Sabarimala visit

 My first Sabarimala darshan 

Lord Ayyappa blessed me immensely on July 21, the last day of temple being open in karkadakom month.  

On my birthday June 21, kannan and myself went to our Ganapathi temple as usual in the morning and I saw Vishwam tantri who is well known for taking people to Sabarimala and enabling them to have a very nice and smooth darshan as he has many contacts there.   Somehow, I approached him and told him to include me when he went on his next visit and immediately he gave me the date as July 19/20.  That was the first positive sign, and some 15 days later he told me that we could go on July 21.  This was conveyed on July 5.  Initially, lakshmi was supposed to come but due to some inconvenience, I casually told Meena about my desire to go to Sabarimala and asked if she had the convenience to join.  She immediately asked at her home and told me she would join.  This was the second positive sign.  

Then from that day onwards, we had to follow a small vratham, which included having to have a hair and body bath every morning followed by some prayer first thing before kitchen duties.  Not eating outside food, preparing  dishes without onion and garlic,

Not consuming leftovers, celibacy and general overall purity, not visiting beauty parlours or do anything ourselves in that line, not cutting nails or hair and again a bath in the evening followed by prayers and light dinner exclusive of rice.  Besides these, to chant Ayyappa Slokas morning and evening and at all possible times in between.  So I maintained this schedule more or less stringently.

Then the previous evening of our visit, July 20 , we (Meena, myself and Lalith) went to our temple again after full bath with our maalai, got a puja done in our name and nakshatra and wore it.  

On July 21, we (Meena(51) and myself(53) and her son Lalith(20) were dropped by Kannan at Vishwam Anna's place and after some Chitra chatting there, two others joined the group, one young boy Mahadevan(18)who is the nephew of Vishwam anna(49)and another family friend by name Vijesh(43).  We left by Vishwam tantri's Innova Crysta around 11:30.  We ladies got the most comfortable and luxurious middle seats.  When the car started its journey, for some moments,  I felt like Saint Tukaram in his specially despatched Garuda vahanam to heaven.  The journey was very pleasant as anna played old tamil movie hits of Ilayaraja.  We stopped on the way to have lunch around 1:30 pm and shared the chapati and cauliflower curry(mine) and chammandi podi(Meena), had some coffee and nendram bananas to make up.  I had only coffee and bananas as I wasn't too hungry.    Vijesh had the chapathis I had taken. Curry was shared.  .Just before we halted for the lunch, we met kumar anna, Ayyappan anna, Mahadevan anna and office kumar anna.They were coming back after darshan the previous day.We reached Pamba around 3:30.

After visiting the washroom, and standing near the Pamba river posing for some pictures, we visited the Pamba Ganapathi and other shrines of Rama, Hanuman, Parvati, Nagadeva and another small Ganapathi.  The huge Ganapathi shrine was closed at that time.   Then we completed the purchase of kettunerai and did all the formalities regarding the same and then started our climb at around 4 pm. We went by the Swami Ayyappan route which is supposed to be the tractor route.  But since the other pilgrim route of Neelimalai was closed just the previous day due to some pilgrim mishaps on account of the heavy rains, we took this route.  It consists of 19-22 steep hairpin bends, which we had to trek.  I found climbing getting more tedious after about ten hairpin bends.  But on the whole, my regular yoga came in handy.  By 5:30 pm we were just in time to climb the holy 18 steps.  That was the most divine and invigorating and hair raising experience.  My throat was choked and eyes were filled when I had climbed the 18 steps.  Only three of us climbed the 18 steps.  The other three came by the side vazhi and all of us reached the right of sannidhanam.  We went inside and within ten minutes I  had my first darshan of the Lord Ayyappan.  Awesome feeling.  There were about 150-200 people maximum.  So we kept joining the queue 2-3 times and has so much time right in the front of the Lord without any pushing or pulling.  It was a very fulfilling experience.  Then Vishwam tantri took us to meet the present melshanthi.  That was another experience as his face was so divine and full of aura.  We spoke briefly with him and prostrated and paid our respects to him and got the special vibhuti prasadam from his hands.  He asked us to leave after witnessing padi puja, but since it was already getting late, we decided against it.  After that, we went for one more darshan right in front as Vishwam tantri knew some security staff and they allowed us to pass.  After this, the sandhya deeparadhana started.  I managed to climb the steel railings in the side and was fortunate and blessed to witness that too due to the timely help of one of the male devotees who has seen for some time and moved away and requested me to take his place.  He was also the one who told me to stand up on the railings to have a better view.  ( This is what I feel is divine intervention.  Later, when I tried to recollect his face, it was a blank).   After that, the padi puja started.  We just hovered around a little more taking photos here and there, had darshan at Ganapathi, ananthashivan, maalikapuram devi, sarpakavu, newly installed Navagraha and mani Mandapam and then briefly witnessed padi puja from an angle as it was full of people who had gathered to witness the same.  Then we bought the aravana prasadam, broke our second coconuts at the allotted place ( handed over the ghee filled coconut to melshanthi's assistant) as that was the last day of the temple darshan for this month and there will be no neiabishekam the NXT day.  Then we started our climb downhill at about 7 pm after a round of orange juice and this was comparatively easier for me.  We had watermelon slices on the way and herbal hot water and reached our parking place by 8:30 pm after another round of Pamba temple visits.  This time the huge Ganapathi was open and I got a manthram jabicha dayam tied neckpiece for Antara.  Did a puja in her name and star.  Then we started our return journey.  We halted around 9:30 at a small wayside eatery for dosa,sambar and chutney dinner.  Tasty.  And again resumed to reach home by 12 Am.  Vishwam tantri was good enough to drop me home.

