for DOUBT
Kate Winslet for THE READER
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Josh Brolin for MILK
Robert Downey Jr. for TROPIC THUNDER
Philip Seymour Hoffman for DOUBT
Heath Ledger for THE DARK KNIGHT
Michael Shannon for REVOLUTIONARY ROAD
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Amy Adams for DOUBT
Penelope Cruz for VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA
Viola Davis for DOUBT
Tarija P. Henson for THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
Marisa Tomei for THE WRESTLER
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
FROZEN RIVER
HAPPY-GO-LUCKY
IN BRUGES
MILK
WALL-E
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
DOUBT
FROST/NIXON
THE READER
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
CHANGELING
THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
THE DARK KNIGHT
THE READER
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE
BEST ART DIRECTION/SET DECORATION
CHANGELING
THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
THE DARK KNIGHT
THE DUCHESS
REVOLUTIONARY ROAD
BEST COSTUME DESIGN
AUSTRALIA
CHANGELING
THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
THE DUCHESS
MILK
BEST FILM EDITING
THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
THE DARK KNIGHT
FROST/NIXON
MILK
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE
BEST SOUND MIXING
THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
THE DARK KNIGHT
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE
WALL-E
WANTED
BEST SOUND EDITING
THE DARK KNIGHT
IRON MAN
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE
WALL-E
WANTED
BEST MAKEUP
THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
THE DARK KNIGHT
HELLBOY II: THE GOLDEN ARMY
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
THE DARK KNIGHT
IRON MAN
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
DEFIANCE
MILK
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE
WALL-E
BEST ORIGINAL SONG
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE - "O Saya"
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE - "Jai Ho"
WALL-E - "Down to Earth"
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
BOLT
KUNG FU PANDA
WALL-E
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
THE BAADER MEINHOF COMPLEX - Germany
THE CLASS - France
DEPARTURES - Japan
REVANCHE - Austria
WALTZ WITH BASHIR - Israel
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
THE BETRAYAL
ENCOUNTERS AT THE END OF THE WORLD
THE GARDEN
MAN ON WIRE
TROUBLE THE WATER
BEST PICTURE
THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
FROST/NIXON
MILK
THE READER
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE
BEST DIRECTOR
THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON - David Fincher
FROST/NIXON - Ron Howard
MILK - Gus Van Sant
THE READER - Stephen Daldry
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE - Danny Boyle
BEST ACTOR
Richard Jenkins for THE VISITOR
Frank Langella for FROST/NIXON
Sean Penn for MILK
Brad Pitt for THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
Mickey Rourke for THE WRESTLER
BEST ACTRESS
Anne Hathaway for RACHEL GETTING MARRIED
Angelina Jolie for CHANGELING
Melissa Leo for FROZEN RIVER
Meryl Streep for DOUBT
Kate Winslet for THE READER
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Josh Brolin for MILK
Robert Downey Jr. for TROPIC THUNDER
Philip Seymour Hoffman for DOUBT
Heath Ledger for THE DARK KNIGHT
Michael Shannon for REVOLUTIONARY ROAD
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Amy Adams for DOUBT
Penelope Cruz for VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA
Viola Davis for DOUBT
Tarija P. Henson for THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
Marisa Tomei for THE WRESTLER
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
FROZEN RIVER
HAPPY-GO-LUCKY
IN BRUGES
MILK
WALL-E
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
DOUBT
FROST/NIXON
THE READER
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
CHANGELING
THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
THE DARK KNIGHT
THE READER
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE
BEST ART DIRECTION/SET DECORATION
CHANGELING
THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
THE DARK KNIGHT
THE DUCHESS
REVOLUTIONARY ROAD
BEST COSTUME DESIGN
AUSTRALIA
CHANGELING
THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
THE DUCHESS
MILK
BEST FILM EDITING
THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
THE DARK KNIGHT
FROST/NIXON
MILK
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE
BEST SOUND MIXING
THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
THE DARK KNIGHT
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE
WALL-E
WANTED
BEST SOUND EDITING
THE DARK KNIGHT
IRON MAN
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE
