FAMILY & GROUP 23 DAYS PILGRIMAGE TOUR TO TAMIL NADU 2009 - FINALE!

Final Part - Continuation of our Journey...to the End!

It has been raining cats and dogs the whole night...there were talks of that our trip to Rameswaram could be cancelled if the heavy downpour continued without stopping as we cant go to the temple.Woke up early morning as we were glad to be told that ..the sky has cleared and so we could continue our pilgrimage journey to Rameswaram....

13th December 2009 (09th Day of our Pilgrimage) 

After a lousy simple breakfast, we boarded onto our bus to (32) Ramanatha Swamy Temple.On the way to this temple from our hotel, we saw people selling garments in bulk in stalls road side.Most of the clothes sold there were like sweaters and jackets..was colourful indeed. As we hit the town and heading towards the sea, we saw the gopuram of the temple, it was a magnificent sight seeing the much talked about temple for the first time.

Ramanatha Swamy Gopuram

By the Sea before bathing..

After bathing in the sea..

We were actually told by people that the sea side there would be dirty and crowded with people so as such we should just bear with it until we go in the temple...but when we arrived there and as we got down the bus..we saw that the beach was very clean indeed and not so crowded.Its so seem that, the heavy rain has washed the sea side clean and crowd has stayed away due to the warning given that the heavy rain might continue for a few days. So again, imagine our luck, another miracle performed for us..

We were all so happy that we found a spot for us so we could go to the sea, bath and dip three times and come with the wet clothes to go into the temple. We were worried that the sea would be too cold for the children but somewhat...it was not that cold indeed...so all of us did our bathing rituals..and came out with slight shiver..that's all....

All of us...formed a steady line and briskly started to walk towards the temple with our guide was guiding us to the entrance of the temple. There the guide went to find us the person who would be pouring the well water onto us..Total 22 Theerthas which means water from 22 different wells inside the compound of the temple will be poured onto our head. This is the famous ritual for everyone that comes here to this temple. Even though the temple is by the sea side, miracle has it that the waters from the well are actually fresh water.Its is so clean that it can be consumed as drinking water. Its is believed that he water has magical powers for those who uses it with a pure heart.

The first well out of the total 22 well we will get the water from is the Mahalakshmi well, then Savithri ,Kayathri ,Saraswathi, Sangu, Sankara, Sethu Mathavan, Nala, Neela, Kavaya, Kavatcha, Kandhamathava, Pramma Hatti Vimochana, Santhira, Suria, Prakashka, Siva, Sarva, Kayaa,Yamuna,Ganga and the last well is  the Kodi.

Just finish changing clothes and on the way out..

After changing our clothes, leaving the old clothes there in the changing room as we are not allowed to bring back the old clothes that we wore. The ritual here is called "udai dhanam" which means donation of clothes.After all of us has changed..we made our way to for our darshan of the Lord. The corridor of the temple was truly amazing, we expected nothing less to see as we knew that the highlight to see in this temple are the 1000 pillars along the corridors.

Outside finished our darshan..

Our hearts was clean, our bodies were cleaned and now we are heading to have our soul cleansed by having the darshan of the Lord. After a nice darshan and good prayers, we gathered outside of the entrance to snap some pictures of the group.

Check out the beggar..background of the Gopuram..

Then we proceed to the road side to wait for our temporary van that has been rented for us as our bus was just too big to enter here. As we were waiting for the van, more beggars approached us as we slowly avoided them and hoped that the van would come fast and rescue us from these beggars.

It was hot and humid..we got on the van..and next we were headed to (33) Sri Kothanda Ramaswamy Temple in Dhanushkodi. Name of the place means "tip of the bow of Lord Rama". Along the way to this temple, we saw the impact of tsunami that hit this place.There were a lot damaged boats sort of graveyard for boats. Seems most of the boats that was washed ashore here were fisherman's boats from Sri Lanka.

We also saw a lot old train railway tracks. It has been dismantled and left there to rot.Seems those days there were trains operating in these parts but has been discontinued and no longer in operations.Reaching the this Vishnu temple, first thing we saw was left overs of young coconuts in a big pile. As the day was hot, am sure the sales of coconut water must have been lucrative here.

Temple was a small and nicely kept. It was here that Lord Rama prayed to Lord Vishnu and sought his blessing before crossing over to Lanka with his monkey troops by walking on floating stones that Lord Hanuman built for all of them to cross over.

After darshan, all of us walked to the sea side..so as to dip our feet in the sea that Lord Rama and Lord Hanuman walked on...and we sprinkled some sea water onto our head as well for good blessings.

We then boarded back onto the van and our next stop was to visit another 3 theerham (wells) which are on the outer perimeter of the temple.There were Ramar Theertham, Sitha Theertham and Laxman Theertha. Laksman Theertham had a small temple site for devotee to feed the fish there and also to do some prayers.

Next we visited a small temple which has been relocated due to the road construction development. It was the (34) Pancha Mugam Hanuman Temple. Here we saw a 12 feet Hanuman statute with 5 face at the back of the temple. Seems there are waiting for the new temple to be build so they can shift the statue there. Inside of this small temple, we saw the floating rocks which legend has it that Lord Hanuman built so his monkey army ans Lord Rama can walk to Lanka.

Legend has it that every rock that Hanuman touched and wrote his mantra on it will float. These we saw with our eyes and we also touched it too...it was truly an amazing feeling and mystic too..to see a rock that floats..well many will say now that scientifically there are some rocks that can float..some submerge..some do this and some do that...etc..well to all these people..my heart goes out to them as they are truly ignorant and truly without religion nor belief for anything what so ever...even if they say they believe in science..there are merely hypocrites as when there is something can't be proven scientifically then what do the fall on to? I rather be a believer then a non believer, rather be living my life then analyzing my life...rather be humble and believe that am eventually answerable to someone supreme then be cocky and ignorant stupid person who believes that he/she controls his/her fate and destiny...

After this, we decided to go and sight seeing..we went to a hill rock site when a saint is believed to have done his yoga prayers here facing the Ramanatha Swamy temple. The scenery was delightful as we can see the Tamil Nadu Electric Board Power Station very clearly from this place. As we were there, the rain started to come again and thus we had to cut short our trip and head back to hotel.

Back in hotel about 2.00 PM. The rest of the day we had a good rest in the hotel. Slept for rest of the day and later at night we ordered some food from the hotel.

Next morning...all of us got up early as so we could carry on with our journey. Had all our bags down at the lobby and waiting for breakfast. As we went to get the breakfast, we found a large group of people there and they had almost finished the entire breakfast and so when we asked for food..we were told to wait and slowly one by one arrived and even then, the other group people were still grabbing them even though they have had the first round..so it took us almost 35 minutes just to get a cup of tea or coffee.

We could not wait any longer as the management of hotel royal park was not bothered at all about the satisfaction of their customers..and once again our tour guide was no where in sight when this incident was happening. Only late4r when we complained to him during when were boarding on the bus..and like a hero..he began to jump and saying that he is going to ask the management why this happen..and going to complain..blah blah blah...he was about 55 minutes late on the issue...and in the end to my knowledge he did not do anything as he quietly got on the bus with us and sat.......

Anyway....we boarded onto the bus and was on our way for our next temple.....

14th December 2009 (10th Day of our Pilgrimage)

The moment we got onto our bus and made our way out of Rameswaram, rain started to come down heavy again..as we were on the longest bridge over sea in India, we saw the that rain has forced the fisherman not to go out to sea.

Rain began to pour as we head out of Ramanathapuram -  the fisherman's boat not going out to sea!

View in the Bus..all eyes is outside of the bus looking at the rain beginning to pour as we were on the bridge.

One of a small temple by the sea 

We were all very happy and surprised and even the tour guide was amused as to our luck. It is as if someone is watching out for us during this trip until now to ensure that we have a good pilgrimage.

