Aparna’s Blog

The months of March-May, which everybody hate because of the scorching summer here, are among the ones that I enjoy the most in Madras. No it’s not because of the summer, but because of the fact that Madras is at its beautiful max during these months! With the autumn ending by February end or so and the onset of spring thereafter, the month of March is when all the trees are adorned with not only fresh, new leaves but also the flowers that start blooming, giving company to the leaves.
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My sister and I went to Marina beach today to see the sunrise. The first rays of sun appearing, the golden-orange sun and its reflection on water and sand, the sky in various hues of orange, pink, gray and blue were all so beautiful!

Here are some photos taken by us:

Click here to see the entire set of photos.

If it was Monday morning blues with which I started the previous week, it has been a great beginning today. Today being Bhogi, the whole city was engulfed in smoke, though it wasn’t as bad as how it used to be a few years back.

As I stepped out of my house to catch the bus, I saw the sun appearing like a golden-orange ball peeping through the branches of the tall thoongu moonji maram. It made me go wow! As I got into the bus, I saw that it wasn’t even half-full. The disadvantage of being a person whose home is at Chennai itself is that when most of them from other places take leave and go home on a long weekend, you end up being one of the few persons working. Anyway no complaints since the advantages outnumber the disadvantage by a very great margin. Sitting comfortably without having to squeeze in between two persons, the journey had me admiring the beautiful sun throughout. Just as the bus was passing over the flyover in Adyar, I saw the clouds passing over the sun – for a few minutes, the clouds hid the sun and slowly the sun started peeping out from under the clouds till it was fully visible. It presented a beautiful sight. Nice weather, beautiful sunrise! How I wish all Mondays had great beginnings like this one!

Though I have traveled to and fro Mayiladuthurai (Mayavaram) and Madras ever since the time I can remember, last Sunday’s bus journey from Mayavaram to Madras turned out to be one of the most enjoyable, thanks to the pleasant weather with the rain threatening to pour any minute but not daring to peep out from the clouds, and the nature in all its beauty, embellishing both sides of the road for most part of the journey in the form of green paddy/sugarcane fields and vaaikkaals/canals/rivers/ponds overflowing with water. Add to it the sky trying out every possible shade of blue, gray, orange and pink every passing moment! Sheer bliss!
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Many parts of Chennai were adorned by these beautiful ’sara konRai’ flowers until a couple of weeks back. (Even now the flowers are still present but, the yellow colour of the flowers has started to fade away.) These flowers look so beautiful covering the whole tree with very few leaves visible! The sara konRai flowers are considered to be sacred for Lord Shiva. Say konRai pookaL and the first thing that comes to my mind immediately is the line from ‘Pachchai Nirame’, ‘konRai poovil kuLittha manjaL’! The botanical name of this flower is Cassia Fistula

Here are some snaps of the lovely flowers that I took a few weeks back:
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You are travelling on ECR by bus in the evening. Forget the East Coast and the beach! Look towards the west. You see the blue sky turned pinkish adorned beautifully by the orangish sun. You turn on the radio and guess what song plays! ‘Idhu oru ponmaalai pozhudhu’ from ‘Nizhalgal’!

Idhu oru pon maalai pozhudhu
vaana magaL naaNugiRaaL
vaeRu udai pooNugiRaaL

You can witness this right in front of your eyes! Wow!
P.S.: I didn’t have my camera with me. So, couldn’t take snaps

Here’s a lovely photo of the moon appearing yellow in colour, taken by my sister when she went to the beach on ECR on Sunday: