"Our OOTY trip "

Went to Ooty in SEP 2010 with my family member’s. It's a well planned trip & we enjoyed a lot.

Day 1: (3- Sep 2010)

We left the home  @ 7:00 PM, had dinner @ Saravana bhavan, Egmore. Reached Chennai central station on-time. To our surprise my uncle  & anty came before us. My cousine sush & vivek  joined us later. We had a nice photo shoot in the 8th Platform where Nilgiri Express was parked. The things are going fine till 9:00 PM, the train left & my bro(vamsi) missed the train. He came in Alleppey express (Unreserved) & caught us at Mettupalayam.

Day 2: (4- Sep 2010)

We reached kovai @ 5:00 AM, as planned we refreshed ourselves before reaching Mettupalayam @ 6:15 AM. vamsi took an un-reserved ticket from Mettupalayam to Ooty & he was in the queue. After Photo session in the front side of NMR train we had Breakfast there the station. It was a malayali stall & the idli was somewhat good. The NMR train started nicely @ 7:10 AM exactly. We took more number of photos until we reached Kallar. After that there is a high climb area, where the train was not able to run further. So the Authorities decided to return the train to Mettupalayam. We’re very much frustrated & the train was returned to Mettupalayam. They railway authorities told that they will arrange a bus to Ooty, but the plan was cancelled & we get the bus to Coonoor, as the bus to Ooty was over crowd. We reached Coonoor after 12:00 PM. From there we got another bus to Ooty. We reached Ooty and went to “Hotel Nahar” in Charing Cross. The Unlimited Lunch costs ~ 85 rupees, except the rice quality the lunch was good.( We can go with a family, as the restaurant is so nice.) A very good travel guide we got. Sarath arranged a very nice cottage in the uphill of Ooty called “Delightz Inn” After refresh in the cottage, we went for Boating. 

                                          

There is a chill breeze & mist wherever we went. Bought Dinner for the day @ Dhaba (Non veg), Hotel saravanas (veg) & returned to Cottage @ 7:00 PM. We started the camp Fire @ 8:00 PM, where vamsi, vivek taught us a padukas dance. Sure, no one will forget the movements, steps & the talk that made laughs. With pakoda & chips, I enjoyed the chill weather. After 9:00 PM we ate dinner (Kanchu pona chappathi….) & went to bed after 10:00 PM.

 Day 3: (5- Sep 2010)

 Most of us woke up @ 6:00 AM & I shooted some colorful pictures of morning Ooty. 

                              

After having idly (7.50/each) & bread jam from the delightz inn cottage, we vacated the room at 9:00 AM. The room rent is 2,250 & the camp fire costs 800rs. We fill our water cans & went to Pykara. First we saw the pine forest we took some snaps, went for boating, then to falls & then to 9th mile – a shooting spot, where the mountain is covered with green grass, where some of us went for a horse riding (300 for a full round, 100 for a half round). Then we went for unlimited lunch (Good) @ Hotel thendral after 2:30 PM. Then we went to Botanical Garden after 3:00 PM (Spent very less time), as we need to reach Doddabetta before 5:00 PM. The valley is covered with mist & we hadn’t seen the beautiful view. One thing we learnt there is not to eat radish which looks like Apple at a cost of 10 per packet. From there we went to Kattabettu (my uncle’s native, on the way to Kotagiri, lies off Kotagiri – Coonoor road). We reached there after 7:00 PM. It’s a village of Padukas, we got a warm welcome by them (as most of us never expected a welcome message form neighbours). vivek showed his school, his mother made us a chicken kulambu (Non veg), Avarai kulmabu (veg) with meals for our dinner. After 10:00 PM we slept in his house.

Day 4: (6- Sep 2010)

After 6:00 AM, we went to shit, then we played foot ball in the school ground. His mother made us a NA2 (paniyaram, taste like appam in Madurai area, made from ravai & looked like a poori). After breakfast we left there @ 11:00 AM. We went to lambs rock in coonoor, there we saw the valley is full of mist, we had a good time there & bought spices, oils (which was not cheaper as expected). Then we went to Dolphin’s nose, there we saw the beautiful view of Catherine falls. From there we went to Tea factory (Brooke lands, Karanchi). There they showed how the tea leaves are processed. Unfortunately the Factory is holiday on Monday, but they showed the process (10/- ticket). Then we purchased tea packets @ 180/kg. From there we went to buy chocolate @ Mayur outlet. The chocolate costs RS 40 per 100 gms, RS 110 per 300 gms. Then we returned to Coonoor @ 4:30 PM. As the cost of entrance for Sims park looked too high (20 per each) & we doesn’t have the time, we changed our plan & bought varukki in the Indian bakery (close to bus stand) @ 90 per kg. We left there nearly @ 5:30 PM & reached Mettupalayam @ 7:00 PM. vivek & vamsi went to buy idlis, Parthi went to check the status of reservation, as we’re in RAC. Our tickets are confirmed, we left there @ 7:45 PM, had our dinner on the way to Kovai & nearly @ 9:30 PM, vamsi get into the train from Tirupur, as he left us from Mettupalayam & went to his banglore (for studies).and then we all re-turned to Chennai……………..:)

Hello readers out there!Abirami Parthiban here.

