Veerapaandi Kottayile --> Oru kannottam

This pongal has to be one of the best and most memorable and the.. Oh oh.. Im running out of superlative adjectives!! One of the greatest experiences that we ever had in life. We celebrated Pongal in our friend Professor a.k.a Thangam a.k.a Karupaiyah a.k.a Arun's house in Veerapandi, Theni district. We had 4 full days of complete excitement coupled with enjoyment coupled with sentiment along with some great entertainment as well.

Cast: Arun, Arun's parents and grandparents, Srinivasan, Aarthi, Mahesh, Raja, Sambashiva, Satheesh, Vijay, Santhosh and APPU.

Locations : Chennai, Theni, Veerapandi, Cumbum, Suruli, Andipatti, Vaigai dam.

We started on 13th night by 7.15pm by a S.E.T.C ultra deluxe bus and reached theni by 8am in the morning. From there, we reached Veerapandi in another bus. As his house was a bit far from the bus stand, we had to take an auto to reach his place. IT was a typical village full of houses built very close to each other and a different looking, well painted house greeted us and we knew evidently that it was Arun's house. We were greeted with glee by his parents. We went and did our bathing stuff and were served with hot dosas. After eating our breakfast, we decided to go to Suruli theertham -> A waterfalls in Theni district. His mom meanwhile had prepared a pot full of tamarind rice for us to keep ourselves and our mouths busy whenever we felt like eating. There were two places, one was the Chinna suruli which all people preferred to take bath in and the other one was some feet higher than the previous one which not many people preferred to climb too, as it was too steep and dangerous too. But, we decided to invade the territory and so, we began to climb our way up. Staggering and stuttering, we finally conquered the place and we decided to take a bath in the waterfalls there. We din't have much problems while taking bath apart from the fact that the stones were too slippery because of algae content. It was then that a dreadful incident took place. A guy from another group who was overexcited just took a wrong step and eventually slipped and in the process, tripped mahesh and his head was caught between the stone and the bums of Mahesh. He suddenly began to hold his face and to our horror we noticed that his upper eyelids were cut badly and blood was oozing out. So, we decided to call it quits for the day and climbed down again. Then, we had a nice filling of Tamarind rice, while Kudi and Arun went and had a filling of sambar and rasam rice served by a group of religious people. Then we left home and reached there at around 6pm.

Next day, I was the first to wake up and so, what I did was, team up with Arun's brother Seenu and sent the pet cutie puppy Appu to wake up the other gentlemen who were still in deep slumbers at around 8am dawn. Appu did justice to his job and it was Sano first and Raja next, scampering from bed and woke up. That day was Pongal incidentally. The festive atmosphere was already on, as different games were conducted from 6am by the Sports Association of Veerapandi. We played cricket against a local team and the series was squared at 1-1. Then, We decided to go to take a bath in the Mullai river on that day. So, we left at around 12.30 to Mullai river, only after devouring on some delicious meals cooked by Arun's loving mom. Although I was a bit reluctant in taking a bath in the river as I had already taken a bath in the morning, I couldn't resist myself after seeing the other guys playing in the river. So, all of us jumped into the river and in a few minutes, were doing some amazing stunts in the river which was flowing very fast. Mahesh, Sano, Arun and Seenu left the river very soon but meself and the remaining brats persisted to stay in the river and we took some adventurous photographs in some very dangerous and adventurous places in the river. Then, after we had had enough for the day, we walked back to our destination. Then, we left to the Karupusaamy temple and were served with sweet Pongal after some poojas. Then, we went and had a look at a hilarious Kabaddi match between Idhaya Nila and Winson. Winson won the match by just 1 point. Some entertainment was provided by Compounder and the commentator. Then we reached home and dozed off..

The next day, as usual, Appu woke us up and we decided to go to Arun's groves which involved coconut groves and also paddy fields and sugarcane fields and so on. We were astonished to see Arn's young grandpa, just 85 yrs old, working in the fields. Young at heart and younger physically too. Amazing!! He treated us with delicious tender coconut water and also some sweet coconut. Then, we had a nice nap in the coconut grove. Then, we also had some photos snapped there. Then, we went back home. It was mattu pongal which was celebrated with enthusiasm in Veerapandi. So, a pooja was conducted and his Cow and its calf were felicitated. Then, we were treated with some good Pongal. Then, we went to the next street where his uncle was conducting the same pooja. There, bulls were also felicitated. There, again, we had some pongal and we reached home to find idlis. Whoa!! But, we ate that too and finally went to bed after watching Manmadhan.

The next day was going to be our last day of stay at Veerapandi. By then, the whole family had become so close to us. We went to Vaigai dam and did all childish activities and also had some photo shoots in various locations in the dam. Then, we left home. Arun;s mom showed some photo albums and she also explained the various relations of their family which we couldn't remember at all. Good memory she had. Then, we gifted the FM radio which we had bought for Arun's sister who accepted it with glee and happiness. Then, we watched Manjuvirattu, where the temple bull was released. No one could stop it as it ran like a raging bull. In fact, it was a raging bull. Then, we bade goodbye to our family members and reached theni. His father accompanied us. He bought the tickets for us and we got placed in our buses. Then, we left home.

This marked the end of a great trip to Veerapandi. Although we missed a lot, we were actually happy with what we got, what we enjoyed on those 4 days. We will be back there in the month of May for the bigger event, Thiruvizha,. Until then, we will truly miss their family. In fact, Our family.

Key: We = Mahesh + Raja + Samba + Sano + Kudi + Meself...

P.S. For photos, click here --> PHOTOS