[Ice]

Originally Posted by venki.bala

ICE: I had a classmate from Mr. Shankarlingam's family. His name was Arun kumar. We did Chemical Engineering together at SRM Engg college, chennai. We lost touch after that. Are you guys related to each other?

Venki : not able to place him - sorry. Where is he now? And which batch were you?

[venki.bala]

Originally Posted by Ice

Venki : not able to place him - sorry. Where is he now? And which batch were you?

We did from 1997 - 2001. He went on to do his MS at New mexico Alburquerque.. I guess. After that lost all contacts. His father used to be Operations - VP at India Cements, IIRC.

[Ice]

My thirst for Kallidaikurichi was satiated last weekend, albeit temporarily. Taking advantage of the long weekend, I trundled down south with the wife and toddler in my new ride, a Pete'd Innova of 2006 vintage.

Bangalore greeted us with a cold drizzle Thursday morning. I'd loaded the car with our 7 bags (1 for me, 1 for the missus, and 5 for the child) the previous night, and we were all showered and in the car by 5.15 AM. Getting out of Bangalore was a breeze, with the rain keeping highway amblers off the road, for the most part.

The Innova is a 7-seater with 85K km. on the clock, and is the latest in my tradition of acquiring our family cars after others have had fun with them for a substantial period of time. I got the Octy at 75k km., and moved her back home to Chennai after doing 50k km. in 18 month. The Innova had been driven mostly by our trusty chauffeur, Shanmugam, who treats our cars as his own in the best possible way, and was in fine fettle when I inherited her. I sprung for a Pete's box, and its done a fair bit in bridging the performance and driving pleasure gap I felt between the Octy and this one. More on the car in a soon-to-be-kicked-off ownership thread.

Coming back to the drive, I enjoyed the visibility the Innova afforded me. I found the combination of the rain and on-coming headlights less of a problem than I would have in the Octy. However, there was one annoying problem. The right-side wiper blade kept juddering constantly. These are the second set of new blads, and I can't seem to solve this issue. I suspect it could be the spring in the wiper arm weakening. Thoughts?

We made good time, and were in Salem by 7.45AM. The GRT breakfast helped us keep body and soul together, and after a quick tank up we resumed our journey. The drive was largely peaceful, and we reached Kallidaikurichi (which is 45 minutes South-West of Tirunelveli) by 1.30PM.

My grandparents were overjoyed to see their great-granddaughter, and the rest of the day was spent in exchanging stories since our last visit. I took this grand old lady for a drive:



We went to the cottage in the forest the next day, spending pretty much the entire day there. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures to show, but the trip's highlight was spotting a wild boar snaffling some left-over masala dosa.

Saturday was a busy day for me. We visited a bunch of relatives who were thoughtfully put up as far away from Kallidai while still remaining in Tirunelveli district. We however had time for a quick dip in the Thamaraibharani river that flows beside our village.



Sunday morning brought with it a promise of a hot day for travel, and I leave you with this view from my room on the first floor of our house.

[umashankar]

Hi Ice,

I am from Kadayam, currently living in Bangalore.

Send me a mail to pumashankar@gmail.com, we will stay in touch