Breast Cancer !!

 If you are a Female and reached 50 years of age or about to reach that milestone then this blog is for you. I want to talk about "Breast Cancer" in this blog since I see lots of campaigns in the month of October for Breast Cancer all over the globe. In the name of "Pinkathon" every year in the month of October several Non profit organizations conduct Walks, Marathon events, seminars, campaigns emphasizing how we can detect and treat Breast Cancer at the early stage. 

Before getting into the actual topic let me pull out two examples from our Indian Kitchen. 

Turmeric Powder: It is a widely used powder in most of the Indian Kitchens due to its antioxidant properties. Apart from boosting your immune system it relieves joint pains and fights inflammation. 'Curcumin' is the active ingredient in Turmeric powder and higher the curcumin better it is. Erode is famous for Turmeric in Tamil Nadu and Curcumin levels range from 2 to 4 in Erode Turmeric. If you can find a Turmeric with Curcumin level as 4 then that is a top notch quality. In India Shillong (Meghalaya) produces best Turmeric where Curcumin levels goes upto 11 which is considered nothing short of extra ordinary. Farmers in order to protect turmeric bulbs keep chemical tablets inside the soil in order to protect turmeric from pests. They keep these tablets at regular intervals inside the soil next to turmeric bulbs. These so called chemical tablets if you keep them in your armpit for 30 minutes they have the power to suck all of your blood and you can be declared dead in few minutes. Farmers when they harvest Turmeric they wash the mud and in order to reduce the harm the chemical tablets did to the bulbs they use chemical sprays which brings down the efficacy of the tablets to some extent. This is like in order to stop smoking you started drinking. To bring down efficacy of chemical tablets you use chemical sprays which once again doesn't serve the purpose. Two of the biggest masala companies in Tamil Nadu extract Curcumin from turmeric and export the ingredient for fancy prices thereby giving you a yellow color powder where curcumin levels are as low as 1.5 to 2; People use the so called turmeric powder in milk and are under the assumption they are following healthy practices. Now either Curcumin levels are very low which discounts the consumption of Turmeric powder or we have a good powder but fully prone to chemicals thereby negating all the benefits turmeric has to provide. 

Chilly powder: If a family consumes 200 grams of Turmeric powder per month then we can easily say they may consume 500 grams of Chilly powder per month. Some of the best known Chillies are Sannam (long one from Virudhu nagar), Gundu (as the name suggests it is short and fat and also very cute from Ramnad district), Teja chilly (as the name suggests it is from Guntur district) and also the famous Byadagi type (from Karnataka). The spiceness of the chillies depends on the seeds and the red body gives color to the powder. Karnataka's Byadagi is very famous for its color and is very much in demand. We have Traders all round the country and some influential people trade from every place. In fact Kashmiri chilly is most sought after but not everyone can afford it as it is very expensive due to the logictics involved in sourcing it from Kasmir. This is where Traders press the wrong button by introducing artificial dyes in Chilly powder to get that color. Rhodamine B is a famous chemical mixed in Chilly powder and it is nothing but a textile dye. Now you know what risks we are having by consuming this on daily basis. 

Well my two examples is just to show how in the world Cancer kicks into our body in the first place. It is very important ladies who hit 50 get screened for Mammogram every year. You have to be disciplined to first take this simple test. This is the very first step you take and depending on the results Doctor can advise you on the next steps like Biospy etc., Mamograms uses an X ray machine that's designed to only look at breast tissue. 

Radiologists and Health care providers use a standard system in reporting in order to describe screening and diagnostic mamogram findings. It is categorized from 0 to 6 as follows:

0[Incomplete]: Radiologist needs more images to find like ultrasound in order to evaluate further. 

1[Negative]: Radiologist didn't find a significany abnormality (meaning no masses or distorted structures)

2[Benign]: Radiologist found a nancancerous structure such as lymph nodes but you are all good

3[Proabably Benign]: Radiologist found there is > 98% chance of Non cancerous but not 100% so you may need to come for a mamaogram again in few months time. 

4[Suspicious abnormality]: Radiologist suspects unusual growth and sends you for a Biospy

5[Highly suggestive of Malignant]: Radiologist finds cancerous sells and send you for a Biospy test and there is 95% chance that it could be cancerous. 

6[Known Biospy proven Malignant]: Radiologist suggests this only for patients who is already been diagnosed as cancer and they monitor the patients to see how well cancer is responding to treatment. 

