The Blue Eyed Boy has come home – my new Wagon-R

Last Thursday, the 27th of May 2010, I drove home my new Wagon-R. This is Suzuki's revamped Wagon-R model, which is seeing changes in the interiors, the exteriors and also the mechanicals. Yet, it still retains enough identity to be recognized as a Wagon-R, thanks to its height, which is supposedly the tallest in its class.

Maruti Suzuki has launched this car in April 2010 with the tag line "The Blue Eyed Boy" and have gone ahead and placed a small blue colored glass above the new and bold headlamps, giving the image of an eyebrow above the eye. I bought the top-end VXi model and it has left me lighter in the bank balance by around INR 4.28 Lakhs. For other details on the car, you can visit Maruti Suzuki's website.

While we were waiting for the car to be registered and in fact, for the car to reach the dealer, we went through the usual routine of identifying an auspicious day. We requested the salesperson to ensure that the car was registered only on the day we indicated. However, due to some issues in the shipment, there was a delay by 2 days and we were left with a situation of having to postpone the registration by almost a week. That would have also meant an additional cost of 8K INR, because the TN government had passed a bill to hike the registration cost of new vehicles by 2% effective 1st June.

So, after much breaking of head, we finally decided to take delivery of the car on Thursday, the 27th of May and then get it registered the next day. But luckily, the dealer was able to get even the registration done on the 27th itself. So, that evening, I went to pick up the car, along with my father.

As part of handing over the car, the guys at the dealer actually do a poojai first and then hand over the keys to you. They put a garland, apply sandal-kungumam spots at various strategic locations on the glass and do a full-fledged karpooram lighting. We are then asked to drive out by squeezing out lemons placed in front of each wheel.

But, this above poojai was by the dealer. The car owners also have to do a poojai at the temple of their choice. Ours, was the Varasiddhi Vinayagar temple. I went and parked the car there and one of the priests who was right at the entrance, came forward. We told him that we wanted to do the car poojai and he said in the most nonchalant manner possible, "pannalaamae".

He then asked me to pop the hood. I went back and started feeling the usual place where the hood release is available. But I just couldn't locate it. A frantic search, accompanied by attempts to throw some light from my mobile phone in the area, was launched, but to no avail. The priest seeing my predicament, asked me to step aside. And in a matter of barely 1.63 seconds, he located the lever to release the trunk. The worst part after this was the "smirky" look he gave me. I don't think I have felt so much shame in the recent past.

He then went about his duty doing all the archanais at the various sannidhis and also came up and did the karpoora aaradhanai in and around the car. I finally came home by 8 PM in the new car.

I haven't driven much in the last 5 days that it has come here. I went out with my parents to the local temples on Saturday and I met up with few friends on Sunday evening. But I find the car to be quite good in the 40 odd Kms that I have driven so far.

2 months after we bought our first car, I went off to the US for 3 years. Barely 2 weeks after the second car was bought, I was shuttled out to Zurich for 2 weeks and in the following year, I was packed off to Bangalore and Melbourne for almost 6 months. Let's wait and see if that "luck" would continue with this one as well.

The mini pilgrimage in March 2010 – Day 1 Part 1

contd. from previous post

We reached our Hotel - Hotel Dayalan - by 5:10 AM by walking from the bus stop. After we checked in, all 3 of us caught up with some pending sleep till about 6 AM. Afterwards, we started getting ready to visit the main temple on the agenda - Thirumananchery.

With the help of the Hotel guys, we hired a taxi and set out by 9ish AM. The main thing to note is that, for the first time in my life, on a day other than Aavani Avittam, I ventured out in public in a vaeshti. I had planned this even while packing my stuff for the trip.

We reached the temple by 9:40 or so. I may have mentioned this earlier, but doesnt hurt to repeat it. The temple at Tirumananchery is reknowned for having special powers that cater to the needs of the people who are having trouble getting married. Like me! And the popularity of this temple has apparently increased manifold in the last 50-60 years only.

The rituals to be followed in the temple are quite simple actually. You just need to buy a flower garland and get an archanai performed to the uthsava moorthies of the deities Sundareshwarar and Kokilambaall. During the course of this archanai, the priests first place the aforementioend garland near the deity and then they give it to you for wearing for a short while before the ritual comes to an end.