WALL-E
WANTED
BEST MAKEUP
THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
THE DARK KNIGHT
HELLBOY II: THE GOLDEN ARMY
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
THE DARK KNIGHT
IRON MAN
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
DEFIANCE
MILK
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE
WALL-E
BEST ORIGINAL SONG
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE - "O Saya"
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE - "Jai Ho"
WALL-E - "Down to Earth"
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
BOLT
KUNG FU PANDA
WALL-E
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
THE BAADER MEINHOF COMPLEX - Germany
THE CLASS - France
DEPARTURES - Japan
REVANCHE - Austria
WALTZ WITH BASHIR - Israel
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
THE BETRAYAL
ENCOUNTERS AT THE END OF THE WORLD
THE GARDEN
MAN ON WIRE
TROUBLE THE WATER
Temples
Nandi at Brihadeeshwara. If you look closely, you'll see that he's licking his nostril.I really enjoy temples. I like the architecture and sculptures, of course, but I especially enjoy the sense of living history. The Brihadeeshwara temple at Thanjavur, for example, has been in continuous use for a thousand years, and I'm pretty sure that what happens at the temple today is exactly what has happened there every day for all of that time. I think that when you step up to the inner sanctum you step way, way back. And it's great to be barefoot. The temples are a lot more than religious, however; they're a big social scene. Families go there for outings. People go sightseeing from temple to temple. We encountered serious pilgrims and busloads of laboring-class people from really far away. I could understand one group at Mammalapuram so clearly that I struck up a conversation--they were from Madhya Pradesh! They were wearing traditional village clothes, and the women had those fat silver anklets like croissants. They had a bus.
Sculpture on the gopurum. It's designed so that the shadow of the temple never touches the ground.
Downspout.
I think the girl is irritated because these boys have stolen her foreigner. This was New Years Day, and a lot of carefully cleaned children, not cosmopolitan children at all, were running around. This girl and her friend came to stare at me close up for a while. Then this girl seized the day, extended her hand, and said, "Happy new year." So I shook it, and said it back. So then there were children offering their hands everywhere I went on the temple grounds. As we were leaving, watching our driver try to extricate himself from the parking lot, a little girl was staring at me from the window of a van. So I said, "Happy New Year", and she sort of gasped, controlled herself, and said, "Thank you."
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Nick and Laura turn 5!
Nick and Laura had their birthday celebration this past Saturday. It was very nice 4 kids and their moms. Isabella was also there. Today was their birthday and I went to school with cake and pictures of Madhu and Kalyani being blessed by the elephant. The kids loved both. Tonight we opened presents and had the leftover cake. We are looking forward to seeing Janice and Madhu tomorrow and Jim and Eliza this weekend.
Chandran with the two cakes
Laura
Nick
twister
Party at school
Photo by Nick
Cassi
Chandran with the two cakes
Laura
Nick
twister
Party at school
Photo by Nick
CassiMore from Dad's journal--visit to Echi's house
(This is January 1, 2009, and picks up after our visit to the Rock Temple.)
Then we went to Thulasi’s house. She packed a lunch to take to Palamarneri (where Echi lives). We had a travel companion, a cousin of Thulasi’s husband, who lives next door to her. Thulasi had asked him to accompany us so that there would be someone for Kalyani to talk to (while Thulasi and I carry on in Tamil). We had a car with a driver to go to Palamarneri.
Echi is now 86 years old. She was born in 1922. Her spirit and wit are as good as ever but, physically, she is in bad shape. Some years ago, she broke her hip and so walking is very difficult for her. Her eyesight is bad and she gets around the house by groping along the walls. Her hearing is bad as well and she does not hear what one says unless that person shouts. There is a man living in the house who makes sure she is safe and runs errands for her. There are some neighbors who bring her food. We spent a couple of hours with her. She spent a lot of time taking about our mother (not very favorably, of course) and was saying things that (I know) could not have been true. This was upsetting Thulasi a lot (she and our mother always got along well and were close) and she kept trying to stop Echi’s continual tirade with very little success.
