Monday, September 26, 2011

Visit to Trichur....

Rightly said..time flies.. Its been over 2 weeks now since i reached kerala, it was the September 12th afternoon, I reached TVM and was very much excited to see the beautiful TVM, always felt excited as a kid to visit Kerala during my summer vacation, and at the end of the vacation - when it time to pack bags - i used to feel very disappointed that its finally over.. Nostalgic indeed, i recolllect all those memories with my brother & sis , we used to like a lot being in kerala - it was our Disneyland...lol.. Its a bad feeling when you know that your vacation days are almost over, as i type - i realize that i'll be back in Mississauga on 3rd Oct, just got hardly another week with my family in Ahmedabad...
Believe every vacation has its own memories to cherish, some of the small things which i loved the most is watching as you are entering kerala either via rail or air, sheès always a beauty to watch - lush green land , surrounded by coconut trees , lot of plantation - aerial view has its edge as you get to see the beach laid out like a garland... This time - I enjoyed the scenic look from our window seat, could enjoy the aircraft making its way in between the lined up coconut trees - as if guarding the way to the air strip.. From TVM, my first visit to a city was - Thirunavaya, place close to Trichur, we took train from TVM to Trichur - took us an overnight journey to reach here, The locals here are very helpful, were very keen in helping us out with the commute to the holy river, the commute was lil painful as the roads were not built yet, totally uneven, it may take double the time to commute and painful too, so most means of transport was not available - no one was willing to service the customers at a reasonable rates. Finally, we took the private bus to Thirunavaya,
I clicked some photos , i tried capturing the beautiful sight of this river - `Bharata puzha`:: the holy ganges of kerala, we were here for few hrs, offered prayers - visited the temple . To my surprise - i wore a mund - traditional wear supposed to put on if you want to enter temple premises, thats the only attire allowed within the temple premise, since i didnt wanted to be left out, i purchased the muund (costing me Rs140) and could enter the premises to offer prayers and enjoy the delicious sweet prasadam, then from there on - we started our onwards journey to Trichur, we had to be in Engadiyoor, a small town again close to Guruvayoor..
Given the road conditions and very limited commute options, we took a rick to nearest bus stop.. and a state bus to Engadiyoor, it was over 2hrs journey includes 30min roller coaster ride to the bus stop... thts something which none of us will forget...!! By late afternoon, we were able to reach Engaidyoor to meet our relatives, after taking some rest, visited Guruvyaoor temple in the evening, it was reasonable crowded, we could get the `darshana``, had dinner and got ready for our return journey, we took the train back to TVM, it was very early AM when we reached... In my next post - i will be sharing some of my interesting experiences in TVM.. city thats changing - but something remains unchanged...!!

Sunday, July 17, 2011

Edison to Mississauga.... Journey to remember..


Its been a long long while since i got online and share my thoughts...!

I wasnt sure till this very second that i'll come online and miss my blog...and will think of writing something.
I dont remember how long it has been, been away for no reason as such, not facebook or any other stuff, its sheer laziness?

For a reason if i need to write - i liked the thought of writing about the new place - Mississauga - Ontario, Canada.
Here i am - after having spent over 7 years in US and having stayed away from my sweet home.. for a long long while..
I cannot imagine that i would have travelled across to a bone chilling place.

Just as i thought..i would simply drive pass thru the Rainbrow bridge - taking the snaps and enjoying the scenic view of Niagra falls into Canada, together with an adorable navigator, guess who? :)

We started early at 6am ET from Edison, it took us approx 11-12hrs to arrive at Rainbrow bridge, we want to reach our new home
as early as possible, were really tired by the heavy lifting we did day before to load the Upack container.. which i hired to shift our stuff to Canada, thanks to those angels who came by to help us out wth moving and cleaning up the place.... i really think i'm fortunate to have good friends around.. who made it happen!


Well, coming back to where I left: Immigration check was smooth and honestly speaking - the officials were friendly & co-operative, we drove past the check-point and realized that It was getting late, we reached my friends apartment (400 web drive) at around 6p ET, where Mr Mahesh Rane & family were waiting to welcome us, we had a wonderful time with Mahesh, Monali & little champ (Om), we stayed over with the family - till we got our place setup, they both have been extremely helpful.

Its almost 10pm in the evening now.. while I'm starting to wrap up to hit bed now... I realize Anu will be in office by now,
she is in Seoul, she left for Seoul - hardly a week after our move to Canada.
She's there for 8 weeks for a short term assignment, returning 2nd week of August.. guess what then.. our vacation is coming up in 1st week of September for a month!! Really need this vacation! cannot wait more to see my family! It's been a long time since i met them.. really feeling home sick! :)

Well thats all for the day now -- I'll be returning soon with some more updates re my Mississauga experience..
Uploading a random shot i took from my balcony... celebration square, happening place in Missisauga.. more to come on this on my next blog..!