Once the prayers are all done, the head priest gave directions on what needed to be done with the prasadams. The prasadams are essentially a garland (referenced recently), viboothi, kungumam, manjal and a lemon. The viboothi and kungumam have to applied daily. The lemon is supposed to be extracted into a concentrate and that has to be consumed first thing in the morning of the day we return home. The manjal is to be used by women. And the garland has to be kept at home and the belief is that by the time it decomposes, a wedding would be fixed. And after the wedding is done, the couple is expected to visit the temple and then throw off the garland (or whatever is left of it) into a pond adjoining the temple.

Anyways, after completing the prayers, lighting of lamps at a couple of places and taking few mandatory pictures, we were out of the temple. Our next stop was Vaitheeshwaran Kovil. There was no big agenda at the temple and so it was a very business-like visit there. Once we were done with the prayers at the sannidhis of Vaitheeshwaran and Thaiyalnaayagi, we headed out for a much needed lunch.

Lunch was at a place called Hotel Sadabhishekam and we had a pretty good meal. We resumed our trip back to the Hotel and just as we left the Hotel, the driver said he was going to fill up fuel at the station next door. He asked us for 50% of the agreed amount and during the process of handing over the cash to him, my mother found out that she was missing a "loaded" purse that she had brought along from Chennai.

To be continued....

More important than how you express a condolence, what really matters seems to be the when!

I'd mentioned last week that one of my managers in the office lost his father on the 12th of this month. He'd passed on the message to me and my friends that night.

None of us could visit him that night and since the next day was the Tamizh New Year's day, none of us could visit him then too. But while discussing it with my friends, we first thought that we would meet him at his house on Monday. But there was no confirmation for that plan and it was implicitly decided that we would decide that in the office on Monday. I had checked with my mother and she mentioned that for vijaarichufying dhukkam, one had to go there only on a Thursday or Sunday.

I told my friends about this on Monday. While no one seemed to refute this theory, the conversation then moved on to which time of the day we had too meet him. We took up Thursday first. Most of us, including me, wanted to meet him on Thursday morning. One of my friends objected saying that it would be difficult for him to return home to bathe and then come to office. A couple of others who had to travel to my branch of the office agreed to it and a couple of others who had to go to the other branch didn't mind the morning trip.

So I gave the suggestion that we all meet him on Thursday morning and then come to office. We could then have the "ritual bath" when we reach home! I was shocked at the reaction from everyone in the group. This was probably one of the rare instances when everyone in the group had the same view about something (but technically I had a different one, so...). Everyone seemed to be shocked at the very thought of having to go to office after visiting a house where there was a death. The idea was shot down much faster than the speed with which a bullet leaves a gun.

I didn't give up and tried bringing a little bit of practical and rational angle to the subject. The only reason the whole bathing aspect was brought into the rituals was because a dead human body is likely to attract a lot of micro-organisms and hence, when you return home after visiting such a place, it makes sense to have a bath. My point in this case was that we were visiting him some 5 days after he lost his father and his father's last rites were performed latest by Sunday. Which meant that there was no dead body in the house. And once the body is taken out, the house is cleaned and hence there is no need to worry about these micro-organisms.

But no one would have it. I think everyone added more negative points against me in their books. The counter posed to me was that if I was being so rationalistic, then why not I visit him on any other day of the week. A very pertinent question and honestly, I didn't subscribe to that school of thought either. So, if I was willing to accept this, why not accept the bathing aspect too.

My point is still this: The "rule" says that you should have a bath when you return home. The next statement made was that once you go to a dhukkam vijaarichufying place, you shouldn't go elsewhere! I am again going back in time and trying to understand what other places did people go to in those days? Did they have swanky offices or did they even have the concept of an office those days? People were either at home or in their own shops or their own farms or temples. Now temples - I agree that we shouldn't go there without bathing even on normal days. So at some level, I can accept not going to a temple in the above kind of situation.

Then are all my friends equating the office to a temple as an extension of the "work is worship" principle? I still feel that everyone still follow many rules, blindly.

The next point to be discussed was if we could go there in the evening. But by the time we leave office and reach his house, it would surely be after 6 PM, which again was a taboo according to our customs.

