Thursday 22 March 2018

Nth Moment Experience

Suppose we had cannibals among us and let us say they go hunting,  how would life be?   What will happen to us?   Put yourself in place of a deer chased by a cheetah or a zebra chased by a tiger or a mouse chased by a cat.  Every second is life or death for you.  All that you would do is run as fast as you could to escape from the eyes of your predator because you are fighting to be alive every second.
That nth moment is precious than the Kohinoor diamond.  That is when you realize how important life is.  Let us suppose you survive that experience without being eaten, who all would you thank for keeping you alive? 

You probably would say "Thank God!".   Whom are you thanking?  Who is God here?   There are few questions to be answered here

Are you thanking your legs for running as fast as it could?
Are you thanking your hands for coordinating with the legs?
Are you thanking your eyes for choosing the right escape path?
Are you thanking your brain for getting you the right direction and thoughts?
Are you thanking your heart for not getting arrested?
Or may be
Are you thanking the predator for being slower than you?

Well, it is logical and human to ponder for a second and find answers to these questions.  You probably would say ALL OF THE ABOVE may be because that is the most appropriate way of putting it together and easy too.   Thank all but thank your enemy for sparing you which is most important.   I believe this is the the most appropriate way to experience "God" for without his mercy,  you probably would have met your creator in the heaven that nth moment.

May be the most appropriate way of THANKING would be something like this

Thank you God for giving enough power to my legs
Thank you God for making my legs coordinate with my hands
Thank you God for letting my eyes see the appropriate escape path
Thank you God for letting my brain think swiftly to push me in the right direction
Thank you God for keeping my heart beating

and here comes the best one

Thank you God for slowing my predator, my enemy and my best friend for sparing me that Nth Moment.

I have experienced God!


Monday 5 March 2018

Review : Ranga Bhavan Marriage Hall, Srirangam, Tiruchirappalli

I am writing this review about this marriage hall as I did not find any appropriate web site to do so. 
I hope this review would be useful before taking a decision.

I did Upanayanam for my son on March 4th, 2018 so information here is as fresh as it could be without any prejudice.

Advantages

  • The hall is on the Ammamandapam Road and is easily reachable.
  • All buses from Srirangam to Trichy stop here (The name of the stop itself is Ranga Bavan)
  • Both the main hall (can seat about 600) and the dining hall (can seat about 1000) are very spacious.
  • The best part is that the dining hall is at the ground level as the main hall which means it is easily accessible by senior citizens
  • The watchman and the manager (Mrs. Dhanalakshmi) are extremely helpful and would do anything out of their way to serve the guest.
  • They have a guest house about 200 meters away which is a 2-floor building with a 4 rooms and 2 big halls and enough toilets (but this is separately charged, about Rs 7000/- per day) 
  • The venue has around 11 rooms (4 of them are a/c rooms,  another 4 are near the dining area to be used only by the caterers)
  • Cost is pretty reasonable - I paid 45,000 Rupees for 1 day.
  • There are many hotels nearby for a comfortable stay.   
  • Ranganathaswamy Temple is about 1.5 kms.
  • They have gas burners and enough utensils

Disadvantages

  • The building is very old (conducted in 1953) and wears a old deserted look.   Do not expect anything posh here.
  • The toilets are very unclean which means you have to follow up multiple times to get it cleaned.  Make sure that you let them do acid cleaning.  
  • The bridge and bridge groom rooms have a/c attached but is too small to be used.  
  • Too many mosquitoes near the bridge and groom's rooms.  Make sure that you have stock of enough mosquitoes repellents to sleep peacefully.
  • The owner of the marriage hall talks to you gently as if he would take care of everything on the earth but doesn't even care to inspect the place during the function.  He leaves the whole thing to the supervisor.   But he is available all the time over phone to take instructions and act on it.
  •  The dining hall was not clean when we checked-in especially the floor was not washed.  We had to follow up multiple times to get it done, but it was just half done and we gave up.
  • The stairs to the first floor is extremely steep that even youngsters will find it difficult to use.   So, we ended up not using the rooms on the first floor.
  • The common toilets in the first floor are very unclean.
  • The common toilets in the ground floor are unclean too.
  • The venue is used as a tourist home for tourists mostly from North India.   The tourists stay there for a day on their pilgrimage visit to Srirangam and make the place very very unclean, especially the toilets.   So, it becomes difficult for them to maintain the place.  If your function is on the very next day after the tourist visit,  you life could be miserable before the venue gets cleaned (expect it to be half-cleaned)
  •  The dining hall's room has asbestos sheet which radiates heat extremely.   Trichy being extremely hot almost 200 out of 365 days the dining hall is literally unusable.  Your guests will have to bear the scorching heat while having food!
  • There is no parking facility. 
  • The place may not be very safe.  They do not have any security guard.  They have a old watchman who stays in the venue who could barely walk.   They lock the front gate but do not lock the back gates.
  • The place is actually very vulnerable to theft.   

Rating : 

Location :           **** 
Cost :                  ****
Amenities :         ***

Friendly Staff :   ***

Safety :               **
Cleanliness :       **

If you are too crunched on budget and have to do a 1-day show, then go for it.   For serious functions like marriages which spans close to two days,  I would not recommend this Mandapam.