After saying good-bye to Echi, we drove to Thanjavur. I had assumed (based on what Kalyanam had told me) that Thulasi was going to stay with us in Thanjavur and we were all going to Swami Malai where there is a temple of Swaminathan (Lord Subramanian, son of Shiva, who actually was able to reveal and explain some secrets to his father; hence “Swaminathan” which means more or less “the lord of lords”). But Thulasi did not plan to stay in Thanjavur and she and our fellow traveler were planning to return to Trichy that evening. Kalyani and I tried our best to make her change her mind but no luck. We all went to the temple in Thanjavur and then they left for Trichy. Kalyani and I decided that we should cut short our stay in Thanjavur, skip Swami Malai and go to Pondicheri. We arranged for a car for the next morning. The hotel in Thanjavur was quite a bit more expensive than the one in Trichy and not as nice. Also, there were mosquitoes in the lobby! At the restaurant where we dined, there was a musician (veena player) who was just a little bit off pitch! Almost all restaurants in the hotels in South India have what they call multicuisine menus – a mélange of South Indian and North Indian dishes as well as Chinese., Unfortunately, they are not particularly good.
Then we went to Thulasi’s house. She packed a lunch to take to Palamarneri (where Echi lives). We had a travel companion, a cousin of Thulasi’s husband, who lives next door to her. Thulasi had asked him to accompany us so that there would be someone for Kalyani to talk to (while Thulasi and I carry on in Tamil). We had a car with a driver to go to Palamarneri.
Echi is now 86 years old. She was born in 1922. Her spirit and wit are as good as ever but, physically, she is in bad shape. Some years ago, she broke her hip and so walking is very difficult for her. Her eyesight is bad and she gets around the house by groping along the walls. Her hearing is bad as well and she does not hear what one says unless that person shouts. There is a man living in the house who makes sure she is safe and runs errands for her. There are some neighbors who bring her food. We spent a couple of hours with her. She spent a lot of time taking about our mother (not very favorably, of course) and was saying things that (I know) could not have been true. This was upsetting Thulasi a lot (she and our mother always got along well and were close) and she kept trying to stop Echi’s continual tirade with very little success.
After saying good-bye to Echi, we drove to Thanjavur. I had assumed (based on what Kalyanam had told me) that Thulasi was going to stay with us in Thanjavur and we were all going to Swami Malai where there is a temple of Swaminathan (Lord Subramanian, son of Shiva, who actually was able to reveal and explain some secrets to his father; hence “Swaminathan” which means more or less “the lord of lords”). But Thulasi did not plan to stay in Thanjavur and she and our fellow traveler were planning to return to Trichy that evening. Kalyani and I tried our best to make her change her mind but no luck. We all went to the temple in Thanjavur and then they left for Trichy. Kalyani and I decided that we should cut short our stay in Thanjavur, skip Swami Malai and go to Pondicheri. We arranged for a car for the next morning. The hotel in Thanjavur was quite a bit more expensive than the one in Trichy and not as nice. Also, there were mosquitoes in the lobby! At the restaurant where we dined, there was a musician (veena player) who was just a little bit off pitch! Almost all restaurants in the hotels in South India have what they call multicuisine menus – a mélange of South Indian and North Indian dishes as well as Chinese., Unfortunately, they are not particularly good.
Pictures for previous post
With Thulasi's cousin, Kalyanam, on that old bridge near Echi's house that many of you will recall--where you have to switch buses. I thought the Kaveri looked good--pretty clean, with lots of fish trying to jump upstream. Kalyanam is a very pleasant man, and he has excellent English. He removed himself gracefully from the scene when the unpleasantness that Dad mentions was going on.
Echi on her porch. When we were leaving she kissed me firmly on both cheeks, which I found surprising, as Dad's family is not demonstrative. The rest of the visit she seemed to find me not very useful, and kept returning to the fact that I have no Tamil, until I felt compeled to break out the little I do have.
