Mangalyam Tantunanena Mama Jeevana Hetuna

Isn’t this the wedding season? But then when wasn’t it good for wedding, at least when our friends get married!

When we get the news that one of our friend is getting married, we feel damn happy. This happiness is not just because he/she is married, it is also because we are going to meet some of our friends on this occasion after a long time. I too got the same feeling when I heard that my friend Sathiya was getting married on 22nd of Aug. To add more joy, another friend of mine Kalai had a good news that her marriage is on 21st Aug. Guess what?!?!? One was in Tirunelveli(approx 700 kms from chennai) and the other was in Perundurai(approx 350 kms from Tirunelveli). This blog is to share the events of my wonderful trip to you all readers.

My journey started on Thursday, 19th Aug in Nellai Express from Chennai Egmore. This was my first train journey to South Tamil Nadu and it was really a good one. The train reached Tirunelveli station at 8:40 AM and I took a bus to Thuraiyur(Near Gangaikondan). Had a very good breakfast as soon as I reached Kalai's home. Kalai and I started packing her things that were to be taken to the Marriage Hall. As evening drew, all the marriage formalities started to take place. Few of the Groom's relatives came to Kalai's house for that famous "Pen alaippu". It was around 6 in the evening when we reached the Marriage Hall in Kovilpatti. Since the Bride is naturally beautiful, the makeover didnt take a long time. Initially, there was a Prayer session and the Father gave the Engagement Saree to Kalai. Then there was a Mass along with the Engagement Ceremony. Kalai was really pretty in her Engagement Saree!!! :-) The Bride and the Groom exchanged the rings during the Engagement and there was a photo session with all the relatives and family friends. When everyone had left for the dinner, the photographer finally got some time with Hero and Heroine of the Day and took variety of fotos for the Marriage Album and CD.

The next day - THE BIG DAY for Kalai, was dressed in a Blue saree with a hair rolled up. There was a small prayer session and then the bride was given her Wedding Saree. The bride wore a Maroon saree with the veil and the groom wore a tuxedo. This is when the entire Friends party arrived. Poor girls, their ticket didn't get confirmed. So, they took a bus from Chennai to Madurai and then to Kovilpatti. The guys somehow managed to come by train and others by bus. We all took some snaps with the Bride. :) The Bride was then taken to the Church where the wedding was to take place. The Bride Procession took place in a nicely decorated car and after 15 mins of this slow procession we reached the Church.

One of the grandest part of any wedding ceremony is when the bridal party makes its entrance. The air is full of anticipation, and the groom anxiously awaits his first glimpse of his bride in her wedding dress. It was drizzling outside meaning that God was showering his blessings through them. As per the tradition, bride's father walks with her down the aisle. He lead Kalai along with the maid of Honor( Sam's sister) followed by us to the Front of the asile where Sam was waiting along with his best man(Kalai's brother). Once we reached the Front Aisle, Kalai took her place near Sam and we all took our seats on the second row. I got the mixed feeling of two movies - 27 dresses and VTV. Wow, that particular moment when Sam and Kalai said "I DO", I can feel the happiness all our friends shared. We were not allowed to take photos or video during the Mass and the marriage ceremony. Once the Mass was over, the photo session started once again. At around 12, the Newly wed left the Chapel and were headed to the Marriage hall for the Reception. The cake-cutting ceremony took place - the bride and groom jointly held a cake cutter and cut the first piece of the wedding cake. We took a memorable snap with Kalai and Sam and gave our gift to them. It was really pleasant to have Vidya's family during the Marriage. Since we had our train to Erode at 3 PM, we had to rush to the rooms that was booked for us and pack our things.

