Lord Krishna, swathed in butter!

Our day had begun at 4, as Lekha and Mini were up and about. Got up a trifle later as I did not want to hinder their chores. Went through my prayer recital and invariably got stuck at the third last stanza of the 'Saneeswara prayer' - could recall it after about five attempts! Phew! 

Cleaned up the Chevy with the wetness that had enveloped it thanks to the early morning mist. We were ready to move to the Kusappilli temple so as to be at the premises by a half past 6, in time for the grand opening of the sanctum sanctorum at 7. 

Lord Krishna, the main deity, was swathed in 'butter' which was my younger sister, Mini's offering in memory of my dad's wish, Madhu was the priest who was entrusted with the job of 'dressing up' Lord Krishna on the occasion of his birthday and he had done a nice job (I lauded him for his effort and he was effusive in his thanks). The temple created history by performing this task "venna muzhukkaappu" (swathing-the deity-in-butter) for the first time outside the Guruvayur temple, where it's done frequently.

Rema and Padmakumar had come by, before 7, and had completed the quorum of the family of sorts! Met and interacted with many people of the village who'd turned up for the occasion; it was nice.

We returned to Raj Nivas for breakfast; Padmakumar had returned to Pidavoor to oversee the boundary wall-construction-in-progress there and Rema had come along with us. 

Meanwhile, Gopu and his team came and took the measurements of our entrance door. 

We left for Ayur by a half past 9 and headed straight to look up Sanil's aunty, Usha who'd just finished a chemo for her ailment. She was cheerful and interactive; felt glad to meet her after a long time (Mind you, she's a year junior to me). Her two granddaughters, Drisya (Class 5) and Diya (UKG) were charming and extremely likeable chatterboxes!

We then went to Cheruvakkal, nearby, to see Mini's house in the making. A nicely conceived one and I'm sure it's gonna be the talk of  the town once it's commissioned - tentative date, 15th of next month.

The return drive of 30 km was uneventful and we reached Raj Nivas by lunchtime. Lunch was part of the 'annadaanam' (food distribution, on the occasion of the temple's annual festivities) and it was scrumptious!

The thundershowers that came down, around teatime, lasted for about an hour, bringing about power interruption. Our neighbours - Sahadevan and Padmini - had dropped by to formally hand over their son's wedding card and invite us for the event on the 9th of Jun.

The evening was packing time as we plan to make a quiet get away for Guruvayur by a half past 6, tomorrow morning.

Tailpiece.

A day that went by very well!

Today was Lekha's dad's 6th remembrance day. The 'thila homam' was performed early in the morning and the report given.