It was one of our nephew’s landmarks 60th Birthday 'Sadabishegam,' as it is called. Thirukkadaiyur is the destination for many people celebrating landmark birthdays like 60th, 70th, 80th, etc. A huge crowd is guaranteed to be present whenever you go to this temple. Scores of families will be performing ceremonies for the landmark birthdays of a relative of theirs. You can see smoke everywhere from the Homams.

I have had occasions to visit such celebrations in the past. Heavy crowd, no doubt, but all of us managed very well. The last one I had visited was around 11 years ago, and there was only one hotel. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner used to be arranged by the priest who had been engaged to perform the ceremony.

This visit was different. New hotels had sprung up naturally, with so many people congregating there for such functions. My nephew had almost booked half the rooms in a very nice hotel. Being from Chennai, he was aware of the heat and smoke, and after visiting the place personally to make arrangements under the guidance of senior officials at the temple, he booked a mandapam that was very much within the temple but was stand-alone. More than adequate space and privacy. And the authorities had assured to install air coolers inside the hall to combat the heat.

The family members traveled in two groups for the sake of convenience. One from the Adyar side and another from the Annanagar side, taking different routes up to Pondicherry, after which the route was the same.

With our health problems and having not gone on a long road trip for quite some time, my wife and I were a little worried. There were nine of us in the van with three more elderly people, two of whom were even older than me. But the van journey turned out to be fun. Forgetting our age, the journey was spent playing games, small talk, and a bit of satire. It was taxing but never felt till we reached the destination.

Thus started this two-day trip.

Continued in 283. Cookies In the Hall - Part 2