Drunken Driving

Drunken Driving

I am posting below a story which has done some rounds on the net, but still very touching. My neighbour Mr Srinivasan had suggested that I post this on my blog so that it reaches many people. Thank you Srinivasan uncle for the confidence in my blog.

The story goes like this:

I was walking around in a big bazaar store making shopping, when I saw a Cashier talking to a boy couldn't have been more than 5 or 6 years old..The Cashier said, 'I'm sorry, but you don't have enough money to buy this doll. Then the little boy turned to me and asked: ''Uncle, are you sure I don't have enough money?'' I counted his cash and replied: ''You know that you don't have enough money to buy the doll, my dear.'' The little boy was still holding the doll in his hand. Finally, I walked toward him and I asked him who he wished to give this doll to. 'It's the doll that my sister loved most and wanted so much . I wanted to Gift her for her BIRTHDAY. I have to give the doll to my mommy so that she can give it to my sister when she goes there.' His eyes were so sad while saying this. 'My Sister has gone to be with God.. Daddy says that Mommy is going to see God very soon too, so I thought that she could take the doll with her to give it to my sister...''My heart nearly stopped. The little boy looked up at me and said: 'I told daddy to tell mommy not to go yet. I need her to wait until I come back from the mall.' Then he showed me a very nice photo of him where he was laughing. He then told me 'I want mommy to take my picture with her so my sister won't forget me.' 'I love my mommy and I wish she doesn't have to leave me, but daddy says that she has to go to be with my little sister.' Then he looked again at the doll with sad eyes, very quietly. I quickly reached for my wallet and said to the boy. 'Suppose we check again, just in case you do have enough money for the doll?'' 'OK' he said, 'I hope I do have enough.' I added some of my money to his with out him seeing and we started to count it. There was enough for the doll and even some spare money. The little boy said: 'Thank you God for giving me enough money!' Then he looked at me and added, 'I asked last night before I went to sleep for God to make sure I had enough money to buy this doll, so that mommy could give It to my sister. He heard me!'' 'I also wanted to have enough money to buy a white rose for my mommy, but I didn't dare to ask God for too much. But He gave me enough to buy the doll and a white rose. My mommy loves white roses.'

I finished my shopping in a totally different state from when I started. I couldn't get the little boy out of my mind. Then I remembered a local news paper article two days ago, which mentioned a drunk man in a truck, who hit a car occupied by a young woman and a little girl. The little girl died right away, and the mother was left in a critical state. The family had to decide whether to pull the plug on the life-sustaining machine, because the young woman would not be able to recover from the coma. Was this the family of the little boy? Two days after this encounter with the little boy, I read in the news paper that the young woman had passed away.. I couldn't stop myself as I bought a bunch of white roses and I went to the funeral home where the body of the young woman was exposed for people to see and make last wishes before her burial. She was there, in her coffin, holding a beautiful white rose in her hand with the photo of the little boy and the doll placed over her chest. I left the place, teary-eyed, feeling that my life had been changed for ever. The love that the little boy had for his mother and his sister is still, to this day, hard to imagine. And in a fraction of a second, a drunk driver had taken all this away from him.


Please DO NOT DRINK & DRIVE.

Temple Trails Tamil Nadu : Thiruvallur Veeraraghavar and Panchamukha Anjaneyar

Thiruvallur Veeraraghavar and Panchamukha Anjaneyar

The last two temples we visited during our trip were the Vaidya Veeraraghava Swamy temple and Viswaroopa Panchamuga Anjaneyar temple in Thiruvallur.

By the time we reached Tiruvallur town, it was 1145 am. First thing I saw was the long and high temple wall. 

 We entered the temple and it was fairly crowded as it was Saturday. First we prayed to the Ganapathy called Thumbikai Azhwar. For Perumal sannidhi we got special darshan tickets and stood in the queue near the entrance. Just above the entrance door was the idol of the Perumal in a reclining posture with his head near Salihotra Maharishi.

Legend of the temple is that Mahavishnu came to Salihotra Maharishi’s ashram and the Rishi offered him food. After food, Mahavishnu wanted to rest and asked the Rishi “எவ்வுள்  உறங்கலாம்?” (where can I sleep?). Hence this place came to be called as Thiru Evvul which has now changed to Thiruvallur.

The queue moved quite fast and we reached the sannidhi in just five minutes. What a huge Perumal! Perumal in kidantha kolam (reclining posture) was looking so majestic and yet so lovable! We had a great darshan and proceeded to the other sannidhis. Behind Perumal sannidhi was Narasimhar and Chakrathazhwar on either side. The archakar in Chakrathazhwar sannidhi pointed out to us that this idol had Chakrathazhwar on the front and Yoga Narasimhar at the back facing the other side. We had darshan of Yoga Narasimhar in the mirror as well from the side. We then went to Thayar sannidhi. Kanakavalli Thayar was decked with jewellery and flowers looking beautiful. Temple was quite huge with sannidhis of Aandal, Venugopalan and Kothandaramar with Seetha, Lakshmanan and Hanuman. 

While coming out of the sannidhis we noticed that near the bali peedam, salt and pepper were offered. This is because the Perumal here is called Vaidya Veeraraghava Perumal and is said to cure diseases. Hence people offer salt and pepper praying for their diseases to be cured. Legend also says that Veeraraghava Perumal promised Salihotra Maharishi that whoever prays to him for 3 or 6 consecutive amavaysas (new moon days) after bath in the temple pushkarni (pond)  will have their diseases cured and all problems solved. The temple pond looked very beautiful and there were many people around it. 

