Tequila

The first time I sipped on a Tequila was in Brunei in my friend Dr Ravis house ,he had just come from Bahrain where he working earlier and his family were yet to reach we were around four of us and he opened his nice collection and decided that its Tequila to start ,

I had a vague idea of it being a Mexican drink and its taken as shots nothing m ore ,i was told its taken with salt and lime to mask its a bit obnoxious bitterness ,the first shot wasn't very inspiring as we moved on to some beer as it was too early for alcohol with 55 % W/V 

The next time it was in a party where we downed some shots ,this time with a lime and some salt in our arm crook as it said so ! 

The  next time I was in Kualalumpur wanting to kill some time waiting for a Sengen visa I had applied and finding lot of street bars with pavement seating which I love and happy hours too I had a Mojhito and a Margareta for the price of one ie 25 Ringgits and a Burger to chase ,

This time the grinning waiter who took the first picture you see here brought me the tequila cocktail Margareta with salt sprung on its edges and a lime in a wedge and I truly enjoyed it though Mojito was always my favorite ,

Above all I loved the atmosphere of having a drink on a busy road watching people and not being considered a criminal like in most of Kerala ( where the only drinking can be in houses or crowded bars which put me off ) unlike say Bengaluru 

Tequila is Mexicos drink ,teh Aztecs who were it original inhabitants drank the Mesqal from cactus which was lamsot like absolute alcohol and caused strange hallucinations ,Tequila happened when the Spanish invaded and ruled mexico .

They extracted the Agave cactus juice and allowed it to ferment and then distilled it twice ,there were five types ,one that was used immediately SILVER

second after a few monhts  REPASADO

and third an year ANEJA

and finally fourth 1 to 3 years ANEJO EXTRA

there was also a mix between silver and Repasado called JOVEN

 preserving in oak casks somepwhat like whicsky aftert distillation 

one very interesting fact is Tequila is associated not only with Mexicans but also its most famous revolutionary leader called Macho villa though it is said macho was a teetotaler and issued strict death penalty to alcohol brewers and was an active supporter of prohibition 

though Tequila is generally taken as shots made bearable with salt and lime the Mexicans themselves sip it like whisky 

 

Road trip south India

 I read about an young couple going around India last one year in their Creta SUV .

They even slept in car and cooked on way .

Me and my wife both doctors who are having a more relaxed career now drove to a lot of places since September 2020 in South India stayed in hotels ,with friends and relatives houses rarely ,and in Chennai in our apartment for more than 2 months .

It started like this .

We had gone to Trivandrum in September 2020 for a wedding

We went after stay in Poovar Club Mahindra resort for three days .

Later we went Via Coimbatore to Yercaud in October 2020 staying in Sterling resorts .

On return we stayed in Coimbatore in in relatives house .

Returned via Palghat back to Cochin .

Then in our next trip via Coimbatore to Chennai with a stopover near Mettur in my classmates house for breakfast and stayed in Villupuram in another classmates home .

When in Chennai once we drove to Thirupathi temple via Tiruthani and to Kalahasti temple .

We were in Chennai till end of December and experienced a cyclone there !

We returned from Chennai in December 2020 via Trichirapalli

went to Sreerangam temple ,Thiruvanaikoil and Samayapuram temples .

Then we drove to Kodaikanal Sterling Kodaikanal lake view for 5 days

Then we drove down to Palani visited temple there and drove back to Coimbatore .

Then in January we went to Mysore for my nieces wedding

This we drove via Wynad

stayed in a Vythiri Mango stein resort

later in Thirunelli temple for a night .

later via Nagarhole forest reserve we drove to Mysore .

Visited Brindhavan gardens and Nandi hills .

After wedding in Mysore we went to a resort of Club Mahindra in Virajpet Coorg for 3 days .

We returned via Tellicherry and Kappad beach to Calicut stayed for a night .

We returned to Cochin .

On return we visited my ancestral village Parapanangadi Sharriyekil temple .

Later on our next trip for a wedding in Pollachi we went in a circuitous route .

We first reached Changhanassery in kerala via Kuttanad route .

Went to Chenganur Mahadeva shetram,Tiruvalla Sree Valabha shetram and later Aranmula Parthasarathy temple .

We then drove to Kottarakara stayed for the evening and night .

Went to Kotarakara mahadeva temple and famous Ganapathy temple .

We left next morning to pandalam Saastha temple .Then mala dam Aryan kaavu shaastha temple and Kulathu puzha temple .

Then we went to Tamilnadu Courtallam finding a meagre waterfall returned to Kerala via Shenkottah followed by the ghat forest section to reach Achan koil temple .