The next destination we are headed to is Thiruchendur. (35) Senthilnathan Murugan Temple is a very beautiful and mystic temple. It lies by the sea shore with nice strong breeze blowing to the side of the temple. Nothing like visiting a temple by the sea as how we felt in rameshwaram..good feeling indeed..kids enjoyed it tremendously..

First view of Salt Bin - Tuticorin

Along the way...we saw the famous salt bins. In Tuticorin, salt is processed and exported to overseas and also supplied locally for local market. We saw huge salt bins and some with salt hill by the side of the bins. First it looked like a prawn farm as the sizes were similar but closer look showed that it was salt bins.

Pile of unprocessed salt by the bins

Pile of salt..

When we reached the temple, it was afternoon and the place was crowded. The bus was parked at the bus stand with almost hundreds other buses, we have to make sure where we parked as not to get confused when  we are to board back on the bus as a lot of other buses looks similar as ours.

We got down the bus and made our way to the temple and hung around a stall which sold archanai baskets as we bought them there and also placed our sandals and slippers by the stall too for safekeeping. As soon as our guide bought us the special entrance tickets, off we went with smiles on our faces.

Thiruchendur Murugan Temple Gopuram.

Now as soon as we entered the temple, we noticed that it was different from what we saw in the year 2006. The walk in to the shrines were different and as we queued up for the darshan, we noticed that it was a very long queue even with the special tickets we had purchased, i imagined that everyone has bought the special path entrance tickets..again proving my point that Indians are not poor.

As we took baby steps marching closer to the inner temple,we realised that we are actually merging with the free entrance path entrance at the mouth of the inner temple. This caused more pushing and shoving as everyone tried to get into the inner temple first...Our group was waiting to turn left into the temple while the free entrance path people were coming from our right which means they have a straighter path to go and easier path way.

As soon as we turned left and entered into the inner temple, we saw another two path way splitting our special entrance path way..here we were greeted by one of the assistant priest i presume who was haggling us asking if we wanted a special darshan path..he told us the amount that we agreed upon as we wanted to ease of from the this pushing crowd.It was not easy for us as children were involved in our group,their comfort and safety was always primary to us.

We agreed to the amount the priest wanted and he took us off the the path way and guided us to another path way but before he did that, he asked for the money upfront..it was INR 1000.00 and i paid for it for the whole group. Only after that he took us to another priest and told him something and then we were taken to the front door of Lord Murugan and we sat there with some difficulties as there was other groups as well and we had a good face to face darshan of the Lord himself...we all prayed full heartily and am sure some vows were made by someone in our group...

As i sat there..my body was shaking and i knew lord was there..and as i closed my eyes....i could see him smiling and standing there with his shining "VEL" (spear), from his smile i knew that he knew that he has made my vow of ensuring that i come again here to see him has been fulfilled.

We got up and walked to the right side of the door, where there was another small door that would bring us down to the "syambhu lingams" which is actually directly under the feet of the Lord Murugan Statue. The pathway was without air so we had to walk fast and breathing slowly...few left and right turn and could feel that we are going downwards..and we arrived at the small opening like and we waited for the other small group to leave before we took out position to bow and touch and pray to the sivalingams.

These lingams originates from the earth naturally, how?? well i am not one to answer that question and am not sure if anyone can even say that they know the answer to it...but i know that this is the eternal energy source for the whole temple and when i touched the lingams, i had these surge of tremendous energy going through my body and it felt like for a moment i was floating and as if i was not even there...feeling.

We were not allowed to be long there as there was no air...so we made our way back as fast as we could and made our walk to have the darshan of other deities there, as before we could leave that particular spot,the same priest who greeted us at the door came to us and again asked us for more money stating that the previous money given was for the Lord and now he is asking money for the priest and himself. Neat trick would you not say so?? How would they give the lord the money? Did he mean to that after temple closes, Murugan will come there and say.."OK now..how was today's collection and how much is my commission? I know hearing the priest say what he said...sounded very stupid but i also know that he was merely asking for tip and so we gave him some money....and made our way out..

Just Out of the temple...

 AS we came out.....all stopped for a while and re-composed themselves and took some snap shots before making our way to the flower stall to collect our sandals and slippers. We then decided to have lunch here as well..so we followed the guide as he said he knew a good place to eat.

Collecting our sandals and slippers at the flower stall.

Ready for lunch - gopuram of the temple in the background.

Just start to walk for lunch - Entrance gopuram of the temple in the background.

We got back on the bus and set out to our next destination Kanyakumari. The tip of the south state of India.This is the place where sun set and sun rise times are read and written on to calendars and religious books. This is place of the infamous (36) Bhagavathy Amman Temple. 

View on the way to Kanyakumari.

First place we went arriving in Kanyakumari was to the rest area where we can see the sea and the place sun sets...we arrived there at about 3.30 PM so it was hot and humid and took some snaps at the place before we went to check in at the Sun World Hotel.

Just arrived at Kanyakumari.

View from place we were to the tower.

Checking in again we had some problem, again for my group the rooms were not ready and also the rooms were so far apart that we might as well stayed in 2 different hotels. It was like a joke and normal routine by now that for my group distribution of rooms are not bothered and important at all.

View from my room at 6.15 PM

We hanged around the lobby for about 15 minutes for the rooms to be ready. The other group has gone to their room and put everything and came back down to go for sight seeing and we were still sitting in the lobby waiting for our room. After getting the keys, we went to our room and yes as told our rooms was so far apart...and we found that there were only one towel in each room. So i called the housekeeping to ask for towels but they told that they were short of towels and so we will have to wait or made do with the one towel.

After resting for a while in the room, i heard complains from members of my group that all of them are having stomach upset..and are having purging...

At about 6.30 PM, we all met downstairs and proceeded to visit the temple. After getting our special entrance fee tickets, we walked into the temple, shirtless for men. This was my second time in this temple but the feelings were just as this was my first time..we turned left and right and then entered into the inner shrine and waited for our nice darshan...and yes Goddess Bhagavathy's Mookuthi (nose ring) was shining and spectacular.

Vallavar Statute in the background at night.

 We came out of the temple at about 7.10 PM and we walked to hotel sangam to have our dinner. After dinner, we kind of walked around the streets as there was night market in place and we bought some souvenirs.

While the group was spending time buying souvenirs, the guide and me decided to go get some cough mixtures for the kids from a medicine shop nearby,while walking he showed me the place where he was staying for the night and then took me to a medicine shop just by the side of the Sangam Hotel where a lady was dispensing the medicines there..when i told her what i wanted she said that they don't carry that brand name but then she suggested to me another brand name that was equally good...the price was good as well so i purchased it and walked back to join our group who was still shopping..

After spending about two hours or so we decided to head back to the hotel and get a good night sleep for our next day journey...as thus comes to an end an eventful day for us....and whats more, it was my wedding anniversary day to say the least...

15th December 2009 ( 11th day of our Pilgrimage) 

Early morning woke up..tossed and turned during sleep...was restless the whole night ..not sure why..well anyway ..we were told that our breakfast is at Sangam Hotel so all of us walked to the hotel and had our breakfast there..

After breakfast,we proceeded to the Vivekananda Rock, the queue was long indeed...and we were actually in 2 minds whether to leave queue and head to the temple or queue for the boat ride as we had plenty of time on our hands..so we decided to queue and go to the rock.

Awaiting to board the boat..

After almost an hour, in the queue finally it was our turn for the boat ride..and we even had to queue up to board the boat as well. All of us got on the boat and everyone got seat on the boat..the sea was not rough as predicted...so it was a smooth 10 minutes ride to the rock.

Standing on Amma's Mandapam 

We disembarked from the boat and walked to the sandals storing place and got us a PVC basket with a number and left our sandals there taking the token given to us.

My second time on the rock but it felt somehow different from the first time. We walked around and went to the chambers where " Kanyakumari's Amman" foot print is in a protected tomb like place..as we went around it...and then we stopped outside for some photo shoots before we climbed up the stairs into the Vivekananda Chamber..we bowed at his statute and proceeded down to his meditation room..I must admit that the vibrations in that meditation room was very strong..and i could feel the power of the Goddess in this little room.

