This post is going to be more about the trips that we undertook during the month of November 2011
Weekend at Mysore
J paati wanted to take us to Melkote Narasimhar temple as she read in a book that the deity is very powerful and can remove any kind of obstacles faced in our lives. K paati did not accompany us as it would be tiresome for her and stayed V athai’s house in Mylapore for the weekend. So we (Me, S, Chittu, S mama, J paati & thatha) started from Chennai on 5th November early morning by Shatabdi express and reached Mysore by 1:30 PM. I had already made arrangements for the vehicle with the help of my friends (Thanks a ton B & D – you guys are really sweet…my kisses to H) and thatha had made arrangement for stay in his office guest house. The driver was waiting for us in the railway station and drove us to the guest house. We refreshed and started to Melkote around 3 PM. J Paati had carried the induction stove as usual and Chittu’s food was never a problem because of that. We reached Melkote by 5 or so and went to the priest’s house whom we knew through a reference from PS uncle. They gave us all the directions and we started climbing the steps that led to the Yoga Narasimhar shrine on top of the hill. On the way Chittu got to see her first rainbow and we captured it in the camera. We had a very good darshan and climbed down to Cheluva Narayanaswami temple (Chella piLLai) and had a serene and calm darshan there too. We had dinner at the priest’s house and came back to the room late in the night. Chittu started sleeping in the car itself and all of us were waiting to reach and hit the bed once we entered.
Next morning, we went to Chamundi Hills. There was a long serpentine queue and we got the Rs.100 special entrance and came face to face with Goddess Chamundeswari in a matter of 15 minutes. She was glittering in gold and red saree and adorned with flowers all over. We sat in the outer prakaram and recited our prayers. Throughout the trip S mama got a chance to experiment his photographic skills on Chittu and the nature with the outdated Nikon digi cam that we have J Chittu was so damn scared to stand alone near the Mahishasura idol & pose and kept crying asking us to lift her. We bought a couple of Mahishasuramardhini statues for our home and a soft giraffe back pack for Chittu. In the parking lot Chittu & thatha made friends with another toddler & her thatha. We did not have time to get down so prayed to the Nandhi in BULL temple from the car itself. We came back to the room, packed, had lunch at Hotel Guru Residency and took Shatabdi in the afternoon and reached Chennai in the night on Sunday. Throughout the trip Chittu was in full form and was extremely active keeping us engaged every single second. She liked the bread sticks given along with soup and kept biting it till the end.
Our 5th Wedding Anniversay @ Hyderabad
The work pressure & heat that I was facing was really killing me. Many of my friends & relative pointed that I was losing weight and getting tanned. I badly needed a break and so we were off to Hyderabad to celebrate our wedding anniversay. Kutti thatha’s family stays there and they have been inviting us for a very long time. I was supposed to go there in March 2010 and got my tickets booked too, but later came to know that I was 6 weeks pregnant with Chittu and dropped the plan. Moreover, it was almost 15 years since I visited Hyderabad. By the time we decided our trip, the available tickets were minimal and we could book seats only in 3rd AC (onward) and 2nd AC (return). Me, S, Chittu, J paati & K paati started from Chennai by Hyderabad express on 9th November. Whenever we travel out of Chennai we get packets of Aavin Delight milk (as Chittu is used to Aavin only) and this time was no different, just that we forgot to buy it before hand and keep. I realized when we were about to lock the door while leaving home and reminded J paati who bought it on the way to the station. The train was in the evening at 4.45 and departed at the right time. Chittu had great difficulty sleeping in the berth because of the space constraint but we somehow managed. Usually she needs a lot of space and she moves a great deal on the bed. I put her in one place and she would be in another place in an unimaginable direction the next morning. She got up in the middle of the night and befriended a young passenger who offered his headphones to entertain her. The train was late by an hour or so and we reached Hyderabad on 10th morning at around 6. Kutti thata had come to the station to receive us. We reached home and Kutti paati took the traditional haarathi. She just loved playing with Twin mama & Twin chithi – but called them Anna & Akka J as she is used to call people of that age so. She would drag their books and would be about to tear it when one of them would come and take it off, by that time she would have moved to another target – a project work of theirs made of thermocol and the other would come rushing to save it and she would move over to their pencil box & scale. All in all it was a pleasant sight to watch. They also gifted me with a Salwar, S with a pant shirt, Chittu – a couple of cute frocks, K paati & J paati – a saree each. Kutti paati had prepared paayasam & a delicious meal as it was our wedding day. We had a sumptuous brunch at 10 and left to SalarJung Museum.
Day 1 – SalarJung Museum, Charminar, Golconda fort, Skandagiri & Baba temple
We reached in time to see the musical clock strike 12. The attractions that I specifically liked there were the double statue (which looked like a man on one side & woman on the other which can be seen in the mirror) Rebecca statue (a marble statue of a lady carved beautifully that even the veil & the skirt looks so real). Photography is prohibited inside the museum.
