Palani trip & the lessons learnt

Last weekend we went on a trip to Palani - the hill top temple of Lord Murugan. It is at an elevation of 1500 feet above sea level (click here for more info), so I may not be doing justice to it by calling it a hill.

On saturday morning we took the train from Bangalore to Coimbatore, the little boy's first train trip.. It was a welcome break from the long drives we used to take.. (somehow after getting back from US we only made trips in our car, could be because of the unexpectedly improved highways in the south or because our confidence with long drives).
Within 5 minutes of the train starting, the boy got very fidgety and we mistook it as hunger.. within another 5 minutes of stuffing the milk bottle into his mouth he threw up all over self and the seat.. suddenly the journey started looking VERY long! thankfully, rest of it was relatively uneventful.. We reached coimabtore and halted there for saturday.
Sunday morn we hit the road to Palani. The drive was beautiful, with windmill dotted fields and laid-back little villages..The plan was to get the boy's head shaved (tonsured) at the Palani foothills (a tradition followed on his dad's side) and then climb the hill and pray to Lord Murugan. We were armed with new razor blades, dettol and toy to distract the boy during the procedure.

On reaching the Palani foothills, we halted in New Tirupur Lodge for a quick breakfast, eventually Dinesh Karthik the cricketer, was also eating his dosas there, that caused quite some excitement among the cric enthusiasts in our group.

Post breakfast we entered a courtyard where the head shaving is done. We bought our tickets and were pleasantly surprised when they gave us brand new razor blades (sealed in its packaging) so that we can make sure they are new and do our disinfection of the same. We duly sterlized them in dettol and handed it over to the barber. Next few minutes were a scream riot when the barber struggled and the boy gave a good reason for the struggle.. the toy we had taken - a little beetle toy car ('cos we found he was fascinated by toy cars) was of no use. the boy got some cuts on his head and before we could react, the barber put some grey cottony stuff on the cut which looked like webby dust that we find in long uncleaned corners.. that totally psyched me out.. bro ran to buy some cotton, did not find any and came back with bandage cloth..

Anyway, all hair shed from the little head and a warm water bath later, we took to the steps that lead to the hilltop. We were running after a very tight timeline and had to make the whole climb without any rest. There is a cable-car and a winch facility available but my faith in temple technology is very feeble.
The run up the hill bore fruit when we found that the temple door closed just after we got in (for the afternoon puja prep). So we had the typical rush rush darshanam where the pujaris literally push you forth so that you cannot get more than 2 seconds view of the garbhagriha.. From what I remember, the Idol looked powerful, standing in dark with only bright ghee lamps throwing that dramatic brightness only indian temples can create..

An interesting observation was that if your head is shaved and you are entering the temple, you have to produce the ticket that you bought for the head shaving, otherwise you are not allowed in. This is a way for the temple authority to regulate head shaving business down at the foothills - that explains the new razors offered to us.

The climb down the hill was in equal hurry as our next agenda was to drop the nephew to his hostel on the way back home..

Above: The 'mottai' boy, the nephew and the rest of us on a tonga - a tourist attraction in Palani.

Now what are my lessons learnt:

1. Carry some cotton! We took only the dettol thinking about the razor sterilzing, did not think about the cuts at all..

2. Take adequate rests while climbing up/down the hill. All of us ended up with a decent leg pain after getting back, i had to take a sick leave.

3. Take a toy that makes LOUD sound and has BRIGHT lights! Nothing else can distract a captive kid..