It all started on a Thunderstorm day - officially known as "Review Day" - we were in the fag end of the review and at around 07:30 in the evening, hope i can say 7:30 as evening and not night, Karthik (Our Boss), suddenly and out of the blue, asked me and Yathin : -
" Sriram - Yathin, you guys are regularly discussing about Thanjavur and Cholas, why don't you guys initiate a trip down the memory lane, revisiting those places and if possible, let's combine certain history related temples as well".
Myself and Yathin were perplexed as to whether he is pulling a fast one on us or is he serious and knowing Karthik, we decided it should be the latter and certainly not the former.
Yathin's response was - "Sure Karthik" and he brought in the SME on this (Subject Matter Expert) Sundararaman. (one by one characters would get introduced in the flow).
A few words about Sundar, a colleague who had become a good friend of mine by now, is solely responsible for kindling my interest towards Tamilnadu's history and specifically on the Cholas.
If am able to talk and discuss now, with confident about the Chola empire, credit to Sundar only. He introduced me to the magical world of Kalki and Writer Balakumar through Pooniyin Selavan and Udayar.
A small self advertisement is - Had completed reading Pooniyin Selvan and Udayar and would be starting Gangaikonda Cholapuram. Thanks Sundar. :)
Sundar was pulled in and our requirement was put across enabling him to create a plan for 2.5 days - We would leave a Friday evening and would reach Chennai by Sunday night.
Sundar went back to his table and jotted out the plan as below.
Members, dates and vehicles got finalized but because of some or the other reasons this plan did not get materialized and was continuously pushed to various other weekends.
In the meanwhile i got married and was blessed with a baby girl, just kidding, the plan did not get pushed for so much time but by 3 to 4 months because of various but genuine reasons.
On 2nd Jan 2014, Sundar came to me and asked " Indha week polama saar" - (Saar is the Tamil pronunciation for "SIR"). By the way would like to make one point clear that, normally we address each other strictly by name only, but if the situation demands attention or someone wants to make a point then we would address each other by "Saar or Sir" - to make a point.
Helplessly i looked at Yathin asking him to come for my rescue, promptly he came in and said "Wokay Saar, polam" - (English Translation is "Okay sir, let's go).
Then we went back to Karthik to confirm whether would he be able to join us, but unfortunately he was tied up and hence we planned this trip without him.
Then we decided that the team should be a max of 5 only, the rocket science for arriving at the critical number of 5 is - My car can accommodate five only - SIMPLE.
So the dates were finalized from Jan 3rd noon to Jan 5th night and the members who would be part of this historical journey would be :
1) Sundararaman
2) Sasidharan
3) Sureshbabu
4) Sriram
5) Syathin ( as all the names are starting with "S", in the flow, wrote Yathin as Syathin - Sorry Saar)
The places of visits were modified slightly as per our requirement but no major changes and struck to our original plan.
But on 4th night Sasi had other plans, he went his way with another set of friends and history enthusiasts but with a promise to join us at Tanjore.
So the team became 4 and how it again became 5 by including Vijay is another short story in itself.
As Yathin and Vijay commute by train from Chrompet to Egmore, on 5th Jan morning, as usual, they were travelling together and Yathin told Vijay on this plan and one drop out in Sasi. Vijay,it seems, immediately jumped and in turn hit the top of the compartment with his head and said, Haa its's paining and scratching his head announced that- "AM IN".
So the journey started with
1) Sundararaman
2) Vijayabalan
3) Sureshbabu
4) Sriram
5) Syathin
To cut the long story short, on our way, we went to Vijay's place in Chrompet, gave him 7 minutes to pack his bags and hop back into the car.
Our journey started - Will continue.. keep reading.. Click for Day 1.5 here
" Sriram - Yathin, you guys are regularly discussing about Thanjavur and Cholas, why don't you guys initiate a trip down the memory lane, revisiting those places and if possible, let's combine certain history related temples as well".
