Thiruchendur 2 - Vanatirupati

 Our second at Thiruchendur started with a tea and Kaaravadai again. Left the hotel to take some beach water on your head followed by the Nazhi kinaru water. The Nazhi kinaru here is a well with good water though being few steps away from the beach. It is believed that Lord Murugar created this well for his troops to drink water during the battle Soorapadhman by the help of his Vel. Today being Monday, the pilgrims crowd had drastically dropped compared to yesterday. Still the free darshan had a big queue so we opted for the special darshan. Today through special darshan we could worship the Lord in Raja-alankaram and come out with 10-15 minutes. Pongal prasadam was given near the exit. With that it was time for breakfast. We had a quick breakfast at Hotel Mani Iyer - pongal and dosa for Rs.120.

Valli Caves

We walked back to the temple complex again, took detour to the Valli caves. On the beach side of the temple a small corridor takes you to the Valli caves. Rs.1 is collected for entry here. The sandstone like cave takes you into darkness and when you walk inside small opening there is valli statue inside. This is were Lord Ganesha is said to have hidden Goddess Valli before getting her married to Lord Muruga. This place is quiet dark and its claustrophobic. Next to this is the Dattatreya sanctum where devotees offer prayers. The corridor that leads to the cave provides a good view of the beach. Temple complex also houses the moovar samadhi. The three who were responsible for this temple. Outside the temple complex just opposite to the temple street where our hotel resides is the Saravana poigai. After entering only we realized it is a park and left abandoned for many days. It has a pond and statues.

We had lunch at Hotel Kavery. Lunch here is pretty much the same at the restaurants. Token has to be bought for meals before you take a seat. Rice with sambar, kuzhambu, rasam and more. Curd has to be bought separately. Payasam is provided part of meals and costed at Rs. 120. Other variety rices are priced at Rs. 50. We went to the hotel to take a siesta post lunch. By 5 PM we left in a local auto rickshaw to Vanatirupati. Our hotel staff connected us with auto rickshaw-walla Lingam. He charged us Rs.600 for this trip.

Vanatirupati

This temple built by the Hotel Saravana Bhavan founder is 25 kms away and takes around 30 minutes to reach. This travel to the temple gave us a good glimpse of the place. The interiors of Thiruchendur is quiet calm and peaceful. Many agricultural lands remain uncultivated. The smaller villages on the way have adequate water from the nearby lakes. Not much of a lean towards politics or cinema as we did not see political flags, cinema posters and fan clubs. Lots of tamarind trees on the way. As the evening closed-in the travel became cooler. The temple is a private property, the Perumal here stands in full alangaram in a heavenly glory. The evening pooja was elaborately. This temple also houses the statues of Hotel Saravana Bhavan founder's parents and others responsible for this temple coming up. Just opposite to this temple is the Hotel Saravana Bhavan canteen where we had some evening refreshments here, before leaving the place.

On the way to the Hotel we had a good conversation with Lingam. He told us about this place. Thiruchendur and the locals get main revenue from the pilgrims to the temple which is during the weekends. In the weekdays they have to make do with comparatively less income. Cinema theatre is there but each ticket is priced more then Rs. 200 it seems. Accommodation costs a minimum of Rs. 2200 per day for a AC room while it will go up over the weekends. After dropping us back to Anantha Grand, Lingam promised to drop us at the bus stand later today.

Tranz King Travels

We went back to Hotel Kavery for a quick dinner as the person at the gate called us in. All restaurants here claim to provide food cooked by Iyers. Hotels too are managed by the Iyers - built and managed. We did the check out by 8:30 PM, Lingam picked us at 8:50 PM. By 9 PM we were at the market near the Van stand where the mofussil buses will stop-by. Our boarding time was 9:15 PM and the bus was on time. It started from Udangudi and Thiruchendur was the second stop. Tranz king travels was different from our onward travel. This bus was new and looked very clean and neat - themed in maroon and cream colours. TV was working here, vishal movie was casted tonight. Ear phones were provided to aid in TV watching. Pillow was ok, blanket was too thin but managed as the AC temperature was quiet normal. No water bottle or refreshment was provided. This time we got the lower sleepers for us and it was not very comfortable. Lower ones near the tyres of the bus is quiet excruciating. We get to fell every up and downs so not so easy to sleep. We were supposed to reach by 7:15 AM but reached only 8 AM. Two stops at night for rest rooms were the same old stories. On the whole an average bus travel.

With this Lord Murugar gave his darshan at his five arupadai veedugal. Vetri Vel!