The familiar places of madurai and the marriage

Mai’s cousin had come to pick her up from station. I handed the gift to her and asked her to bring it to the marriage. My mobile battery was very low and it got switched off. I told mai that I will call her myself in the evening around 4’o clock. I was then thinking of ‘Prem Nivas’, the hotel in which my uncle had stayed once. I rang home from an STD booth, but nobody picked up. I went straight to ‘Prem Nivas’, but to my dismay the no rooms were available. I tried ‘College house’, but no luck again. I was stranded.

Just then I remembered Vairavan, who is still put up at madurai. I switched on my mobile, to exhaust the very little charge that would come back when we switch on. I got a piece of paper from the ‘College house’ receptionist and wrote down vairavan’s mobile number. Then I called him, from my mobile. I took almost 6-7 rings before he picked up.
Thank god that he did. The time was 6:40 and he had to leave to office at 7:30. I knew I could make it to Aparna towers before that. He promised to leave the keys with his house owner incase I missed him.

I went to periyar bus stand. The bridge that led to Arasaradi (the one in which satya did a stunt when we were studying) was in all ruins. It was being repaired.

Got into the bus ‘C2’ and reached Aparna towers. My instincts took me to vairavan’s room, which I had visited a year back. He left at 7:30 and I got myself dressed up at 8:30.

• First straight to periyar, buy a charger (the one which can be operated with battery instead of power), have breakfast at ‘Ganesh mess’. This I wanted to finish off before 9:15
• Visit college and say a ‘vanakkam’ to all IT dept staffs and visit Thirunagar (This could get over by 11:00)
• Go to ‘mappillai vinayagar’ (for those of you who don’t know or have forgotten, it is not a temple but a theatre) and watch any English movie. This will be over only be 2:00 or 2:30.
• Go to any browsing center and sit there till 4 and then leave to church for the marriage.
  
  This was my original plan.
  
  Periyar hasn’t changed much actually … Pazhamudhir sozhai still in business, British bakery was decorated for new year and Thanga regal maintains its reputation to show decent movies! But the sachin-baba poster near the bus stand is missing. I reached Ganesh Bhavan and had my breakfast. The dosa was not as tasty as I expected, but still far better than what we get here in Vasantha bhavan or Hot chips. The time was already 9:15 and I realized my plan was too tight that I had to skip something. I decided to skip browsing.
  
  I walked the entire town hall road looking for the charger, which I did not get. Then I tried Nethaji road, the road parallel to townhall road (the bus stand road). No luck there either. Few said I could get it in the Bazaar. I forgot the name, when I enquired they said – ‘Meenakshi bazaar’. How could I ever forget the names. It is just 1 and half years since I have left madurai. It was far to walk and I took an auto. I got down there only to find people who does not even know that you have a charger that runs on battery. Instead of wasting my visit to the bazaar, I bought few DVD’s – 5 in 1 Arnold movies, The terminator series and 3 in 1 Jim carry movies.
  
  I could not imagine my day without mobile. I kept walking, now beside the bridge and reached the road near the Archie’s. There were few mobile shops there. In one shop (Madurai mobiles) he understood what I wanted and that gave me hope. He then said he actually has the charger I was looking. I was feeling ecstatic. He asked me the model. He searched and came up with Panasonic, Nokia, Motorola … but no Sony ericsson. Aiyo, seriyana kaduppu. I then got a regular charger that runs on power. But was wondering where to charge my mobile. I was thinking of a browsing center. But going there so soon would spoil my other plans. Took a bus from there to periyar.
  
  Got on to a bus to Tirupparangundram police station. The route was all-familiar (Pazhanganatham, pasumalai … ). After around 20 minutes, when I was looking at Aarthy (the drive-in) I felt the double-jerk (the speed breakers at the railway crossing) and I was at the college. I took ‘lift’ to reach the inside of the college. Went straight to IT department. The HOD had changed. I met the new HOD, got permission from him to visit the staff room. Met Emil sir first. He recognized me immediately. Then had a chat with him for about 5 minutes and went to staff room along with him. Found a plug there to charge my useless mobile phone. I put it in silent profile and left to see other staffs. I wished Muthuramalingam sir in advance for his marriage. Met venkatalakshmi mam and all others in the department. Everybody seemed to be happy to speak with an old student, especially venkatalakshmi mam with whom I spent chatting for about 20 minutes. I was there in the college for about 1 and half hours from about 11:00 to 12:30 and then started from there. But the best outcome of my visit was that my mobile was now up and running!
  
