Yezhu Gundalavada..Govinda ...Govinda...
Yesterday, Myself and Guns teamed up with Krishnan and family to make a special darshan to "Mr Venky" a.k.a Lord Balaji (whose UK HQ is at Birmingham...). Being a Saturday, it would be both auspicious and also relaxed day to meet Venky. Unfortunately, the trains from reading to birmingham were cancelled due to the recent floods in Oxford.
We started thinking that Mr Perumal has started his litmus test on us. We took the tickets and headed of to Euston to catch train to Sandwell and Dudley (which is UK equivalent of "keezha thirupathi". It was one of the annoying train journeys, i ever had my life where the whole journey took close to 5 hrs.
ShivHari (Krishnan's son) was there to entertain us throughout the journey. After reaching Sandwell & Dudley, we took a cab driven by a sardarji (i believe there are equal number of "Sardar Cabbies" to "Nair Chaiwallahs") and reached TiviDale (equivalent of Tirumala).
On entering the temple, we could see hundreds of expats/NRI (Non Returning Indians) going for darshans and teaching their children (I almost saw tens of Tabu and Kal Penns - who are caught in web of confused cultures and identities), trying to explain "what is a prahara ? the way to do namaskara...? (Enna kudumai idhu saravanan !!!)
After Darshan and couple of "pradhakshanams", it was time for "prasadhams" which are offered in the temple premises. We had a nice Payasam / Thayirjam (or) Dhadhi Annam (as iyengars call),unfortunately, there were no "madapalli"(s) to try out for typical "pepper murukku" / Laddus. We were desperate to hang out for dosas, but due to lack ot time and necessity to catch trains, we decided to skip it. This is my second visit to Tividale after the "kumbabhishekam" which happened sometime back.
On returning back Shiv gave us few cracking moments, with his "mazhalai talk"..particularly the words "achacho mann yennai"...(which nobody could tell, where he picked this one...). He was pulling the legs of few co-passengers (majorly brits, with his mazhalai talk..and ryhmes).
When we reached we were literally exhausted, just had enough time to see the highlights and hit the bed.
Yezhu Gundalavada..Venkataramana...Govinda ...Govinda...
We started thinking that Mr Perumal has started his litmus test on us. We took the tickets and headed of to Euston to catch train to Sandwell and Dudley (which is UK equivalent of "keezha thirupathi". It was one of the annoying train journeys, i ever had my life where the whole journey took close to 5 hrs.
ShivHari (Krishnan's son) was there to entertain us throughout the journey. After reaching Sandwell & Dudley, we took a cab driven by a sardarji (i believe there are equal number of "Sardar Cabbies" to "Nair Chaiwallahs") and reached TiviDale (equivalent of Tirumala).
On entering the temple, we could see hundreds of expats/NRI (Non Returning Indians) going for darshans and teaching their children (I almost saw tens of Tabu and Kal Penns - who are caught in web of confused cultures and identities), trying to explain "what is a prahara ? the way to do namaskara...? (Enna kudumai idhu saravanan !!!)
After Darshan and couple of "pradhakshanams", it was time for "prasadhams" which are offered in the temple premises. We had a nice Payasam / Thayirjam (or) Dhadhi Annam (as iyengars call),unfortunately, there were no "madapalli"(s) to try out for typical "pepper murukku" / Laddus. We were desperate to hang out for dosas, but due to lack ot time and necessity to catch trains, we decided to skip it. This is my second visit to Tividale after the "kumbabhishekam" which happened sometime back.
On returning back Shiv gave us few cracking moments, with his "mazhalai talk"..particularly the words "achacho mann yennai"...(which nobody could tell, where he picked this one...). He was pulling the legs of few co-passengers (majorly brits, with his mazhalai talk..and ryhmes).
When we reached we were literally exhausted, just had enough time to see the highlights and hit the bed.
Yezhu Gundalavada..Venkataramana...Govinda ...Govinda...
Comments