We then proceeded back up and to the back of the rock and went in to the bookshop there to purchase some nice books and literature's to read...and after that we also saw some fisherman diving into the sea looking for pearls...

Then we decided to head back and after gathering our sandals, we queue up again for the boat..this time we were stuck with swami ayyapan's devotees who was pushing and shoving. I sensed that most of them have not been taught of the basic things of what not do when you wear a swami 's "malai". The way they behaved, it was not like devotee's who demands respect from us but more like rowdies who deserves the curse from us whom are doing our pilgrimage.

Annai Velangani Church Background..

We boarded our boat at about 10.40 and we decided not to go to the Valluvar's rock as there was not much to see there and then too we also had to again wait for the boat one more time from there..so we went back straight to the shores.

As soon we arrived there, we walked to the area where the bus was parked and we set out to proceed with our journey to our next destination on our itinerary...We were now heading to Suchindrum..to the temple of (37) Thanumalayan Temple. This temple has wonderful musical pillars and of course the highlight is the 18 foot Hanuman Statue.

Temple Entrance

Temple guide took us and showed us how the pillars made different sounds and then we had a nice darshan of the lord and then we went around the temple and we came up to the Hanuman Statue where prayers was being done and prayed and went around the statue. Some of the group members gave some offerings to the Lord Hanuman and after that we came out of the temple and walked to there our bus was parked..

Water Pond

Most of us were thirsty so we went to a small shop there selling some drinks and bought ourselves bottle drinks..and we proceeded to out next destination....Our next destination was to a small village to where member of our group is giving "annadhanam" (gift of food) to all the villagers there.We were told that this village was called or used to be called Ethangadu.

Priest of the temple with kids..

We arrived to the village and walked to the temple there..It was a small village Amman temple and the food was served to all the people there,we waited for the crowd to subside in a small room in the temple before we went to small hall next to the temple and had our food there..Must say that the food was good..and then we rested there for a while..even entered to one of the village house to see how it looked like from the inside...

Inside one of the houses

After spending about 2 hours odd, we bid farewell and got back on our bus to continue to our next destination, we now are heading to Agateeswaaram. Our bus drove all the way into a small village again and then did a u turn and stopped by the roadside which had the arch saying that a temple is that vicinity.

Sitting for in the temple..Master Keshava is resting for the moment..

Amman Picture....all seems tired..

We all got down and walked to the temple of (38) Agateeswaram Mudaiyar Temple. As we walked to this medium sized village temple, there were a lot of tamarind tree's. As we reached to the temple, we found that the temple was closed but somehow we found the caretaker of the temple and they allowed us in the temple.

In front of the temple

This place is said to be one of the place where Agasthiyaar Munivar sat and prayed while on the journey of making the earth be balanced during the wedding of Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvathi took place at the Mount Kailash.

Temple although small in size, it was truly an old temple. This temple surely has seen better days and am sure during the festival, the temple would be well lit up and glorified. We spent about 40 odd minutes here and then we walked backed to our bus.

We felt slight drizzle on the way back to the bus and we walked briskly to the bus and got on board on it and off we we went back to our hotel.

We arrived at hotel at about 5.30 PM and we rested for a while and decided to come down and have our dinner and do some sight seeing and shopping at the night market there...

Sunset View of Kanyakumari

At about 6.15 PM..we came down and went for shopping and later that night we decided to go to Hotel Sangam for dinner. After dinner we resumed our shopping before calling it a night and head back to the hotel....at about 11.30 PM.


16th December 2009 ( 12th day of our Pilgrimage) 

Woke up early morning..as we had a long journey ahead of us..all bags were packed and loaded onto the bus and we left the hotel without even having our breakfast..We are now headed to Tirunelveli.We had a nice journey but some people in the bus especially the young kids were not too well...

We arrived in front of the temple at about 8.20 AM. After getting down from the bus, all of us went for breakfast at the restaurant right in front of the temple.Nice thosai's for breakfast and had nice warm tea and all of us were ready for our temple visit. (39) Sri Nellaiyapar - Gandhimathi Amman Temple. The temple gopuram was beautiful and as we entered into the temple, we could feel that this temple was a very old temple with so much of history behind it.

Temple Gopuram on the background.

We had a nice darshan and also someone from the temple, briefed us on the history of the temple as well to us right in front of the Nandi Statue. Circling the temple and upon reaching the temple of Lord Kuberan, my senses went overboard feeling the strong vibration of Lord Kuberan and his consort. He is definitely strong here and am sure devotee's whom are true to him are truly rewarded here.I was happy feeling his blessing here in this temple and as we prayed, we could hear bhajan's were going on for Amman in this temple.People were sitting and singing bhajan's for goddess in this morning.

Inside the temple...

Coming out of the temple, we spend some time at the shops there and bought some halwa's (wet sweets) which is definitely very famous here. We bought some fresh ones so hopefully it would last us for about a week or two.

Coming out of the temple..

We then boarded onto our bus and we were headed to our next destination, which is Tenkasi. We arrived to the temple (40) Kasi Viswanathan Temple  at about 11.00 AM. When we disembarked from the bus and walked to the temple, must say that the one thing that caught our eye's was the Gopuram. It was huge and and it was beautiful and very eye pleasing indeed...i assumed everyone would have let out a sigh..looking at the temple..

Temple Gopuram..

As we entered walking into the temple, we saw a lot people already leaving the temple and we presume that it was the closing time of the temple. So we had to hurry and do our prayers in haste. The group had to move at a brisk pace as we started to hear the temple bell as it marks the closing of the temple.

Gopuram on the background from inside of the temple.

Coming out of the temple, we gathered outside and took some nice photo's of the gopuram.Then we collected our sandals from the cloak room outside the temple and boarded our bus and headed to our next destination...Courtallam.

After spending almost 12 days on our pilgrimage and visiting 40 Temples to date, we decided that it was time for us to have some nice short rest and recoup session..and we had chose Courtallam as the place.

We arrived at the Hotel Saaral Resort and it was slightly drizzling when we got down to check in.Hotel seems new.However must say that again the room distribution was terribly wrong again. We had to again wait for our room keys for about 20 minutes, and after getting them we realised that our rooms were so far apart from our children's room.

After lunch we went up to our rooms, upon reaching there, we saw there were monkeys at the balcony of our rooms. As the surrounding area was a secondary jungle..so i presume that there would be a lot animals in the vicinity. The children got excited for a moment but the monkeys ran away so all was well.

At about 3.30 PM, we got on the bus to head to the waterfalls so everyone could bath and have a nice time. As the bus was travelling towards the location, suddenly we realised that the traffic police had stopped our bus and our driver was being summoned. It seems that our bus did not have the permit to enter to this state..thus so the driver paid the fine and we continued on with our journey.

At the waterfall....

First thing I noticed when we arrived at the rest parking area bay was the Ayyapan's devotee loitering around in numbers. It seems that this also their resting place while on their pilgrimage too but their attitude is still the same..wife and kids had to go to the rest room there so we waited for them to return from the public rest rooms there which we say a lot of monkeys were loitering around on the roof of the building.

Time to go for a bath....

I was not sure of the cleanliness of the toilet but i did not bother to ask as well. We saw some guys selling pickled mango and so we bought some.It was very tasty indeed but i had hoped that it would effect our stomachs after eating them ...

Children had a fantastic time at the waterfall, it is said that the water flows through a field of herbs that has ayurvedic medicinal value to it and it would even cure a common cold if we bathed here..but i did not try it as the place was just too crowded...

Definitely Cold.....

There was 3 falls there and it was separated as men fall and women's fall but only two out of the three falls there was flowing with water as it was said only if it was a rainy season..all 3 falls will be with water. Men were bathing with their shorts and some even with only their loin clothes on..and of course as usual they behaved like hooligan's.

There was a policeman manning this area so as to ensure that guys do not go to the women's fall. Even i was told to move away from the area although my children and my wife were bathing there and i was taking some photo's too. Well i told him so but he insisted that we moved back a distance from that area..but after a while we a guy approaching him and slipping him some money and spoke something to him and pointing at a group of men in the men's area.The policeman then called out these 3 guys and told them to go to the women's area and bath there..Now isn't this typical power of corruption - the policeman even told off the women who was bathing there to give way to this 3 man..and i purposely moved back in front to the place where my wife and children were still bathing and hoping that the policeman now would open his mouth...but i guess lucky for him he kept quiet. I suppose he has earned enough for the day to keep his mouth shut...and pocket full..

Wet and Cold....

After spending about 2 hours odd and as sun began to set..we moved out and the people who bathed changed in the changing room that was provided there and we made it back to the bus and went back to the hotel for the night.

17th December 2009 ( 13th day of Pilgrimage)

Bags packed and loaded onto the bus after a moderate breakfast in the hotel. We are headed to Madurai today, but en-route we will be visiting some temples as well. Our first temple that we will be visiting today will be in Villuputhur. We arrived to the (41) Sri Villuputhur Andal  Temple  in the morning at about 8.00 AM. It is said that the gopuram of this temple appears on all the currency bank notes of India.

Temple Gopuram

We walked through a small street to gain entrance to this temple. Temple was nice and big and had a serene feel to it..temple was clean but as we came out..people whom were just opening their stalls were cleaning it and made it wet..

Side Entrance with Gopuram on background..

Drawings on the wall...

More drawings...

We stopped by the stalls and bought some books and others bought some audio cd's too, another thing that we bought here was "pal kova's". Seems sweets here are very good and tasty indeed. I personally bought a kilogram worth of pal kova's for my group to eat on the bus.

Temple Entrance on our way out...

Walking toward the bus, some people wanted to go to toilet,so just opposite where our bus was parked, we found there was a so called a public pay toilet.I went there presuming that it would be clean but to my horror pay toilet or not pay toilet..the condition was in a miserable state, but as beggars who has no choice i paid the sum asked for and so my group used the facility.

Off we went to our next destination,on our itinerary it was Thiruparankundram.Due to time considerable amount time spent at Villuputhur, we arrived to this temple at about 11.45 PM and by the time we reached to the front entrance, it was already 12 Noon and the temple was already closed, so we walked back to our bus and reschedule the visit to tomorrow morning and so we proceed to our next destination without wasting anymore time here.

We decide to check in to our hotel first before proceeding to the temple. So we checked in at the Germanus Hotel in Madurai. Second time am coming to this hotel and it is definitely nice hotel. Well i have come to terms that room distribution for my group will never right so whatever rooms they gave us was fine with us.so we got to our rooms and rested for few minutes before going down to have our lunch.

After lunch...at about 2.00 PM we left to our next destination temple. We arrived at (42) Pazhamudhir Cholai Murugan Temple at about 3.30 PM. It was very nice indeed coming here as my last time i was here it was majestic indeed..and coming again was god's gift. It is true what most people say.."big powerful things comes in small packages". The temple is not big at all but the power it has is tremendous. The divine vibration the temple possess is unexplained...

Temple Gopuram..

As sung in a song..if you want to be born as a tree then you got to be in Pazhamudhir Cholai as the story goes..it is here where Lord Murugan will sit on top of a tree and play tricks on a old woman (avvaiyar) when she ask for a fruit from the tree..." he will ask "do you want a hot fruit or a cold fruit "? Now the old lady was bemused as she did not know what and how to answer? so she would ask him what does he mean by that..but he would just repeat the question and just wanting to know what he meant ; avvaiyar will ask for a hot fruit and thus Murugan would pluck a fruit and throw it to the ground. Avvaiyar would pick up the fruit and blow so the dirt is blown away and that when Murugan will say...that is why i called it hot fruit as you need to blow on it like we blow on all hot things before we eat it. I must say i read this story when i was barely 12 years old..and am glad that my memory is my strong suit...

Group Photo in front of the temple.

Leaving the temple..

After finishing our prayer, i cant wait to visit our next temple as it was where my Lord Protector temple is with the main temple.(43) Alagar Kovil was our next temple. It was one of the famous temple in Madurai too..we came down hill to this temple...

Temple Gopuram....

Before we enter into the main temple, we went and prayed at the Lord Sanggili Karupan place. The Door of the actual temple before it was rebuild and changed for the current temple. Lord has been my protector and guider ever since i was small but i came to appreciate him of lately about 13/14 years ago...It took my divine maturity to feel his presence in me..with me..around me..

Sanggili Karupan Door Entrance

I felt strongest vibration here and i felt him so happy that am there at last and he was almost bursting out of me with so much of energy and power..i shall always cherish this feeling i had today to the day i die...

Son standing in front of the Gopuram

Then we went into the main temple, where Lord Vishnu presides and we had a wonderful darshan and good prayers and leaving the temple, i passed by my lords temple again and said a silent prayer that i hope he blesses me with it so that it comes true for me....someday...and if it does not happen..then i would pass on as a sad soul...indeed.

Leaving the Temple...

We boarded onto our bus once again and headed back to town.Our next temple is divine full indeed..so famous that its now the 9th Wonder of the World.(44) Madurai Meenakshi Temple. The last trip to this temple was very good indeed..we had a tour guide from a temple explain to us about the temple which took years to be build as each King would add on to the structure...

South side view Gopuram

Each and every pillar here is made my different person as such all the pillars will have different drawings on them and none will be similar.Reaching to this temple this time was different..we were met by another tour person with his assistance boy..by the road side and he guides us all the way to the south entrance of the temple. The place was crowded and even so our walk towards the temple. So we had to stick close to the guide and walk at a brisk pace too...

Resting after long walk from the bus..

We rested for a while before entering into the temple..and then we proceeded to the cloak room to store our sandals and slippers.Then we reached to the entrance where we saw a huge queue awaiting to enter into the temple..but our special guide waved his hands to the guards there and we were allowed to enter straight.However security was very tight..we were scanned and then body checked before allowed entrance to the temple..

Gold Lotus Pond of the temple.

Upon entering we had to wait by the corridor for the right time to enter and as the guide had gone to get us our special entrance tickets...while waiting..special guide started to brief us also about the history of the temple and also about how the temple actually shaped as a human figure with a head - body - limbs..it was interesting to see and observe how he described it...

One of the gopuram at the background..

After like a almost 30 minutes wait..we started to move closer to the inner temple...it was crowded indeed and we had walk ever so slowly and as we got into our special entrance path..movement was slightly faster then the normal queue..we were all ready with out "archanai baskets" respectively.

One thing we realised here was that..right after our prayers..as the priest came out..he only accepted the baskets with INR 50.00, anything less he did not want to accept it.It was so odd that how a priest could demand how much he wants to even accept our archanai basket which we have paid for and also have paid for the special entrance fee and even more peculiar thing was that..after coming back with our blessed archanai basket..he started to ask for more money stating exactly what the priest in Thiruchendur had said that "the money we gave was for the goddess and so he wants something for himself"..

It never stops yaar...how the priest can sometimes turn divine feelings into yucky feelings..we were all disgusted as to the priest's behaviour but not wanting to cause a scene..we gave whatever we could and made our walk back out of the temple.. and slowly we came out and we followed the special guide to his shop in the temple..there is a huge shopping area inside the temple compound itself..items sold were from...leg bracelets to devotional items..

We spend about another one hour plus buying some items for everyone.After our purchases we headed out of the temple and first we went to collect our sandals and slippers..and then we were told that our bus has gone back to the hotel and as such we will have to take "auto rickshaws" back to the hotel.

So the special guides assistant came with us and engaged for us: 4 auto rickshaws to go back to the temple.The ride back to the hotel was exciting,scary and funny. The way the auto's bulldozed through the traffic was scary and the speed as they went through the corners and streets was exciting and it was so funny how this small vehicle can run through the road and traffic was something amazing..we were all laughing with anxiety more out of fun..

