Srilanka- The departure

So, now that we were done with the Planning and Research, we had our ticket and our bags were packed. Since we were flying out of Madurai, both of us left our resp destinations the prev night and reached Madurai morning 6ish. We met, had some breakfast, freshened up and hailed an auto to go visit the Temple. The auto driver offered to wait, and drop us at the airport for Rs300. We agreed, esp since it gave us peace of mind regarding our luggage [ we were wondering if we had to lug it around] and we had a ride to the airport [12-15kms away]. 

He patiently waited the hour while we did the Temple Darshan and dropped us off at Madurai airport. We were early, we had reached by 9.15 when the gates were opening only at 10. We sat and waited in the lounge. At 10am, we checked in our bags,  and were asked to fill out Immigration form - it contained fields where you had to fill in- Name, nationality, city of residence, date of travel, passport number, issue & expiry date and the address we were headed to [make sure to mention city name if not the entire address]. Once this was done, we once again had to wait for a while for the Immigration counter to open.  A man checked out passport and the form, and put a stamp and sent us on our way.  

Always carry your passport and a copy of the ticket/visa along with you!!

{yes I clicked this selfie after the stamping]

We made our way upstairs and waited few minutes before security check in. Once that was done we were off to the gate to wait for Boarding call. 

Ta da.. we were all set to hop on the shuttle and get into our flight. Lo Behold, I noticed that our flight was a small one, a Spicejet "Laung" Bombardier Q400. Our seats were in the 18th row and so we had a short walk to our seats.! Buckled in, we were all set to take off.. 

And this began our Sri Lanka Holiday....................... :-)) 

[Skywatch Friday] Reaching high

This picture was shot during my visit to Madurai enroute Rameswaram 2months back....

The beautiful Madurai meenakshi amman temple in madurai.. 

 For more beautifu skies, click here

Day 3 - Burnt milk and life

It was time to pack our bags & belongings and move to a new town..Agreed, i was a baby and wasnt aware of the chaos that my parents went through during this transition, but what the heck, this is my blog, am gonna write the way i wanna cook it up!! :D

The place we called home for the next 4years was the beautiful city filled with Temples - Madurai ... The only home i remember was where we lived on the 1st floor and owners/rentals were on the ground floor..I know there were more than few families that moved in and out... the one family that left a mark was one with 2kids- a boy and a girl with whom i used to play, and also because i was totally fascinated with their fish cooking process.. there were these 2other girls from neighboring houses who used to come home, and i distinctly remember going to the terrace and  playing around with skipping rope.. and how one girl would simply lay the rope on the floor and hop across... :D 

Oh, did i mention i started school in this town? yep, TVS school [Am amazed, surprised and feel good to see there is a wiki pagefor the school] was where i learnt the alphabets and that there were more than one Aarti in this planet!! :D  .. There were 4 Aarti's in my class, don't ask me their initials or surnames, i was a little girl back then...

The highlight of school was the cup of milk and biscuits we got during lunch time... we would all have our lunch, and before nap time[we would roll out mats and knock off for a while on the floor in our classroom].. For some strange reason, these are instances that are registered in my brain very clearly, as if it happened yesterday. An aayya would bring a huge vessel with milk and serve us in small stainless steel tumblers, and i used to love that milk.. and a milk bikis [did we have them back then?] following that before zzz... We used to grate through the biscuit, almost like a game among us to see whose biscuit lasted longest. 

Even today, mom mocks me saying "she used to love that burnt milk in school, asking for 2nd helpings and at home wouldnt drink a glass of good milk"... :D 

I got a chance to revisit Madurai last month,and the sense of deja vu that hit me as i got out of the station was wow, cant be described in words! felt proud, felt like i was home...  The majestic Meenakshi amman temple welcomed us with open arms, giving us good darshan and heping me relive my childhood days.. 

So wish we cold have visited the famous Thirumalai nayakar palace, but no time- vaguely remember the Sound & light show i've seen there... 

Did drag friend and her cousin to the College House hotel, near the station to have a masala dosa and coffee.. Back when we lived in madurai, apparently we visited the hotel so often, that after a point the waiter knew what to bring the minute they saw my face - a plate of poori and one rasagolla...!!! 

Such fond memories!!