A long chat with my dad

"Hi daddy, how are you? We just came back from our trip." I said to my dad who was on Face time.

 "Hi Shreya, I am fine. How was your trip?" My dad asked.

"It was great appa(dad in Tamil). All of us had great fun! I will tell you all about it right now if it is fine with you." I stated.

" Sure Shreya. It is Sunday morning so I am a little free. I have time." my dad said.

" Great. Then I will begin. On Friday the 6th, my mom, sisters, grandma, grandpa, uncle, aunt, cousin Adarsh all  packed our bags and left to the train station. My two sisters, Ananya and Dhanya, were jumping in excitement when we got aboard the train because it was their first time! We all went to our seats and had our dinner, idly. My sisters were going to sleep in the middle berth and I was going to sleep in the upper berth so the three of us went up and drifted to sleep. 

 In the morning my mother woke me up to freshen up and to see the wonderful countryside view. So much greenery and windmills. The countryside was so fresh and beautiful. It was like someone painted the perfect scenery. Soon our first stop, Tirunelveli, came. We gathered all our luggage and got down. As soon as we came out, our driver came and  got our luggages and put it in the car. Luckily, the hotel we booked was just 5 minutes from the train station so we got there in no time. We got into our rooms and and we all took turns brushing and bathing. In about 1 and a half hours, we were all ready. We all wore traditional clothes( pattu pavadai) and went down to the restaurant. Wow. I was astonished by the welcoming tone of the waiters' voices and kindness in their actions. The country side gentleness really showed. We all had a heart filling breakfast and then headed to the car. Our next stop was the Nellaiappar temple. As soon as we got inside the temple, we saw a huge Nandi. Nandi is the vaahanam( vehicle) for Lord Shiva. 

Then we went inside the actual sannidhi. We got some flowers, and two veshtis( a white doti) for the Nellaippar lingam. The priest chanted some slokams and then wrapped the veshti around the lingam. We weren't supposed to take pictures, but my chitapa( uncle) silently sneaked in some shots.

We said our prayers and then moved to the next god, Ranganathar. There the Vishnu lay. He looked prideful and strong. In tamil you say "ஜம்முன்னு படுத்துருந்தார்". Near his leg, there was a tiny lingam.

We rounded the temple and saw many other lingams and gods. The architecture there was brilliant. Each and every single wall had a different and intricate design on it. The archways were even more wonderful.

Then we went to the gandhimadi  sannathi. There, the godess stood bravely with a beautiful yellow sari. We had bought two saris and an archana plate for the lovely goddess. We gave it to the priest and he broke the coconut and took the red and yellow sari we bought, and put it on the goddess gandhimadi. What a sight. We all said some slokams and decided to walk around the sanadhi.

While my mom and grandma were saying some more slokas, me and my sisters saw the theppakulam( lake). I told my sisters that in the past, people would come to the temple, pray and go bathe in the theppakulam. Since it was the first time my sisters saw it, they had so many questions about. Does it have fishes? Do the fishes bite, etc.

Then, we all came outside, got our slippers, and left to our hotel. There, we changed into normal clothes, got our bags, and checked out. Our next stop was my grandmother's sister, to me was Valli Patti. We went to their house and talked to them for a while."
"Hey Shreya, did Valli Patti ask about me?" asked my dad.
"Yes daddy, they said you would always come by and get some books from them. They said they liked you a lot."I said. I knew my dad asked this question just to brag about himself, but I still answered.
"They gave me and my sisters cool mango juice and gave the adults coffee. For showing respect toward the elders, we bowed down our heads and touched their feet. After this, we got on our car and drove to Kanyakumari. As soon as we got on the car, my mom and I dozed off. When I woke up, I saw the car surrounded by so many windmills, banana trees, and coconut trees.

 It was such a beautiful sight. Why couldn't every country be like this? These days, people just knock down the trees and build more and more buildings. This was the perfect place. I rolled down the windows of the car and let the balmy breeze blow over my face. It was the perfect weather and the perfect scenery. Mountains shadowed over and huge amount of lands were occupied with bushes and trees, not apartments and houses. I loved it. Soon after that, we entered Kanyakumari. Near the parking lot, we found a vegetarian restaurant. We had a great meal and walked to the ticket counter. My uncle bought tickets for us and we all got on the ship. I immediately got my camera out and searched for the perfect spot. Alas, I could not find it. Maybe on my way back, I thought to my self.  Our first stop was Vivekananda rock. There was an ancient temple there and a memorial for swami Vivekananda. At this spot, being so close the the sea, the air was a tad bit salty and the wind blew away wildly. The memorial had a huge statue of Vivekananda and a picture of his guru(teacher). I was not allowed to take pictures inside the memorial, but I blasted away when I was outside.

My cousin Adarsh was just roaming around here and there, like he was exploring the place. I took a selfie with my aunt and took a picture of my mom, grandma, and aunt sitting in front of the ancient temple. On the way to our next stop, the statue of Thiruvalluvar, I took the picture of Vivekananda rock.

