This was almost exactly after we had driven close to 99kms (roughly two hours) and provided us a refreshing break with an array of traditional South Indian gastronomical fare including various millet based preparations and Karupattikaapi – coffee made with palm jaggery instead of sugar ! Amazing stuff!
And off we went again. Mony now took over from Easwar and they continued chatting off and handling the superb highway roads without any hassle.
And off we went again. Mony now took over from Easwar and they continued chatting off and handling the superb highway roads without any hassle.
A stop here for a chai, a stop there for a coffee. Mony and Easwar are good drivers and allowed me to sleep in peace for most of the journey. And then we passed Trichy and then Madurai. My initial plan was to try and detach myself at Madurai to catch up with Srikanth. But closer to the trip, where I gave up the idea of meeting Srikanth because it would take a long detour. And Mony had planned for us to reach Tirunelveli which was still some distance away. But we stopped at a restaurant on the outer ring road near Madurai and lunched on some what was claimed to be authentic Madurai veg thali food. Tirunelveli was a couple of hours from there and these were familiar roads now, since I had been here only last August for the Buchi Babu tournament.
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| Udhavum Ullangal Foundation Office |
We reached Tirunelveli towards the evening around 4.30 pm, and decided to check in on the Udhavum Ullangal Foundation Office, a non-profit venture which provides medical assistance towards cancer, heart diseases and so on. One of the Patrons of UU is one Mr. Ramesh Kumar, who is Mony and Easwar’s cricket club mate from Trivandrum. Mony told me that it was Ramesh Kumar who brought in both Easwar and himself into Chasers Cricket Club ,their cricketing alma mater. which was co-funded by their teammate and friend Ramesh. We went to UU’s Palyamkottai administrative office and met the Resident doctor Suguna and got a hang of the amazing work in the field of cancer detection and care.
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| The Notice Board - Lots of work |
They send a lot of people out there into rural areas for screening and then provide care at this centre, including chemo at a subsidised rate. Even as we were talking a team came back from the field just then - back from a rural visit in the hot sun. They do this almost every day -300 days and screen 50-60 people a day. The duty doctor Dr. Suguna and her team at UU office there turned out to be extremely committed professionals who are pouring their heart out to cancer care. Easwar had many interesting theories about the impact of alternative therapies for cancer treatment. But it became clear after a few minutes that the doc was clearly not a votary of alternative therapies and Easwar let it at that.
Much impressed by their work, we took leave and planned to see their hospital under construction the next morning. We headed off to RR Inn where Madan and the staff were more than happy to see us. the rooms they gave us were fully done up and way better than I had expected. We freshened up after a long day, caught up for a beer and a bite in the bar below, and crashed for the night.
There was some bell ringing and door banging at night, which I blissfully slept through. Mony had an interesting tale to tell the next morning.
Mony’s narration in his own words : “Heard knocking on the door and room bell ringing – woke up with a start and realized that I had slept off with lights on. Was so dazed that I was sure that I had overslept and Hari or Easwar was trying to wake me up in the morning. Opened the door, and was face to a policewoman and 2 male officers. They aske many questions as to where we were coming from, where we were headed, what is the purpose of staying at Tirunelveli etc. They must have been convinced by my answers, as they left after that.”
Recounting the previous night's happenings over breakfast next day, we had a hearty laugh postulating the various scenarios the police inquiry could have led to. Thankfully, no untoward incident befell us and we were all set for the new day.
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| Madan of RR Inn and me |
Much impressed by their work, we took leave and planned to see their hospital under construction the next morning. We headed off to RR Inn where Madan and the staff were more than happy to see us. the rooms they gave us were fully done up and way better than I had expected. We freshened up after a long day, caught up for a beer and a bite in the bar below, and crashed for the night.
There was some bell ringing and door banging at night, which I blissfully slept through. Mony had an interesting tale to tell the next morning.
Mony’s narration in his own words : “Heard knocking on the door and room bell ringing – woke up with a start and realized that I had slept off with lights on. Was so dazed that I was sure that I had overslept and Hari or Easwar was trying to wake me up in the morning. Opened the door, and was face to a policewoman and 2 male officers. They aske many questions as to where we were coming from, where we were headed, what is the purpose of staying at Tirunelveli etc. They must have been convinced by my answers, as they left after that.”
Recounting the previous night's happenings over breakfast next day, we had a hearty laugh postulating the various scenarios the police inquiry could have led to. Thankfully, no untoward incident befell us and we were all set for the new day.
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