Last but not the least if one is diagnosed with Cancer that's not the end of the road and we have one great example - Yuvraj singh who is a cancer survivor. It is very natural for one to panic but keeping you cool and surrounding yourself with good company can help you fight this disease. Medications do work wonders but trust me only when you are mentally strong efficacy of the medication actually kick in. 

Next Blog: Man of Humility 

Jailer..Jawan and Leo

 Well Tamil Cinema or Kollywood is having a dream run this year with several blockbusters both satisfying box office as well as General audience in terms of Good cinema. Language barrier is soon becoming a distant thing and movies are made for audience in general and not bound anymore with boundaries. Big Thanks to Bahubali franchise for opening the doors and followed by RRR, Pushpa, Poniyin selvan, Vikram the list just goes on and is a healthy trend. I am going to do a deep dive into three movies out of which two movies have already been released and Leo will be releasing in few hours from now. 

Jailer

First thing first, when the trailer released I was very disappointed and that brought down my expectation. Sun TV telecasted the audio launch of the movie just few days before its release and for the first time Thalaivar spoke for nearly 35 minutes and trust me I was getting little restless because it was a very long speech. Big shock to me was Kalanidhi Maran was furious in his speech and he was fully charged up and I was definitely taken by surprise by his attitude because by nature he is very soft spoken person. These things were very 'Unusual' for me and my thought was both Thalaivar and Maran was doing their best marketing the movie from their end because audio launches are basically meant for promoting one's movie. US premiers opened and got few reviews from hardcore Thalaivar fans saying movie is pretty average. I just had to wait for my turn to see in few days but my expectation was lower than ground floor. I saw and thoroughly enjoyed the movie and felt this one was the best one in his recent past surpassing Petta. So what worked for the movie ? Why did people like ? I think director made a character overlapping with his age - Jailer who had a grandson, beard with salt and pepper look, no intro song, thank god no romantic scenes and finally Thalaivar who had a daughter in law. These things are unheard of in Thalaivar movie and Director Nelson has to be applauded for coming up with this avatar for Thalaivar. Bringing in a new villain in the form of Varman gave a new flavor as villain is not always one with Tata sumo, long hair, aruval etc., rather Varman & co danced to the tune of Taal was so refreshing. Varman was neither vulnerable nor menacing and he just proved to be a good villain for Thalaivar. Two mass scenes - Thalaivar in slow motion with all men walking beside him and Thalaivar catching hold of a cigar in slow motion made fans go mad in Theatres and this is exactly what Thalaivar fans expect from his directors. Director Nelson made a film typically like how he makes it at the same time made sure Thalaivar fans had something in it - he striked the balance pretty well. Shivanna passing Origami paper to Ramya Krishnan, Kingsley's towel act tease to Tamannah's boy friend and clever characterization for people like Sunil and Yogi babu were all master strokes. 

2023 belongs to Anirudh and if he can pass his Jathagam many would like to take photo copy of it. He is having ball of a time ....Vikram followed by Jailer ..followed by Jawan and now Leo .....I don't think he will get another 2023 in his life ......His music is loud no doubt but it did elevate the scenes in Jailer. His BGM score for Shivaanna and Lal was absolutely brilliant ...Hukum song will go along with Van thenda palkaaran, Baasha paaru, Oruvan oruvan mudhalali. 

Kalanidhi maran is a king maker when it comes to Entrepreneurship. The movie not just did excellent collection but also did wonders for Sun TV network shares as there was a 11% jump on its share prices reflecting the success of the movie. Maran on Sept 1 (Friday) presented BMW X7 to Thalaivar  and on same day Sept 1 (Friday) presented a Porsche car to Director Nelson and finally on Sept 4th (Monday) presented Porsche car to Anirudh. All three occasions it was weekday and news was out in all medias flashing with Photographs. Earlier in the week on August 30th SEBI imposed F&O ban on SUN TV network and Maran the clever business man turned the challenge into good vibes by gifting three cars. Three cars costed him peanuts but all the buzz surrounding the news created interest amongst investors and he made merry and he cleverly gifted during weekdays when stock market was open. 

Finally Thalaivar ...not sure what to say about this 73 year old man ....What amazes me more is his nature to go away from limelight during the release time. In a world where people post pic after buying a Lacoste T shirt here lives a man who runs off to Himalayas to worship away from all the shutterbugs. This is absolutely fantasic.  

