Kanchi trip!

My brother's JEE (Joint Entrance test for engineering) centre was situated in a university at Enathur near Kanchipuram. I have never been to kanchi before. So, took Google maps and searched for bus routes from my home. I couldn't find a proper route that connects the destination. Then my father assured that his friend can lend his car for a day. All the Google map searching got wasted. Then, I went back to do my routine work. 

On the trip day, I was woken up by an alarm set by my mom at 3:00 am. No sunlight, no traffic sounds, the whole place was in deep sleep yet I was awake. The exam for my brother starts by 9 am so my parents decided to wake soon to reach the place on time. I woke up with red eyes. Dragged myself to brush my teeth and dress up. Then waited outside till everyone are ready. I saw the dark blue sky still filled with stars in quirky manner. We all seated into the car and dad began to drive. We drove and saw sun rise with its crimson beauty; spotted two tailed birds (black drongo); creepy fog filled fields and reached kanchi bus stop. 

We asked a lady at a flower stall for the route to take to reach enathur. At first she was confused then she laughed and said "yhaeenathur ah?!" we nodded yes. She explained the route with hand signals with an expression of a film director. We ate our breakfast in a hotel and again drove for a while to reach the exam centre at enathur. It was a huge place with a giant statue, buildings, grasslands, etc. The thing was we reached the place too soon i.e. 5:30 am. I was sleep deprived. We waited in a room but my dad preferred sitting near the grass so we all sat there. My mom and dad were contemplating about life. I was looking at the place like a kid looking at a candy. My brother was pelting pebbles to pass time. 

The room provided for the visitors to wait was designed aesthetically. Then, a faculty member announced that the room allotted was displayed outside the hall in a notice board. My brother took a look at the notice board and went inside the building. We watched him till he went inside. While we were waiting we got bored and there was 3 hours remaining for his exam to end. My mom decided to visit a temple which she missed in her previous tour to kanchi. My dad drove towards kanchi and we reached Varadharaja perumal temple famous for its auspicious golden lizard statuette. He was tired and told us to contact him when we finish visiting the temple and returned back to the university and waited there.

The place was filled with ancient Dravidian architecture with fascinating pillars and so on. The summer heat was unbearable. The floors were like walking on burning charcoal. We first visited a female goddess. We waited in a queue and walked step by step per minute. I was annoyed for the fact that to see a decorated auspicious thing people can wait in long queues for a long time but some people in society never have time to converse or spend quality time with anyone. Even though my mom did not do much poojas at home she and I were this unique set of people who admire the architecture, paintings, and stories associated with the place than just plain praying.

We later saw another deity for which we joined another new queue. We were climbing stairs covered with engraved brass plates. These brass plates had these pyramid shapes which felt like acupuncture to my feet. I was suddenly regretting why I came to this temple when I saw everything in the temple except the golden lizard. But I got cheered up by seeing a board showing directions leading to golden lizard.

While heading to that direction I saw a guy in lab coat wearing a surgical mask handling dark chemical bottles similar to my college lab. It was a kind of unusual (weird) sight for me at a temple. I read the label of the bottle as toluene which is a liquid used to prevent microbes. I figured out they must be using it to clean the lizard that is touched by public. To my surprise there was no queue. They charged 2 rupees per person for this visit. So, that explains the lack of queue. We went inside a chamber where on the ceiling there was a gold lizard, silver lizard, sun and moon engraved in metal. We took help of stairs provided by the temple people and touched the lizard and whatever was on the ceiling. It is believed to be auspicious. This moment was fun but short lived. 

Anyways, we came outside the temple premises and saw the temple people giving prasadams. Let me tell you something the prasadhams I usually tasted were normal but here it is a must have. After all the queue waiting we were so hungry. We bought puliodharai (savoury dish) and sakara pongal (sweet dish). How yummy those two were cannot be expressed but only be experienced by a hungry tummy. I would strongly recommend it if you like Brahmin aathu samiyal (Brahmin style cooking). We entered 100 pillars hall which was walk able from the temple. Each pillar had an in-depth, intricate carving of sculptures depicting the incidents found in Ramayana and Mahabharata. It was fascinating to check out each pillar and recognising the avatars of lord Vishnu and other such familiar deities. 

We finished our visit and came out to look for our foot wear. It was all clumped up with a pile of other footwear. I found my chappals quickly while my mom was still searching for hers. My dad called; I told him our visit is over and he can pick us up. He told us to come to poo market/ flower market near kanchi bus stop. After a long search, my mom found her foot wear. And she gave her genuine thank you to god for not making the footwear lost. We took a share auto and reached the bus stop. Initially he said it is only 14 rupees but he took 20 rupees from us and went off without giving change. Lesson learnt: never go out without having Lots of 1 rupee coins. 

