Ok so while this is really Day 1, y’all get the idea.

Woke up pretty early. I think had to use the bathroom. Full disclosure this anti-malarial medicine is driving my stomach for a loop. Not like the loops where you’re like “oh no”, but those loops that are like, “eventually this will be unpleasant” and/or “uh oh”.

Did a Y&M, took these snaps from the window, and then made my way down to the buffet breakfast.

First mistake was that it was buffet.

My. Goodness. I’m taking idli, sambar, masala dosa, vadai, ALL OF MY FAVORITES IN ONE PLACE AND UNLIMITED.

I ate so much food. Like, I knew I was over eating and I still ate. I just couldn’t help it. It was all TOO AMAZINGLY GOOD.

Got back to the room and cleaned up, and got ready to meet my cousin Srinivas.

Went down the elevator and the first thing that greets you is the HEAT. Also the sun. And its associated heat.

Srinivas was there, and we decided to make our way to the Sri Paraswathy Temple. It was located fairly close but we took an Uber there to expedite the process.

Srinivas was amazing in explaining everything to me. We got there and hopped out of the Uber. The first thing you noticed was…the heat. I mean just blaring at/on you. OK, so, we left our chupples (sandals) at this little room adjacent to the temple and made our way in. For those of you uninitiated in the temple game, shoes are a “no…no” (Consuela from Family Guy). You leave them outside and come back and get them later.

Srinivas then went and procured some flowers from the people outside selling them. These flowers you then take in and use to make an offering to the Gods.

Went inside and Srinivas paid for them to recite my name in two prayers to ‘invoke’ me…how awesome of him! I was thinking to myself, if ever there is a way to start a trip to India, it is at the temple and getting your God on.

We made our way around. This day was a special and auspicious day. I don’t quite remember it, but it was something between the full moon and new moon day, and lots of people came to the temple today. They were doing a special ceremony with the main God, so we did a couple of laps around to the other deities and said our prayers and paid homages. It was really special. You would give them the flowers, and in return, you received flowers. A natural homeostasis was maintained, really quite beautiful.

Little history: Srinivas told me that this temple as built around 700AD, with different kings/rulers adding to it in different time periods. The main diety is Vishnu in the form of Krisha as he was the charioteer for Arjuna in the Mahabharata, the super old school Hindu epic of war that teaches many life lessons (according to my aunt, Padmasani Periamma).

SO Srinivas and I paid our respects to the various Gods and wanted to see the major deity. Because there was a special pooja (ceremony) before hand, you could not see the deity. We began to wait in line, a line that Srinivas paid for us to get ahead in. We were told 30 minutes by one person, and then an hour by another.

Both were wrong.

We waited for 1.75 hours, and we were finally let in!

Talk about corralling people and feeling like cattle. That wouldn’t be so bad, not even with the heat. BUT, these people be pushin’, I mean like, pushinnggggg. There was this older man just pushing me out of the way and all I could do was start laughing. He just smiled and continued on his way.

THEN, these SHORT OLD LADIES were just pushing and getting in front of me as they said prayers. I’m thinking, “God sees you doing this, you know. He probably ain’t gonna be too keen on people being rude even if you just trying to pay homage.”

We got wrapped up and then made our way outside. It was hot. AND, I was wearing pants because to be able to enter the temple, you had to have your knees/legs covered. According to Apple, it felt like 105F.

We were deciding what to do. Oringally we were going to go to the museum and check out the bronze collection, but the nearly 2 hour wait ate away at that time.

In the end, we decided to go have lunch and be in home as close to the time that Anish, Srinivas’s son, came home from school.

Ok my bad y’all, definitely had to put the computer down and go to sleep.

But we back!

Ok so Srinivas and I got in an Uber and made our way back to his place, probably a 20 minute ride given all of the traffic, all of the time.

I placed by bags down and he spoke to his neighbor about letting Anish in as we were getting delayed and probably wouldn’t be back by 2:45PM to let him in.

We went to a restaurant called Pakwan, one of the best vegetarian restaurants in Chennai. Now, I don’t have any photos of this meal unfortunately. We was hongry and in a bit of a rush to eat and get back.

But, we began with some soup, and then a dish that had a little green chutney, some crisps, and some yogurt. Delicious. We made our way onto three different vegetable dishes, one with paneer, another with carrots and maybe some beans, and the last was a dal (lentil dish). All of these things were superb!

Then came dessert! First was a sweet cake in some almond milk with almond slices, then some chocolate ice cream, and then this nearly custardy jello-y thing.

Needless to say ya boy was stuffed. Buffet breakfast, buffet lunch. Living like a king but feeling so so so so sooooo full.

We went back to Srinivas’s place and I got a chance to meet Anish! What a wonderful young man. Super sweet and nice, and he entertained me in conversation. On this day he was selected Class Leader, one of 32 students, and they choose four a year. Quite the honor indeed and most deserved.

Srinivas suggested I lay down. I thought I was good and would be fine. Nah. He was right. I knocked out for about an hour and then woke up, seemingly in perfect timing to go visit my Annas (cousins).

We went to visit my Anna Gopal who works for the Indian government, his wife, and my Aunt Janaki (who is mom’s niece) and her husband Uncle Brigadier Jagannathan. We walked into their place (Srinivas, Anish and I) and we sat down and started conversating.

We spoke about everything, catching up with one another, telling them about what I’m up to, and all of the good things. It was really really wonderful! Aunt Janaki and Uncle Jagannathan had to leave as they were meeting one of Uncle’s old colleagues from college for dinner.

Anna Gopal, his wife and I continued chatting, and then Anna had a surprise for me! He told me that he was the family’s official photographer, and he had earmarked some photos of Mom and Dad from their wedding day to share. They may have seen these already, and I may have too (?), but you may not have!

 

We finished up chatting and Srinivas, Anish and I made our way to…dinner! My goodness so much food this day.

First we dropped Anish off at the restaurant so he could chill with Latha (his mother) as Srinivas and I went to go see Padmasani Periamma (Mom’s sister) and Nalini (her daughter). We went to the apartment and I gave everyone a huge hug. In looking at Periamma I am so closely reminded of my mom. They both look very similar, AND, they have similar mannerisms in speech patterns and intonation.

We got into the car and made our way to Cream Centre, another top vegetarian restaurant here in Chennai. Malini, Periamma’s other daughter, joined from work, so we had quite the large party!

We sat down, I next to Periamma, and she and I chatted about everything from yoga to food practices…and what to order!

I settled on channa masala (chickpeas in this saucy sauce), which came with a puree, a puffed up bread. My goodness its as so crispy and delicious. Everyone MONCHED on food!

…and y’all know me so I had to get dessert!

We got this brownie sizzle, which apparently I do not have a picture of. It is a brownie they bring on a hotplate and pour chocolate sauce atop at which point it sizzles because of the hot skillet. Really delicious…and temperature hot! Burned my tongue a little bit. Had to use the vanilla ice cream to cool it off!

We wrapped up with dinner and I was le tired. What a day! Full of family, food, and love. So wonderful. Srinivas dropped me back at the hotel at which point in time I promptly showered and made my way to bed feeling quite contented.

My apologies it took three different times to get this sorted and posted! But we good now! Day 3 in Chennai coming next!