We came out of the museum at 2.30 or so and went to Charminar. They were allowing people to the top of Charminar but it was so crowded so we just took pictures went to a nearby Masjid which had many pigeons. I thought Chittu would enjoy the birds, but somehow she didn’t like it because the kids around weren’t allowing the birds to flock together and shooing them away. Even I couldn’t click proper photos so we left the place very soon
From Charminar we drove to Golconda fort and reached there by 4.30 or so. There were a number of guides offering their service but we did not take any. It was told that if someone clapped their hands in the fort’s main gate it would be heard at the top most point – a security alarm system kind of a thing if someone enters the fort / used for communication among soldiers at various points. Also there was one place which would be cooler when compared to the others – but I didn’t feel any difference. We walked to the top of the fort which had a structure similar to charminar though it had only 2 minars. Enroute we also saw the prison where Saint Ramadas was jailed for he used the government taxes to build a temple for Lord Rama in Bhadrachalam. Scriptures say that Rama & Lakshmana came in the form of humans and repaid Ramadasa’s debt and got a voucher signed by the king in return & the voucher was found under Ramadasa’s bed in the jail when he was released. The architecture of the fort is really amazing and the gardens were so beautiful.
We came back at around 8, had hot idlys and chutney for dinner which was prepared right in time by Kutti paati. Being our wedding day, we wanted to go to a temple. So went to a nearby temple Skandagiri maintained by Sankara mutt. The area had a lot of Tamilians around. The temple was under renovation and that day being Ippasi Pournami, Annabhishekam was going on for Lord Shiva. Skandagiri temple has Lord Hanuman at the foot and Lord Subrahmanya with his family atop. The temple had lift facility also making it easy for elderly people. We also went to the Sai Baba temple as it was a Thursday. The Baba here was much younger when compared to those we had seen till date. We couldn’t stay until Haarthi time and they were not starting it even at 9.15 PM. So we came back and called it a day.
Day 2 – Yadagiri Gutta, Surendrapuri, Birla Mandi, Lumbini Park, Buddha Statue
The next day we started a little earlier by 9 and headed to Yadagiri Gutta – Sri LakshmiNarasimha Swamy temple on the top of a small hill. It was a far off from the place we stayed and we reached around 12 noon. It is a cave temple and after darshan we came out and read Narayaneeyam & prostrated with Karaavalambam. At the foot of the hill is Surendrapuri – a spiritual village / theme park which had huge more than life size idols and sculptures depicting various stories from the Hindu mythology. There is a temple associated with it which has shrines for Lord Shiva, Hanuman and Vishnu. We had time only to go to the temple and the theme park was too huge to be covered in a short time. On top of that all of us were very hungry. So we decided to make it in the next trip and headed back home. Entrance ticket to Surendrapuri – Rs. 200 on weekdays / 300 on weekend. Photography is prohibited.
At home we hogged the hot dosas, God only knows how many I had. It felt like I was having it endlessly J We got ready and went to Birla Mandir – Balaji Temple. Here again we had a lift for the elderly people. Initially we didn’t know where the lift was, so we climbed up via stairs. But while coming down, we got to know where exactly the lift was and used it much to K paati’s convenience. Photography is prohibited here too. From there, we went to Lumbini park and Kutti paati, thatha and the twins joined us. Chittu enjoyed the swing and fountains in the park. I wanted to do the trampoline but J paati just refused to let me go. We watched the laser show which was really marvelous – but the disappointment was that laser is only for a short while and the dancing fountains eat up the majority of the time. We went for a boat ride in Hussain Sagar lake which took us to the Buddha statue where we alighted and spent sometime. This statue which is in the middle of the lake is the largest single stone statue of Buddha carved out of white granite rock. This place is also called the Gibraltar Rock Island.
Day 3 – Ramoji Film City
Chittu was sleep deprived for the 2 days. Throughout the day she slept for hardly a couple of hours on both the days and got up earlier than usual too. Having seen her lose sleep for 2 days in a row, we decided that J paati, K paati & Chittu would stay at home on day 3 while me & S would go to the Ramoji film city. We started in the morning at 8 AM when a bus picked us up from Secundrabad Railway station. After going rounds and rounds inside the city picking up people at different points, we reached the film city at 10.45 AM. We purchased the entry ticket which costed Rs. 600 per adult and continued our bus journey which took us to the entrance of the studio. First thing that stuck me was the vastness of the place. It was HUUUUUUGE. We entered into the Eureka area. To its right is Fundoostan and to its left is Wild West and Hollywood sections. The opening and closing ceremony of the studio happen in this area every day. Eureka also has all the rides & restaurants. Our first stop was at Fundoostan – a dedicated area for kids with statues of Little Hanuman, video games, boot house, structures in the shape of cool drinks bottle / cone ice cream, etc. There we got to watch a cultural show which included a welcome dance, juggling, gymnastics, etc. It was interesting and reminded me of circus performances. The entrance to Wild West and Hollywood has huge fort styled doors which open from top to bottom and has a chain attached. We have to walk on those open gates (it would have water beneath) as we enter, and we see Chanakya restaurant with the statue that I suppose is Chanakya’s. I saw the song “Sandhoshi” from the movie Baba and realized the film was shot in Ramoji. I even spotted the Angel fountain from Ramoji in the same song.