Only after reaching the station, we came to know that the train was late by 45 mins. We were 9 of us - Yoga, Vidya, Sheela, Bala(Meta), Seeni, K7, Vijayanand, Vignesh anna and me waiting for the train. The train arrived finally around 3:50. All of us were damn tired and as soon as we boarded the train, there was discussion whether we should sleep or sit and talk. Well, we decided on chatting. But as time passed on, few of us felt sleepy and started sleeping. The entire journey was really great. Spent half the time chatting, discussing office stuffs and the pranks we played in college. Seeni's family joined us from Madurai and we finally reached Erode at around 10:30. It was nearly 1 when we reached our rooms. Everyone was pretty tired and hit out beds straight away!

After sleeping for barely 2 hours, woke up around 3 AM and started to get ready. Wondering why so early, because the marrige was at 4:30 to 6:00. Managed to reach the Marriage hall at 5:00. All the rituals started at around 5:15 and most of us were hungry as well :D Sathiya wore a nice Bluish green saree and she looked damn pretty. The Groom wore the traditional pattu veshti and shirt with a turban. The newly weds were blessed by throwing uncooked rice to symbolize fertility when tying the knot took place. We initiated the process of gifting the couples. Took a cute pic with the newly weds and off we went to the dinning hall for the breakfast. As all of us were tired, we went to our rooms directly from the Marriage Hall. This was where I found out that our hotel was situated on the bypass to Kovai. Whenever I travel to Tirupur, I always wanted to get down there and take pics as the place was really green and it had so many nice spots. So, we took an hour rest in our and off we went to roam around the highway. Even though we were tired, we didn't want to miss the chance and started walking towards the flyover. Someone in our group thought it was dam. ;-) We climbed to the road and then pics on the flyover and it was really a memorable day!!!

We started back from the room at 12:30 PM to Erode and the guys had their train from Erode at 2PM to Bangalore and the girls train was from Salem at 4:40PM to Chennai. We waved waved goodbye to the guys in Erode bus stand and took a bus to Salem. My mom met us in Salem and went to the Railway station. The Bangalore train was late and we happened to meet the guys again in Salem. The Chennai train was late by 30 mins and my mom & me waved bye to Sheela, Vidya and Yoga and send them off to Chennai. I accompanied my mom to my home sweet home where I slept for barely 30 mins as my train from Salem to Chennai was at 9PM. So, that makes the completion of my trip! Wow, those 3 days were really memorable and the most enjoyed days after my college life. :-)

Memories - A time machine back to Hostel Days

I wanted to post this Blog on August 4th - First day of my College but wasnt able to publish because of my Project deliverable.

Life gives us brief moments with another. But sometimes in those brief moment we get memories that last a life time. This blog is nothing but to share the sweet old Memories of my College days which mostly covers my hostel days.

First Year

I was really mad at my brother for choosing NITT(RECT) over Anna University as I thought I would spend all my 4 years with him. Yes, he is a Lecturer in Anna University. Little did I know that I am in place which is going to be the BEST part of my entire life. So, there I was as a NITTian in Civil Engg department. I still remember the day when my mom left me in hostel and she was all in tears. I was consoling my mom that I will take care of myself and I am grown up to take care of me. Well, the moment she was out of site, I was in tears. Then I spent the first night in hostel memorizing the names, departments and places of my batch girls. Found that there were 2 more girls from my place.

First day to College - Aug 4th, 2003. All the girls from Opal C Block (our hostel)started towards the ADMIN block around 10 AM and we had the classes scheduled at 10:30 on the first day. We were all dressed up in nice simple salwars, dupatta pinned on both the sides and wore bathroom slippers. Everyone of us were that simple :D Hope the readers can understand that this is the code for the first years.

Well, I was put up in B1 section and my first class was maths by Alphonse sir followed by English class by Banumathi mam. I had my first ragging session during my lunch. Well, that was really scary but as days passed the ragging sessions were so funny. I still sing 'Mary had a little lamp' in Tamil - Thanks to Bindhya for the translation. The Freshie was really awesome and the movie was Thiruda thirudi but I missed that as I had some important personal work and had to travel to my home. I still regret for not being there for freshie but family comes first. Then came the semesters and as usual I was happy for the GPA I had got. I was very happy that I am going to be in home for a long period. :-) I met my Best Friend in my first year. We also had Section Damaka - Inter-section Competition. We had the Opal day celebrations and the Opal day movie was Udhaya.