Jawan 

No matter how many dishes come there is still audience for the universal dish "Idly". Idly along with arachuvita sambar gives a unique taste, Idly with Mutton bone kulambu is an experience, Idly with fish kolambu with small onions is a delight, Idly with the same old coconut chutney is still a dream for many, and last but not the least Idly with podi as a small mountain and gingelly oil at the centre is sorgam. Same way no matter how many content driven movies come there is still audience for mass masala movies and one such example is Jawan. Masala in Jawan can beat ingredients in aachi masala. South audience are used to this masala but for North this masala must have been unique and hence they lapped up and movie did wonders at the box office. 

Best thing about Jawan which I personally liked was women centric characters - Priyamani, Deepika and Nayantara all had meaty roles and director has to be applauded for that. In fact most of Atlee's movies one thing that is common is there is no vulgarity as well as women characters are strong. People keep complaining about Atlee that he is a copy cat but this guy gives a damn and just focuses on his work. If Atlee's previous flick had influence of some of old tamil movies this movie has exact replica of Indian, Anniyan etc., But looks like Atlee didnt care and wanted to show Shah rukh in a new avatar. His intro scene, train scene where he hijacks passengers and his cool attitude to dance for a old song, Bike chase sequence, Father son duo fighting all were catered for masses and it wonders. Personally I was disappointed at the dialogues which made VJS role not very impactful though he did his best in terms of acting. Deepika's flashback was good though it sounded common. Atlee through his work has opened flood gates for other directors from South. People like Nelson, Lokesh, Sukumar, Rajamouli need corporates to fund their projects as they can come up with scripts catering to this generation. 

During 2000 if someone must have said IT wull rule the world in terms of everything we do in life we would have laughed at the person but see where we are now. AI, CHATGPT all rule the world and Shah rukh khan spotted Atlee's potential before many did. Shah rukh who is a national superstar would have got any director to do his next movie but he trusting Atlee was a master stroke and Atlee repaid the faith by delivering one of India's biggest blockbusters. 

Leo

In another eight hours FDFS for Leo .....By far one of the most anticipated movies I have seen in recent times is Leo ...I have seen similar craze during Shivaji release (first time combo of Shankar and Thalaivar) and during Kabali release (Producer Thanu's sky level promotions) and it is to be noted on both the occasions producers decided not to have Audio launch due to the hype around the movie. Audio launches are basically meant for marketing and when there is so much hype why conduct a function on top of that ? Similarly for Leo there is sky level expectations amongst his fans and not sure whether world cup fever is on but in Tamil Nadu Leo is the hot topic. 

Vijay fans are particular on one thing - "We need to beat Jailer's collections" since Thalaivar's speech during Jailer audio launch didnt go well with VJ fans. Their target is Thalaivar and they badly want Leo to do well and will go all guns blazing starting from October 19 to make Leo a blockbuster movie. Maris cinemas (now called as LA cinemas) is one of the pioneers in Theatres as they were one of the very few theatres which had multiplex concept even during 80's and they have five screens and all of them are screening Leo. Most of the shows (5 screens into 30 shows on Thursday and 26 shows for Friday to Sunday) are getting filled up in no time. Unprecedented demand for Tickets from every quarter is gonna make Theatre owners sleep at theatres for the next few days. This has pushed me till Sunday and that is when I got tickets. 

Personally I didn't like Master which was the previous outing for Lokesh and VJ and this time Lokesh after mega success of Vikram has mentioned it will be a Lokesh movie. Teaser and trailer both were pretty decent and am personally looking forward to see Mansoor ali khan's role since I like his attitude. In fact Lokesh's first choice for Kaidhi was Mansoor ali khan and not Karthi shows how much respect he has for Mansoor. Anirudh is having fantabulous time ...his squares are picture perfect and when he is at terrific form I guess music should be awesome too. 

Whether Leo beats Jailer collection is secondary ..according to be Vijay already has a winner in the form of Leo ...when a 47 year old is able to compete with 73 years old person that itself is victory. More than that my boys are excited to watch Leo ...This is something similar to 90's where we used to get excited before watching Muthu or Padayappa ....Vijay has captured Kids for sure ....TN government may not give permission to screen early morning shows, police may not support production house for organizing events, there could be political pressure to stop VJ from hogging the limelight but all should remember one thing, only ripe mangoes are pelted with stones and looks like VJ is all set to storm the box office. 

P.S: On the downside it looks like excessive violence in the form of guns, bullets, blood is the recipe to success seeing the recent trend of Vikram, Jailer, Jawan and now Leo. This has pushed movies like Irugapatru and Shot boot three which didn't even release in Trichy as everything wants to pave way for Leo. 

