Well August 15th came and went and I am glad this year we had no untoward incidents. Indeed an anti-climax and one for which I am grateful. And i instead of cringing with anxiety in front of the TV decided to do something different this year....... :)
My friend and his wife came down during that weekend and i took them to see an Athirapally waterfall which is around an hours drive from my place. It was crowded as hell since it was a holiday weekend, yet there is something so infinitely soothing about nature that just puts you into a good mood! The water was clear and quiet abundant due to the recent rains, and although my friends fell in love with the falls I was pretty nonchalant about it since I had been there like umpteen times.
What I did fall in love 
with or simply adore about the trip was that on the way back somewhere in between the winding down road of that small hill the driver found us a quiet place to have our lunch. Mum had packed "Pathiri" (rice roti's) and curry for lunch. The place had a small clear stream with water up to 3 inches above our ankles and grassy bank.....that was heaven. You know it had been so long since i had been on a picnic......mostly in the trips I had been doing till recently, my friends and i have invariably always decided on eating at some road side stalls rather than pack lunches from home...... It was simple food, but for me, that day that place it tasted like delicious morsels from heaven.
The next day we went to this place called Palayoor next to Guruvayur which is where St. Thomas first converted people to Christianity. It is claimed as the first point of entry for Christianity. “First Christian Church in India” – wikipedia.org. The place is undergoing this metamorphosis into an international pilgrimage and I wager that in years to come this will become a huge tourist destination too.
St Thomas is said to have first 
de-embarked at Kodungallur, which he somehow didn’t find a suitable place so then he chose Palayoor as his next point. Here he saw some resident Kerala Brahmins (Namboodhiri’s) do the suryanamaskar after bathing in the pond and he challenged them to make the Hindu God accept the water they were offering. They couldn’t do that so they challenged St. Thomas back, seems he offered water which was then suspended in air for a minute before disappearing entirely. The Namboodhiri’s decided to embrace Christianity after that.
What’s different about this church is that since the initial believers were from Hinduism there are quite a few things in the church which you will not normally find in other churches, like the church built has diya’s used in temples and even the practice of Thulabharam (offering your equal weight of some food particle/ flowers to god) still continues to exist in this Church. There is a huge museum built there as well, in the name of St. Thomas. This is the same St. Thomas who achieved martyrdom in Madras and in whose name you have St. Thomas Mount there.
with or simply adore about the trip was that on the way back somewhere in between the winding down road of that small hill the driver found us a quiet place to have our lunch. Mum had packed "Pathiri" (rice roti's) and curry for lunch. The place had a small clear stream with water up to 3 inches above our ankles and grassy bank.....that was heaven. You know it had been so long since i had been on a picnic......mostly in the trips I had been doing till recently, my friends and i have invariably always decided on eating at some road side stalls rather than pack lunches from home...... It was simple food, but for me, that day that place it tasted like delicious morsels from heaven.
The next day we went to this place called Palayoor next to Guruvayur which is where St. Thomas first converted people to Christianity. It is claimed as the first point of entry for Christianity. “First Christian Church in India” – wikipedia.org. The place is undergoing this metamorphosis into an international pilgrimage and I wager that in years to come this will become a huge tourist destination too.
St Thomas is said to have first 
de-embarked at Kodungallur, which he somehow didn’t find a suitable place so then he chose Palayoor as his next point. Here he saw some resident Kerala Brahmins (Namboodhiri’s) do the suryanamaskar after bathing in the pond and he challenged them to make the Hindu God accept the water they were offering. They couldn’t do that so they challenged St. Thomas back, seems he offered water which was then suspended in air for a minute before disappearing entirely. The Namboodhiri’s decided to embrace Christianity after that.
What’s different about this church is that since the initial believers were from Hinduism there are quite a few things in the church which you will not normally find in other churches, like the church built has diya’s used in temples and even the practice of Thulabharam (offering your equal weight of some food particle/ flowers to god) still continues to exist in this Church. There is a huge museum built there as well, in the name of St. Thomas. This is the same St. Thomas who achieved martyrdom in Madras and in whose name you have St. Thomas Mount there.So my independence day went in me utilizing my freedom and also exploring what our India is so great for, its natural fauna and its abundant and diverse culture. Jai Hind :)
We need branding or rebranding of these places like westerners do!! I think we need someone from industry (like nilekani) to take over ASI!!
ReplyDeleteHow nice!! I did not even know something like this existed in the same district i was born and grew up in.. :) and I have never been to athirapilly!! and whenever Karthik sees any Kerala scenery on TV, he says, guess I can see Kerala like this only, let me watch it! he he he :)
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