Anyways, after discussing and deliberating the time lines for one more day, it was finally agreed that all of us would meet him on Thursday morning, come back home, bathe and then head to the office. We went to his house - his brother's house actually - at the appointed hour and expressed our condolences. As is my habit in this type of situation, I was more silent than usual. I find it difficult to say things and I am sure that the question that I want to ask, would have been asked by so many others all these days and I felt bad that the affected person would have to repeat it so many times. So, I usually end up being a mute spectator to all that is going on around me.

Anyways, I came back home, had the mandated head bath and then reached office around 10.45 AM.

Grihapravesham on 29-Apr-2007 ::: Part 04

After the invitees started trickling in, it was time for me to take up my Tour Guide duties. One after the other, I took people around the house.

Luckily, except for the first couple of people, the rest arrived in batches and so it made my job easier.

I am not going into the attendance list, but at the end of the day, we found at least 20-25 no-shows! That sure lead to a lot of food going waste, but we packed off most of the left overs to the maids who had come to help us out.

I had my lunch a bit late, but luckily, for the last pandhee, I had enough company. I was too gassed out to enjoy the lunch, but what little I tasted, I liked. Based on the feedback I got from the others, the caterer had done a good job.

Slowly everyone started leaving and finally it was left to my parents, chithappa, chithi, cousin and myself to stay back. My father tried a siesta but failed miserably in the absence of a bed.

After an hour or so of just lazing around and bidding farewell to the helping staff, I started to feel the pain of hard work. The pain from having to go up and down the stairs every 5 minutes or so to check on the guests. I stretched myself out on the plastic chairs we had rented for the day.

Around 3 'o clock, my mother asked me to prepare coffee. Of course, she wanted me to prepare the decoction using the new coffee maker. In my eagerness to make a strong decoction, I used a lot of powder and got the machine going. In a minute or so, I saw decoction coming out of all places in the machine. It was not supposed to happen that way. So I stopped the machine and took out some of the powder and had the machine resume its duties.

When my father started preparing the coffee, he realised how bad the posish was. While I did use a lot of powder, I'd also used a lot of water. So ultimately, we got quite a watery decoction. Needless to add, the coffee we all had to drink was quite BAD.

Anyways, we all continued our chit-chat and around 5.30, we realised that it was time for my chithi, chithappa and cousin to go home. So they packed their bags, took some more of the food from the afternoon and by 6.15 or so, they were off. We also gave instructions to our driver to drop them and then leave the car at our B'Nagar house.

By 7.30 my parents and I got into our dinner and then cleaned out the surplus food. After that was done, we started assembling all the items we brought in for the function, so that we could move them all into the car the next morning.

There were quite a lot of gifts given by my friends. And that alone took up most space in the car.

Like I mentioned in an earlier post, I didn't sleep that well. But the next morning, we started loading the goods into the car and we were out the door by 6.45 or so. We reached home by 7.20.

Without much further ado, I will conclude this narration of my grihapravesham. It was definitely a success and all credit goes to my folks for arranging 95% of the show. My contribution was certainly limited to transportation, handling of accounts on the D-day and of course looking after my friends who had come over.

Before I close out, a quick note on the gifts. Each and every item was fantastic. We opened up the gifts only on the 30th (night) but it was worth the wait. I have already placed some of them in the display shelf at B'Nagar. The rest will have to wait for my relocation to Shollinganallur.

Grihapravesham on 29-Apr-2007 ::: Part 03

To put it in Chennai Senthamizh, the navagraha homam "bend-a kazhatidichu baa". In other words, that part of the whole ceremony warranted 9 namaskarams with about a minute's gap between each.

The priests let me go after that. A little later, they asked all of us to come to the homam area and asked us to do 3 pradhakshanams around it. And even as we were doing it, they started putting stuff into the pyre and it increased its smoke output manifold. Needless to add, all the smoke getting into the eyes, made the walk around the homam quite difficult.

The eyes were watering like crazy and I had to take a pit stop after every 2 steps or so. Thankfully, I wasn't the only one facing that ordeal. It was experienced by all of us. I came out of this episode quite shaken and apparently, Superthumby felt that my eyes were bloodshot - probably due to the excessive rubbing.