Maamannan, Politics, Philosophy and Mari selvaraj Filmography

  Maamannan was a recent Mari selvaraj movie which hit the theatres and personally wanted to pen my thoughts on the movie. Mari's previous flick was Karnan and I will never forget watching Karnan on a packed 850+ audience during the opening weekend. Some things in life I would like to experience the way I wanted to, ex: I always have muttai parotta on road side shops when it is served hot rather than having it at a fine dine AC restaurant, same way movies like Karnan I wanted to watch amongst the fans in the first 10 rows. Corona was at its peak and Minu was mad at me watching a movie and that too packed audience but my love towards Cinema especially good movies made me book Karnan as I felt it was one of those movies you need to watch with lower strata of society rather than watching it in Prime leaning on a recliner sofa. Same way I booked Maamannan and my boys are huge fans of Vadivelu and took them also.

Watching Mari's earlier films like Pariyerum perumal and Karnan I was able to sense mood of the movie. I strongly feel Mari selvaraj has been victim of Caste discrimination in his childwood otherwise time and again he will not deal into the same subject. Pain is one word you need to experience as you cannot express pain through words. Mari's pain, frustration and ways he took to overcome the challenges are reflected through his characterizations. story, screenplay etc., Personally I have been victim of Immigration system and I have lots of pain which I will not be available to express through mere wordings. Having two fancy offers with Deloitte and Cognizant on Consulting roles and not being able to translate offers to Employment because the way Immigration system functions was frustrating; On top of that when your spouse graduates from a reputed institution such as George Washington and you spending 79000 USD on tuition fees graduating with top grades still when the Immigration system doesn't support you, trust me that pain will linger for a very long time ......Though I have come a long way and coming to realize the real purpose of me coming to where I belong I cannot hide the fact what the hell I had to go through in 2017. If I didn't adopt religious measures I would have gone in deep depression .....I am bringing my personal life into the equation because unless you 'relate' to what is told on screen you will not be able to understand the content ....Mari selvaraj without any iota of doubt has seriously been hurt, frustrated, pained by his past experiences on Caste oppression ....

Now let me get into the Movie ...Mari was very clever in choosing Salem as the backdrop as Salem is one area which is considered to be AIADMK belt and DMK desperately targeting Salem before next state elections. From casting perspective you couldn't find a better match than Vadivelu sir for the Maamannan character ..The scene where he complaints to MLA to take action against the men who claimed innocent lives was one of the best scenes from acting perspective. Vadivelu's hesitation to take a seat before Fahad was another class act from Vadivelu and Vadivelu has basically lived the character. Now Mari Selvaraj took this movie based on Dhanapal, staunch AIADMK loyalist. By roping in Udhayanidhi to produce and act was a masterstroke not in terms of casting but he knows DMK party men will flock the theatres because Udhayanidhi is acting in it and AIADMK partymen will flock the theatres because the real Maamannan was Dhanapal of AIADMK. So in a way this is a very clever act by Mari selvaraj. 

Dhanapal in the year 2001 got call from JJ mam and he rushed to Poes Gardens. JJ was asking about his constituency and overall activities and enquired why he was rude by not offering food even to partymen. Dhanapal broke down and said to JJ because he was from Arunthathiyar community which is considered one of the scheduled caste community partymen refused to have food in his house. JJ realizing this asked him to work towards Victory in Sangagiri constituency and once AIADMK won the election JJ announced to the world that Mr.Dhanapal will be the Food minister in her cabinet. People who refused to have food in his house and now the whole state will have food based on his orders. JJ mam had her actions speak. Now after some time people from other community still wanted Arunthathiyar community not to grow and flourish and targeted Dhanapal because his rise gave new reputation to the whole community. JJ mam once again noted down this and once AIADMK won the elections in 2011 she appointed Dhanapal as the speaker of the assembly hall where all 234 ministers including Chief minister has to greet the speaker with folded arms. They say action speaks louder than words and JJ mam was a classic example of making her actions speak. For people who are wondering whether caste based fights happen then please refer to recent nasty Manipur incidents which is all based on caste discrimination and caste oppression. 

So Maamannan was based on a true story informing all are equal. Also this was one movie I took our full time Maid along with us as I clearly informed by Boys that we will have to practice what we preach. Though movie may be average to a common audience I enjoyed watching as I was able to relate to the pain of Mari selvaraj. 

Chettinadu Chefs - An Overview !!

