Swami...malgudi..tirunelveli..v gangadhar..
searching on the web bout my native brought me to this link
http://www.rediff.com/style/1998/jan/10gang.htm
i think v gangadhar is the guy who was the author of the column"slice of life" in the hindu.the description which he gave when he left tirunelveli seems to match very well with the scene at malgudi when rajam leaves for ever.on top of that rajam's dad was a policeman same goes fr gangadhar..xcept that one doesn't doesn't find an equivalent of swami n mani in the description..
the choice of ambai as my malgudi does seem to gain some credibility.

the trip to koonthankulam (the bird abode)..
this was a trip i undertook some time back. we took a car from tirunelveli.the car turned left before nanguneri heading towards tiruchendur. i went past some dilapidated vilages (as seemed to me) n suddenly we were at koonthankulam. the driver commented that it's been 20 yr since he had come this place.it was one place where i saw birds on top of trees inside houses.there were really big ones ..no idea bout their names but it was a mighty sight to watch. then we walked towards the lake which housed the birds..man there were so many of them!!creaking sounds everywhere!!i was in a state of trance. sat there fr bout an hour or so . then we went back n talked to the villagers there.it seems they don't celebrate diwali fr the sounds of crackers wld drive away the birds.these birds are highly protected by the villagers.guess there is a mutual benefit here..the villagers allow the birds to breed and the birds take care of the rodents in the paddy fields nearby..hope that this symbiotic relationship stands the test of time forever..
www.nellai.tn.nic.in/tourism.html

the ride from EC to atthipalli..
i go like a nomad from where i stay to other places in search of food..one place i do frequent is meenakshi bhavan at hosur..yeah one does get good tam food at some places in bangalore but there is altogether a different charm bout small towns..more bout that later..it was one such trip from electronic city to hosur..bangalore buses are too good( at least the new ones) n it was in this bus did i have an experiance.i boarded one of these buses( 360 infact). i got a seat to sit n was enjoying the ride..when it started raining..the buses here of a different kind .. there is glass all around you except for the roof..the rains started washing the outer body of the bus ..me a witness to the water droplets dripping kissing the glass..with greenery all around i started imagining!!!it was like i was sitting in a greenhouse (though it was green outside) n water cleaning the outer periphery of the same..the glass also reminded me of the bus in oorvasi oorvasi song from kadhalan.the rain stopped but the images keep..lingering..

another one from nanguneri
this could be a sequel to the earlier post..this happened recently in nanguneri(again in tirunelveli district) was off to nagercoil when i happened to see a koil kulam,a huge one infact..couldn't really see its vastness but a glimpse was enough to imagine!!went to nagercoil n came back the same evening to have a glimpse at it..man it wasn't a koil kulam it was a kadal..took bath there in the kulam with my jeans still on..went to the temple which hosted the kulam..man it was another marvel..me never really interested in gods( i didn't even pay a visit to the diety here)..architecture..tranquility..enthralls me..then i walked along a road leading to a agraharam..it was about 7 in the evening..the sky was jus waiting for the darkness to envelope it..i saw this female who was sitting in the thinnai of her house..the feeling of deja vu dawned on me..the darkness had come in the way between us..there was a fair distance between me and her. i asked her the way to the bus stand..she showed me the direction..i didn't want to obey my legs..i wanted to have one good look at her.. my legs seemed to have understood the norms of propriety n took me away from her..hmm..sirikkatheenga...it happens man(anbe sivam!!)

that lingering thought from melaseval..

i guess i am so out of wrk here that one would witness quite a bit of crap from me today..this was a incident when i was in class 9(1995)been to this village called melaseval (tirunelveli dist) to meet a temple priest..we didn't knew his address..one never needs to know one in villages..we happen to go past a house where a few people were sitting in the thinnai n chatting their way through time..there was this female in davani sitting there.. it was dark so couldn't really look at her face properly..when we enquired bout the priest ..pat came the reply"nerkkala poyi kizhakkala ponga"i will never frget those words in my life..don't really know why i remember them ..guess coz of that female..she turned out to be an angel..never saw her face clearly ..so that gives me the liberty to imagine!!had been past that village quite a few times recently.couldn't really recogonise which house was that..though the silhouette of the female remains etched in my memory..donno where she is now..never know whether her family still stays there..hmm..but the thought keeps lingering......

swami n friends to ambai..
was one novel which will always be etched in my minds for ever..juxtapose this with malgudi days the serial in doordarshan..i never watched the serial..but jus saw one episode where rajam leaves from malgudi..the railway station. the emotional outburst of swami...malgudi... the river sarayu all of these took me to utopia..my imagination used to run riot at school at the sheer thought of malgudi.. i happen to visit nagercoil once... that was in 1993 i guess..the station somehow reminded me of malgudi again..but over a period of time nagercoil went out of my memory..another district had occupied its place.tirunelveli..i happened to visit papanasam once n saw for myself the sheer force of the river tamiraparani( i guess the only jeevanathi in TN). my utopian dream was redeemed again when i went to pazhuvoor on the banks of the river tamiraparani..i needed my malgudi badly n then i saw dum dum dum ( the movie) n my malgudi was born..ambasamudram (in short ambai). not very different from malgudi this taluk is on the banks of the river tamiraparani( sarayu) ,fertile soil,lush green fields..rivers and lakes abound.. this was the heaven i was searching for..this happened 2 yrs back.. since then i have been visiting this place n discovering it frequently..the lakes..the bird sanctuaries..the dilapidated temples..me off to the place this weekend to soak myself in tranquility.i will be writing a lot about this place here for i beleive its has become the mainstay of my existence..one would also get to see my imagination run riot here as i unfold the life in my utopia..