At Raj Nivas.

Got up on the dot at 4, thanks to Lekha's cellphone alarm, the chores and was ready by a quarter to 7. Kittu, was at hand to see us off. He'd most of the food provided by Lekha - rice and fried fish - but he looked very, very sad. Have been watching him over a period, his attachment to us seems to be getting stronger just as we feel an affinity for him!

We had kicked off soon after. I'd taken the Mammiyur junction-Thampuraanpadi junction-Kottappadi junction-Kunnamkulam-Paliyekkara route to get on the highway. This was because of the feedback that the Kodungalloor route had several deviations due to the annual festival at the Kodungalloor Devi kshetram. The temple has the Kovalan-Kannaki love story as its backdrop and has plenty of ardent devotees. Our breakfast break was at the Saravana Bhavan at Paaliyekkara toll around 8 o'clock. Had pointed out to the young lady, who'd served us, that we were billed only for one filter coffee while we'd two.

The journey was trouble free as the traffic was sparse, being a Sunday. Lunch break was at Diana's Restaurant at the Adoor bypass at a 10' past 1. Ashnaba had looked after us well and she was very pleasant. Mohammed Sadiq, an energetic guy hailing from Rohtak, helped me park my Chevy and pull out, with ease.

Reached Raj Nivas by a quarter past 2 after completing 262.5 km of easy and comfortable driving. The caretaker was at hand with the report that our house did not have electricity since yesterday after the deluge in the evening. I'd rung up the local KSEB office to apprise the duty staff about my problem. The service and reactions were prompt - a phenomenon that really surprised Lekha and me.

Actually, I'd got a safety mechanism installed on our old electricity meter which trips due to power overload or environmental vagaries or inclement weather. The switch needed to be put on and that was that.

Spoke to mom and dad, outlining our programme and the specific jobs that would be undertaken during the forthcoming period. Will be visiting the UPS, Thalavoor sometime on return from Thiruvananthapuram tomorrow afternoon to be part of its 176th raising day celebrations.

The Kusappilli temple's annual festivities are on. The family will look after all the activities of the temple on 06 Apr. My youngest sister, Mini will fetch up from Bangalore on the 5th, to be part of it and will come to Guruvayur along with us, on the 7th. Similarly, Lekha's dad's sixth remembrance day also falls on the 6th and a 'tila homam' will be done at the Kottarakkara Siva Temple, that day.

After a wash and change, we were off to Padmakumar-Rema's house at Pidavoor. Yakkittiyak, followed by dinner, was the highlight before we returned for the night.

Tailpiece.

A nice, exciting day!