 I think whole world knows Nattukottai nagarathars are famous for their big mansions and their delicious food and am not going to reiterate the same old facts again and again. Rather I would like to focus on the Chefs who make those dishes in all the nagarathar events. Nagarathar chefs are so much in demand that NRIs want to fly them in their hometowns to bring back the authentic taste. As soon as the marriage date is fixed or for that matter date is fixed for any function apart from booking the venue the second thing people do is to book chefs by giving them a token advance. On some muhurtham dates chefs get overbooked and they have multiple teams who take care of events on rotation basis. Before I move further for all those non-nagarathars reading this blog Nagarathar villages are categorized as Mela vattagai where places like Valayapatty, Venthanpatty, Vegupatty etc., comes in and Keela vattagai where places like Devakottai, Karaikudi, Aravayal comes in. Now let us do a deep dive into some of the chefs whom I either know personally or got to know from my circle. 

Late Sevoor Pandi: I would like to take this blog to pay my tribute for Sevoor pandi annan ....He has brothers and his hometown is Sevoor and he passed away recently. He took care of his brothers and built a very good house for them. Now his brothers are taking care of the catering business. In Business there is something called as 'Volume' - meaning one who does business in huge volumes. Sevoor Pandi annan is one such type and he is predominantly famous on all big events in Mela vattagai area. His main USP is his team cooks Non veg very well - the multi layered parotta which is so soft like Johnson baby's cheeks which goes well with Mutton Kulambu; Whatever the crowd his team still delivers chuda chuda egg dosa which I always wonder how is it possible ? There was one function is Vegupatty and he tried a new form of Idly which needs new type of fermentation of the Idly batter and trust me that idly was just like a cotton candy. His traditional bread sweet will occupy RHS of the plantain leaves ...Kavun arisi is a pretty old and common dish but people still make mistakes but Pandi's team does one thing very well - Soaking of the water exactly for N number of hours and this is where people make mistakes either they soak too well or they soak only for few hours. Pandi annan's kavunarisi never leaves our hand just like our college days which never leaves our memory. Kummayam (Keela vattagai) and Aadi Kool (Mela vattagai) is one other dish where ghee plays role of man of the series by predominantly shining some portion of the plantain leaves. Some numbers can be staggering - on a recent Rotary conference in Mahabalipuram he was serving for 3000+ people spread across two days for six meals and he said couple of weeks back he was serving 5000+ people in the same venue. Rotary presidents give him token advance one year in advance just got to show his popularity. I spot him in Trichy rather than in Chettinadu on many occasions and that just shows his growth is not confined to Chettinadu anymore. Through his brothers they are continuing to get orders and they are still able to keep up their name and Rotary is one organization where he has made more inroads.  One thing he has to work is he has to cater all areas in Chettinadu and not just Mela vattagai. 

Rangiyam Madhi: Rangiyam Madhi is a soft spoken person and people from my native Kandavarayanpatty has  soft corner on him since he is our cook for Thiruvizha in our native where 2000 to 2500 come and six meals is spread across two days. No body can beat his price and he is the most economical cook ....He has a good team and he can make all the chettinadu dishes with authentic taste. Off late his Ashoka halva is coming out good and recently I signed him up for my friends's marriage who had a wish of Chettinadu chef taking care of the meals for his marriage. He did a good job and charged very reasonably. 

Nedungudi K Muthu: This man was at its peak form in 2000's and he was ruling the roost ....Off late health issues made him slow down but the good thing is his son is taking up the mantle. In Business if Father and son has no friction then that will not give room for a third person to grow and am very glad his son is taking charge full time. His badam halva is one of the famous items back then  verkadalai mavadu inji mandi is also one item he does very well. Ilaneer payasam, Pineapple rasam, Curd rice,Kavun arisi halva are some of the famous items in his kitty. You can spot him in Mela vattagai as well as keela vattagai and he is not confined to one area. 

ACN Bhalu: They say reserve the best for the last ...Man who is at peak form or in other words man of the moment ...Thiru ACN Bhalu ....Off late all the events where he was involved food was top notch. His sixers are out of the park and am a big fan of his paneer lappa ....One paneer lappa in your appetite is like Sehwag's innings against a weak Ireland bowling attack ....His Yelakka sweet rolled onto pumpkin skin is another helicopter shot .....Rather than Chicken tandoori his chicken boneless on a stick is absolutely mouth watering ....Meen kolambu with small onions, mutton chukka with green leaves dressing, chicken pepper to water your eyes and chuda chuda aavi parakka biriyani to occupy good real estate in your tummy are all specialties of this man .....Even the cocunut thuruval he makes is of good taste and at the moment he is unstoppable. 

