Hey..
My dad was born at Srirangam and we used to frequent the place one of the school holiday seasons. I always liked the old temple and the queer history associated with it, which is blogged here. One after the other, most of my relatives have migrated to Chennai and elsewhere and our trips there became infrequent and almost stopped a few years back. This time during my vacation and I decided to go up there and take a look around. Years have passed by, but Srirangam still remains the same with little or no huge changes.
For those of you who have seen Agraharams only in movies, Srirangam is a typical Iyengar bastion and very much like the ones shown in movies. Everyone around talks in an unmistakable typical Brahmincal slang of Tamil. The man of the family works in a school, college, post office, LIC in Trichy town; the woman of the house divides her time between cooking and visiting the Thayar Sannithi in the temple. The kids are in school all morn, cricket on the roads all noon and sloka class all evening. The elders come out at night with their foldable cots and sit and chat about good old times for few hours with the neighbours while the kids try a few "floodlight" matches much to the fury of the calm society.
Srirangam is had majorly 3 streets running around the temple - that is all . The houses start one over the other and a boundaries can be seen only in street corners. Most of the houses were constructed in early 20 th century, revamped once every hundred years or more. They typically look like a long tunnel, the entrance leading all the way upto the backyard. Natural lighting struggles to enter most homes. The houses themselves are huge, but always appear messed and fully filled. Mostly there is a old man from a few generations before, lying in a bed, mumbling to himself.. He is fed every now and then and each one in the family have their own version of who he is and how he is related. A few houses have 'modern' appliances like the TV, Fridge which when kept nearby a antique almirah and remain undusted for long time, look antique themselves. Hot water supply is done with firewood stoves; no one sleeps in the so-called 'bedroom'... it is more of another store room anyway.
The Srirangam college-boys study mostly in St. Joseph's. Bishop-Heber and National are also popular. Jamal Mohammed is not viewed with affection, though. Off late the trend is to go to Shangmuga Engg which is an hour away from Trichy. The girls try to get into Holy-Cross or Indira Gandhi but many of the Srirangam angels get into Seethalakshmi Ramasamy collge much against their wishes - this college is also called as Pattu maami college locally since the students are expected to wear sarees everyday and not any of the 'modern' dresses. A Srirangam collegiate can be easily spotted in Trichy town - he will be wearing a whitish shirt and a dhoti (in recent days it has changed into cotton pants), sporting a namam and carrying an unmistakable yellow bag (manjap pai) having a eversilver tiffin box containing curd rice and pickle - the whole package is like a uniform.
The transport is primarily by a bus service called TST. Though it stands for Trichy-Srirangam-Trichy, it is abbreviated generally as Thallu-Sir-Thallu for its notorious breakdowns. Srirangam is an island on the banks of Cauvery on one side and Coleroon (Kollidam) on the other and it is connected with Trichy town well. The TST service runs almost every 5 minutes in either direction.
The late Sunday evenings are best to watchout. Oldies sit outside in the poorly lit verandah talking Rajaji Vs Indira Gandhi; kids are on street playing rubber ball cricket occasionally aiming well against their grandfather; Earning members listen to radio news and argue about the new pension scheme; women visit a relative six houses away or the next street; the youngsters sitting on the balconies conducting their secret love affair with the member of other sex in the opposite balcony while pretending to study all the time; every passerby is looked upon curiously and all discussions mellow down until he is out of the street and the next topic is all about him - and it is all the same even in 2005 !!
With a rich heritage and a proud history, the town still lives almost the same as its roots. Srirangam is the typical Malgudi.
Chao..
My dad was born at Srirangam and we used to frequent the place one of the school holiday seasons. I always liked the old temple and the queer history associated with it, which is blogged here. One after the other, most of my relatives have migrated to Chennai and elsewhere and our trips there became infrequent and almost stopped a few years back. This time during my vacation and I decided to go up there and take a look around. Years have passed by, but Srirangam still remains the same with little or no huge changes.
For those of you who have seen Agraharams only in movies, Srirangam is a typical Iyengar bastion and very much like the ones shown in movies. Everyone around talks in an unmistakable typical Brahmincal slang of Tamil. The man of the family works in a school, college, post office, LIC in Trichy town; the woman of the house divides her time between cooking and visiting the Thayar Sannithi in the temple. The kids are in school all morn, cricket on the roads all noon and sloka class all evening. The elders come out at night with their foldable cots and sit and chat about good old times for few hours with the neighbours while the kids try a few "floodlight" matches much to the fury of the calm society.
Srirangam is had majorly 3 streets running around the temple - that is all . The houses start one over the other and a boundaries can be seen only in street corners. Most of the houses were constructed in early 20 th century, revamped once every hundred years or more. They typically look like a long tunnel, the entrance leading all the way upto the backyard. Natural lighting struggles to enter most homes. The houses themselves are huge, but always appear messed and fully filled. Mostly there is a old man from a few generations before, lying in a bed, mumbling to himself.. He is fed every now and then and each one in the family have their own version of who he is and how he is related. A few houses have 'modern' appliances like the TV, Fridge which when kept nearby a antique almirah and remain undusted for long time, look antique themselves. Hot water supply is done with firewood stoves; no one sleeps in the so-called 'bedroom'... it is more of another store room anyway.
The Srirangam college-boys study mostly in St. Joseph's. Bishop-Heber and National are also popular. Jamal Mohammed is not viewed with affection, though. Off late the trend is to go to Shangmuga Engg which is an hour away from Trichy. The girls try to get into Holy-Cross or Indira Gandhi but many of the Srirangam angels get into Seethalakshmi Ramasamy collge much against their wishes - this college is also called as Pattu maami college locally since the students are expected to wear sarees everyday and not any of the 'modern' dresses. A Srirangam collegiate can be easily spotted in Trichy town - he will be wearing a whitish shirt and a dhoti (in recent days it has changed into cotton pants), sporting a namam and carrying an unmistakable yellow bag (manjap pai) having a eversilver tiffin box containing curd rice and pickle - the whole package is like a uniform.
The transport is primarily by a bus service called TST. Though it stands for Trichy-Srirangam-Trichy, it is abbreviated generally as Thallu-Sir-Thallu for its notorious breakdowns. Srirangam is an island on the banks of Cauvery on one side and Coleroon (Kollidam) on the other and it is connected with Trichy town well. The TST service runs almost every 5 minutes in either direction.
The late Sunday evenings are best to watchout. Oldies sit outside in the poorly lit verandah talking Rajaji Vs Indira Gandhi; kids are on street playing rubber ball cricket occasionally aiming well against their grandfather; Earning members listen to radio news and argue about the new pension scheme; women visit a relative six houses away or the next street; the youngsters sitting on the balconies conducting their secret love affair with the member of other sex in the opposite balcony while pretending to study all the time; every passerby is looked upon curiously and all discussions mellow down until he is out of the street and the next topic is all about him - and it is all the same even in 2005 !!
With a rich heritage and a proud history, the town still lives almost the same as its roots. Srirangam is the typical Malgudi.
Chao..
2 comments:
Your post took me right back to my days in National College Hr Sec School in Main Guard Gate. The Srirangam chicks were the best looking of all and it was quite a sight to behold them alighting from those Rt.#1 buses in Chatram busstand.
And SRC...IGC...Holy Cross(my my my....)
Ninaivooo...oru paravai...silirkkum adhu manadhai....
happy to help you revive nostalgic feelings :)
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