Our wanderings and perceptions

Its truly festive times at Kanchi; turn around and all you see are humans, no roads in site. At the same time a humble small town is bombarded with massive crowd. Though there is a plan in place by the authorities to manage the crowd, much needs to be done. Without a full fledged arrangement, the Athivaradhar's dharisanam should not have been publicized to this extent. The devotees are differentiated into VVIPS, DONOR's and general. Each set has its own set of entrance path way to the temple's Vasantha mandapam where the Lord resides for the 48 days. Only vehicle with pass are allowed to get inside the town that too through the road near the fly over which is way beyond the arch which usually takes us inside Kanchipuram. Vehicles entering with the pass are allowed by Policemen and guided by them till the parking lot which is at least 1 km away from the temple. From there one has to walk bare foot to the temple premises and find the entrance pathway. The streets...

The following day dawned in Karaikal at AVS Imperia. We decided to have early breakfast get energized for the day. After having enjoyed a good ambiance at the room we walked in to surprise at the dining hall. Typical Tamil breakfast was laid out. Very well cooked food filled our taste buds. Idly, pongal, upma, kesari, vadai, sambar and 3 types of chutneys were all up to the mark. After enjoying the breakfast we moved out. Visited Kailasanathar temple and Kalyana Perumal Temple both near the Karaikal Amman temple.  Kailasanathar temple is an old and well maintained temple. You don't see the priest but the temple is cleaned, lite and the main deities are secured inside locked gates. There is a cow shed and stock of feed. On a Sunday morning we saw only few men devotees in the temple. This temple has 4 gopurams and one can enter through any of the four streets to the temple. Opposite to the Sivan temple is the Perumal's abode. The nithya kalyana perumal is ...

Thirunallar - When Lord Shaneeswarar takes a prominent place in your horoscope a visit to this temple is a must as it reduces the ill effects. So after postponing for many months we finally took the trip to get the much needed blessings to lower the misfortunes ;). Kollidam view on the way Being 280 kms away from Chennai, it takes more than 7 hours to reach Thirunallar by road. On a Sunday morning we left around 5:30 AM from Chennai. Our breakfast stop was at Saravana hotel just before Pudhuchery. As we drove through the rest of the distance, reached Seerghazi by 9:30 AM. From then on it was bad roads and curvy paths making the remaining drive quiet difficult. We reached Thirunallar beyond 11:30 AM. With the help of our local family friends got the car parked and went about to the temple. First we walked to the temple tank and had the holy dip at the Nalantheertham. We are supposed to leave our dresses there and change in to new ones after bath. This doesn't seem to be ...

At-last comes an opportunity to travel in the Chennai Metro train. CMRL has just taken the city up to another level. With automated ticketing entry and exit, escalators and lifts, ticket vending machines, snacks selling vending machines and automatic doors of coaches the Metro is indeed a boon to Chennai. It takes sometime to digest the fact that the all modern and immaculate is all ours for Chennai-ites. The flooring are done in granite and maintained clean and neat. Hand bags and carry baggage are set to scrutiny through the scanner as in airport security check-ins; a must in today's state of the world. Around the ticket counter are the different vending machines for snack packets and for ticketing. Counters are less manned due to lesser number of passengers. Employees are friendly and provide all help that is necessary for first timers. CMRL has employed people near the platforms to ensure they get into the right train and no one stays close to the tracks. Our jo...

On the third day our plan was to visit Cauvery peak. Our guide told us that this place is some half an hour journey from our place and has a scenic beauty. After taking a quick breakfast we started our day. We were told that a day at the cauvery peak including lunch and coffee is charged at Rs.500 per head while only going around would be Rs.100. The path to cauvery peak was an off beaten and enjoyable too.  First place was visit was Shri Chakra Mahameru temple. This looked like newly built temple. Godess  Lalitha Thiripurasundari is the mail deity. She was in her full alangaram when we were there. After worshipping we went around the temple, it is well maintained. Mahameru chakra structure is in the middle and seems to be one of the largest chakra installed anywhere. The other Gods - Shiva, Vishnu, Bramma take their places around the temple. We continued our drive through the coffee estates to reach the Cauvery peak. There is the MSP plantations and our drive in t...

Friday morning dawned in the beautiful hill station of Yercaud with the sound of cock waking us up. With the help of immersion water heater we got freshened up for the day. Called the Venkateswara hotel for breakfast delivery. They sent the food through auto rickshaw for a delivery fee of Rs.70. Spoke to that auto rickshaw driver and decided to go around Yercaud site-seeing for Rs.700. After having our breakfast, our day started with the first site 'Pakoda Point'. This place provides a wonderful view of the hill and its surroundings. There were rifle shoot, bow and arrow and eatables like corn, chips, etc as in any sight seeing location. Around this place were old houses being sold for a minimum of Rs. 25 lakhs each.  Next our visit was to lady's seat. This again is a view point with a small top to house a telescope and gives magnificent view from the hilltop for a per head price of Rs.5. There are tea stalls, photography stall and eatable shops around. You will ...

Sitting in the middle of Shevaroys hills range this hill station is the queen of Salem. We planned a trip to this place over a extended weekend during the chilly month of Maargazhi. Started the trip on a Thursday early morning. We took NH79, Tindivanam route to Salem at 6 am in the morning. Traffic was quiet heavy along the Tambaram-Perungalathur area but manageable beyond that. So took a break here and had breakfast at Vasanta Bhavan.  National highways apart from providing easy commuting road also ensures accessible rest rooms. The drive all the way to Salem was smooth. Few kilometres before Salem central is the way to go up the Yercaud hill. Entry to Yercaud needs a entry fee of Rs.40. Reached this place around 1 o'clock. When we reached at the top of the hill, navigating to our friend's house there became difficult as the roads were being renovated before the summer season. A local offered to help us reach our place and asked us to drop him there as well. Raman took...