The man who looks after Echi. She called him (in English) her "personal protection".
Monday, January 19, 2009
song
i taught myself a tune on the piano and made a video for shira as we are both currently obsessed with "kelsey" by metro station.
this is the actual song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRTyMUZ1m1A
this is the actual song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRTyMUZ1m1A
These pictures will illustrate Dad's diary, which is in the next post.
Hand-cranked Ferris wheel
From Karthik's wedding album
Srirangam
More Rock Temple. I love that place.
Here is Dad's diary. I will add photos (starting with Srirangam) and colorful comments in parentheses.
(View from the Rock: Srirangam on the left and Thiruvanaikaval on the right.)
Dec 30 (Tue):
Venkat called around 7:30 a.m. He had just arrived from Bangalore in an overnight bus. The fact that he had come to Trichy to see us was a very pleasant surprise. My own theory is that Thulasi had asked him to come so that he could serve as an interpreter between me and her (since my command of Tamil had sunk pretty low in her estimation). He came to the hotel around 9 and we all went to Thulasi’s house. We spent the day there. Thulasi and I had to take care of some paperwork needed to facilitate the sale of the Woriur house. (Frankly, I don’t think it is going to happen – ever!). The whole situation is exactly like the first chapter in “Bleak House” by Charles Dickens, where the legal proceedings regarding the property of a deceased person never gets settled and is dragged on for generations until the whole property is consumed by the legal costs. In our case, the law is not clear about who should consent to the sale of the house and what the documents are. It appears that a power of attorney (authorizing Kalyanam to sell the house) will be needed by just about everyone including my children as well as Kalyanam’s. If things get delayed, then even Bapu’s and Chandran’s sons will have to give clearance!
Thulasi is in very good shape (she is now 72) and walks everywhere. She probably could benefit from a hip replacement, but she just takes homeopathic medicines for her pain. She uses the phone a lot. She belongs to a ladies’ club. Her command of Hindi was good enough for her and Kalyani to carry on a conversation. (Thulasi studied Hindi a lot when she was young and we were somewhat surprised that she still maintained such fluency; Jayanthi later explained to us that Thulasi’s fluency was because of her talking to (Jayanthi’s husband) Prajit when she visits them in Hyderabad.) My Tamil was fine except when I was struggling with the grammatical structure at times. Thulasi told us that Kalyanam had been calling her almost every day during the preceding three weeks to discuss all the paperwork needed in connection with the sale of the Woriur house. Kalyanam uses his cell phone for his calls and the connection was often bad and she could not always understand what he was saying. When he told her that we were planning to stay at Hotel Breeze in Trichy, she couldn’t understand him and when he spelled the word “breeze”, she only picked up the four letters r-e-e-z. So, she contacted several acquaintances (who travel a lot) and finally figured out the name of the hotel. She had a lot to talk about and it was as if we had been away from each other only a few days. Venkat and Jayanthi are very fond of her and she spends several months a year in their houses.
Venkat, Kalyani and I went to the Woriur house. There is one woman, Radha, living there. She is the one who was taking care of Alli’s husband and then Alli over the last dozen years or so. I assume that she will vacate the house if ever the house gets sold and she will need some financial help to find a different place to live. The house was far from clean and the upstairs room had a dank smell. The swing (which used to be in the living room) was stored there. My mother had left it to Mom, since she enjoyed it and admired it so much. We cannot bring it here, of course. Venkat expressed a strong interest in having it and so I said he could have it. I did feel very nostalgic as I toured the house. The possibility that it will be torn down by the buyer and replaced by a high-rise building or a mansion bothers me. The house next door is now a huge mansion with only a young couple living there!
Venkat went back to Bangalore that night. He stopped by our hotel on his way to the bus-stand (which was very close to the hotel). He is not doing free-lance work any more but works for a small company.
