missing my mylai

Having spent my entire pre-marriage life in and around mylapore,that enchanting part of gud old madras(probably the only part of the city which is much much older than the city itself),i cannot help missing it,especially at this time of the year....this is the tamil month of panguni,when all south indian temples have their utsavams to celebrate the celestial weddings....

in mylapore,the month is synonymous for the kapaliswarar kovil thiruvizha,the highlights of which are the ther and arupathumoovar processions,which draw huge crowds from every corner of the city...

i am reminded of the maadaveedhis,often turning into 'mad-a-veedhis' with the uncontrollable crowds jostling each other,innumerable hawkers spreading their stuff,the police barricades,the temporary makeshift shelters for the 'thanneer pandals', the fire engines staioned at the intersection of venkatesa agrahaaram & r.k.mutt road,the brightly lit canopys or pandals under which the vaahanams breifly halt during the processions....all of which exude a special charm unique to mylapore,unique to its thiruvizha...

i have fond memories of the late night rishaba vaahanam and the early morning adhikaara nandhi,in shining silver and the deities bedecked in temple jewellery and fragrant garlands...and the long ques to the 'ther vadam'(no,no, this is not vadaam,the south indian rice cripies, but the long heavy coir rope used to pull the temple chariot !).
the highlight of the ten day festival is the arupathumoovar,where all the 63 nayanmars(saivaite saints) are taken in procession along with the deities.huge crowds of lakhs of people throng the streets of mylapore to catch a glimpse of the palaquins,and thousands of litres of water and buttermilk are served free to quench the thirst of parched throats....

hmmm....nostalgic....to me,and am sure,to anyone else, seperated by distance,but bound by spirit, to that part of chennai we proudly belong....namma mylapore

chk this link for a web cast of this year's 'Ther' held on 18th march with commentary in english- Mylapore TV

rgds,
sowpar

dear sow,

I too have some sweet memories on mylapore.I used to go to early morning CA coaching classes very near to kapileeshwarar temple.I would go daily to the temple and walk through the teppa kulam roads to the classes.That too during dhanur masa,going to classes hearing bhajans was a great exp.

I spent my days in west mambalam which i miss after marriage.Now i am going into deep dreams about my chennai days.

yes nostalgic........................

dear sowpar,

nice to see another NJian around :)

life na athu thaan illai.. very interesting fact.. losts of memories.. but pora edathula got to create new ones I guess...

Those good mylai memories make you long for that india trip right :)

hmmm.. I am from kovai... miss those cycle rides, school and college...

krithika west mambalam.. ayodhya mandapam kitayaa.. my inlaws are there :) me never stayed there though..

dear nandu,

Ya near ayodhya mandapama and sathyanarayana temple.Even now if i go to chennai,i would walk through my favourite streets with my dh.

hi krithika & nandu,
thanks for ur replies...

krithika,nice to see that u too r frm mylapore..i too attended classes for CA(sankara,prime,same old story...) :) but didnt finish the course...infact was planning a seperate post on that...my exp with CA...wen i saw ur reply...
ur post brought back memories of those early morn trips on mylapore streets...
and ofcourse,marghazi in mylapore is another of those beautiful experiences one must feel...u can't do justice in words....the bhajanais around madaveedhi in the morn,and kutcheris whole day through...food in the sabha canteens,....hmmm...its another world altogether....

nandu,
hey,u frm NJ too,gud...yes, as u say,life is all abt moving up,and making new memories as we go....kovai is a nice place too...been there just once...nice climate,and being in driving distance to places like valparai and topslip is a grt advantage...

sowpar

visiting the places after you outgrown them is such a thrill illai :) I can imagine you walking the same streets when you were a teenager, but now a married woman and how it would have felt... I did the same in kovai.. seeing a shop, a postbox, a tree, I would be happy to see if somethings not changed... I would say to him a story about .. inge thaan books vanguven.. ice cream sapiduvennnu..nalla kathai solite we used to walk.. hmmmm..
too bad sowpar.. ennoda malarum nenaivugal ippadi kelari vituteengo..

I am in edison.. but daily commute to NY thou :( ...

HI,


I used to visit mylapore when my great grandma was alive...she used to live there in devadi street...i used to love visiting her cause the home used to be so old and filled with nooks and corner for us to play in....i miss those times...

warm wishes,

aqua.

hi sowparnika,

let me boast being a mylaporean right from my birth till now.

as you have explained, i watched the whole festival and yesterday being the 10th day (63oovar). this time there were too many shops around the temple. these shops were occupied from Ramakrishna mutt till Luz signal.

this time the main attractive shops were the "tattoo" shops. where i watched many youngsters tattooing their hands with "arrow in heart" symbol .

few people were seen bargaining on purchase of mud pots. these mud pots were sold heavily being summer.

the "Car" festival was spectacular and this time i had a very close glimpse of the "ther" and the deity.

as usual 63oovar had many devotees from Chennai and all over Tamilnadu.
there were many "thannir pandals" this time as madaveedi bears latest additions Saravana Bavan, Sri Kumaran Silks and few other shops.

we went around 9.00 pm yesterday to have the darshan of the deity in procession. then too we could see heavy crowd busy in receiving food stuffs given on charity and shopping.

i feel really good in sharing this event.

Originally Posted by srinivasan_vanaja

hi sowparnika,

let me boast being a mylaporean right from my birth till now.

i feel really good in sharing this event.

kaathula pogai

but was very nice to read your post and think about all those !!! Thanks for sharing :)

hi vanaja,
hmmm,i really envy you...u must hav had a really good time...
tattoo...haha...how times change...and how these vendors adapt themselves to the changing times...admire their ingenuity.....

Originally Posted by srinivasan_vanaja

hi sowparnika,

let me boast being a mylaporean right from my birth till now.

as you have explained, i watched the whole festival and yesterday being the 10th day (63oovar). this time there were too many shops around the temple. these shops were occupied from Ramakrishna mutt till Luz signal.
.