Yes I had promised myself I would write about the trip I undertook with my family after
Vinu's wedding. It is almost 2 months since the trip but only now I have got the mood to write about the trip. It was sad that Anu could not join us as she had to go back to her work.
Anand, Vinu Jayashree, Tejas, Hubby dear and myself took up the journey in a Toyota Innova. We dropped Anu at the airport and started our journey to Coimbatore from Bangalore at around 5 p.m. in the evening. Luckily for me my brother VA Sr. had told me previous day the roads after Krishnagiri is not good and it is better for us to break our journey at Salem. That was a good idea as we reached Salem by around 10 p.m. and I was told we had to travel another 3 hours to reach Coimbatore which is just around 100 kms or so from Salem. We started the next day morning and by the time we reached Coimbatore it was almost 10.30 or so. We directly went to our newly built house in Cheran Nagar. I was like a student waiting for her results after the exams as the kids were seeing the house for the first time. They were so happy seeing the house I felt I had passed the exams with distinction. We then proceeded to Forest College in R.S. Puram where I had landed as a newly wed. This is where Sham was brought up and children were shown the place where their father grew up in different quarters he lived as a child and also our first home together (another quarters). We just barged inside the house telling the occupants that we had lived there long ago and asking about the sandal wood tree and other trees which had vanished now. Children could visualize both of us walking or cycling around the big wooded colony of forest college which houses the Southern Rangers Forest College and also lot of Forest Research Institution Offices in the center of a posh area called R.S. Puram.
After Lunch we started for Palghat where both Anand and Vinu were born in the Olavakot Railway Colony.
This time the roads were really bad and I had remembered them to be very good and told them that we could reach in less than an hour as the distance is just 50 Kms. That was not to be. Through out the trip the roads showed me at poor light for planning the road trip instead of making a train journey which would have been more comfortable and time saving.
We reached Palghat and went to our house again a quarters. This is where we lived for 8 plus years of our youth and had a lovely time. Anu would have enjoyed more as she did her schooling in this place. Anand and Vinu were quite young when we left Palghat for Pune but still both said they could remember the house very well.
Like Vasu said in her blog the house looked very shrunk especially the drive way which leads into the house. There must be some scientific reason for such perception as the mind might have an illusion of nice and large images of old things.
The house was a bit disappointing as it was not maintained well and the lovely garden which I was so proud of was not to be seen. The lawn which I used to water every day (since a good variety of grass needs to be watered everyday otherwise the other not so nice looking grass will take over as the ants will eat away the roots of the good grass) looked pathetic. I had a big ever green tree in front of the house and it had also gone . We could not go inside the house as it was locked and the people living there had gone out of station. I just roamed about the garden area full of leaves now which used to be so clean and neat thanks to my Gardner (who attended Vinu's wedding and can be seen in the Vinu wedding picture) and was looking at the coconut, mango and jack fruit trees and I could virtually hear Raghu, Chinna swamy , and Kunjambu speaking to me while plucking the fruits when ever I wanted. It was so cinematic that I almost laughed at the idea of hearing their voices.
We went and saw the club where we used to play shuttle and many housies on monthly club days and watch movies in the VCD and TV in the club which used to be a very great event then.
Since it is almost 20 years since we left the place we did not know any body living there as it is all Railway quarters where people live while posted at that place. Luckily for us our very good friends and neighbours Dr. Mahalingam who used to be a Divisional Medical Officer then had come back to the place as Chief Medical Officer the head of the Railway Hospital. I have a very great attachment to this hospital as both Anand and Vinu were born here within a gap of one and half years. We went to the hospital and when my hubby went to the CMO's room to tell him that we have come (He had also attended vinu's wedding with family and was aware of our program though not the exact date) he came running out with great enthusiasm to receive all of us. It must have surprised the people of the hospital seeing their great boss greeting us with such child like enthusiasm. We exchanged memories of the great times we had together and the many picnics we had in and around the Railway colony together. The best moment for me was the photo taken in front of the hospital with both my sons next to me.
We visited another doctor friend who have settled in the nearby town of palghat and had a great cup of coffee.
We visited the school where Anu did her schooling and also where Anand did his K.G. classes. I showed him the class where he used to sit and which had big window from which he used to see outside longingly to get out of the class as if he were in a kind of a jail. The classes were over and only few kids were waiting to go home and so he went in and sat in his class with his little brother who never studied there and also with some kids and took a picture!
It was a hectic trip but it was worth all the trouble and I have promised my Doctor friends I would visit them more leisurely on my next trip to Coimbatore.
The trip would not have been complete without our eating at the Annapoorna Restaurant especially the Vada Sambhar which no other hotel can match in quality. I had promised Anand he can have the Vada Sambhar which he used to love as a kid of just 3 years. We had missed having breakfast there as we could not reach Coimbatore in time for breakfast but made good by eating Vada for Lunch and also for Dinner.
