I got back last night. barely able to move my fingers even now….
Major trip, this was. I havn’t measured but i think we covered around 1500 kilometers in 6 days.

route: kochi–>kovalam–>kanyakumari–>tuticorin–>madurai–>mandapam/rameshwaram
–>kodaikanal–>kochi
THATS RIGHT! by road!!

are we crazy?? we might be…
did we have fun? HELL YEAH!!

highlights of the trip:
snorkelling around krusidai island (protected area under Gulf of Mannar NP). it was amazing, all those corals, anemone and fish. marine biologists’ paradise. :)

visiting 3 major temples within the span of 2 days – Kanyakumari temple & Madurai Meenakshi in one day and Ramanathaswamy temple on the second :)

worst moment:
spotting a sea snake swim less than 5 feet from AC… and then watch as he tried to provoke it with a stick :|
(background info: sea snakes are much more poisonous than land snakes. plus, there was a boat ride and atleast 10 kilometers on land between us and any medical attention. not that medical attention would have been much help. AC’d have been toast if he’d got himself bitten)
EVEN WORSE: i felt like an idiot when nobody else seemed too bothered by the presence of sea snakes in the water.

wierdest thing:
for reasons not known to me, i cant get the song “vasantha mullai” from pokiri out of my head :|

lots more to blog about :D
for now, though – hugs to everyone that travelled with me :)

DISCLAIMER: this post will be lost on most of its readers. this one’s for people who know what “sastha preethi” means.

During vanchipattu this weekend, we were transported to another plane – into the presence of lord ayyappa.

aishu, who was sitting right behind me and megha, wanted to know if the lord really did come down to earth and take temporary residence in the body of a mortal. She was probably asking us because her mom wasn’t handy or because she assumed that me/meg being a few years older, would know everything. well, we didn’t.

i’ve always considered myself to be a “scientist” and i’m not particularly god fearing. but i wasn’t scientist enough to tell aish that it wasn’t real. i didn’t have any kind of explanation for what was happening to that nice mama there.

so, what did i tell her? i said “that depends on what you want to believe”. corny as it sounds, that what i said. megha was impressed by my answer too. she didn’t want to have to explain too much, either. partly because there is no explanation. and partly, as she pointed out, because in explaining, faith looses all meaning. it stops being faith.

am i saying that i am ready to believe blindly, something so profound? i’m not sure. i guess what i’m saying is – given the choice in this situation, i would much rather keep quiet, feel the power of the moment and not impress my p.o.v. on a 15 year old kid.

yup, i just said ‘power of the moment’. i say it because, despite being a scientist and an agnostic, i am a hindu. i’m not stupid enough to underestimate the power of an entire community coming together under one roof. each comes for his/her own reasons. but what we all find there is community spirit and unity amid widespread chaos, delicious payasam, yummy idichakka-thoran, mind-clearing music, witty banter (courtesy KS, meg and other sharp-tongued folk).

enough incentive for ANYONE to remain hindu, i think.