The ship stopped moving and we all got down to 

see the thiruvalluvar statue. I took a pretty good picture daddy, even if I do say so myself. My grandparents stayed down with my cousin while the rest of us climbed up to his feet. God it was windy up there. I was wearing a skirt, so it kept blowing. Was I supposed to admire his feet, or protect my pride? Anyway, I took one picture and rushed down.

The ship drove us back to the shore and we went to the beach. On the boat ride, I also learned that three oceans mix into Kanyakumari: the Indian Ocean, Bay of Bengal, and Arabian Sea. I saw two of them meet together and they had different colors.

It was very cool. We walked to the beach and decided to just wet our feet a little. We ended up getting drenched. My whole entire skirt was soaking wet because of the big tide. It was fun, but still a bit wet! Adarsh dipped one toe into the water and immediately started crying. Apparently, he doesn't like the water. We stayed there for 10 minutes and then headed to the temple there.

In the temple, the main highlight was goddess Kanyakumri with her nose ring so so bright. My grandma told me that Goddess Parvati's incarnation was Kanniga Parameshwari. She did a long penance to have Shiva's hand in marriage. After a long time, Shiva said he will marry her. Naradar, considered to be the trickster of gods,  told Shiva to bring some objects that are very rare such as கண் இல்லாத தேங்காய்,  கொட்டை  இல்லாத மாங்காய், நரம்பு இல்லாத வெற்றிலை  மற்றும் கண்ணி  இல்லாத கரும்பு. Shiva was to find these before the next day breaks out. Kanniga got ready for the marriage and all of the food was set. In the evening Shiva, other gods, and sages, walked towards the marriage hall. Meanwhile, the gods in heaven wanted to stop this marriage. A demon roamed the three worlds and he had a boon from Lord Brahma: Only an unmarried girl could kill him. The girl that could fit this category was Kanniga, but now she was going to get married. They had to stop this marriage somehow. So, Naradar disguised himself as a rooster and yelled ' cock a doodle do'. The gods and Shiva thought that the day had dawned and so they returned back to heaven. Kanniga waited the whole night and when the first hint of light came out, Kanniga was furious. She was so mad that she cursed all the food to become sand and all the vessels to become stone. She went for a walk in woods and encountered the demon. In the mood she was in, it took her less than 2 seconds to kill the demon. After this deed was done. Shiva came down and consoled her. She stayed unmarried her whole life and her shiny nose ring would guide the sailors at night.  We came out of the temple and then went to the susindram temple. There, we saw a huge hanuman covered with butter. We had bought a vada mala ( Indian donut necklace) that the priest hung around the giant. Near the temple, we bought some idly and went to my dad's childhood home in Ashramam. The family in the opposite house is a very close friend to us. Unfortunately I couldn't remember them, but kind of recognized the faces. I used to play with them when I was little.

We ate our dinner and went to sleep. In the morning, we went to the opposite house and had our breakfast. My mom and I went for a walk and saw my dad's first school. It was very old.

After our walk, my mom ate her breakfast. That is when she got the phone call. My other grandparents had come on a tour here as well. My mom's sister was going to come to Chennai because of a family emergency.  My mom's mom and dad also joined us from there on because all of us had to get back to Chennai. We all came together and took a picture in front of the house. Then we went to the Nagaraja temple. After that, we went to Thotipaalam. It is a bridge that goes over a lake. We all climbed up and walked across it. The scenery was beautiful. When we got down, we all had some coconut water and some pineapple slices. After we regained our strength, we continued our journey. Since it was getting late, we went to  a restaurant. Sadly, the restaurant was not great and none of us enjoyed it. Anyway, we moved on to Padmanaba Palace.

The palace was not the typical prince princess palace but it was gigantic. My mom told me that this palace is where the Malayalam movie Manichitrathazhu was taken. We explored the whole palace. We could tell it was old because the paint was dull and some of the floor was cracked. We saw the European guest rooms, the king and queen's rooms, and we also saw the king's and queen's bathrooms!! 😆 Out of the many windows there, I could see the beautiful garden. When we came out of one of the doors, we were led to the servent quarters. before that, we all took a picture in front of one of the exit doors. 

The flowers in the garden were beautiful. We kept walking until our last stop, the dance hall where Shobana danced in the movie. My sisters and I gave dance poses in the huge dance hall. 

 

The dance hall was the last part of the palace. We came outside and took a few pictures. I took a really good one with adarsh walking around casually. 

After this, we all returned to Thirunelveli for our train. My other grandparent's train was at 9:30 which was after ours. We all got some chapathi and got aboard the train. In the morning, we came back home. So that is the story of our trip daddy. You were the only person missing out" I told my dad on face time. 
" Yeah. Anyway, I am glad you had fun. You have been talking with me on facetime for an hour now, so my battery is running low. I am going to make my self some breakfast so bye." my dad stated.
" Ok appa. Bye. Talk to you later. " and I ended the conversation.