Will You Walk With Me? - I

Will You Walk With Me? I

Thanks for agreeing to be my GF. And thanks again for agreeing to travel with me on a train. And now is the time to walk. Well, to be sure, we are not going to walk along the banks of River Thames.

Nor are we going to walk in the beautiful suburbs of Seattle or in the Alps Ranges. Nor even on the Kovalam Beach in Trivandrum or our own Marina in Chennai.

Having agreed to be the GF of a mofussil accountant you will have to walk with me only in the dusty, congested streets of Madurai. Mind you, it is a long walk.

And mind you, we will also be walking past some of the pages of my personal life. If you are game, (as Chitvish wrote in the Index Thread) then yes, let’s put our best foot forward.

The walk I am going to describe covers a distance of about four kilometres from my home to Nehru Aalalasundara Vinayagar Koil in Mela Masi Veedhi in the heart of the town.

This walk is an integral part of my relationship with God. Whenever I am afraid of something, whenever I am troubled, whenever I face danger in life, whenever I have to finish a crucial task, I tell my Beloved, the God, that I will walk the distance to His place. I know that you are now charging me with entering into a barter transaction with the Loving God.

Honestly I have never felt so. In Buddhism there is a concept called Walking Meditation. My walk is something similar to that. I am not doing any favour to the Almighty by walking to His place.

But the love in one’s mind needs an outlet, an expression, right? Had I been a poet, I would have created an Epic in Her honour to express my love. A poor moffussil accountant like yours truly has to content himself with plain walking.

The walking I did this Saturday was special on many counts. It was for a crucial work which I completed to my satisfaction. And as I walked along I was reminded of so many things, which I wanted to share with my GFs. Off we go.

Our home is in a blind end. I come out of my street, turn right and walk towards the East. When I take the next right turn I see to my left “Malligai Coffee Bar.” This joint is relatively new to our place. It is less than five years old, if my memory serves me right.

Now it is a prominent land mark in our locality. The shop is crowded throughout the day. In fact I have to look for some words stronger than the plain word, ‘crowded’. At least a hundred people will be there at any point of time. Apart from tea, coffee, Horlicks and other beverages, the shop serves quite a variety of light eats – medhu vadai, aama vadai, thayir vadai, bonda, bakkoda, mixture, kaara boondhi… the list goes on and on. And they are very cheap.

If you are hungry you need to spend just Rs. 5 (about 12 cents in terms of US currency) to have some filling snacks. You can then delay the food by even an hour or two.

I consult many of my clients on business models and revenue models. Businessmen are always eager to visit the US, Japan and China to learn about business models. I invariably tell my clients to visit Malligai Coffee Bar.

After spending donkey’s years in the profession now I am sure that a success of a business model is independent of the nature of business and the place. Understanding the business conditions, creating customer-delight, giving enormous value to the customers, retaining the customers, being available at the right place and time – these are the core principles of a successful business.

And these are the same for Infosys, Indian Oil, State Bank of India, Reliance and Malligai Coffee Bar. And you won’t believe I saw one of my rich clients standing near the shop the other day. His Skoda Octavia Limited Edition car was parked by the side. I was happy that he was acting on my advice.

I said a silent word of appreciation for the business-sense of the owners of Malligai and walked along. The next sight to catch my eyes is the PWD Complex in Madurai, now appropriately named Penniquick Complex.

You might have known this story. This Penniquick was an English Engineer posted in Madura (Englishmen called our town by that name) in the 30s and 40s. His vision was amazing. He found out that the farmers in the surrounding villages depended heavily on the monsoon for their livelihood. He wanted to help them. He conceived a massive scheme of storing water in a dam built across River Periyar.

He could not get the necessary approvals from the Government. But he was convinced that not to build a dam was foolishness. So he spent his own money and started building the dam. He went back to his country sold his properties and invested all the money in the construction of the dam. What a love!

Today we have to thank him for every morsel of food we eat. Unlike the modern day engineers who use Government money for personal ends, he used his personal money for the people. Recently his grandson visited our town and he was taken to the dam built by his noble grand father.

The huge PWD complex is named in his honour. If I had the powers I would have named the whole District in his honour.