I have just listed few Chefs and there are plenty of them like American Natesan, Athangudi Perumal, Ulagampatty Chandran etc., They have taken chettinadu food on a global scale and Chettinadu food is one thing people love no matter how many times you consume. I have been to some grand receptions of Industrialists, Politicians etc., but none can match the food served on plantain leaves and that too with chettinadu items. It is pure blessing from our ancestors to leave such an everlasting menu (Vadai-chutney, vellai paniyaram-tanger, kavuni arisi, Idly, Idiyappan, Therakal, Kos malli). No matter how many times you taste you always want to keep having over and over. 

End of the day no matter which Chef comes there are N number of factors which play a role in how dishes shape up - How does your idly batter ferment based on the weather, what type of tamarind you use for the sour taste, how good is the quality of the ingredients you use and how good are the resources who handle those ingredients. Sometimes a good worker can get the best out of bad ingredient and a bad worker can spoil a good ingredient. You never know what goes beyond the kitchen and one thing I learnt was never negotiate too much with chefs. Obviously you need to negotiate since negotiation skills are part of Nagarathar's DNA but the risk of negotiating too much is sometimes they bring inexperienced workers which we have absolutely no control. All we can do is sign up with a chef and pray that things should turn out well. 

Food is one area which can bring accolades as well as bring chaos to the attendees of the event. If food is good then appreciation keep pouring like monsoon rain and if its the other way around people keep complaining .....Taste is a subjective one ..what taste good for me may not taste good for other person, what is sweet/spicy for me may or may not be the same for other person. There are multiple challenges associated for people in charge of food - in countries like US you get RSVP count and you can plan quantity accordingly and in India there is no way you can figure that out as some heavy muhurtham dates there is floating crowd meaning people may come either in the morning for breakfast or for Lunch. In US size of the trays like XL, Large plays a role when you communicate to catering people whereas in India if you give soda at 11.30 am after muhurtham and ask people to have food at 12pm then people are not going to enjoy the lunch as they intend to ...There is plenty of things that has to fall in place for everything to go well. 

Chettinadu chefs no longer rely on nagarathars as they get orders outside chettinadu circle. They shouldn't forget their roots and rather they should continue their services in chettinadu area too. Nagarathars made them famous and there are economically backward nagarathars who rely on lot of the chettinadu chefs for their events. They can spread wings by reaching out to tamil community but they should keep chettinadu and nagarathars happy too. 

Next blog: Maamannan, Politics, Philosophy and Mari selvaraj Filmography 

Chithirai festival in Thiruvaiyaaru

 Thiruvaiyaaru is a small town next to Tanjore and it is an hour drive from Trichy. I don't prefer the Trichy Tanjore Highway due to traffic and usually take Kallanai route by that way its all green pastures on both the sides. Thirivaiyaaru is famous for music festival dedicated to saint Thyagaraja who is considered one of the greatest saint composer of carnatic music. There is a very famous Shivan temple called Aiyarappar temple which is categorized as paadal petra sthalam. Thiruvaiyaaru has five rivers around the city namely Arisilaaru, Vennaaru, Vettaaru, Kudamuruttiyaaru and Kauvery aaru. Temple is called as Dakshina Kailasam (southern abobe of Lord shiva) built on a very vast area. If you plan to visit this temple then I bet your Apple watch will break all your records in terms of number of steps. It is to be noted that Saivite saint Appar worshipped here and got the darshan of Mount Kailash. One lovely thing about this temple which I came to know was every day is considered to be auspicious and to emphasize this temple conducts wedding festival for mother is conducted on Ashtami nights. There is a common belief that Ashtami being eighth day of new moon or full moon is not an auspicious day. But with the graciousness of mother Dharma Samvardhini what we call inauspicious becomes auspicious. Sri rangam and Thiruvaiyaaru both considered holy places and people carry out the rituals for their ancestors on these holy places based on their preference. 