We waited and waited for my dad and brother to arrive. We got dehydrated and bought mango juice to quench the thirst. They came finally but stopped the car. I was puzzled that why are we stopping instead of going home. Then we entered a hotel. That's right my tummy was filled with delicious prasadham and didn't realise they were hungry. My parents made me to eat curd rice which I was eating like a sleep induced patient. The mango pickle was delicious though. We finally hit the road and reached home. 

Men's formal wear shopping!

My brother is currently writing his 12th public exam and I am also in my final year of my college which means double pressure on my parents to join us into a good college. As somewhat experienced into women's college environment for 3 years I knew what to expect and what not to expect from an educational institute. But my brother who is normally least bothered about anything in the world showed same attitude towards his studies. The choosing duty of his career path went to my parents who finalised it is computer engineering. My father with the help of his friend went to the engineering institution for admission where his son is studying. My brother also tagged along with them while I was at my college writing my final last semester exams.

It seems the college is very strict where they give an entry slip to go inside, complete security check, entry not allowed if the person is not wearing formals. Jeans, t-shirt and a list of things which are prohibited even for parents and visitors it seems. Whoa! Well colleges like that exist. So, my brother was not allowed to enter the campus as he was wearing jeans and waited in a room while my dad and his friend went inside the campus. They enquired about admission details, rules, regulations, and many more and ate chicken biryani while my brother the poor fellow who got stuck near the reception because of not wearing a formal wears. Again regarding admission for my brother my father planned to visit the campus tomorrow along with me, my mom and my brother to see the extravagant campus which treats people like refugees. Well hope it was not as horrible as my brother described it.

Today, we went for shopping to get formal wear for my brother. I was hesitant as I felt what I would do in a men's section while my brother is deciding which one to buy? But Indian parents are very talented and skilled at how to drag their children into things which are irrelevant. So, that's how I ended up at a tall building consisting seven floors at T.nagar for shopping. We went inside and saw too much crowd near the lift. So, we decided to climb the stairs. So many stairs and so little energy left in me; I got exhausted. Trust me Sunday evening at T.nagar for shopping that too in a store which offers low price rates means a pool of crowds. We went to men's section. As I said even if apocalypse occurs, my brother is least bothered. Likewise, he wasn't even bothered to know his garment preferences.

The sales person took a measuring tape and said a particular size while my dad was looking at himself in the mirror and blabbering to himself that he is becoming fat. Then, suddenly my dad added two more inches to the size mentioned by the salesman and laughed that my brother will also become fat like him in future. Well if it was me I would be showing embarrassed look up to the extent where I would have picked random some dress, purchased it and left the venue. But it was my brother he was cool as a cucumber. My dad suddenly got too excited and asked us to look into the shirt sizes he directed us to look upon. He also made it mandatory for us to select 2 shirts for my brother. I was already getting awkward vibes being in the men's garment section. To top the weirdness my parents were battling to prove that their selected shirt was the best. And me stuck there forced to pick 2 shirts of my own choice which I won't be wearing. Later, my brother picked three shirts from the provided options from us.

Whew! Finally can go home and enjoy my Sunday! Nope fate had another plan. My dad was like "Now let's go get your brother some pants." Hell! Selecting pants are pure hell! The formal pants section basically had the colour palette of black and white movies. And here I am stuck again forced to pick two pants which has no usage to me. I gave up and waited. My brother went to trial room and showed up the fitting of the pant to my dad while I was stuck up with my mom in men's pants section. My mom was explaining (criticizing) about the way our new tenants behaving, dad's financial loss, Chennai floods, politics, and many more topics which I dreaded hard not to know about. Yet who does our parent can talk to other than their beloved children.

Finally, the selection of formal wear got over and we purchased it. Now, they got remembered about buying a belt. (Face palm) They must have realized how I felt or I must have looked like a zombie they asked me to wait in a corner while they search and buy a perfect belt for my brother. I sat in a chair while they got vanished into the crowd who are on a shopping spree. A toddler was sitting beside me. The kid was too active she drooled, ran in circles and kept on hitting her head towards her mother's knee. It was kind of hilarious to watch. I missed the kid in me. The kid who used to be crazy, who cooked using torn newspaper pieces, who took a chalk piece and felt like Picasso, who took mom's dupatta and felt like a elite woman, who took a notepad and felt like supervisor, who took two drumsticks and felt like a musician, who thought the backdoor of the house was a secret pathway to spies, who was innocent, curious and enthusiastic in the name of passing time. After a while my dad said "Boo!" and I got a sudden stimuli. They arrived and at last we reached home. That's how my shopping experience for the day ended.