Aish Aish Baby: A Family filled week!

June 1st:

We started off the morning going to a beach nearby to watch the sunrise which was gorgeous! After breakfast we started the trek back east to Karur stopping in Thanjavur along the way to go to another temple and the palace.

We visited the Thanjavur Peruvudaiyar Kovil. (Temple #9) It is one of the largest temples in India and one of India's most prized architectural sites. Built by emperor Raja Raja Chola I and completed in 1010 AD, Peruvudaiyaar Temple, also popularly known as the 'Big Temple', turned 1000 years old in 2010. The temple is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site known as the "Great Living Chola Temples.

We also stopped by the Thanjavur Maratha Palace, which was originally constructed by the rulers of Thanjavur Nayak kingdom. After the fall of the Thanjavur Nayak kingdom, it served as the official residence of the Thanjavur Maratha. When most of the Thanjavur Maratha kingdom was annexed to the British Empire in 1799, the Thanjavur Marathas continued to hold sway over the palace and the surrounding fort. The Bhonsle family continued to hold on to the palace even after the last king Shivaji II was deposed as per the Doctrine of Lapse.

While we're still going to temples along the way the busy part of the #templecrawl is now over and we're on to visiting various family members. First stop was in Karur to stay with one set of grandparents, aunt/uncle, and cousins.

My mom, sister, aunt, uncle, and their two kids

June 2nd:

Our uncle in Karur owns a textile company and supplies a number of stores in the US (Dollar Store, Hobby Lobby, Ross Dress for Less) with different household items such as tableclothes, linens, kitchen towels, aprons, etc... It was cool to stop by and see the showroom and part of the factory.

At my uncle's textile showroom

We ended the night in Namakkal where there is another set of grandparents and aunts and uncles. The fun part of this stop was the 7 year old cutie that we got to see. Varshini is a cutie pie that I hadn't seen for about 4 years and her cuteness has not gone away. She now has a new baby sister that's 4 months old: Sudarshini.

Me and the adorable Varshini

June 3rd:

We haven't really had the chance to spend a lot of time at every place since we have to see a lot of people in a short period of time so after spending the night in Namakkal we visited two of the temples nearby. We of course had to stop by 2 more temples along the way.

Namakkal is famous for a life-size Hanuman (Anjaneynar) Statue carved out of a single stone in the Anjeneyar Temple. (Temple #10) The city lies at the foot of a huge rock, upon which there is a fort. The name Namakkal immediately brings to mind ‘Namakkal Anjaneyar’ – the temple of Hanuman at Namakkal. The idol of Hanuman is approx. 18 feet in height, and stands under open sky. Opposite to the Hanuman is a temple of Narasimha (Temple #11) which was the other temple that we visited.

The Anjaneya Temple

Narasimha temple

With the cute Sudarshini (4 months)

After our temple visits we were on our way to Dindigul to stay with my cousin and her family which is always fun. This was our brief rest stop since we were going to be spending a few days here.

June 4th & 5th:

We basically just lounged around and caught up with everyone. My cousin and her husband have two kids, Rithani (14) and Kavinraj (11) who my sister and I are close to. Their cousin Ashwatha (7) was also in town after spending the previous 2 months in London with her mom, aunt, and uncle and was a hoot. She picked up the British accent and nothing that anyone did was "modern" enough. No one was cool enough for her. We always have a great time when we're in Dindigul so I was glad that we were spending a little bit more time here. We also had the chance to watch 36 Vayadhinile which was a great movie. We did a little shopping but for the most part just hang out with family.

Ashwatha (too cool for us)

At Thalapakatti for lunch

Kavin, Myself, Ashwatha, and Rithani

My cousin Bavani Akka

June 6th:

We made the trek out on Friday night to Rangappa goundan valasu (RG Valasu) where my mom's dad's side of the family is from. This is also where my cousin's parents still live so we spent the night at their house/farm. We also all slept outside since the weather was so nice and we didn't have to deal with mosquitoes. The next morning we explored the farm and basically enjoyed nature. The views from the house were amazing! We headed back to Dindigul after lunch stuffing 11 people + luggage in a 8 seater with no trunk. You can imagine how cramped it was but still fun to hang out with everyone.

Can you imagine having this view everyday?

June 7th:

After breakfast with my cousin's family we went back to spend the day and night at my aunt's house (dad's sister) to visit with her family and my grandfather since I technically only have another 10 days before I head back to Pittsburgh. My grandfather is in his 90s and we really don't talk much but I know that he just wants to sit with us sine he only sees us once every few years and even then only for a few hours here or there. My sister and I are the youngest of the 8 cousins and we really don't ever see anyone which is one of the downsides of living in the US when all of your family is in another country. We did have a fun tim exploring my aunt and uncle's farm. They grow a lot of different things: peanuts, sorgam, red chilli peppers, green chillies, onions, eggplants, castor bean trees, coconuts, etc....

Breaking the peanut shells

Sorgam

Cows for milk!

This view is amazing!

Eggplant

Red Chilli Peppers

Castor Bean pods

Getting cocunuts to drink coconut water

Getting to the water!

June 8th:

Today was an early morning because we were headed to the engagement ceremony for one of my cousin's and the ceremony was taking place between 6 & 7am so we had to be up, dressed, and out the door by 5. I had never actually met my cousin that was getting engaged today but a good number of family from my mom's side was going to be there so it was the perfect opportunity to attend a family function and see all of the family that had made the trip for the ceremony. The ceremony itself was short and simple (surprisingly) and after breakfast and spending some time with family we left around noon to head back to my aunt's house to pack up. After one last stop in Dindigul to pick up all of our luggage we headed to the next stop on our road trip to Palani to visit one set of grandparents that are living there. Palani is always a fun place to visit and my grandmother here is a blast to hang out with. Dinner preparations are currently underway and we'll be heading to Temple #12 tomorrow morning!