 

We had to kind of rush out of the temple as the main door was already closed for the afternoon break and we came out through the side entrance happy that we could have the darshan.

Next, we proceeded to the Viswaroopa Panchmukha Anjaneyar temple. 

 

 We went through many bumpy roads to reach the temple but were not fortunate to have a good darshan. The reason for this is that renovation work was going on at the temple with a roof being constructed for the 40 feet Anjaneyar. We could just glimpse the five faces – Hanuman Mukha, Karala Ugravira Narasimha Murthi, Mahavira Garuda, Lakshmi Varaha Murthi and Hayagriva Swami. As we came out, we were given freshly prepared curd rice as prasadam.

We then proceeded back home after a fairly successful half a day pilgrimage.

Temple Trails Tamil Nadu : Kakalur Anjaneyar

Kakalur Anjaneyar

The next temple we visited was Kakalur Anjaneyar. This was not in our schedule, but somebody had suggested this temple to the van driver. My heartfelt thanks to this person as it was worth a visit. On first sight, I felt the temple looked quite small, but the Anjaneyar inside was quite another story. The temple is a small structure with just one huge Anjaneyar deity in the sanctum. Anjaneyar here is facing sideways that you can see only one side of his face. Another unusual thing is that Anjaneyar here is holding a lotus in one of his hands.

Being a Saturday, the temple was packed and as soon as we entered, we had the opportunity to see the deity decked with vadaimalai. There must have been atleast 1008 vadais in the maalai. A few of us had bought tulasi maalais for the deity, but the Bhattars there said that it will take more than 30-40 minutes for them to remove the vadai maalas and then do the next set of alangaram for the Anjaneyar. We decided not to wait as we may get delayed for the next temple in our schedule. We did a few pradakshinams and were fortunate to get prasadams of puliyodarai and thayir saadam. We prayed once again to the huge Anjaneyar and proceeded to the next temple.

Recipe - Rava Idli

Rava Idli
(ரவா இட்லி)

This is my husband's favourite. I learnt this from my mother in law and I like her version best, much better and very tasty compared to the ready made mixes available in the market.

Ingredients

Rava (ரவை)   - 1 cup

Beaten curd  (கடைந்த தயிர்) - 1/2 cup

Green chillies (பச்சை மிளகாய்) - 2

Red chillies (காய்ந்த மிளகாய்)- 1 (optional)

Curry leaves (கறிவேப்பிலை) - 2 sprigs

Green coriander (கொத்தமல்லி தழை) - a little

Mustard   (கடுகு) - 1 tsp

Urad dall (உளுத்தம் பருப்பு)  -1 tsp

Channa dall (கடலை பருப்பு)-1 tsp

Salt (உப்பு) - to taste

Asafoetida (பெருங்காயம்) - 2 pinches

Oil (எண்ணெய்) - 2 - 3 tbsp

Ghee (நெய்) - 1 tsp (optional)

Add oil  and ghee to an heated kadai, add mustard and when it splutters add urad dall, channa dall. When it becomes golden brown, add the red chilli broken into pieces, then the cut green chillies, curry leaves, coriander. Just saute once and immediately add the rava. Roast the rava until it changes colour slightly and smells good. Add salt and asafoetida.

Keep the idli plates greased and ready. Add the beaten curd to the rava mixture, add little water so that the mixture is of idli batter consistency. Pour the batter in the idli plates immediately and steam. What I learnt from my mother in law is that the once the curd is added , the  batter must be steamed   rightaway. In about 7-8 minutes delicious rava idlies are ready. My favourite side dish to this is the regular idli milagai podi though it will taste good with sambar also.

Eventful Tues day/night

Eventful Tues day/night

Last night around 11 pm (this is not a romantic blog!) I was sitting in the hall cutting vegetables for this morning and my husband was doing some office work. We had some good music on and the balcony doors were open. I suddenly saw something flying in my line of vision. It was too dark in colour to be a butterfly and too big for a moth. As the thing flew all over the hall, I covered my ears and shouted. From childhood out of fear that bees will go into the ears, I always cover my ears whenever any insect bigger than a housefly comes near. The thing settled down under the dining table after 2-3 rounds and my husband discovered that it was a bat. I could not make out much as it looked like a small black mass. I was quite shocked that a bat could come into the house as I have always been under the impression that bats go only to ancient, decapitated, smelly places. Though fascinated by the creature I was too scared to go nearby in case it flies on my face! After a few more rounds in our hall, the bat settled under the sofa. My husband brought a vessel from the kitchen and covered the bat with it, teasing me what my reaction will be incase the bat pushes the vessel and tries to come out of it! I finally went to sleep hoping the bat will vanish from under the vessel.
In the morning, I had forgotten the poor bat and my maid while sweeping the hall noticed the vessel. The moment she asked me about the vessel, I again screamed "Bat, Bat". My maid lifted the vessel and held the bat in her hand boldly. I could not resist taking a snap.

She put the bat on the floor and asked me to click again.

The poor fellow was very much alive but moved very slowly, maybe sleepy

Finally my maid dropped him on the plants on the ground floor level and I wished him good bye. I hope we dont meet again, my dear bat!