From sentiments to romance. Yes, that’s the direction we are going to take. For just opposite to Penniquick complex is the Music Academy of Madurai known as Sathguru Sangeetha Samajam. It is the place where carnatic music concerts are held. There is also a music college in the premises of the Samajam.

Can you guess? Yes, you are right. My DW studied in that college. She did her Bachelors in Veenai and she got the University’s gold medal. It is a nice experience to study music full time. And there would be hardly ten students in a class. Every student is assured of the best personal attention.

Great doyens have been principals of this college. The first name that comes to my mind is the musical genius Dr.S.Ramanathan. An eminent veena player and a musicologist. His daughter Geetha married a foreigner by name Bennet. She is the Geetha Bennet who writes in magazines.
I need to sheepishly confess here that I met my DW for the first time only in this building more than 8 years before our marriage. I was learning to play Veena myself. And in the annual Thiagaraja Festival all of us kathukuttis will be given a chance to display our skills (or rather the absence of them).

In 1976 when I was given a chance to play two kritis from Saint Thiagaraja’s compositions, I was in the green room some forty five minutes before the appointed time. I saw a tall, lean, fair girl practising the very same song I had decided to play. If she played first and then I followed suit with the same song, it would have become the most insipid performance.

So I went to the organisers and told them that I had to go urgently and can I please play ahead of my time. Seeing a lean (Ottataikuchi is the epithet given by my wife) uncouth guy pleading with them in a pitiful voice they relented. I played first and disappeared from the scene.

She should have shifted her performance to a later time slot. Somebody told me the next day, ‘Sridhar you should have listened to that girl playing the same song. At least you would have learned to play it right the next time.’

Let’s stop here for a commercial break. We’ll continue the walk soon. Remember we have not even covered half the distance.

So what’s your answer to my question?

Dear Varalotti sir,
Ok I am getting my walking shoes ready and shining to go on a long walk with you.
Oh, and also my water bottle. Hope it is in the early morning hours when the sun is a little kinder on the skin!

Dear Sridhar,
Madurai, dear Madurai is more mine than yours – please don’t start arguing that I left Madurai years back & you still live there. My heart has always been more in favour of Madurai and you are only too well aware of it. You are only 28 whereas I am 60 +.
I used to tell Amma that Malligai Coffee Bar has some positive aura about it from the day it was started. As you rightly put it, there is always a crowd, it is very brightly illuminated and the place just “attracts” if I can say so !
Yes, I have attended quite a few concerts in Sadguru Samajam and for us, Maduraites, the simpletons that we are, it is like the famous “Meccademy” (please understand!).
Sridhar, you have not even reached Tamukam Grounds! Oh, the next building makes me heave a big sigh! Oh, my, sorry, our dear dear Alma Mater. I am just getting my next blog ready on AC – will you read it Sridhar?
I plan to go over there next month and I think we will walk together, ofcourse with my dear friend also, without fail. After doing darshan of Vinayakar, let us not miss out on a small Chettiar Bajji kadai, very near the temple, enroute to North Veli Street !
Naan ready, Sir, neenga en (slow)speedukku nadakka readyya?
Love,
Chithra.

Dear Sridhar,

Not my time to have a peep. But today in the day I just couldn't get my hearful of IL so thought before retiring to just peep in and Lo.... I get to have a nice treat of vadais, bajji, pakodas. Hope I don't get up in the mid of night with a growling stomach....then where can I search for you & your Malligai Centre?

Regarding to walking with you, we are ready.......ready to go with people who are slow also ( as my little one teases me also as slow couch....tortoise). My shoes are ready.....from where are we going to start ? just PM the details & count on me. Start with your pocketful because we all are foodie freaks, be ready to burn a big hole in your pocket.

Dear Sridhar! You have given a commercial break at a very crucial juncture! How long would be the wait? Down Memory lane with Varalotti while on a thanks giving mission to God(?) sure is interesting.As you walked to the temple for fulfilling a commitment, you have hit 2 mangoes with one stone! So your walk wouldn't have been tiresome after all! You were able to plan your next article! GREAT to know that Indhu is a gold medalist in Veena and also about your accountant fingers (used to count numbers) trying the strings of the Veena! I am certainly interested in knowing whether you pursued the fine art or succumbed to Indhu's deft fingers at the Veena transforming to divine music?
I do not know much about Madurai except the Goddess Meenakshi, Madurai Gundu malli and the fact that it is near Kodai (my favourite hill station)Your info about the PWD complex was really interesting and touching too.Hats off to that great man!
Regards,
Malathi