I presume that everyone let out a huge sigh...of relief as we arrived to the hotel in about 15 minutes.After going up to the room and leaving the materials we have purchased...we came down to the hotel restaurant to have our dinner.


18th December 2009 (14th day of our Pilgrimage)

Bags packed and loaded onto the bus and after having our breakfast..check out and proceeded to our next destination. Our destination today would be to Coimbatore via Palani...

Our first temple that we are going today is (45) Thiruparankundram Murugan Temple. This was the temple we were supposed to have went yesterday but due to time limitation we have to reorganize it for today. It was a rock based temple.

Temple Gopuram

Arriving to the temple at about 8.00 AM, we went in to the temple after buying the special entrance ticket.Crowd in the morning was moderate but we still had to hurry if we wanted to have a nice darshan..so we walked hurriedly and then we came to a stand still awaiting our turn for the darshan..

Temple Entrance

We had a wonderful darshan of the Lord and his consort Devanai. At the time we were there, morning prayers was conducted and we were part of it..so all in all we were very lucky indeed to have missed and rescheduled our visit to this temple..."another miracle by the God for our benefit?" hmm......believers will say YES and the sceptic's will say it was luck or pure coincidence. However it was .. I will gladly take it..anytime and every time..

Leaving the temple..

After prayers..we proceeded back onto our bus and off we went to our next destination which was about 2 hours odd journey to Palani.(46) Dhantayuthapani Murugan Temple 

One of th Gopuram

Arriving in Palani..it seemed like a small quiet town...with nice hills..on the backdrop.We disembarked from the bus and walked to the place where we are to get on the cable car. As we walked in, we saw some people were already queuing and so we follow suit..we awaited like about 30 minutes until it was our turn at the gate to purchase the tickets and go in the waiting room area and to sit and wait for our turn for the ride on the cable car to the top of the hill.

Cable Car..

Ride up was short and nice indeed..we got off the car and then we walked on the compound of the Palani Murugan Temple..feeling was great indeed...as we arrived there noon..so we had to wait for a while for prayers to start so we could go in to pray...walking around the temple was a nice touch..I could feel and imagine how crowded it would be during Thaipusam....and wow how that would feel to be here for that..hmm maybe when am old..my children would bring me here for that or i would come here alone...god only knows.!

In front of the temple..

Walking around for a bit and then we were told that we could enter...so we made a queue at the special entrance area...and we walked through some bending areas and at last arrived what seemed to be the back of the inner temple..we queued there for our turn...

Special Entrance Path

Came our turn for the darshan..we were all asked to be seated in front of the lord statue and prayers were conducted ..now during the prayers..priest started to walk around us and some to us asking for money...and small amounts are not accepted here too..as usual..reason being..everyone gives a lot and so giving small amounts is not accepted..another frustration moment...

We all came out after prayers and assembled at what seemed to be a corridor entrance stop area...and waited for the priest to bring our archanai baskets..and as usual with his demands of more money...

Out we came of the temple..and headed back to the cable car area but it was closed..however not according to them time given at the notice board..but we suppose in India the schedule board does not actually play any part in the real schedule...of anything..

Then we decided to take the rope car down the hill..and thus we made our way to the rope car station.There was another queue and so we joined and waited to purchase for the tickets..and we were also running out of time as we need to proceed to our next destination...

Rope car

When our turn came..we were told that the next rope car can only take "x" amount of people so the tickets would be sold accordingly..and thus our group got divided into two..as the rope car arrived..we made way around the car and got in the car..and then had to wait for the other car to come up before we could go down..however as soon as the other car arrived..we were told to switch cars..and thus we had to get down and walk across to the other side of station but by then the other group had already taken seats in the car even without the tickets....so we just handed over our tickets and I decided to walk down the hill using the elephant path by the side of the hill..

On Elephant path 

Walk downhill was not too bad...had some nice scenery's and some photo shots to be taken...and rested at the almost downward mid area for a while to catch some breath...and then as came all the down...we saw a huge crowd which we did not see when we came up..this must have been the main entrance for others to go up the hill...

Spot where avvai pleading with Lord Murugan not to be upset.

We rejoined back with the other group who came down by the rope car..and walked towards the bus..and we were off to our next destination.I was truly flustered and exhausted from the walk downhill and needed some nap time...

So when the question of needing to take lunch raised..i asked my group if they were hungry..all said nope and also something in me just said to get on with the journey...so we told the guide that we did not want lunch and just wanted to continue to our next destination....as for the small kids..along the way we stopped by a bakery stall and bought some cakes and buns for them....

We arrived to our next temple destination..(47) Marudhamalai Murugan Temple. We disembarked from the bus and walked towards where we will have to talk another local bus to the top of the hill. We walked along the shops that were there both sides of the road..it was like a festive mood only without any crowd..

Temple Entrane

We purchased tickets and waited on the bus and after like 5 minutes, off we went to the top of the hill...ride up was exciting as the bus turned and swerved on the crocked and winding road...as it went higher and higher...the speed of the bus was reducing..but kudos to the driver as we reached to the top safely indeed....

Local Bus Station 

We reached a parking area in a size of half of a football field...and we proceeded to walk to the left sight where there were some shops and stairs going up leading to the temple..As we were going up the stairs..about 30 - 40 steps up..suddenly i heard our guide was waving and calling us to come up fast..he has gone up there ahead of us to purchase for the special entrance tickets..so i was curious as why he was like a sudden craze man calling all of us to hurry up...so i ran up and what i saw was truly amazing and remarkable indeed...

It was a GOLD Chariot of Lord Murugan himself...that was why our guide got all excited and hurried all of us...i quickly signaled to my group to pick up pace and come up as soon as they can...i quickly purchased special tokens for camera's to photograph the chariot.

Lord's Gold Chariot.

Now i went to my guide and asked him...did he knew about this event that is taking place in front of us..he said no way as he said in the almost 14 years he has been a guide..never once he has seen this gold chariot of Murugan.Furthermore it seems that the chariot only is taken out every 14 years once.

Lord Murugan

Temple on the background.

Seeing the lord in his Gold Chariot was truly a blessing sight...and furthermore to think that if only we had decided to take lunch..we would have missed this once in a lifetime opportunity to see the Lord in his Gold Chariot. My body shook with vibration as i went near to take his picture..my senses were tingling and my heart was pounding so fast....a feeling that i cant describe...

After seeing the chariot going round the temple once...we then proceeded to go to the temple and pray to the lord and i personally was thankful to him as he allowed us and blessed us to see him in his full gold form .

Finishing our darshan..we then proceeded to go behind the temple and head down the stairs to the Paam Atti Sittar Sanadhi. (Snake Charmer Sage) We had to walk quite a bit down ward and it was not flat too...but upon reaching to the small ashram sort of temple..i could see the rays of vibration that formed in front of the temple.

Entrance to the Paam Atti Siddhar Temple

This small temple was full of positive energy and divine energy was flowing...I sat there and closed my eyes and all i could feel was Lord Sivan's divine energy...and as i opened my eyes..another pair of eyes was looking directly at me and had a smile on his lips...It was the the priest's that was looking at me and staring at me.BUT.i knew instantly that what my naked eyes is seeing is not what; my divine eyes is seeing.....

He acknowledged me with a nod and as i went near to him to gather blessings...i sensed upon his vibration that no normal mortal human being has....it was much more....so much more..Time to leave as we had to go back but my heart and legs refused to go...however i walked out ever so slowly so my group would follow suit...and so we headed back to the bus..

Drive down from the hill was scary as it was already dark and the bus was speeding its was down..however as most of us were standing at the back of the bus..we did not realise how steep or how winding the road was..all we knew that in 8 minutes we were already at the bus stop area where we got down..

Back from the Hill.

Wow...3 Murugan temples in one day and with 3 different type of experiences. Now another question for the sceptic's : still luck and coincidence or its divine intervention? If this experiences cant turn scepters into believers than i suppose they are truly ignorant and empty souls indeed..

Got back on our bus with so much positive feelings and was headed to our hotel CAG Pride. Checked in the hotel and then...we came down for dinner. We went to a restaurant by the side of the hotel..and afterwards we walked for a bit and found a bookshop and did some shopping...

We went back to the hotel at about 10.45 PM for a good nights rest .....




19th December 2009 (15th day of our Pilgrimage) 

Early morning breakfast..which saw us as the first people in the breakfast room..Must say breakfast was nice indeed..nice spread of buffet breakfast..and as we were enjoying the breakfast..someone broke a glass....loud shatter behind us...and then it was back to normal....

Got the backs in the bus and off we went to out next destination....today we will be heading to Trichy. We were told that the journey would take some time. As we were traveling, for some apparent reason i was looking at the map and i saw this town called Chennimalai.

I then went to the front of the bus and had a discussion and we so decided to make some changes to the itinerary and visit some temple en route to Trichy.Our first temple to visit was (48) Chennimalai Murugan Temple.

Gopuram under renovation.

We turned into a smaller village road heading toward this place. Suddenly our bus stopped and all of us was curious as to why..we saw that a local bus had stopped in front of us and there was an ambulance..it seems that an old man coming down the bus had been knocked off by the bus and he was seriously injured..lotsa blood on the bus steps...and as the ambulance buzzed off we continued our journey..

All of a sudden we saw an opening area and an arch above the road up to the hill...we all got down of our bus and we went to the local bus that was there which we were told to embark on and wait for the driver to come so we could go up the hill. Besides our group..there were probably another 5 other people on the bus with us..and off we went... it was deva ju.. Marudhamalai all over again...

Entrance bottom of the hill...

10 odd minutes and as we reached to the top of the hill...it was a magnificent view and it seems that the temple was under some renovations..but it was opened..As we were walking towards the temple..we saw the last step up to the temple for people who wanted to walk up from the bottom...the number on the last step there was 1320. So this temple is even higher then sholingur temple.

Surrounding area of the temple seems all so quiet...and there was one single shop there which sold some books and refreshments as well. No one was around so we completely monopolized the temple.We had a fantastic darshan of the Lord. Coming out of the temple..we saw what was written on the board there..its so seemed that this temple is the birth place of "Kandha Shasthi".I suppose not many people knew this and the importance of the temple. I mean even for me if i did not for some reason decide to take diversion off our itinerary we could have missed this beautiful temple.

Then we saw another sign that says there is a sittar (sage) temple behind this temple so we walked for another 15 minutes to that place too..and we were told that this sage has attained his samadhi here and that there is secret underground walk path that leads all the way to pondichery which now has been closed. We all had a look at the entrance of the secret walk-path.  

Leaving the temple.

After that as the day was very hot..we walked back to the bus area to come down the hill and we got back on our bus so as to continue with out journey...Another small detour now as now we are headed to another town called Gunaseelam.

Arriving to this town and the temple, we were told that this temple (49) Gunaseelam Perumal Temple was very important and powerful temple.This seemed like an ordinary village temple but when we got down from the bus and walked around..this seemed more of a refuge temple.The were houses by the side of the temple and there was a nice pond in front of the temple.

Temple Entrance

Water Pond in front of the temple...

On all corners of the temple, there was narasimha's statue as guardian to this temple. When we asked around, this temple is meant for people whom are mentally sick or disturbed. It is believed that any person or people who are mentally sick and disturbed would come here and stay for at least 3 months and each and every day after bathing in the pond in front ..must go to the temple and pray to the lord to be cured..and thus it is proven that people are cured after performing this ritual with full faith and devotedly.

We had to wait for about 30 minuted for the temple to be opened..and crowd started to build up as we were waiting..and as soon as it was opened...we went in and immediately we had some queue to battle in front of us..however we did manage to get right in front of the lord's statue..and had a good prayers.

As we went round the temple, there were drawings on the temple and if one should start exactly at the left side from the first painting and then ends up in the right side..they would have read the whole history of the temple on paintings..its was truly a pleasing feeling indeed..and this was the second temple that was not in the initial list...but it was definitely worth the detour..100%...

We left the temple with a good feeling although it was drizzling and some of us got a bit wet but all in all it was a good darshan indeed...Our next destination was an Amman temple...We were headed to the famous (50) Samayapuram Mariamman Temple. 

Temple Entrance

This is the temple where by my first visit did not go too well as we were conned by the local touts. However this time we were much more prepared and knew what to do as well. It was dusky and we went in with such good feel and as such our darshan and prayers was good indeed minusing some issues where we had to push forward at the queue where it was control not too smartly by temple workers..people from the back just pushed their way through and at last we found a priest who assisted us in getting us a front darshan..and as we came out..we gave him some money with freewill as he did not demand the amount.

Leaving the Temple

After a while, we headed back to our bus and then we went straight to the hotel for the nights rest. It was SRM Trichy hotel.i must say that the service given by this hotel was truly forgettable and sickening.The management is least bothered about how their staff performs at all..unfortunately for us we had to stay 2 nights at this lousy hotel...

In front of our Villa.

20th December 2009 (16th day of our Pilgrimage)

After breakfast, we got on the bus and we were headed to Sri Rangam for our first temple visit of the day.We arrived at (51) Sri Ranganatha Swamy Temple at about 8.25 AM. Huge temple and when we arrived in the morning it was shocking to see that the crowd is already there..we proceeded inside the compound and then we found that it was a pretty long queue to get in the temple with security checks being performed at the entrance of the temple.

In front of temple entrace

After a while with some pushing and shoving we managed to go inside the temple and for some moment we were waking freely until we came to another queue..and again we had wait for our turn for the darshan..our turn came and we saw Lord in his reclining position and we were also shown other deities there with light held by the priest there..all in all it was definitely a solid darshan indeed...

Then we went around the temple and went to the amman shrine there and we noticed that the was a huge sign board that said "only Hindu's allowed" which means temple is forbidden for non hindu's..this seems odd as this concept or ruling would have been enforced in ancient days but to enforce it now..not a healthy rule..i would say...

Amman shrine was nice and old as well..and we also had to queue for darshan and to pray..line came from both sides of the shrine and we were on the left side and turning to right to gain access to the door of the shrine...had a good prayers in front of her and then we came out of the temple..and walked out and saw the huge rock stage which in older days used for dance or drama performances and i guess it is still used till to date...and we saw people also coming from the back entrance from villages there...

In front of the dance Mandapam

Seeing the golden gopuram of Sri Rangam temple is a nice feeling..this temple has almost 8 gopuram's around the whole compound..and at the back on the temple there is other small shrines for other deities as well...going around it takes almost about an hour or so and you will have a nice majestic feelings when you are in the compound of the temple as your mind would wonder...how the atmosphere would have been in those days...

Leaving the temple

We left the temple after everyone has had a nice walk around the temple and we took some nice photo's as well for memories..we came back to the bus and we were off to our next temple in the list...

We arrived to our next temple at around 10.20AM...bus parked at an area where we had to walk forward for about 15 minutes until we reach to the entrance of the temple gopuram..our walk we did pass by 2 other gopuram's leading to the temple..the front most gopuram of the temple was huge..it was the (52)  Jambukeswarar Temple.

Temple Entrance

Morning crowd had already gathered and the street was pretty busy in the morning..a lot motor cycles and bicycles around as we walked pass the gopuram heading the main entrance of the temple itself..we left our slipper and sandals at the cloakroom which was at the right side of the temple and walked into this huge temple..our guide bought us the special entrance tickets and we walked into the temple and there were not many people in the temple..i suppose it was still early..

We queued to have the lord darshan..it was a unique darshan as he had to go into a small room and we would have to bend forward and sort of hunched forward and enter into the small shrine where lord is..the room has limited capacity and as such only a few people were allowed at one time..all of us took our turns patiently and we came out after prayers...

Then we walked around the temple, although we have purchased photo taking permits but we were not allowed to take pictures at certain areas...then we proceeded to the amman sannadhi there and also prayed...we saw numerous wall paintings or Murals on the wall of the temple..these murals were of Amman herself...and it was beautiful.....indeed..