All this while, Superthumby was quite keen on taking pictures. Not of the function per se. His focus was more on how I was going about the namaskarams, pradhakshanams et al. I had brought my digi cam in the hope that some good pictures of the whole function would be taken. But he had other ideas and thankfully, to negate his goal, the memory stick on my camera was near full and so he stopped taking these voyeuristic pictures.

Anyways, as part of the closing ceremony of the religious aspect of the function, my parents and I were asked to sit near the homam and give the dakshinai to the priests. It included cash and clothes. And BTW, I was intentionally wearing one of my cargos that day, just so that I could keep all the cash needed for the function in different pockets. My uncle was quite impressed with this!

So we dished out the dakshinai to the brahmnaall and in turn we were asked to drink the milk that was boiled specifically for the function. I am totally averse to drinking plain milk and that if its warm. I cannot stand the smell and the taste. But like they say about porcelain (like the sand has to be mixed in water to make a yucky paste; then be spun around in a wheel; finally get baked in an oven), one has to sahichufy such tortures in the bigger frame of things. (I am actually not sure if the milk drinking part came at the end or somewhere in between itself, but that doesn't really matter).

So the brahmnaals finally went to have their breakfast. After some time, Superthumby, Madhu and I had breakfast and we were the last ones. Nilu was coming in late and so we'd decided not to wait for him. The breakfast was cold yet, quite tasty!

A while later my invitees started coming in.

Grihapravesham on 29-Apr-2007 ::: Part 02

We entered the house, even as one of the shaasthrigall showed up there. The other 3 were en route.

The single dude then started belting out instructions asking for this and that. All of us started running around catering to those commands. Just then, Ramaraajan came there, with the cow, calf and a lady carrying a jug of milk - all part of the rituals.

Then all the priests showed up and as usual chaos set in - "shitha, rendu thaambaallam eduthundu varaella" or "maami, maami, homathukku kolam podungo" or "maamaa, dharbaya ready pannikongo" or "ambi, konjam neiy kondu varaya" etc etc.

We were then asked to produce the pomegranate, sweet lime and apple that was ordered earlier. Sounds of "aahaa" and "achachacho" filled the air. That was because all of us had forgotten to take it out of the fridge and keep it in the bag, when we started from B'Nagar.

I was then "politely" instructed to fetch the aforementioned fruits. The cow-man and also another local guy from the nearby departmental stores, categorically told us that the shops selling fruits would open only at 8.

But me folks would have none of it. So I drove out to the main road and enquired at the two veg shops that were open. One pointed to the other and the other told me that he doesn't have any. And that the shops open at 8 and also that if I needed one immediately, I could go to some juice shop somewhere and ask them for the fruits.

Thanking him for the very original idea, I headed towards the city. But even before I left my panchayat ellai, I called my mother. She asked me to head back saying that other rituals were waiting to begin and that was more important than the presence of those fruits.

While returning, I made a call to Superthumby and asked him to buy these fruits. The great friend that he is, he agreed without even a nanosecond's hesitation.

So all things being set, I came back home. Just in time, coz the cow and calf were being held tightly by the cow-man and all were standing near the first set of steps that lead to my main door. The head shaasthrigall was there and so were my parents.

The "gho" pujai was completed and we then spread out big jamakkaallams for the cow to enter the inside of the house. The j'k'lams were used mainly to prevent the cow from slipping on the new floor.

I think the cow was well trained in doing these things. Whether it was trained in the shed or it picked it up on the job, I will never know. But it came in with an air of "been there done that", looked around and then started walking away. Of course, the cow-man was still holding its reins, but it still seemed to have a nonchalant way of going about its activities.

After we paid our respects to the cow-man and the milk-woman, the priests started doing more rituals. I simply cannot go into each and everything, mainly coz the whole sequence is a bit of a blur for me now.

Then we were all called for the navagraha homam.

Eclipse bathing

For a change, I got up this morning on my own at 6.45. Yes, on a Sunday morning.

I was contemplating a second round of sleeping but then remembered that I had a lot of laundry to do and so dragged myself out of the bed. Completed my wake-up routine and walked downstairs.