We watched the “Spirit of Ramoji” show which was a dance performance that didn’t impress me much except the rope dance that was performed by a girl who was bending around like a rubber. We had lunch at one of the restaurants in Eureka and went on to the “Filmy Duniya – The ultimate movie making experience”. This is a must watch in the studio where they show us how a movie is actually made. An artist is selected from among the audience. The scene was from Sholay and a small girl of around 12 volunteered to do the acting. She was dressed up with half saree & all. There was a seat with a cover which resembled a tanga and there were reins. The girl was made to sit there and hold the reins. The seat had a long bar extending from it and a little boy from the audience was asked to shake the bar vigorously and the seat started shaking making it look like the tanga is running on a rocky area. The anchor asked the girl to imagine there were horses attached to the reins and she was Basanti and there were dakus following her on horse back. He also asked her to give a panic expression and act as if she is riding the horse and checking if they are following or not. The girl did is beautifully and this was shot in the camera. Then we were taken to the next room – Sounds booth. A group of small boys were called and asked to make sound with a slim tin plate which gave the sound of storm, throw sand from to top to bottom which produced the sound of rain, jump rhythmically which produced the sound of horses. Then the final room is the editing and mixing booth where they had added the video of horses, dakus, rain, surroundings, etc and it looked real as if the little girl who was amongst us was followed by a mob of angry dakus on a stormy rainy night. Ammmmazing and the anchor was damn good. The Hollywood section was a replica of HOLLYWOOD of SFO with the words and a flying helicopter on the top of a mountain. Then we went on a bus ride which starts from Eureka and takes around the studio showing us many fountains / tall buildings / sets used for shootings / hotels where film stars stay when they come to RFC for shooting. There was a replica of Brindavan Gardens & Ajanta-Ellora caves, Moghul Gardens, Hawa Mahal, streets that look like foreign countries, hospital set (where Munnabhai was shot), airport set with a dummy aircraft (Ra-one airport fight was shot there it seems), local streets set (the houses in these streets have only entrance door, inside it was vacant land J there was no flooring also), railway station, etc. Once the ride was over, we came back to the Wild West for the live stunt performance. It was all very good, amazing performance by fighters, but the choreography was very clumsy making it difficult to understand why people of fighting and what is the cause. We ended our day with a couple of rides and I shouted my heart out when the Ranger went upside down. Our water bottle fell down from a 40-50 feet height when we were hanging there inverted. We missed the Ramoji tower as we had postponed it to a later point and completely forgot about it.
We took the return bus at 5.30 and reached home at 8.30 after getting stuck in a very bad traffic. We were dead tired but it was really worth the visit. It reminded me of the various theme parks I had visited in the US everything (hospitality, announcements, water points, refreshments etc) were upto the mark, just that the restrooms can be maintained better, directions need to be a bit more clear. All edible stuff inside was almost 1.5 times costlier!!! May be Mr. Ramoji can consider cutting down the cost of entry ticket & refreshments inside as this is not his only source of income J
Day 4 – 4D show at iMax, NTR Gardens
Sunday morning dawned lazily. We had Pongal for breakfast and all of us went to Naivedya for lunch. Later went to Prasad Imax studios for a 4D show. Chittu was not allowed inside so kutti thatha and she stayed back roaming around the complex. It was everyone’s first time in a 4D show except me & the twins and all of them had a different experience. Kutti paati was scared to her wits and me & her daughter sat on either of her sides and gave her all the courage JIt was a 20 minutes show and the first 10 mins was a science fiction stuff which was OK and the remaining 10 mins was Genie freeing a princess which I enjoyed. Then we walked down to NTR gardens and took a number of snaps. Around 4.30, we came back home, packed and left for the railway station. Our train was at 6.45 and was delayed by almost an hour. We boarded the train in Secundrabad where the train used to stop for 10 minutes or so. Kutti thatha came with us inside the coach to arrange our luggage. It being an AC compartment, none of us realized the train movement. Someone told us that the train had already started and he just had to literally jump out, fortunately the train had just started moving and hadn’t gained speed. Return journey was a smooth one and we came home at around 10.30 AM. J paati & S went to office while I worked from home
Overall it was a very very pleasant trip which offered me the much needed break. It was relaxing and enjoyable. Everything was arranged by my chithappa (cab, sight seeing itenary to the level of how much time to spend in each place, etc) and chithi made sure our stomachs are full always J I will never forget my 5th wedding anniversary!!