Dec 31 (Wed):
(Friendly waiter with fantastic coffee in Srirangam. I found that in my s.l.(sans luggage) state people in the south took me for a northerner. This was very nice, as it freed me from a lot of unwanted attention. This waiter, when I (correctly!) ordered two coffees in Tamil--Dad went to the bathroom, another privilege of maleness in India--translated my order into Hindi.)
Kalyani and I took an “auto” (the three-wheeler) to Srirangam and then we went to Kannan’s house in Thiruvanaikaval (a small town between Trichy and Srirangam). He has a very nice house (two floors and a terrace) and a car. His wife Rajee prepared us an excellent traditional lunch. Thulasi came over at lunch time. Again, she and I had to take care of some paperwork in Trichy. We went to the temple in Thiruvanaikaval, which is not as big or as famous as the Srirangam temple, but in many ways more attractive. Rajee is very active in the temple (it is only a few hundred yards from their house); she takes food and beverages to people who perform bhajans there, for example. Because of this, we were given VIP treatment: free admission, no queues to wait in and entry into the inner sanctum ahead of everyone else. Their son, Karthik, got married last year (May) and he lives in the U. S. near Virginia. Their daughter, Meera, is 24 years old, has a Master’s degree in Social Work, lives at home and teaches at a college in Trichy. She wants to work toward a Ph. D. but her parents want her to get married.
Incidentally, I am not reporting the details of certain conversations involving family members, which took place because it won’t be wise to put them in writing. I will have to wait to divulge the details in face-to-face meetings.
Then we all came back to Trichy. Kannan took us shopping for clothes. The stores are a mob scene; the whole Indian population is out shopping! Except during the evening hours, traffic in Trichy is not too bad.
Our hotel was having a big New Year’s Eve bash (loud music and all) but Kalyani and I were in bed by 9 and sound asleep by 9:15!
Jan 1 (Thu):
Kalyani and I went into town and up to the top of Rock Fort: more than 250 steps. And the steps in India are generally quite a bit steeper than here: usually 6 to 9 inches high. The fact that I was able to get to the temple at the top without having a heart attack has received more publicity and acclaim than Sir Edmund Hillary’s scaling Mount Everest. I guess that because of all the reports about my heart problems and knee replacements, people were expecting a frail old guy who needed a wheel chair.
(View from the Rock: Srirangam on the left and Thiruvanaikaval on the right.)
Dec 30 (Tue):
Venkat called around 7:30 a.m. He had just arrived from Bangalore in an overnight bus. The fact that he had come to Trichy to see us was a very pleasant surprise. My own theory is that Thulasi had asked him to come so that he could serve as an interpreter between me and her (since my command of Tamil had sunk pretty low in her estimation). He came to the hotel around 9 and we all went to Thulasi’s house. We spent the day there. Thulasi and I had to take care of some paperwork needed to facilitate the sale of the Woriur house. (Frankly, I don’t think it is going to happen – ever!). The whole situation is exactly like the first chapter in “Bleak House” by Charles Dickens, where the legal proceedings regarding the property of a deceased person never gets settled and is dragged on for generations until the whole property is consumed by the legal costs. In our case, the law is not clear about who should consent to the sale of the house and what the documents are. It appears that a power of attorney (authorizing Kalyanam to sell the house) will be needed by just about everyone including my children as well as Kalyanam’s. If things get delayed, then even Bapu’s and Chandran’s sons will have to give clearance!
Thulasi is in very good shape (she is now 72) and walks everywhere. She probably could benefit from a hip replacement, but she just takes homeopathic medicines for her pain. She uses the phone a lot. She belongs to a ladies’ club. Her command of Hindi was good enough for her and Kalyani to carry on a conversation. (Thulasi studied Hindi a lot when she was young and we were somewhat surprised that she still maintained such fluency; Jayanthi later explained to us that Thulasi’s fluency was because of her talking to (Jayanthi’s husband) Prajit when she visits them in Hyderabad.) My Tamil was fine except when I was struggling with the grammatical structure at times. Thulasi told us that Kalyanam had been calling her almost every day during the preceding three weeks to discuss all the paperwork needed in connection with the sale of the Woriur house. Kalyanam uses his cell phone for his calls and the connection was often bad and she could not always understand what he was saying. When he told her that we were planning to stay at Hotel Breeze in Trichy, she couldn’t understand him and when he spelled the word “breeze”, she only picked up the four letters r-e-e-z. So, she contacted several acquaintances (who travel a lot) and finally figured out the name of the hotel. She had a lot to talk about and it was as if we had been away from each other only a few days. Venkat and Jayanthi are very fond of her and she spends several months a year in their houses.