 When time permits I have this habit of visiting old temples nearby and on one such occasion came to know about the Saptha stana temples (seven temples) in and around Thiruvaiyaaru. These are seven temples which are geographically closer to each other and on my first visit I had darshan of Puvananathar temple at  Thirupanturuthi and on second visit I had darshan of Kandeeswarar temple at Thirukandiyur and Odhanavaneswarar temple at Thiruchotruturai. Now since my boys were off to my inlaws place for summer vacation I planned to cover two or three temple on my third visit. I had no clue that May 7, 2023 happened to be the chithirai festival in these seven temples. I directly went to Apathsahayar temple in Thirupazhanam and in that temple met a shivan devotee. She requested for a ride knowing my plans and I said its my blessing to give her a ride. We both headed towards Thiruvedhikudi to have darshan of Vedapuriswarar and since these are small temples in remote locations priest locked the temple and went along with pallaku. Nevertheless I went inside the temple had my darshan and went straight to Neyyadiappar temple in Tillaostanam. Over there I had darshan and the temple had a festive look. I slowly came to know the chithirai festival in great detail. Just knowing names of the temples is no good and knowing the religious significance makes you to enjoy much more so here I go ...

There is a temple in Ariyalur district called Vaidyanathaswami temple in Thirumazhapadi where Nandhikeswarar marriage happens every year [Panguni month, Punar pusam nakshathiram]. It is a faith that one who sees nandhi marriage, they will enter wedlock soon. Lord Nandeeswara bridegroom of Aiyarappar temple marries goddess swayambikai of Thirumazhapadi and Lord Aiyarappar along with his consort go to Thirumazhapadi on a glass planquin to conduct the marriage and on the same night Lord Aiyarappar along with the newly wed couples cross Kollidam and reach Thiruvaiyaaru. It is a saying that newly wed couples settle for 30 days and then start visiting places. But we live in a different planet altogether where newly wed couples go for Honeymoon, finish off the reception and travel to a different country in seven days. After 30 days the new ponnu-maapillai has to be shown to public hence Lord Aiyarappar along with his consort start from aiyarappar temple and visit other six connected temples along withthe newly weds. Lord and goddess all go on palaaku (palanquin) from one place to another and on each temple they are accompanied by respective planquins and will join the Aiyarappar plananquin. During Nandhi marriage each temple specializes in one area as follows:

Thirupazhanam: Fruits are brought from this temple for Nandhi marriage.

Thiruchotruthurai: Food/rice are brought from this temple for Nandhi marriage.

Thiruvedhikudi: Vedic priests are brought from this temple for Nandhi marriage.

Thirukandiyur: Ornaments are brought from this temple for Nandhi marriage.

Thirupoonthuruthi: Flowers are brought from this temple for Nandhi marriage.

Thiruneistanam: Ghee is brought from this temple for Nandhi marriage.

Thiruvaiyaaru: Celebration in Aiyarappar temple 

So from two palakku to start with from Aiyarappar temple they keep adding one palakku after visiting each temple. Lord aiyarappar is happy to show newly weds to all and finally in Thiruneistanam (thats my third stop in the trip) you will get to see all eight (7+1 palakku). I have to say this has been a truly rewarding experience to catch hold of the festive atmosphere. Trumpets all over, fireworks, men carrying children on their shoulders and shiva devotees on full swing. The breakfast I brought became my lunch and without worrying about my HBA1C levels had enough panakkams. The shivan devotee whom I gave ride asked me where were my kids and I said they have gone to inlaws place; She said oh ..you have so big boys that they have gone to their inlaws place and had to correct her saying they have gone to my inlaws place. For some reason this joke seems to be Minu's favorite till date as she bursts out laughing recollecting this one often. Slowly all palanquins started gathering inside the temple premise and around 3 pm was hungry and found a thatha selling cucumber. I thought that was the best bet for both health and hygiene and had one cut into four halves sprinkled with chilly powder and salt. I have to say it tasted delicious ....I was soon inside the temple where all eight palakku gathered and priest started aarthi for one palakku after another. To witness lords from seven different temples on a palakku along with goddess and also along with nandhi along with his consort all under one roof was overwhelming and overall atmosphere was so very good. 

None of us can detach ourselves from regular life but at times we must visit festivities like these to know and understand true meaning of life. While we may be crumbling for materialistic pleasures looking into the street vendors, seeing how people volunteer for a public cause, seeing how people help each other during padhayathras, kids seeing how parents sacrifice their day during thiruvizha times, how relatives convene during thiruvizha times and last but not the least seeing how villagers from seven villages mingle and coordinate the function was all too joyful. Ancestors truly had a purpose for Thiruvizhas and my experience during Saptha sthana thiruvizha in Thiruvaiyaaru was a very enriching experience. Now after witnessing Saptha sthana thiruvizha in Thiruvaiyaaru I love to experience Kallalagar getting down in vaiagai river, Thiruvarur Ther festival, Maha masi magam in Kumbakonam, Thiruvannamalai periya karthigai etc., 

Next blog: Chettinadu cooks - An overview !! 