Dear Varalotti
After having a walk with you on the bank of Vaigai, having a relaxed walk around Madurai, having coffee in different coffee houses, having another walk with you during Deepavali and walking here too with you was enjoyable.
As you have mentioned here we too have something similar like this in my place Hubli there is a shop here which is from more then 30 yrs and he opens the shop only from 3pm to 7pm and he sells some snacks which is very famous it is known as Billay's khara, and he sells only sev khara, mirchi bhaji, and one sweet and coated groundnuts. Just only these few items and everyday he has his quantity fixed and he will never do it more' once all that is sold he will close the shop and go off. Even if it finishes within 1 hour he will still close it and go. And no one can make sev khara like him in that place or anywhere else( as far as I know).
Going through all your posts it is like I have seen the whole of Madurai.
Some of these small business have super tactics to do business.
Same way there is one more in Dharwad who makes Mishra pedhas, even if you go a few seconds late we will not get it.
Waiting for the next half journey to be continued.........
So having coffee at Malligai coffee bar???????????

Dear Usha,
Thanks for accepting the offer. In Madurai you do not have to take water bottle with you.
The walk I had was in the evening. If you feel thirsty on the way, I'll get you a typical Madurai Special - jil jil jigarthanda. Traditional jigar thanda will be available with traders who push a whole cart of drinks. Nowadays Murugan Idli Shop offers that drink.
I think there was some discussion on the recipe for jigarthanda. Please check the recipe forum.
Thanks for being the first to agree to my proposal.
regards,

Originally Posted by sundarusha

Dear Varalotti sir,
Ok I am getting my walking shoes ready and shining to go on a long walk with you.
Oh, and also my water bottle. Hope it is in the early morning hours when the sun is a little kinder on the skin!

Dear Chithra,
We belong to Madurai and not the other way round. So no question of Madurai being more of yours and less of mine.
Now that you have usurped the accountant in me, please listen to this simple calculations Madam.
You were in Madurai for 21 years and were out of Madurai for more than twice that time. Whereas I have been Madurai for the past 50 years (come this 29th April) So I have been in Madurai more than twice as long as you are. I was born 50 years ago but will be completing 28 years only this April. Ok?
With Malligai Coffee Bar it is not just the positive aura but the prompt service, availability and value for money. Malligai coffee is not as good as Visalam's coffe. That's for sure. Plus the ambience is just right for that kind of crowd.
If I were a Professor in the University and some students do research under me I'd ask them to research on the success of Malligai.

Sridhar, you have not even reached Tamukam Grounds! Oh, the next building makes me heave a big sigh! Oh, my, sorry, our dear dear Alma Mater. I am just getting my next blog ready on AC – will you read it Sridhar?

I will, Chithra. Let me know when you post the blog. My next write up in this forum will start with American College, our Alma Mater. I just came to know that your nephew was the Chief Guest for the college day celebrations in AC.

I plan to go over there next month and I think we will walk together, ofcourse with my dear friend also, without fail. After doing darshan of Vinayakar, let us not miss out on a small Chettiar Bajji kadai, very near the temple, enroute to North Veli Street !
Naan ready, Sir, neenga en (slow)speedukku nadakka readyya?

Thanks for accepting the offer. The way we are gathering people, I think we may have to get Police Permission for having a procession. ha ha ha...

Well, Chithra, your post here has allayed my fears. When I did see your reply to my post, Will you come with me? I thought you did not like the post and even thought that the post will be indexed under the heading,
"Let This Be the First and Last Time Varalotti"
Thank God you have come here and set my mind to rest.

Love,

Dear Varalotti Sir,

Chithra Madam was 100% correct. You are definitely a Multi-faceted person. I should have added one more hand "carrying Veena" in the picture that I sent earlier .

Indhu Madam plays Veena, great! Is she playing even now?

And Sir, you playing Veena is a pleasant surprise for me. I tell you now, please listen - I have walked along with you and have seen Malligai Bar and your Music College. I feel I need to relax. We shall halt in your College for sometime and now I would like to hear you playing Veena.

I shall decide then to walk further.