Venkat, Kalyani and I went to the Woriur house. There is one woman, Radha, living there. She is the one who was taking care of Alli’s husband and then Alli over the last dozen years or so. I assume that she will vacate the house if ever the house gets sold and she will need some financial help to find a different place to live. The house was far from clean and the upstairs room had a dank smell. The swing (which used to be in the living room) was stored there. My mother had left it to Mom, since she enjoyed it and admired it so much. We cannot bring it here, of course. Venkat expressed a strong interest in having it and so I said he could have it. I did feel very nostalgic as I toured the house. The possibility that it will be torn down by the buyer and replaced by a high-rise building or a mansion bothers me. The house next door is now a huge mansion with only a young couple living there!
Venkat went back to Bangalore that night. He stopped by our hotel on his way to the bus-stand (which was very close to the hotel). He is not doing free-lance work any more but works for a small company.
Dec 31 (Wed):
(Friendly waiter with fantastic coffee in Srirangam. I found that in my s.l.(sans luggage) state people in the south took me for a northerner. This was very nice, as it freed me from a lot of unwanted attention. This waiter, when I (correctly!) ordered two coffees in Tamil--Dad went to the bathroom, another privilege of maleness in India--translated my order into Hindi.)
Kalyani and I took an “auto” (the three-wheeler) to Srirangam and then we went to Kannan’s house in Thiruvanaikaval (a small town between Trichy and Srirangam). He has a very nice house (two floors and a terrace) and a car. His wife Rajee prepared us an excellent traditional lunch. Thulasi came over at lunch time. Again, she and I had to take care of some paperwork in Trichy. We went to the temple in Thiruvanaikaval, which is not as big or as famous as the Srirangam temple, but in many ways more attractive. Rajee is very active in the temple (it is only a few hundred yards from their house); she takes food and beverages to people who perform bhajans there, for example. Because of this, we were given VIP treatment: free admission, no queues to wait in and entry into the inner sanctum ahead of everyone else. Their son, Karthik, got married last year (May) and he lives in the U. S. near Virginia. Their daughter, Meera, is 24 years old, has a Master’s degree in Social Work, lives at home and teaches at a college in Trichy. She wants to work toward a Ph. D. but her parents want her to get married.
Incidentally, I am not reporting the details of certain conversations involving family members, which took place because it won’t be wise to put them in writing. I will have to wait to divulge the details in face-to-face meetings.
Then we all came back to Trichy. Kannan took us shopping for clothes. The stores are a mob scene; the whole Indian population is out shopping! Except during the evening hours, traffic in Trichy is not too bad.
Our hotel was having a big New Year’s Eve bash (loud music and all) but Kalyani and I were in bed by 9 and sound asleep by 9:15!
Jan 1 (Thu):
Kalyani and I went into town and up to the top of Rock Fort: more than 250 steps. And the steps in India are generally quite a bit steeper than here: usually 6 to 9 inches high. The fact that I was able to get to the temple at the top without having a heart attack has received more publicity and acclaim than Sir Edmund Hillary’s scaling Mount Everest. I guess that because of all the reports about my heart problems and knee replacements, people were expecting a frail old guy who needed a wheel chair.
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Friday, January 16, 2009
Check out my flickr account...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/34008016@N05/
The name is supposed to be jankatem, but it does not seem to come up that way. Suggestions welcome.
The name is supposed to be jankatem, but it does not seem to come up that way. Suggestions welcome.
