Namakkal my Uuru

There comes a time when everyone of us has thought about their roots. Either that or their parents have a thought about it and then we get conned to visit the Indian sub-continent where actually no one knows our name except that we are our grand dad's kids.

We're still a young country so Singaporeans whose roots are back in India still can rally on their grandpop's name to get around.

I went back quite a while back. If memory serves me right, should be in Primary 6 down there somewhere la. I always thought it was in Pri 4, but then ah cannot be cos I nearly took my youngest brother's leg off with a TVS 50 and I was already smoking by then. So, rough guess is Pri 6 la. To meet the SonTha UurU makkALs.

NAMAKKAL

Namakkal is also called as "Namagiri". The Namakkal Fort is said to have been built during the Madurai Nayak regime and is famous for the Sri Narasimhamurthy temple. The mythology of this temple is that after destroying Hiranya Kasipu, the demon ruler, Sri Narasimhaswamy (in the form of man & lion) was in a ferocious mood. After he cooled down, he was brought to this place by Sri Anjaneya, so as to stay with his consort Mahalakshmi who was doing penance there. There is a humungous Anjaneyar statue here. Solid worth a look.

As huge as these from Bangalore:

The parent district Salem has fairly extensive forest area of considerable value. The main products from the forest are sandalwood, bamboo, timber (silveroak and similar varieties) and firewood. The main source of revenue from the forests is from the Sandalwood trees which occur naturally in abundance in the plateau and hilly ranges.

Sandalwood? Did I hear someone say Sandalwood?

Kaveri is the main river of this district as well which forms its natural boundaries on west and south-west directions

Namakkal the politicking continues, Thalaivar says OPEN the GODDAMN river la.

Cheran, Cholan, Pandian and Pallavan are the supposed "Multiplex" screens offered. And as dusty and dirty as they are, still are the best theatres in the precinct.

Kongu Restaurant serves the motherfuckin best Chicken 65 in the entire universe.

Alas, the trip was marred by who else but the relations. One woman came all the way back to our hotel to give us back a sari cos she said we purposely chose a nicer one for her sister-in-law. I mean come on la, YOU go to Kumaran Silks and tell them I want 50 pretty pretty saris but all same colour same design. The doofus salesman also will give u 2 slap, ask you turn around and call him daddy.

Not to mention, long lost uncles hounding my dad for some "investment money", touting his mechanic shed to be the next Tata Birla in the making.

How about the uncle who committed suicide barely two days after we left for home. After being the epitome of warm hospitality in the 2 days we put up at his place.

Alas, about the only thing that was exciting enough for me at that age was sneaking away for smoke breaks. Everytime the van stopped for a water break, I'll turn left, my cousin turns right, my dad about turns and we walk off in trident formation till we get to a back alley, hastily finish up the fag and rush back. The earlier the better. Last one in always gets frowned upon by my mum and aunties.

But great place though, did I mention there are only 2 major castes populating the district. One is us, Kaunders baby [quite unlike your tamil picture chinna kaunder with malligai poo round his wrist and a sinister smile on his face, looking for the next nymph to deflower]. The others are the Mudaliars. Well, heck care la. Both also known as violent fellas. Basically, the Mudaliars chop someone and the Kaunders action bedek by doing some sort of modern katta panchayatu [village council].

Adieu!