You may not know this, but I am a bit somnambulistic after I get up. It sounds oxymornonic, but the point I am trying to make is that, even after I have physically gotten out of bed, I am still quite sleepy for the first 15-20 minutes. Irrespective of whether I had a short sleep or long sleep. Irrespective of whether I need to go to office or not. Irrespective of whether I splash cold water on my face after brushing my teeth. Irrespective of whether I have coffee or not. So during that time period, my brain cells have a tough time in processing all the inputs it gets from its external sensory mechanisms.

So picture my plight when I set foot in the hall, my parents tell me to go and have a bath. You may not know this too, but I am not much in favor of bathing. That too so damn early on a Sunday morning.

I reacted with my usual early morning demeanour and was headed to the sofa in my pre-programmed manner. Then both of them started giving me instructions that I needed to take a 'head bath' ASAP. Knowing my penchant for not bathing until it becomes absolutely necessary, they categorically told me that if I didn't bathe, I wouldn't get even a coffee today.

There was a chandra grahanam last night and my nakshatram was "caught". So I was technically roaming around with grahana theetu. So, until I thalai kulichufied, the only thing that was permitted to go down my throat was my saliva (Actually, I am not sure if that is allowed, but since it was included in the taboo list, I am assuming that its ok).

After being hit by such a big thunderbolt, I slowly warmed up to the place and observed my folks. Both had very obvious signs of having had a bath. My mom was sitting with her hair knotted up in a loose fashion - an obvious indication that she had a head bath. And my dad looking all bright with a viboothi mark on his forehead.

Basically, the signs that my folks meant business were ominous. I knew that there was no point in arguing so early in the morning and so walked back up and had my bath.

Actually, since my father is not feeling too well, I escaped a minor skirmish last night. You see, every time there is a grahanam and your star is "in scope", the temples issue a small palm leaf with text printed on it. We call this a 'pattai' and during the grahanam time, we are supposed to wear that on our head or keep it handy or something like that. Since, my dad wouldn't go to the temple, I escaped this ritual and the assured fight I would have had with my folks about this ritual.

So here I am, blogging all this after having my morning cuppa, which was given to me because I was now free of all the grahana theetu!

Why I am unable to wear my new clothes

My parents still follow certain ancient tribalistic rituals. One of the most publicly visible and socially embarrassing ritual is the application of kungumam on new clothes.

I am sure some of your parents do the same. If not, I really really envy you.

I have tried my level best to escape this 'tradition'. But to no avail. The best trade-off I could have was applying the kum kum myself. This way, I used to ensure that some totally minuscule and negligible quantity of the kungumam actually got transferred from the kunguma chimizh to the collar of shirts or the flap of trousers as the case may be.

However, this Deepavali day, things got slightly out of control. I bought shirts and t-shirts for Deepavali and my birthdays (English and Tamizh so to say) - a total of 3. But since the day started too early and also since it had religious overtones to it, I was not allowed to do the kum kum honors. It had to be done by the elders of the house.

My father was not sure which of my shirt/t-shirts I was going to use for the day and played it safe by bringing in all 3 into the pujai - a la Hanuman and the Sanjeevani herb. I have no objection to that. The problem is basically what transpired from that moment on.

Probably because he had to do this application for quite a number of clothes or probably because he had to do all this without his morning cuppa or probably because he had to do all this before sunrise or whatever..... The basic point is, he applied quite a lot on to my clothes.

IMHO, he didnt apply kum kum. He smeared it. Almost equivalent of placing a kai naatu on stamp paper, though why my literate father would have to resort to attesting by not using his signature is a mystery.

A t-shirt and THE CARGOS (sorry Neeluking, I mentioned my cargos only as part of providing inventory) escaped by virtue of being darker shades. But another t-shirt and a shirt were not that lucky. As is evident in the picture.

I also know one thing. My folks arent the only ones who still follow this kungumam stuff. I have seen quite a lot of shirts after Deepavali having these red dots.

So what really bothers me is the funda behind this ritual. Is it yet another of those completely logic-less things we do in the name of religion? Or is it the equivalent of hanging the dhrishti bommai in some road facing part of our homes? If the kum kum application is similar to the dhrishti thingummy, let me tell you this. No one would have actually noticed that you were wearing a new piece of clothing unless you walk around with that red spot on an otherwise perfectly good looking shirt or trouser or whatever it is that girls wear.