My experience with Police Station !!

 Hi all !! I have taken a six month Sabbatical from Blogging to do plenty of reading and here I am refreshed with some good lineup of topics ....Thank you to all my readers who happen to remind me to write often. I would like to narrate my experience with Tamil Nadu Police station !! 

On May 18th Thursday evening I suddenly realized that my Bicycle was missing which used to be just next to our elevator. . Actually I pass my bicycle atleast ten times in a calendar day but did not happen to notice. I think it's high time I start to have vallarai green leaves because I can hardly remember when was the last time I saw the bicycle leave alone when I used it last. The more I think the more it becomes like "Naduvulla konjam pakkatha kaanum" ...fully blank. Then came my watchman at 7pm who changes from lungi to his uniform right next to my bicycle. I know he would knew it because my cycle used to be his hanger momentarily when he changes costumes. He said its been missing since Tuesday which is 48 hours past. I asked him why the hell he did not inform me and he said I would have noticed already. Then I thought maybe I should see CCTV footage. 

I dialed the CCTV person and he helped me to navigate and trace out the person. Our camera is pretty old and clarity was poor and footage reminded me of oliyum oliyum back in 90's. After patiently navigating for three plus hours I was able to trace the date and time the bicycle was stolen and it was a 12 year old boy who stole. Because of the poor clarity I couldn't recognize his face nut nevertheless got some leads through the footage. I took it to our tenant who moved in recently and installed CCTV cameras which would make PC sriram feel proud. Footage was very clear and we could spot the guy very clearly. 

Next day I showed the video to our maid, watchman, milk man etc., and everyone said this guy roams around everywhere but the sad reality is no one gave me any lead. I gave myself two days of time to see if I can find the guy but hard luck I could not. I finally decided to go to Police station. I have to say this before I went to the police station there was one section of group who said "Going to police station is utter waste of time, they ask bribe and drill you"; another section of audience said "Unless you raise a complaint there will be guys like these" and finally another section said "Your time is more precious than worth of the bicycle" ....Actually I thank the last section for having high regards of my time but I haven't got to a stage where couple of hours of time is more important than 10000 bucks. For me I would like to take this opportunity as an experience since police station for me is "Red bricks building, with tea glasses all over, fan running in high speed where we can count number of blades, snoring constable, echoing walkie talkie, inspector with x axis stretching horizontally etc., Watching too many tamil films this is how I painted a Police station. So I was all set to visit Police station for the first time in my life. 

I entered into Thillai nagar Police station which recently shifted to a new location next to Tennur bridge. I said the reason why I am here and the person downstairs asked me to go upstairs and give a written complaint. There was a mam and inspector upstairs and they enquired regarding my case. I said though value of my bicycle is only around 10000 and my aim is to catch hold of these boys and teach them a lesson. They saw my footage and said they will be able to catch hold of the guy. They asked me to write a letter in tamil ...I said sorry I can't write in Tamil ..they looked at me and their mind voice was like "Nalla Oothappam saaptu vanthutu enamo Shakesphere son in law madhuri scene podraan paaru". She was kind enough and I wrote the letter in english ...suddenly Tea came for them ....they asked me to have and I said No ....They insisted I should have one but I refused. In Tamilnadu whether people read news paper or not I am not sure but news paper is definitely used to soak the oil from vada. People enjoy having vada and tea together. It takes them to heaven in bypass and they relish to the extent if you ask them to sign a pathiram they will sign it. It is always Awkard to bribe people and with so much of hesitation (something similar to how a new daughter in law behaves to her mother in law for the first day - note the point your honor ..First day is the key phrase over here) I asked how much should I pay and they said no need of any money. I was stunned and returned home. 

 It was four or five days later I got a call from Police station informing me that they have found the bicycle and I can take it over. I was rejoiced not because of the monetary value but because my faith in Justice system was restored. Many a times we think stepping into a Police station is waste of time but here I am with a petty case but still found justice. I was given choices what to do with the boy who stole and requested them to warn him and let him go. The guy did not have one parent and other parent was not giving him the right living so here he is wandering down the streets and doing some petty thefts. All I wanted to say through this blog is never listen to anyone rather go with your conscience and always do what is needful for justice to prevail. Apart from police officers being courteous (not just because they offered me vada and Tea) they did not get single rupee from me. They said they did their duty. 

Next Blog: Chithirai Festival in Thiruvaiyaaru