Hello readers out there!!

Abirami Parthiban here. This blog writing on childhood memories  made  me  remember  the  Halloween  of  my  8^th  or  9^th  year . I  had  spent  the  night  at  my  friends  house  , and  they  went  trick  or  treating  . I, being from a very conservative family, knew I wasn’t allowed to go. However, there  was  a  Halloween  alternative  near  my  neighborhood  that  I was  going  to  with  those  same  friends . I  had  asked  my  mother  if  I  could  cut  a  paper  bag  and  dress  myself  as  a  native  American. She said “That’s a pretty much good idea”.  well,  when  it  was  time  to  go  that  alternative  gathering, I  was  told  I  had  to  take  the  paper  bag  off,  and  she  said  she  never  said  I  could  wear  it  there! She  thought  I  was  just  going  to  wear  it  at  my  friends  house! To  this  day, I  still  do  not  understand  her  logic .This was one of my memories where I still think why it has no logic.
A mystery memory to my childhood memories.

Hello friends out there!Abirami Parthian here.

Hello friends out there!!

Abirami Parthian here. My  family  used  to  go  on  road  trips  with  another  family  who  had  two  boys  around  my  age  on  one  of  those  trips  ,I  rode  with  them  in  the  middle  seat , as  usual. The  only  difference  was  that  there  were  popcorn  crumbs  everywhere .The  younger  one  took  it  upon  himself  to  make  spitballs  and  aim  them  at  me  it  was  all  in  good  fun  . I  of course  , squeaked  and  begged  him  to  stop  aiming me countless times . His brother told me, “I’ll protect you”! and  covered  me  as  best  as  he  could. Looking  back , I  am  glad  that  their  parents  didn’t  interfere  . I  now  have  a  great  memory  and  something  to  carry  with  me  when  I  have  a  boy  who  throw  spitballs  at  little  girls ,as  long  as  there  is  no  mean  intention , I  think  I’ll  let  them  have  their  fun  so  they  can  have  memories  just  as  I  do.

Hello fellow friends out there!!Abirami Parthiban here.

Hello fellow friends out there!!Abirami Parthiban here.

I had two best guy friends as a child. Our mothers were best friends since their childhood as well, so we saw each other .We would do everything together from playing in the park , to arguing if Santa Claus was real or not ,to playing video games along with them, board games, to watching our favorite cartoons and movies . We would also have drawing “contests”. We’d each make up a scenario that we all individually had to draw. One of my friends came up with “road into the sunset with mountains “. I won that round but that does not matter. Anyway, this memory reminds me of the good times with my friends; thankfully, we still keep in touch with each other.

HELLO READERS OUT HERE..!Abirami Parthiban here. The second memory I am going to share with you is my memory with my grandfather. Sometime when my grandparents were visiting me from thiruvallur.I was playing in the playground by myself, throwing huge rocks from the highest part of the park. I was trying to break them suppose; later on I saw one that broken with a sparkling I, being the budding archaeologist, thought it looked like amethyst, only it was black. I showed it to my grandfather whom I thought knew everything on earth; he looked at it and said I think that is a black diamond. I never quite believed him, but I was also quite innocent. I wasn’t even sure if he was joking but still I still have the rock. There are so many cool memories in my childhood and this is one among them.

my first visit to circus...

This post is about my first visit to circus. I was six years old. My father took me and my elder sister to visit the bombay Circus in the evening. had already got the tickets in advance. There was a big crowd of people. A huge tent with many lights were put up. Film music and songs were being played on loudspeakers. I was very excited. Soon we entered the circus-tent and occupied our seats. There was a large gathering of people. The performance began with the appearance of two clowns. They wore multi-colored dresses and funny caps. Their faces were painted white, red and green. They had artificial big noses. They performed several funny tricks to our great amusement. It was followed by one-wheeled cycle-show and rope- walking. It was great fun to see a monkey jumping into a fired ring continuously and cycling . Next, a group of elephants performed tricks and danced for a folk song. There were many more shows, everything were enjoyable and exciting. We returned home late at night and immediately went to bed. It was a wonderful and memorable experience for me. I haven’t watched anyother circus live.I am waiting to go to a circus again.

                                                                           

                             By       

                           Muthumeenakshi.a.m