Second Year

Now that we have moved Opal A block, I was in Room number 94 with Archana and Banu. We were 10 girls in our Civil Department. The Kodaikanal Survey trip was the most memorable trip till date. It was a 3 days trip - 2 days in Kodaikanal and 1 day to Madurai Vaigai Dam. We also went to the Dalmia Cement factory for Industrail Visit. This year,the Freshie and the Opal Day movies were M.Kumaran Son of Mahalakshmi and Thirupachi. The other Memorable event was the IPT I did - One was in TWAD Board, Salem where we were shown the water treatment plant in Mettur Dam, well it was a mini amusement park and some more places around Cavery River and another one was in Chennai Port Trust, where we explored Chennai a bit and got into all types boats present in Habour. We had the Hostel elections - Kalai was the Hostel Rep and I ended up as the Mess Rep. Talking about the mess, well can anyone forget the Vada akka. I remember Aishu shouting, akka vada venum!!! :D Dog rice, potato chips on the weekends, cutlets, lime juice and Breads for breakfast!!! Uff.. Good old mess :)

Third Year

I remember the days I used to take one of my friend doubles in Cycle throughout the college. I know bunking classes is not big achievement but bunked a Cycle test to confirm the Hall in Hotel Jennys for Anti Freshie he..he... Talking about Anti Freshie, we were about to go on a strike in the college because of some ragging complaints. I got a computer and I just love the night outs we put for watching movies. That was the year I got introduced to Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings, thanks to Lavanya. :-) I must have watched all the movies twice or thrice because people watch the movies in batches. The CPC exams and the mock interviews and GDs were very scary and all of us managed to pass the CPC exams. :-) Festember, Pragyan and NITTEST were great as usual. One of the unusual part was that a Pyscho entered the first years hostel and it was during the sem exams and thank God he was finally caught. Our Antifreshie and Opal day movie was Ghajini and Kalaba Kadhalan. We got a Opal Day Tshirt as well this year designed by one of our opalites with a logo on it.

Final Year

The period between the third year and final year was awesome. Most of the final years were in Block C as renovation work was going on in Block A and I was put up in room 333 along with 5 of my friends. The placement days were thrilling and most of us were haunted during these days. July 14, the day I got placed in IBM - My Dream Company. Our girls batch has 100% placement thanks to our CIC reps. :-) Most of us minimized our trips to home and spent most of the days in hostel chatting, watching movies and of course not studying. The new year eve celebrations and our trip to Thanjavur on New Year were great. How would anyone forget the 100th day Celebration which is nothing but the count down to our last day in college - The Mermaid, dance, make up in different costumes and the cake cutting, well we enjoyed thoroughly. Pragyan was yet another important event in our college and it was great! NITTFest was really awesome and since it was the last Nittfest for us, we were very senti about it and most of us gave our best shot in competitions. Our Civil trip to Cochin & Vegaland and our Opal trip to Yercaud was awesome. Our AntiFreshie and Opal day movie for this year was Sillunu oru Kadhal and Unnale Unnale. Opal day celebrations were great as usual, we got a tug of war and cricket competitions for the opal day. :-) My room eventually became the theater for watching all movies and my dear friends forgot that it was a computer and called it as a TV.

As all the exams were completed, my friends started leaving one by one. The leaving part was not most sad part but we still knew that distance will never be a matter to us. My Mom and bro came to pick me up from hostel and that's the end of my college life. The best part of my hostel life was there was no different gangs and no gang fights which was present in other batches. We still share everything to the entire Opal community and thanks to technology which helps us to stay together.

The best things in life is friends, dreams and memories and we get these most during our College life. They are so many people who come into our live but only few will leave memories which can be cherished life long. I like to convey that Opalites, you girls mean a lot to me.