Around the World

This travelogue has actually been a backlog from sometime now….

This is about our trip to Madurai. It was many years ago……it must be more than 11 years now. Wanted to put down the pieces of memory that has stuck in my head.

Daddy worked with Madura coats then and he had one of his offices in Madurai. He used to be a frequent traveler there. In fact, at the beginning of his career he was in Madurai for many months as he was posted there.
Madura coats was not a very well known name. So daddy used to tell me that he was a part of the company that manufactured the Ameto threads. I used to feel too proud of it…. I had no idea what he did….somehow it used to make me feel that he actually made the threads himself. Amma used to do a lot of stitching at home…and she always used Ameto thread. I don’t know if my friends in school remember…but I remember that in 3^rd or 4^th standard I used to tell them proudly that my dad was with Ameto threads.
daddy has also told me that the brands peter England and all were associated with him…but somehow that never made me feel as great as Ameto threads….its only now that I realize it should have been the other way…..I feel funny now.

Madura coats had a club named Madura club which was about 15 minutes from the main city. This was the place where managers got to stay with families when they visited Madurai. Madura club also had a portion where the managers in Madurai had their houses….they stayed there permanentaly.

This place was like a resort and if you got into it….you would never know that you were in madurai….it looked like a European set up.

We have been to this place twice or thrice …. I am not sure…..

This is a description of once when we stayed there for the longest….

Daddy had to go to Madurai on an official visit…for a week I guess…or 4 days ….
we decided to go with him. Accomodations were arranged at the Madura club.

It was planned that we would have an ambassador with a driver to take us around the city while daddy was at office. As soon as we were there we had a choice between 2 rooms and chose the bigger one:)

The place was empty except for one of daddy’s colleagues in another room. We knew him also and amma was also happy to see his wife there. It was great. The first day we walked around the club and the greenery filled areas where all manager’s houses were. Sooper….beautiful colony.

At night we went to the drive in which was within the colony. They would air movies on Fridays and Saturdays or so…
One of daddy’s close friend’s daughter was in the hostel there as she used to study in the Vikasa school (meant for children of people working at Madura coats). We had a brief talk with her.

I was not feeling too well when we got there. so we decided that I would stay in the room on the first day. Amma and Sangu decided to visit Madurai meenakshi amman temple as I had already seen it and would not miss out on anything.
To know some details of the temple itself you could read http://allyouwannaknow.net/aroundtheworld/2009/06/05/trip-to-madurai-rameshwaram-part-3/

Lunch was a special for us as daddy’s colleague had left and we were the only guests at the club.
We had amma’s favourite casatta icecream….she said that was the best she ever had…

Then was an attack at the swimming pool….it used to be great…. No one around…just us….We me and my sister enjoyed it….

Next was a trip arranged to a temple in Ambasamudram. This is a smaller town where daddy’s another office was situated. It is a beautiful green place. We had lunch packed from the Madura club. We reached there… I don’t remember the temple very well….but I do remember that we had lunch there and came back

Then we found out the daddy’s another colleague was moving in to one of the rooms with his wife. He was another nice jovial person. He started coming with us for lunches and dinners till our stay there….it was great….we have laughed so hard at his jokes….
daddy had great friends when he was at Madura coats…. I miss them… and I think he misses them too:(

Next 2 days we spent the day time in the club ….just walking around (not sure why).
in the evening we went to Thirumalai nagar mahal. This was supposed to be a place where the king Thirumailai Nayak  lived. The original structure is supposed to have been 4 times the size of the current structure.
We were taken to this place in the eveing saying that the sound and light show in the evening is great here.
It was a funny show to me:)…but entertaining. They would put on lights and have sounds on a surround sound system while narrating the stories of Sillapathigaram
A more interesting fact was that the ‘kannalane’ song of the movie ‘Bombay’ was shot in this mahal.

After this we went to a shop where amma was told that you get great Madurai cotton sarees….but she was disappointed as there was nothing to her expectation……and so dint buy anything there ( I remember that the shop was in a dingy alley on the first floor or so…. I wonder why amma was so keen on that shop)

Next evening was a trip to meenakshi bazaar. This is something I vividly remember. There was this one person (I guess he worked as a sub ordinate to daddy or so…) who accompanied us. I am guessing he worked in the bazaar on commission…that is he takes customers to shops and he gets some commission on  they buy.
What is the meenakshi bazaar…it’s the flee market:)…I dint know that. When I asked…I was told it is like Burma Bazaar in Chennai… so I thought it is some hi fi market which was first build in Chennai and now adopted in Madurai and that only these two places had such a hi fi market with all imported stuff. I remember having felt momentarily hurt that Bangalore did not have one.
I was not util recently that I got to know that national market exists in Bangalore… how sad could I get:)

We went to this market….this guy who came along was a nice person. Daddy had to buy something in particular… so he asked us to go through the other shops with that guy. This was a time when mobiles had not invaded our planet….so we were told not to get lost in the crown and stay together….those days were really nice…..We never did get lost inspite of not having mobiles…

We did not find anything very interesting to buy. Then we came to a watch shop. I decided that I wanted a golden coloured watch…delicate looking….first thing I did was asked about the price.
Yes…that’s how it was….amma always taught us that no matter how much money we had…we should not waste it on something that was unnecessary or not worth it….I stand by it even today and I am proud.
We did that when we bought anything…although daddy had never said NO to anything….irrespective of the price or the financial situation we were in…
And I should say…. Sangu was better at not buying unnecessary stuff than me…. I used to get tempted more easily….I am much better now tho…

So…back to the watch…amma wanted Sangu also to buy one such watch for herself…but she dint want it.sangu has never been interested in such stuff…but she disappointed amma..
If I actually think of it…amma was as much a kid as us…she was much more excited in seeing the shops…and she was a great bargainer….my cousins used to say…”she would almost get the stuff for free”

Next stop was at a walkman store…I don’t know why I needed a walkman…but yes, I got one…a decent sony walkman because daddy felt it should be branded otherwise it may not work fine.

After that shopping we were back at the club.

Next day was not doing anything…we were leaving I guess…the swimming pool was empty and Sangu, daddy and amma were not interested….so I went swimming alone. I remember this pool very well because this was the only place where I jumped off the diving board….of course not from the top…from the lowest one…but that was an achievement to me.
I did not dive… I was supposed to go hands and head first…but I somehow always ended up jumping rather than diving.
Amma used to dive from the top board…she is great….
I am not so… I am a ….Scared cow is what Prashanth would call me…So jumping off the lowest board was the most daring thing I could do…and I did it…made me feel great about myself…

What still stands in my mind is the memory of the club….the beautiful greenery…the serenity….the peace and calmness…
I heard the club no more exists…it has been sold out to some resort or something of that sorts

That was kind of the end of the trip…atleast that all is what I remember.

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