From Pazhani we headed to Madurai and planned to visit Dinigul on the way. Leaving Pazhani by 9 AM on Sunday we went to the Perumal temple at Thadikombu. This temple of Soundaraja Perumal is a slight deviation from our route to Dindigul but belongs to Dindigul district. As the name suggests the Perumal was a epitome of beauty and was similar to the Tirupati Perumal. We also had a good darshan of Goddess Soundaravalli, she was also beautiful in a maroon silk saree worn in layers. Also Aanjaneyar shrine was in the temple. The temple was small but it was maintained well and the God and Goddess were in their full glory. It was a satisfied darshan in the morning.
Next our plan was to visit Dindigul and visit the fort and get a sense of this place. So with the help of google map we ended up in a spot which did not lead to the fort. With the help of local people and driving through narrow lanes and getting earful from the fellow drivers we reached the fort and parked out vehicle there. The fort security refused to allow us to park there as water tanker that would supply water to that area is suppose to take that spot. With not much help we decided to leave the place and cancel our visit to the Dindigul fort. Frustrated we went to a near by restaurant for a tea break and talking to the waiter there came to know about Chinnalapatti.
Within 15 mins from Dindigul we reached Chinnalapatti. But we had to drive further deep inside to reach the market place where saree shops were located. We bought some local/Chinnalapatti sarees there. Cotton sarees were worth the price. Being a Sunday, not all shops were open but we got some good deal. From there we headed straight to Madurai.
By 12 PM we reached Madurai. We had booked our room at Hari Gardenia at the outer ring road near Pandi koil as the traffic in Madurai city would be chaotic. This is near the Mattuthavani bus stand. We had to come to this are every time from the hotel to have food as there is no restaurant near Hari Gardenia except an Italian restaurant. Being a Sunday all restaurant's were overflowing. We waited at Kumar Mess but could manage to see actor Bhaskar only. Then went to a free vegetarian restaurant and had meals. Came back to the hotel for a much needed siesta.
In the evening around 6 PM we left in our car to Theppakulam. Went to the Mariamman temple and had a good darshan. From there we walked around the Theppakulam seeing the food stalls, very similar to the stalls at Marina beach or Beasant nagar beach. We did have few items - Paruthi paal, Mullu murungai keerai vadai and spring potato. After having spent a good 2 hours there, we started towards Hari Garnedia. On the way we had dinner at Temple city - average food.
The next day we left out hotel by 7 AM to Meenakshi Amman temple. Post covid the temple parking is now functional. A narrow market street leads to the parking space which has 2 storeys of underground parking. But many vehicles parked in the path makes it difficult to navigate and by the time we pay for the parking and park the car we have spent 40 mins there. From there we walk to the east gopuram and reach within 5 mins. Here one has to deposit the mobile phones and the foot wears taken care by the temple authorities. After security check we are allowed inside the temple. Looking at the huge gathering of devotees in the temple we decided to go for the Rs.100 special darshan ticket only to realize that this was a longer queue than the free darshan one. After 3 hours of wait in the queue we could worship Goddess Meenakshi Amman, God Sundareswarar and came out of the temple by 11 AM.
The Christmas holidays had encouraged people all over India to make visit to Meenakshi Amman temple. We saw that almost 60% of the devotees belonged to North India, 30% were Sabarimalai pilgrims and the rest were locals. 3 hours of standing in the queue was exhausting everyone. Temple people had places water drums at regular intervals and also benches at few places but it wasn't enough. Many had come early morning without breakfast. Kids and their parents were having difficult time. Temple authorities may not have expected this crowd but they have still made more arrangements to make everyone's life easy. For instance, the stalls inside the temple was selling only laddoos and we cannot break the queue as its impossible to jump over the wooden boundary sticks. So some asked people outside the queue to get the laddoos for their kids.
We could not go around the temple praharam due to exhaustion. So came out after the darshan and walked to the near by Naveen restaurant for breakfast. Had a tasty and sumptuous breakfast followed by jigarthanda at the vilakuthoon Hanifa jigarthanda next door - special one for Rs.120. Walking to the parking lot we came out of it and started towards the hotel with the help of google map. It proved to be one of the disastrous drive as we took 3 round in the vaigai river bridge near Thevar statue. Having wasted more than 30 mins in this we finally took a route suggested by locals and finally reached our accommodation. Not wanting to go out again after this untoward incident we ordered food from Kumar mess and had it in the room itself. In the evening by 6 PM we took an auto for Rs. 300 to Sannathi street near the temple for some shopping. On the way back, we took parcel from Amman restaurant and the famous bun parotta stall to reach Hari Gardenia by 8 PM. This accommodation is a guesthouse turned hotel, the room was good with ample lighting, nice mattress and a clean restroom. For Rs. 1500 per night this was at par. They promised us more facilities in next 3 months and asked us to visit again that time. We completed the check out formalities and bid them good night.
Tuesday morning saw us leaving Madurai to Sankarankoil where we are slated to stay night and planned to cover Sivakasi and Srivilliputhur on the way.
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