Our Trip Down South

Originally Posted by sowparnika

dear rajmi,
a very very big thank you for taking us along on your vacation !!
i read all the episodes at one go !
its amazing how you have mentioned every little detail, in such a sweet informal way of narration that it seems like you are talking to us !
its a long time since i've been on a full vacation (lot of weekend breaks, though !) and your narrative made me long for one all the more...
especially the areas arounf tirunelveli, nagercoil, KK, etc....i have been on a brief visit years back with my parents, but i am yet to see a lot of places....
tiruchendur is one place which i have been wanting to go to for many years now....
hmmm, i read your posts and gave out a periyaa perumooochu !!
wow, i didn't know kallidaikurichi was famous for appalams, vathals, etc...well, i can't wait to go there now...wonder when the day will come...
aiyyo, 5 suthu seer murukku....ungala nenacha poraamaya irukku...
irutu kadai alva vera...hmmm.....

loved your pics too...beautiful ones....the sceneries from the kk ferry dock and other places were realy good....
that mirror in the olai frame was really cute...
i have a similar coconut like that in my mom's place too...only,its carved like a monkey ! my uncle got it for us from one of his trips...

wonder how you managed to pack all the shopping while coming back...that itself would have been a big task, right?!
but paavam, you had to wash clothes on your vacation....guess thats unavoidable on long trips, that too with kids ....

i love travelling too, but i wonder if i will ever be able to give a detailed description like you have given.... hats off !
this is one very very well deserved FP nomination !

Dear Sowpar,
Thanks for stepping in. Oh my I had to just to escape from your Perumuchu. Save some to give it out when you see those places all by yourself. Plan your trip to these places next time when you come to India.

We had packed two extra backpacks while going and we used one of them to bring back the shopped items and the abisheka vibuthi.

I think it happens to all those who travel with small kids that too on a long trip. I hope not to do the same when we go the next time on a looooong trip. You cant carry too many dresses too.

Dear Rajmi,
Kallidaikurichi is famous not only for the appalam but also for the hospitality of the natives (you must be knowing). My 94 yearold FIL always remembers te hospitality of those people to total strangers, he had been offered food in almost all the Brahmin homes when he had worked there for some time in the PWD.
We had a family friend who was a native of that place. My mother still talks about the size of the mysore pak and other sweets and the murukku for seer- chengal kattila paathi mysore pak and set dosai sized jangiri and 9 suthu murukkus. (We see laddus the size of lemon as seer here in Chennai in some functions.)
My grandpa was working in Tengasi earlier and my people used to visit Coutralam every weekend, mother used to tell us. They used to get water from Coutralam every day by TVS bus for home use. When my grandpa was a baby, his parents had gone to Coutralam and leaving the baby, all went to have bath. When they came back, he was not there, a large monkey had carried him away and was sitting on a tree. Then his parents offered a full 'thar' of bananas to the monkey and it brought the baby down, luckily. Monkeys hve become smarter now, one have to be very careful.
But you know, I had never been to that part so far. Our ancestoral house was in Kurunkavanam, a small village near Thenkasi. We have never been there, only my parents had been there.May be, I shall get a chance to visit tha tplace sometime.
And like you, my hubby took my son to the house he was born in at Kumbakonam and his mother's house (which is legally his brother's now). We met the people who are staying there and went around the street too. He was very nostalgic. I too feel that way when I visit Trivandrum every time.
Well, you had taken us all around the South in a nice way. When is your next trip?
Really Rajmi, you had written very well about all the needed details. It would be such a help to people when they wish to travel. Hats off to you!

Dear Rajmi

I know it is a lot of work, but how about indexing your posts. As it is, you have beautifully organized each post on an individual place of visit. So, it might be possible for you to index it based on the place visited. This might make it easy to navigate across your various posts in this thread.

-Gayathri.

Dear Varloo,
My MIL used to tell after our engagement, that all her friends(she was a retired school teacher), have been telling her about the seer murukkus, laddus and maa laadus that she will get during the marriage; because my parents are Tirunelveli side. Yes you are right, the hospitality not just for the Kallidaikurichi people, but for the entire Tirunelvelians is simply great. (I am not telling just because my parents are from Tirunelveli). We have seen how people treated us when we were there. If I need to write about that, I have to definitely start a new thread. The experience was simply great and we still (me and my mother) talk about it still.

I still remember the hospitality given by Mr. Viswanathan(Late) of RMKv for all of us when we visited after moving from there. He was the inspiration for my father to learn computers. My father still tells how he lent his computer (a luxury in 80s and it was very costly too), to be used (though the computer was in his office, to allow someone to use is something great), to learn computers. He compelled my father to do some diploma courses in computers through Thiagaraja University and my dad still thank him for forcing him to do that.

This is only one sample.

Originally Posted by gayathriar

Dear Rajmi

I know it is a lot of work, but how about indexing your posts. As it is, you have beautifully organized each post on an individual place of visit. So, it might be possible for you to index it based on the place visited. This might make it easy to navigate across your various posts in this thread.

-Gayathri.

Thanks for the suggestion Gayathri. I will try to do it. I am still trying to figure out how to do it.