Trivandrum, December and HEAT!

December is my fav month of the year. Hmm.. it started perhaps with my school... because I loved singing carols along with the school choir(I hardly remember much of those now ).

I was studying in a school with a HUGE church in the background. All the classroom windows were oriented towards it and it was a school run my the Sisters of Charity organisation. So... the number of associations I have with the church and Christmas are... like old childhood memories. :)

Well this is the church.. (Pic courtesy from Google) my school was just adjacent to it.

Then there is the winters in Hyderabad, man... too cold it gets. This was the best part of December for me... the chill in the air. The coffee freak I am.... I used to love the chill, the Gulmohar tree in front of my home and the coffee. Yeah.. even as a kid I insisted on having a coffee rather than Boost or Bournvita.. amma could never manage to make me have those.. :P

And December vacation was the best of all because it was the season of the start of Thiruppavai. Thiruppavai is the month before the first phasal for farmers. It ends with the Sankranti or Pongal. For me it meant, a month long of waking up early and doing huge rongolis in front of the house, waiting for the Ramadasu to come along to give him offerings. I always had a fun time seeing my granny wake up early in the morning, in the chill doing the muggu/Rangoli in front of the house telling me stories of Ramadasu and Gangireddu and how it used to be in her village when she was a kid. She came from a farmer's family, so it was all the more important for them.

That is the picture of my last year's Pongal in Guntur (Andhra Pradesh)

Well, this year in TVM its been an all together different story. There is the Christmas cheer everywhere, almost all the homes have nice stars put up in front. Some have huge decorated Chrsitmas trees put up. It cheers me up so much to see these. Just walking on the roads in the night is so beautiful with everything lit up. Most of the government offices are nicely done up, all the churches I see everyday... The Palayam church, the one at the Vellayambalam junction, everywhere its just so cheerful. The best part is the many feasts that came up in the city. Almost every open space is converted into small shopping-eating feasts, offering home made cakes and chocolates.

My personal recommendation is the feast on the Pattom road, Four-square Home made foods. They have the BEST assortment of cakes and pastries. A little expensive to eat a lot of varieties, but i managed to eat many of them by going almost everyday. :P Yeah, all the ladies there now recognize me and know my story.. :P Me and my big-mouth of talking to strangers! :P

So TVM and December has given me different kind of experiences. The worst part though is the heat. First I am not able to take it that in December I could be sweating. Second I almost got a sun-stroke yesterday. First time I got this sick in TVM. I had a day full of travelling and being on sites, first to Vilapilshala then Palayam then Karimadom then Vellayani... uff.. all this in one day. I was out by the evening. I had a late lunch and the dehydration got to me so much that I was continuously puking the whole of the evening. Nothing could help, have water.. puke off... ORS.. puke again, lime juice wasnt even getting in. Having no choice left, I slept like that the whole of the evening to 8 in the morning, which made me better. Today the weather is so much better.. Ah.. how I wish yesterday was like this.. :) I wake up in the morning and I hear the Ku-koo brids.. :)

Ku-koo se yaad aaya... its a name here.. a person in my office is called Kukoo.. thats one more weird thing I saw in this city-Names... Kukoo, Jijin, Sena, Sini... then they can also be old Hindi movie names like.. Aashik, Sajan... First thought that came to my head when I heard these names was... were you born before the movie released or after it..? :P Thankfully I had'nt said it out, as all the names I mentioned are of my superiors at work. :P

Respect for you sir/mam, just that these are Hindi movie names or Bird names for us and I cant help smile. Its in the same way a North Indian cant help giggling when you say to him.. "Chumma da.. " well.. Chumma in North India means kiss, while here it means.. "Just like that".. and one uses it a LOT in every day talking. :)

Chumma-Chumma de de... such a popular song it was.. LOL!

Also.. it is a little cool in the nights, the night walks with hardly anybody there on the roads homes decorated and paths strewn with flowers are the best.

Decembers are special.. always.