  I got a lift while coming. There was nobody while returning. I had to walk. But I got a chance to help myself with paneer soda at ‘Akka kadai’. It is still run by akka. I walked till bus stand and was waiting for Thirunagar bus. None came my way till 1:00. Then a fellow came by bike from inside the college and was about to turn left. ‘He should definitely be going to Thirungar’ My conscious told me. The usual hitch and I got a lift. I was right. Ganesh, 3rd year Computer science was infact going to Thirunagar(I actually don’t know him, that’s how he introduced to me while dropping me). He asked ‘Which year?’ I told him ‘6th year’. He was puzzled and before he would ask again I said ‘Alumni’. The reply was, ‘Oh!’.
  
  Thirungar is also still the same. Devi kalaivani is still in business, even though it lies out of the city. Impala hotel has not removed one single advertisement posters. But third stop looked a bit different. Looks like there will be road now. (But wont they think of putting those electric posts on the side of the road)
  
  

I bought a battery pair for the camera that I had borrowed from my uncle. I loaded it and went straight to take a snap of that demolished house, in which we took shelter for 2 years. I was getting prepared for a ‘before-after’ photo of our house to put right below this paragraph here. But I was shocked to see the house intact. In fact, looked better after a whitewash and new paint. How could that be possible? I was expecting debris. But heard from ‘Iyer Mama’ who provided us food that nobody has occupied since we left. Also heard that the house owner was reluctant to give the house for students. Consolation at last. We ‘Barbarians’ have saved our reputation.

By now, I had prepared my mind to skip browsing. I called mai. No she called me. No I don’t remember. I told her my plans to watch a movie and we decided to meet at the church by 4:30. Akila was also coming and we knew only we three were attending the marriage. It was 1:30 and 3 more hours to go. I took a bus from Thirunagar to pazhanganatham. From there I took a share auto to Kalavasal (I forgot the name of this place. I asked the name of this place to one fellow in the bus. 3 people replied and 5 advised me how to get there. That is madurai!).

It was 1:45 and the tickets were distributed only at 2:00. I survived the next 6 hours on Bourbon biscuits which I had from a bakery there. It was ‘Myth’ the mallika sherawat-Jackie chan movie in Manikka vinayagar and ‘6’ in Mappillai vinayagar. I took ticket for ‘6’ and the movie started at 2:25 sharp. The movie got reduced to ‘3’ instead of ‘6’, that I left the theater immediately after the interval.

People misunderstood ‘Karimedu’ for ‘Narimedu’ and misguided me from one bus stop to another. I got fed up, went near Solamalai theater and got a bus to periyar. Caught a straight bus to the OCPM stop at Narimedu.

The marriage:

Mai and akila arrived and they were late to read my message that said: “Innum 5 mins dhaan, illana 2 kola”. Fortunately they arrived just in time to stay alive. You do lose temper if you roam all over a city without knowing how to pass the time.

The marriage ceremony was gorgeous. The church was very neat and immediately on arrival I understood why my ever-special friend was reluctant in calling everybody for the function – The gathering was rather small than I expected.

The marriage ceremony began and I had more than one failure attempts at taking a good snap of the couple. Seemed like everything was over in a jiffy, but for the fathers who will never stop speaking. Why would one speak of ‘divorce’ in a marriage ceremony? I felt that odd, but the ‘congregation’ showed no reaction. Except for that, the couple looked great together. A wonderful event.

We left the church and arrived at P.T.Rajan mandram, by walk. Akila left early to catch the train at 8:45. I admired Arvind for the way he spoke on stage – very matured and composed without any signs of stage fear or any inclination to be over-smart. Mai and myself went on stage to congratulate the couple. Shirley tried introducing, but we had already got introduced to arvind ourselves! The couple had a small moment to laugh in an otherwise busy reception. The cameraman did not know to operate the digital camera that I gave him and he screwed up the snap. I am sorry; he did not take a snap. The crowd looked healthier at the hall than the church. Probably the church was bigger or many attended only the reception, which I am not sure. We had dinner; there were separate sections for vegetarians and non-vegetarians.

Caught a bus to the railway station from there. The only thing that I had missed was pazhamudhir solai. So went there. Got the bill for a lemon juice. Cant explain in words how good it was – a full mug of lemon juice when the legs are tired and mouth was dry. I could hear the muscles in my leg crying, but somehow managed to walk till the railway station.