Trichy 12/29 to 1/1
We took the train to Trichy. It was late, so we spent a lot of time at the station in Madras. The people-watching was excellent, of course, and I'm sure Dad and I were stars of other peoples' experience. Some things have changed a lot--even the cleaners have untattered clothing. But the old things are still in place--big country families squatting around a 10th the luggage we would require, (but that packed in sacks) eating meals they'd cooked at home. Not much western clothing. I wasn't in western dress either, though; I spent the entire trip in the 3 salwar-kameez I bought that morning, one pair of jeans, and two shirts. The journey was uneventful. Our car had a large Muslim family, and we spent the trip trying to sort relationships. The women and girl children were beautiful, and I wondered if that factored in to their marriage arrangement equations.
We got in to Trichy late and were deeply grateful for beer and food. (I got my hands dirty at the station in Madras, and didn't feel like eating anything that my hands would have to touch, even packaged snack food. It was about 7 hours. In the lost luggage: Purell)
We liked our Trichy hotel very much--The Breeze. The dining room was kind of generic northern, but breakfast of sambar and idlies every day was nice and the staff was pleasant and competent. (There was a waiter moved almost to tears by the thought of Dad's triumphant return to his homeland after his success and sacrifice (his word) in America. We let him believe it was Dad's first return--why spoil it? The next day, when we had come from Dad's house on Salai road he could barely speak.)
The next morning I think we were both thinking to ourselves, what now?, when, ta da, the phone rang, and it was Venkat! He had taken a night bus from Bangalore and was coming to the hotel to pick us up and take us to Tulasi's house.
Aside: One thing I love about India is riding around in auto rikshas. I love the view, the air, the driver's religious decorations, that you can get four people into one in a pinch, even the close calls. We had a driver at Mahabalipuram who would stop to lecture people he felt had poor traffic manners. In general the drivers were fair, and we worked out all our fares beforehand, so there was no stress about being cheated.
This is getting to be a long post, and I hope that Dad can fill in the Bleak House details. We had a wonderful time with Venkat and Tulasi. I find myself able to comfortably communicate with her, as she uses Hindi to communicate with her son-in-law, and my Hindi was warming up. It was nice to be able to pass casual comments instead of having to stick to only essential information. I always thought she was really friendly and welcoming, but now I find she is also smart and funny.
More to follow.
We got in to Trichy late and were deeply grateful for beer and food. (I got my hands dirty at the station in Madras, and didn't feel like eating anything that my hands would have to touch, even packaged snack food. It was about 7 hours. In the lost luggage: Purell)
We liked our Trichy hotel very much--The Breeze. The dining room was kind of generic northern, but breakfast of sambar and idlies every day was nice and the staff was pleasant and competent. (There was a waiter moved almost to tears by the thought of Dad's triumphant return to his homeland after his success and sacrifice (his word) in America. We let him believe it was Dad's first return--why spoil it? The next day, when we had come from Dad's house on Salai road he could barely speak.)
The next morning I think we were both thinking to ourselves, what now?, when, ta da, the phone rang, and it was Venkat! He had taken a night bus from Bangalore and was coming to the hotel to pick us up and take us to Tulasi's house.
Aside: One thing I love about India is riding around in auto rikshas. I love the view, the air, the driver's religious decorations, that you can get four people into one in a pinch, even the close calls. We had a driver at Mahabalipuram who would stop to lecture people he felt had poor traffic manners. In general the drivers were fair, and we worked out all our fares beforehand, so there was no stress about being cheated.
This is getting to be a long post, and I hope that Dad can fill in the Bleak House details. We had a wonderful time with Venkat and Tulasi. I find myself able to comfortably communicate with her, as she uses Hindi to communicate with her son-in-law, and my Hindi was warming up. It was nice to be able to pass casual comments instead of having to stick to only essential information. I always thought she was really friendly and welcoming, but now I find she is also smart and funny.
More to follow.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Rock Temple
From Tulsi's roof
Shiv Shiv sign
Dad on the steps
Cooks preparing the meal they give out every day
Lamps
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