A trip to Villupuram

Yet another action-packed weekend it was. Most of Saturday was spent at home, cleaning and shopping for veggies. The B-I-L arrived late evening as we had to attend a betrothal ceremony in Vizhupuram on Sunday. We got to bed by 10 to rest well so that we can start by 4.30 the next morning. But we just tossed and turned and couldn't sleep much and finally woke up by 4AM. We got ready by 5 or so, had some oatmeal and also stocked up a lot of biscuits, corn-puffs, fryums and other items for snacking and got everything into the car and started by 5.30!

It started raining soon after we started and it was pouring very heavily till Vandalur. It was still quite dark and with the rains lashing down furiously, we were quite skeptical if we could make it to the function on time (the ceremony was to commence by 7.45).

But once we reached the National Highway, there was no sign of rain though it was cloudy. But the sun was rising and with the smooth road ahead it was just perfect! The air was cool, almost chilly and as we were zipping across the highway it was sublime. The highway (NH4) is maintained extremely well. The entire stretch till Tindivanam is as smooth as silk! Listening to some wonderful music, eating, chatting and laughing, we drove along the road merrily.
I can't stop gushing at the wonderful sights that awaited us. Lush green fields, mighty hills with the clouds caressing its tops, little hamlets on the side roads... it was blissful.

The road after Tinidvanam (incidentally the point after the last toll gate) is not very good. It is not too bad either, but we had to reduce our speed drastically to 50-60kmph or so. After some phone calls to the relatives present at the mandapam, we finally reached the place by 8 or so, to be welcomed by so many smiling and excited faces.

C's dad's family is a big one. My F-I-L has 3 brothers and 4 sisters. All are married and have kids. So, you can imagine the number of cousins C has. There was a lot of singing and dancing going on and we had a great time with everyone. Had a nice lunch and spent another 2 hours lazing around the hall. We were the only family left and the cleaners made it obvious that they wanted us to vacate so that they can set right the hall for the next day! So, finally everyone packed their bags and it was decided that we visit Lord Muruga at Mailam. Mailam is the 'Kula Deivam' for us. This was the first time I was visiting it. It is situated on top of a small hill that you can drive up to. Had a very nice darshan and after bidding farewell to all the chithappas, chithis and cousins we began our journey to Chennai by 5 in the evening.

After yet another excellent ride together with some soul-stirring old tamil film music, we reached Tambaram by 6.15 or so. From there it was a crawl due to some heavy traffic. Dropped Fil, Mil and Bil at their house and we drove back to our home.

It was almost 8 by the time we reached home and directly went to my Mom's place for dinner and we went to bed by 10.30 or so. We slept like logs!

Woke up by 9.30 or so and didn't feel like budging out of the bed. I coaxed, cajoled and pleaded C to take the day off. He too agreed and voila! it was a wonderful day to spend with C at home. I connected from home but there was hardly any work to do... so we had a leisurely lunch and were just idling around. C had some work in the afternoon and since we were expecting some guests in the evening, I started thinking about dinner preparations.

I started cooking around 5 or so. Prepared Spicy Mushroom-Peas Gravy, Veg Fried Rice, Raitha and Mom quickly prepared Kesari laden with raisins and almonds! We had our first real guests on Monday. Again, we immensely enjoyed the time we spent with them. They all really liked the food and praised me amply :-)

Again after a thoroughly enjoyable and also exhausting day we hit the bed by 11. So, that was how our extended weekend was spent.