A new life?

Landing in Bombay one day before the immersion of the Ganapthy idol was not a bad idea but the day of the immersion was a big mess. The whole of Bombay felt like that main road in Triplicane.

Thank God, Madras is not this bad. Sunday evening here was a mess. Crackers bursting everywhere, policemen all the place, people dancing, processions and the icing on the cake was the rain. What a horrible evening it was. But I made most of my evening by choosing to do something more useful. I made a rush to FAME Cinemas in Vashi to watch Thala 50 - Mankatha. Ooooohhhhh!!! Whattay movie!!! I was impressed. The only thing that I didnt like about watching the movie or rather I deeply regret is the crowd. No one is shouting or whistling. Such an indecent and obedient audience. Of course they are all Tamilians. Dont know what Bombay has done to these people.

My Amex co-branded card with Kingfisher was so useful at the Chennai airport. I got a Priority Check-in and Priority Boarding allowance for my Gold Status. Also managed to get free lounge access. I helped myself with some really good food while I was there. Finally realizing the true benefit of using my Amex Card.

Bombay never sleeps. Very true, these guys where pulling the carts with the idol of the God all through the night. My guest house overlooks the main road and its probably the route in this locality that has been allocated for the procession. Every half hour I was woken up by drums. What a huge public nuisance!!! I hope I am not in Bombay for the next such procession.

Trains are always a pain here. For the next two weeks, I need to take two trains to work and its quite a bad experience. Its really disgusting to see someone crush your 60 EURO pure leather bag atleast 50 times during that one journey. Also while you are standing there, a few bald headed idiots would wipe their sweaty foreheads on your shirt while they rush to get down at the next station. No amount of cursing is going to help because these guys do this everyday. I was just one of today's victims. So from tomorrow, no bag.

House hunt has started. I looked at a few apartments today. Nothing great but still charging a bomb for the place. Thankfully this is New Bombay and hance its lesser than original Bombay. And on top of that you need to pay the brokerage as well.. which is sometimes 2 months rent. Ridiculous. What more.. if you renew the contract after one year, you need to pay the brokerage again for the next year. This stuff doesnt even happen in the UK!!!

Surutapalli

So, during our trip to Kalahasti last weekend, we decided to go to this place called Surutapalli. This small temple town or lets call it village, is on the way from Chennai to Tirupati. On the route to Tirupati from Red Hills in Chennai, you will reach a point called Periyapalayam. Take a diversion from there and you will head towards a place called Uthukottai. A few kilometers on the highway that leads you away from Uthukottai is this place.

The specialty of this place is that its the only Siva temple where the Lord is in a Sayana position (sleeping). In every other temple, you will find Lord Siva in the form of a Linga, but in this temple, you will find Siva sleeping on Parvati's lap.



Story goes like this - on the advise of lord vishnu, the devas and the asuras were churning the ocean of milk. the mandara mountain was used as the churn stick and the serpent vasuki was the rope. when the mountain sank, lord vishnu supported the mountain by taking the tortoise incarnation. this was the kurma avatara. the first item that emerged from the churning was a pot of poison. the devas and asuras rushed to lord siva and pleaded with him for protection. Lord Siva then swallowed the poison, but before it could go further, Parvati pressed his neck and the poison remained there permanently. That is why we know Lord Siva by another name -- Neelakantha (blue throated).

It is believed that Lord Siva, after consuming the poison, was very tired and drowsy. So, he lied down to rest on Parvati's lap at Surutapalli.

This place is famous for so many other deities. Here, the Dakshinamurthy is seen along with his consort Gowri, which is something you don't see in any other temple. There is also a Durga sculpture where the goddess is holding a parrot in her lower hand and the other lower hand is resting on her thigh. This is very rare for a Durga sculpture.

Another rare feature is at the entrance. The doorkeepers on either side of the temple are also with their consorts. In every other temple, you will find the doorkeepers alone.