What vacation?

Except for the somnambulism, it feels like a dream (he he, couldn't resist).
The 3-week trip went quickly as a wink and we are back to almost normal. Thanks to the cutlet from the spencer's super market in Ashok Nagar or thereabouts, a week of my precious vacation was spent recuperating from the dreaded belly bout. And so the remaining 2 weeks had to be extra packed to make up. Did a little bit of everything and a lot of shopping. Most of the time was spent waiting in traffic though. Arcot Road has become a parade ground - traffic-wise. So everywhere we went, the driver took us through panagal park (can you believe it, it is less crowded!).

Even though we have shifted base (within chennai), I didn't miss my childhood home at all, love my current place there. They even have a party hall that we used for the little one's big day. Seemed to prefer mom's cooking this time, rather than haunt the local eatouts.

Of course, we did eat out, although not as madly as our last trip. Tried the lunch buffet at Annalakshmi once. Having been turned away once before for lack of a reservation, I reserved a day ahead for the big family lunch we planned. We got there and found that they had cancelled our reservation because we didn't call again to confirm. Quite unprofessional of such a good restaurant. We had to wait a bit to be seated, but the food was awesome.

The Venkateswara boli stall on Arya Gowder road will probably remember me quite well. We were there almost everyday in the hopes of getting their famous alu bonda. It runs out quite fast and we missed it a few times. Their wheat halwa is also out of the world. There are 2 such stores (independent of each other) right next to each other, and the one closer to brindavan st is the (original) one I frequent.

Copper point @ GRT Grand days has some good dishes. Loved their alu roast and mirchi ka salan, along with the masala kulcha. The kids tried the alu dum and paneer butter masala, which didn't lack either.

I did visit Saravana Bhavan (my usual haunt) a few times, but the stomach didn't quite appreciate it.

Did a bit of soaking in the chennai season. Loved, absolutely loved, Urmila Satyanarayan's rama rasanubhavam. Excellent choreo, abhinaya, posture, accompaniments, can't say enough. Beautiful depiction of Guhan, Hanuman and Ravana, to mention a few. Priya Govind was at her usual best, with a margam. Loved vishamakara kanna, which seems to be this season's popular number. Her acompanying artists were excellent. Malavika Sarukkai's Ganga was a wash out (pun very much intended) in comparison. Lacked the vibrancy of the Ganga. After making the audience wait outside for almost 1/2 hour, the first song was about the flow of Ganga, at its sluggish best. Only one that I slightly enjoyed was the depiction of three events on the river - a lovers' tryst, a mother's angst and a devotee's prayer. Much of the performance was about the river's flow - literally. Have to say, most of the audience seemed to be from out here. There was a healthy number from the DC area alone.

Crazy Mohan's chocolate Krishna was very entertaining and a good time pass. The special effects (magic tricks) were relished by the girls, who were a little lost with the quick wit. But even they got some of the jokes. Got to see the well-touted mayor during a short break in the play.

Took the kids to VGP universal (golden beach to us old hands). They loved everything about it. The big letdown, ofcourse, was the restroom facilities. Totally grossed out.

Traffic was unbelievable. Looks like everyone has some kind of vehicle and they are all out at the same time. And the cup of public transport still overfloweth.

As my mom insisted (truly) that I buy some gold, I visited the new GRT, quite a few times. My biggest whine about it is the time it takes to bill and pay for the items. And I had to go quite a few times and towards the end, I vowed to switch my loyalty to a different store, if at all we are able to afford the gold prices in the future.

The one thing that I wanted to do, and didn't get around to, was catch a movie on the big screen there. Would have loved to take the kids to panchamritham.

Jet airways was very comfortable, especially since the kids were busy with their personal entertainment centers. Caught a bunch of good movies and loved their food.