Spending about an hour here then we left the temple and got back on our bus and headed to town for lunch and also to continue with our next temple visit in the rock-fort area...

After lunch we did some shoppings in the surrounding area of the rock-fort temples..one thing which is noticeable here moneychangers are in abundance..they walk up to you and ask you if you want to change currency and awkwardly enough their rates are extremely good...but we were also warned that these touts who exchanges money for a lower rate...will sometime slip in a few counterfeit notes and as we are not locals it is almost impossible for us to know the difference...thus we stayed away from them...

At about 3.15 PM...we went back to the meeting point where we agreed to wait for the pick up after our shopping to go to the temples...the bus came and we boarded it and off we went to the temple entrance area...

Arriving there..we assembled quickly and got our tickets and we climbed the stairs up this cave to head to (53) Uchi Pillayar Temple. We have climbed these same stairs when we came here in 2006 but this time it did not seem that a difficult climb...it was on an easy pace...and as we came to the bend where there is a rest area...we rested for a while before climbing up the last of 344 steps to a small temple right on the tip of this rock hill..

Before the Climb Up

The feeling was one of excitement...although we were huffing and puffing with shortness of breath due to the climb but it was a majestic feeling when you are right on top of the hill...it feels that you are one with the God himself...this rock where this temple sits is said to be of 3,800 Million years old and the temple was build in 3 B.C. This means this rock is older then the Himalayas...

View from the top

Sivan Temple Gopuram seen from the Pillayar temple

The view from the hill was magnificent....one could see the whole of Trichy...we went around the temple and then finished our prayers to the Lord Ganesha...lord of wisdom and remover of obstacles...and we descended down the stairs and straight hit the drinks stall there which at the bended rest area...we felt strong wind a s light drizzle coming down as we started to climb down the stairs and headed to the other temple here....

After Darshan

The next temple we are about to venture was (54) Thaiyumanavan Sivan Temple. This is a very old,powerful and unique temple. We waited for about 30 minutes for the temple doors to be opened.
Legend of this temple is that..."there was a pregnant woman in this area and she was a strong Sivan devotee and one day when she was all alone she went into labor and as she crying in pain and fear....Lord Sivan transformed himself into a mid wife and came to her aid and helped her delivering the baby safely...so thus the name given to him here - [father changing into mother]"

While we were waiting and sitting around with some another 30-40 people there...there was this deaf-mute guy came up to me and smilingly suddenly pointed to me a place for to sit...and he kept smiling and kept waving his hands to me until i sat where he asked me to sit out side the door. Then after i had sat there..he went about his ways...

Now after the temple door was open,all of us...made our walk all the way up as there was 2 tier to this temple..there is a Amman Sannadhi and Sivan Sannadhi....the top of course belonged to Sivan and that is where we went up first...but unfortunately it was not opened yet..so we hanged around the steps there for about another 5-10 minutes and then we heard that the temple was open and so we rushed in with the crowd..

There was a small crowd already there in front of temple door. but to my surprise suddenly out of no where the deaf-mute guy emerged again and guided me where i should stand...he asked me to stand at the end of the line so i could have the full view of the Lord in his Lingam form..and he left me when i took the position where he pointed to me..i felt somehow odd but i did not really give any thought of this guy at that precise moment.. concentrating my prayers to the Lord.

After prayers....again the guy showed up and he guided me and the group to around the temple..and then asked me to peep at a hole ..where, when i peeped i saw a craving of Vishnu of the wall..and he laughed when i had finished viewing...and i nodded at him as though we were actually communicating with each other...I did hear a few whispers from my group member as who is this guy and why is he following me..?

Well then he guided us to the Amman Sannadhi..and when we went for prayers...the guy was not there...and after prayers...as we turned around the wall of amma's temple..there he was waiting for us..or me...am not sure and he was all smiles..i did notice that he did not do anything to so many other people there but he was like a personal guide to me..and as we left...he was like laughing and smiling and as members of my group gave him money..he took it and was smiling and nodding his head as if was saying thank you...then when i went to give him money..he caught hold of my hand and held it for quite some time..i was smiling to him and he was smiling and laughing at me..well he refused to let go of my hand for quite some time and at that precise moment...my body started to tingle...and my divine sense was trying to tell me something.."who is this guy actually? Why is showing so much affection towards me and only me? I was not the only person who gave him money but why is holding my hand and motioning as though i was the only one who gave him money....it was pure happiness for him that he was holding my hand...i could see and sense this with his body language..i mean everyone there was surprised too....but after he let go of my hand..i turned around and gave another smile at him as he waved me off and he stood there...and after i turned my head around again..he was not there anymore.....Am leaving this to you all to interpret what had transpired and define who might this guy be?

As for me..i was beyond myself but i could not show it out as my divine senses was vibrating profusely..that i had walk fast just to make it stop.. walking down the stairs was so much easier and even easier when you just had a episode with divinity@God....

Leaving the temple..

All of us stopped at the shops that was there at the exit of the temple..and bought some souvenirs...we exited the temple and walked to our bus and boarded and headed back to the hotel for the nights rest....It was a very good and godly day indeed......

21st December 2009 ( 17th day of our Pilgrimage)

Bags packed and left outside of our villa's and we headed to have our breakfast..but after finishing our breakfast in about 40 minutes or so and as we wanted to board our bus..we realised that our bags are still outside our villa's as the staff have not gathered it to bring it to the lobby...That is how the service of this hotel...and even when we called on the supervisor or the duty manager...nothing was done..I really wonder how and who gave this hotel 3 star..this SRM Royal Southeren hotel is worst then a budget hotel for its services provided....

We then brought the bag on our own and our guide and the bus attendant helped store the baggage into the bus...and off we went to our next destination of our tour...today our final destination is Tiruvannamalai..

Enroute to our final destination, we were supposed to go town called Ennayiram but since the driver and the guide did not know the route..we decided to head to another village town called Parikal. Here we are to visit the (55) Lakshmi Narasimha Temple.

Temple Entrance

The bus had a tough time on the small road going towards the temple and to make matter worse..there was another bus in front of our bus in this one lane road...so our bus had to reverse backwards to give way for the local bus to pass us by before we could move forward...there was some arguments between the driver of both the bus as to who should go first...but all was well in the end..

We finally arrived to the temple at about 10.40 AM. There was no one around besides some village people there and we walked along some shops selling lord's pictures and other souvenirs.

We entered into this old temple and there were about another 5 other local people there praying and we had a good darshan of the lord and as we went around the temple..there were carving on the walls of the temple..and so it seemed that some carvings were of Lord Vishnu's avatar and also other carvings depicting the history of the temple itself...I was truly fascinated by it and this shows the true history of this temple placed in such remote village...

As we walked around the temple compound....statue's of all Vishnu's avatharam (manifestation)  was place on the roof of the temple..it was really for once to just walk in one group with any crowd it sort of become like a private temple tour....

Leaving the temple

Before we left, members of the group bought picture of the Lord Narasimha to be placed in their house altar..and must say that the picture of the Lord was very unique and good indeed.....

So we continued our with our journey...we arrived to Tiruvannamalai town at about 12.45 Noon and we decided to have lunch first..it was raining but it was not too heavy...and we checked into our hotel at about 2.30 PM...and funny incident happened during checking in..it so seem that the key to our rooms were missing and so the reception girl was trying to ask her staff where the key are but he did not understand her...they were foreign workers and so they did not know what she was asking..this went on for about 20 minutes until their supervisor sorted it out....

At about 3.40 PM we left the temple to visit our temple..along the way we stopped at a small girivalam Sivan temple by the roadside and then we went to visit the main temple (56) Arunachaleswarar Temple. He is also called the 'Annamalaian". Our bus parked at the bus stand area as we walked on a damp day as it was raining before we came here..