We stayed that night there .

Next day we were going to Tiruchendur discovered a hill temple for Murugan on way

We visited Then kasi temple on way too .

Stayed in Thiruchendur .

Next day via Thirunelveli to Rameswaram. Stayed there went to Dhanuskodi

Next day to Madurai and Pazamudhir cholai .

Next day we went to the wedding in Pollachi after checking in a hotel arranged .

We drove to Coimbatore .

Next day we went to Adi yogi ,in juggi Vasudevs ashram then to Vilayannur temple

We returned to Coimbatore and back to Cochin .

The last trip we went to palghat later to Guruvayur later Coimbatore back to Palghat .

We returned via Guruvayur .

We had some ground rules .

We took trip relaxed with flexible deadlines .

Think during Covid driving in your vehicle is safer .

One has time to stop and stare .

On our return from kalahasthi Tirutani to Chennai we took a country road .

It was very scenic but we got diverted due to breach of a dam as it had been raining .

The diversion took us to lonely villages hills and we were glad to reach civilization

.

We avoided night driving

We took turns with my wife relieving me on off .

We would check in to a hotel or resort by afternoon

Most were booked online or in our Sterling or Club Mahindra memberships .

Most places we stayed were satisfactory some surprisingly good .

We ate when hungry generally searching with ratings and in foodie pages reading reviews and were rewarded .

We went to exotic legendary heritage restaurants and i reviewd most and we enjoyed the food

In Tamilnadu we visited several degree coffee outlets and famous highway places like 99km .

We even had jigardhanda in Madurai .

In Kerala we discovered tea shops and tiny food places .

We took pictures videos even monkeyed with selfies and video vlogs me more of course .

Luckily we had no major mishaps a big risk in self driving .

The road from Kodai to Palani was bit stressful as narrow steeper .

Wife drove this stretch kept her cool when huge buses passed us on opposite side .

The most dreary stretch was Thiruchendur Rameswaram

Most exiting was over pamban bridge and to Danuskodi .

Yercaud Kodai Coorg and Wyanad were rewarding with cool climate and lovely sceneries .

Nagarhole forest reserve showed us wildlife .

Kappad beach and Vythiri lake were surprisingly maintained so well

The hill temple to Muruga on way to Thiruchendur pazamudircholai near madurai Thiruchendur palani temples were all spell binding so were Tirutani and Tirupati .

The Adhi yogi statue Siruvani falls and Villenur temple were exotic

Virajpet nearby waterfalls coffee estates in Coorg and typical Coorgi cuisine were rewards .

Kerala roads were narrower had more speed cameras steeper edges excellent tea shops

Tamilnadu had wider roads no cameras more tolls excellent rest areas .

We got no speeding tickets

Google maps made us independent but at times took us through narrow roads .

Thenkasi Temple

On 20th February we started from Achankoil in Kerala early in the morning on our drive to Thiruchendur a distance of around 300 km .

After descending hills entering Tamilnadu we took a detour to visit a beautiful hill temple for lord Muruga with a nice road upto temple .

After this on our drive we reached Thenkasi town quite a busy one .

We reached

Thenkasi temple with its magnificent tower .

This temple was built in 13th century a grand granite edifice with a huge wall covering all its smaller parts .

The pillars were excuisitively carved and the huge stone halls with deities were big and beautiful .

Parakirama Pandyan constructed the temple in 13th or early 14th century .

Later Nayaks of Madurai too added to temple .

The Pandya king planned to go Kashi or Varanasi as a pilgrimage when he had a dream in which Shiva tells him there is no need for him to undergo the long trip .

He is asked to follow the ant trail from an ant hill which leads him to a Swayambu linga amongst senbhagam trees on the banks of Chitraru river .

Here Shiva is worshipped as Kashi Viswanathar and Parvathi as Ulagaman .

Murugan and Vinayaka complete the family .

The new 180 foot tower was built as late as 1967 till then it had a flat tower .

The temple was particularly striking in its epic architecture and very rich art work .

As photography was not allowed inside the pictures taken are mostly from outer ring only .

It was cloudy when we went to this temple and we knew rain would come ,as it did as we drove via crowded Thirunelveli to Tiruchendur .

There were excellent food and coffee shops outside temple .

One act which impressed me was an young man carrying small plastic breakfast bags going to every person sitting on temple steps obviously the poor and asking them in a very respectful manner Ayyaa neenga sapteengala which meant Sir did you have any food and without waiting for answer leaving a good packet near him .

It was not only the giving but it was how he gave it which impressed me .

True devotion indeed