Myself and Yathin were perplexed as to whether he is pulling a fast one on us or is he serious and knowing Karthik, we decided it should be the latter and certainly not the former.
Yathin's response was - "Sure Karthik" and he brought in the SME on this (Subject Matter Expert) Sundararaman. (one by one characters would get introduced in the flow).
A few words about Sundar, a colleague who had become a good friend of mine by now, is solely responsible for kindling my interest towards Tamilnadu's history and specifically on the Cholas.
If am able to talk and discuss now, with confident about the Chola empire, credit to Sundar only. He introduced me to the magical world of Kalki and Writer Balakumar through Pooniyin Selavan and Udayar.
A small self advertisement is - Had completed reading Pooniyin Selvan and Udayar and would be starting Gangaikonda Cholapuram. Thanks Sundar. :)
Sundar was pulled in and our requirement was put across enabling him to create a plan for 2.5 days - We would leave a Friday evening and would reach Chennai by Sunday night.
Sundar went back to his table and jotted out the plan as below.
| Sl No | Places to Visit |
| 1 | Veera Narayana Eri |
| 2 | Ariyalur |
| 3 | Gangai Konda Cholapuram |
| 4 | Rajendra Cholan Palace |
| 5 | Ammangudi |
| 6 | Pazhaiyarai Palace |
| 7 | Udaiyalur |
| 8 | Patteswaram |
| 9 | Thiruvaiyaru |
| 10 | Nisumbasoodhani Temple |
| 11 | Brahadeeshwara Temple |
| 12 | Tanjore Palace |
| 13 | Sarswathi Mahal |
| 14 | Tanjore |
Members, dates and vehicles got finalized but because of some or the other reasons this plan did not get materialized and was continuously pushed to various other weekends.
In the meanwhile i got married and was blessed with a baby girl, just kidding, the plan did not get pushed for so much time but by 3 to 4 months because of various but genuine reasons.
On 2nd Jan 2014, Sundar came to me and asked " Indha week polama saar" - (Saar is the Tamil pronunciation for "SIR"). By the way would like to make one point clear that, normally we address each other strictly by name only, but if the situation demands attention or someone wants to make a point then we would address each other by "Saar or Sir" - to make a point.
Helplessly i looked at Yathin asking him to come for my rescue, promptly he came in and said "Wokay Saar, polam" - (English Translation is "Okay sir, let's go).
Then we went back to Karthik to confirm whether would he be able to join us, but unfortunately he was tied up and hence we planned this trip without him.
Then we decided that the team should be a max of 5 only, the rocket science for arriving at the critical number of 5 is - My car can accommodate five only - SIMPLE.
So the dates were finalized from Jan 3rd noon to Jan 5th night and the members who would be part of this historical journey would be :
1) Sundararaman
2) Sasidharan
3) Sureshbabu
4) Sriram
5) Syathin ( as all the names are starting with "S", in the flow, wrote Yathin as Syathin - Sorry Saar)
The places of visits were modified slightly as per our requirement but no major changes and struck to our original plan.
But on 4th night Sasi had other plans, he went his way with another set of friends and history enthusiasts but with a promise to join us at Tanjore.
So the team became 4 and how it again became 5 by including Vijay is another short story in itself.
As Yathin and Vijay commute by train from Chrompet to Egmore, on 5th Jan morning, as usual, they were travelling together and Yathin told Vijay on this plan and one drop out in Sasi. Vijay,it seems, immediately jumped and in turn hit the top of the compartment with his head and said, Haa its's paining and scratching his head announced that- "AM IN".
So the journey started with
1) Sundararaman
2) Vijayabalan
3) Sureshbabu
4) Sriram
5) Syathin
To cut the long story short, on our way, we went to Vijay's place in Chrompet, gave him 7 minutes to pack his bags and hop back into the car.
Our journey started - Will continue.. keep reading.. Click for Day 1.5 here
1 comment:
nalla comedy saar. but v nice pics and story too!!
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