yatra 2 - preface

The idea of the next yatra occurred while we were still doing our first. A few months after our return to USA, we started talking about visiting the Temples of the Southern part of india. Rao and Nirmala were in charge. My only role was saying 'yes' to their ideas. By the way, while we were in Calcutta, I asked Rao's sister-in-law Nagalakshmi whether they would like to join us on our next trip. She wasn't sure. I felt that she would enjoy our company. Since Nirmala and she have become familiar, I felt that it would not be a problem for them to stay with Nirmala while in Tirupathi. (Later on, her children also encouraged her and she and Rao's brother finally decided to join us). We did not yet decide on the month and the duration. At that time actually, they had to focus on their move from Kolkata to Hyderabad. So, the discussion was very limited. We left it at that and returned home.

By March of 2007, Rao and Nirmala started their planning. It was very tightly packed for me. Not a single day to rest. Rao thought I could get my rest on the trains. But we were to travel by car in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka. Then he wanted to attend a wedding in Jaipur. For this trip, Nirmala also was concerned. But he was ready to go without me to Jaipur. Fortunately, later on, he asked Nirmala to cancel our Jaipur trip (for reasons unknown to me). During my first yatra, I did not spend much time with my sisters and I promised to make up for that during my subsequent visit. So, I decided to go early, alone and spend time with my side of the family before the hectic yatra had begun. So, I flew to Chennai from Boston on Oct 13th to arrive on 15th. Spent two days there and went to Nellore by train. In those two days, my nephew Viswanatham picked me up from Mohan's residence and I was able to spend a few happy hours with his family. His children were very affectionate. Also,I did some saree shopping and visited three Temples. Mohan's family took me patiently to those Temples. His wife Priya is a very sweet lady. My daughter says she has a very 'cool' mother-in-law. They are a very loving family.

I have two older sisters. I stayed with my sister Adilakshmi in Nellore for three weeks. We visited our cousins, old friends, saree shops, jewelery shops, Temples. vegetable market and more. It was raining most of the time and roads were flooded. With open sewers in some areas, I was hesitant to walk on those roads. I very much wanted to visit my High school which was very close to my sister's residence. But somehow, it did not happen. Many of my favorite fruits were being sold in the market. But I was afraid to eat any because of the packed tour ahead of me. My second sister Pramada has four children. Her first son lives in Nellore with his wife and son Sanath. Sanath is adorable. Only daughter Padmaja lives in Kavali whom I visit every time I am in India. I could spend only one night with her family. Late on we were able to spend extra time with her second son Harish who is a student in Trichy. Pramada spends her time between Chennai, Bangalore, Nellore. I was very disappointed that I could not spend with her much. I spoke with her over the phone and we decided to meet at a wedding in November.

I left Nellore on Oct 28th by bus to go to Tirupathi, the day before a huge rain storm hit that area and flooded the region. Actually, I was to travel on the 29th, but Nirmala just asked me whether I could go the previous day, sothat we could spend time with our other friend Sulochana. Well. Sulochana lost her sick husband and moved to Tirupathi where she has some relatives. I was glad I did that. With the size of that storm and road conditions, I could not have made it to Tirupathi on the 29th. Also, I was able to spend time with my friends.

I forgot to mention that in the meantime, Rao's brother and sister-in-law decided to join us for the first leg of the yatra. They met us in Tirupathi on Oct 31st. Rao was coming from Boston on Oct 31st also. Nirmala arranged a Taxi to pick him up at the Chennai airport and bring him to her place directly. Well. it was full house on Oct 31st.