Temple Gopuram

Entering into the temple

Our walk to the temple was slow and then we went in to a shop to buy the "archanai basket" before we went into the temple..it was wet everywhere..after going into this huge temple, we went to pray to Lord Vinayagar first who was on the left side of the temple next to the water pond...and after which we went to another small temple where we went down to see where "Maharishi Ramana" had hid himself when he was small where he had to be dragged out from...

Then we entered into the main temple and we had to queue up again for the darshan...and after our darshan..we went to the Thaiyar's sanadhi and also had a wonderful darshan..and coming out..we prayed all the small temples that was there and lastly we took pictures where background was the gopuram of the temple....

Coming out of the temple..it was darkening outside and the day was cloudy...we proceeded to visit all the girivalam temples...along the roadside ..we saw a huge chariot parked outside..this was the chariot used during the festival of the temple every year....the chariot was about 35 feet tall...and the wheels itself were about 10 feet tall..we were very impressed....

After visiting the first 2 girivalam temple there...we went back to our bus and it was already dark,my wife and i bought some cd's before we got onto the bus...we continued out visits to all the other girivalam temples and even looked at a mountain in the dark that was said to look like Lord Siva's face during the day time...

After a night-full of temple visits..we went back to the hotel...and had a nice dinner and went to room for a good nights rest....thinking that our tour is almost coming to its end.....

22nd December 2009 (18th day of our Pilgrimage)

9.00 AM after having our breakfast...we got out bags all into the bus and we were off to our next destination..our night will be in Chennai tonight..however we will first stop at Melmaruvathur..

Enroute, our bus stoped at the Senjikottai ruins...we got down and took some pictures of the palace ruins..it is said that there are a lot of underground secret pathways from this palace heading all the way to Coimbatore and other places...but all was saw was the ruins...

At about 11.00 Noon we stopped by the road side at the (57) Melmaruvathur Athi Parasakthi Temple. There was a huge crowd there as it seems to be a festival going on..It was the birthday of Bhangaru Amma's the keeper of the Goddess Temple. So we had a long wait on the queue and we were hurried by the (women volunteers) sakthi's working there so the queue moves faster...

We were informed that it was Bhangaru's birthday today and so...the place was really packed and it was cloudy and slight we could feel slight drizzle...first up...we were in the row to go round and see Bhangaru sitting at his house for the crowd..and as we marched with everyone we saw him sitting there....

After that we went outside by the side to go in again and before that we bought our archanai bag's with coconuts..and this time to see Amma herself..but again it was a very long queue and we were definitely hurried along way too fast to have a proper darshan..i was about 30 feet away from the temple and it was like not even 30 seconds before i was ushered away by the volunteers there...definitely not a good darshan indeed and some members of my group did not even had to chance to glimpse on her at all...thats how bad it was...

Making our way out of the temple after collecting our archanai bag's, most of us were not too happy with the darshan but it was nothing we could do as the crowd was too big...and the crowd controllers were too militant..it was still drizzling when we boarded our buses after purchasing some cd's from the stalls outside the temple premises....

We then proceeded to our next destination...to Thiruverkadu....(58) Karumari Amman Temple. This also seemed like a remote place..the bus had to go off road and into a village...after disembarking from the bus we walked forward towards the temple..passed through village houses..and as usual was greeted by beggars in front of the temple..after storing our slippers and sandals at the stall we purchased our flowers and archanai basket's we gathered in front of the temple waiting for the guide to purchase for us the special entrance tickets..

I then told a member of my group to go to the Nagaamma Snake Pit temple by the side of the temple and pour milk and get blessing from her..and after that we all entered in the temple...

Crowd was moderate...but we had a nice darshan..as we enter in the special entrance gateway it was then divided into 2 as the women were on one side and man one side...as we were praying..suddenly out of no where a woman appeared behind us in the row where we men were standing and starting singing out loud...she was singing an Amman song which the tune was very familiar to me....as i turned around and saw her ...she just smiled at me and kept on singing...who is this woman? and what is she doing in the men's area? and she was alone wearing a yellow saree and wore it how the locals there would wear it...

After praying, we went around the temple and prayed at the Durga Amma's temple as well and after which most of us spend some time buying cd's at the stall right next to the temple...after our purchases..we proceeded to the navagraha sanadhi to to pray and beside it was a souvenir shop..and suddenly the woman appeared there again and was smiling at me at the entrance to the navagraha sanadhi..but then after we came out from there i did not see her anywhere in the temple....it was a strange incident definitely...

Then we went out of the temple and took our our slippers and sandals and made our way back to the bus..walking back again we were harresed  by beggars...and we had walk faster back to our bus..

Boarding the bus..we then left to our final destination for the day before we head to Chennai...we were now heading to Mangadu (59) Kamatchi Amman Temple. The bus turned right and went into a housing colony and parked by the side..we got off and walked to the temple.. the street with houses looked very cleanly kept..as we stopped at the flower stall there as usual to but our archanai baskets and also to leave our footwear's there.

Temple looked very peaceful indeed..although there were moderate crowd but the environment was very serene....we had a very good darshan of amma and we did our prayers and went around the temple once..

We went out to our bus and found that our bus was waiting at the roadside and we boarded on it and headed to Hotel Southern Crest for the nights rest and for the remainder our days in Chennai.....


23rd December 2009 ( 19th day of our Pilgrimage) 

After our morning breakfast....we boarded onto the bus to head to our next temple on our itinerary...we are now headed to (60) Kapaleeswarar Temple. Our bus stopped us by the road side again and we walked to the temple..it was about 9.00 AM and the temple was already crowed with people...Temple was huge and its gopuram was big for a city temple..

When we went around the temple before entering into the temple, we saw a lot Swami Ayyapan's devotee were praying before wearing the malai marking the beginning of the their fasting. This is where most of the start their pilgrimage journey...to Swami Malai..

We bought our special entrance tickets and went into the temple and joined the queue that was there..this temple is definitely a very old and historical in the sense importance and legends..after quite a long queue wait, finally we had a very good darshan of the lord himself...and coming out of the temple, we took some nice photo's for memories...

Coming out of the temple, we did not straight went to board the bus, we went to the bookstore in front of the temple...it was a pretty  moderate sized bookstore..all shopped around for a while and bought some books and other prayers materials as well...

Spending about 40 odd minutes there, we finally left the place and headed to the next temple in Basant Nagar....(61) Asthalakshimi Temple.  

This temple is by the sea side and it was definitely an unique temple, one that we did not even foresee, it had multilevel stories and at each level there were different form of Maha Lakshmi Amman statue..each of us had been given 9 flowers and each time we come to a amma shrine we placed one flower each until finish.

We went upwards, sideways, downward and at last we came back the front entrance of the temple which was by the side of the temple. The entrance facing the sea was closed by when we were one or two floors up when it was time to come down..there was a verandah sort of place where we took pictures and the sea wind was blowing to our faces..

We all realised that this was our last temple in our itinerary of our pilgrimage and it was definitely worth the finish..what a temple we picked to end our pilgrimage tour..all of us am sure hoped that Goddess Lakshmi would find it in her heart to bless us for our achievements..

Our Next destination was to Mahabalipuram..or Mamalapuram as its called now..we went there to see all the wonderful monuments and ancient cave temple and also not forgetting we saw the site where the famous movie scene Padaiyappa was filmed...

The view of the ocean from the top of the hill was spectacular..and as we left there ..we decided to go for lunch first before heading..back....we had lunch at our of the restaurant there along the roadside..and en route back to our hotel..we went to visit to a crocodile farm that was there along the road side..its was sort of social visit for the kids more than the adults...

After spending about an hour here...we left back to Chennai as the ladies cant wait for their shopping session.When we arrived chennai it was about 5.30 PM and it was almost dark but that did not stop our ladies from doing what they do best....

Dinner at the night, all reflected how the pilgrimage had been for all..like i said in the beginning there has ups,downs and also the mystery...We had another 2 full days to spend in chennai unwinding from our tough journey..and also for us to do some shoppings as well...

As for me....well this trip has taken a tol on me...and i know that my next trip of Pilgrimage is not far away.....