My Shirdi experience

 Due to mama's ( paranthaman) sudden deterioration of health, we were a bit delayed to check out and leave our hotel 7 Apple and left to Shirdi by the same bus at about 10Am.  Our darshan is already prebooked  for 5 pm.  So since we got delayed a bit, the organisers decided to shift Shani Shignapur to tomorrow.  So we are directly going to Shirdi.  We took a lunch break around 2:Pm.  Had packed lunch of veg pulao and curd rice .  Reached Shirdi around 4 pm.  Checked in Hotel Alaukik.  Freshened up and left to temple.    Our darshan was completed by 5:40 in the main temple.  As we came out, the organisers started walking towards the exit, when I noticed the meditation hall on the left and wanted to sit there for some time.  At that time, I did not know that there was a TV right in front of me showing the live Darshan and as I sat down and looked up, I saw it.  After few minutes of staring into the TV, I noticed that the right side of Baba's face was also clearly visible below the TV.  I was overjoyed because the arati was at 6 pm and the time was nearing 6.  On the dot at 6 pm, I moved to the front and could see clearly the whole of the arati that lasted about 10 minutes.  At the end of it, I turned around to see the entire group waiting for me to join them for the tour of the rest of the sai complex.  I was overjoyed as no one hurried me.  Then we as a group  moved on to the Dwarkamai.  There were went in queue to see the portrait of baba that is kept within.  As we neared the baba, one person was serving pedas.  He had only two pedas in his hand.  The lady( not our group) got one and I got the other.  I was so filled with delight.  I turned around to see if the one following me had noticed, but realized she had not.  I sat inside the Dwarkamai for few minutes.  Then we moved on to the Chavadi.  There again, in front of Baba's portrait, a lady was lighting lamp and spreading out some dry flat biscuit like prasad.  I asked her if I could take a little.  She smilingly said I could and she opened another cloth parcel and gave me a modak from it and said in Marathi it was a prasad from some place.  Anyways, I got the modak too.  Then we came out and one mama from our group brought a cupful of sabudana kichdi prasad and gave each of us a spoonfull.  The initial darshan in the main hall was from the left side and we got to touch the padams of baba.  When we came near, I asked for flowers and was given a rose and some tulsi.  Then we collected the udi prasad and free laddu prasad.  As we completed our chavadi, there was the dixit wada which is now converted to a museum and houses all articles used by baba annd photos of his close devotees and some drawings of the same and the idols of Murali Manohar, that were supposed to be intially kept in the buti wada, which later became the samadhi Mandir.  The Darshan was finally over by 7 pm.. As we came out, we got some drops of badam milk and chana prasad.  Then as we were waiting for Karthik, who had our footwear coupon and was not to be found, a very young boy came over to me and asked me to give him some money for food.  I was feeling so sad that I didn't have any more money than what I had taken for dakshina.  Immediately, Ashok mama from our group came over and asked me what the matter was.  As I narrated, he gave the young boy Rs.50 and the boy handed him a two dimensional photo.  The matter here is just before we started to the temple, lakshmi akka had shown me the same photo and told me it is a very rare original black and white photo of baba and I was just thinking where I would get it.  This was the same picture on one dimension.  So I asked the boy if I could get a similar one.  He asked me to wait right there and walked away.  I was praying to God that our Karthik is not found for some more time.  After what seemed to be a long time, the boy returned and gave me two photos, one the same as he had given mama and another different one in colour.  Now mama wanted the colored one too.  He asked the boy again and the boy didn't mind giving mama another different coloured one.  So all in all, I had a hundred fold blessings from Shirdi baba and I was immensely satisfied.  We went back to our hotel for a dinner of Naan, paneer veg curry, curd rice and raita.  Then went to adjacent shop and purchased artificial jewellery for 1500/-.  Came bk by 11 pm and rested.

My Pandarpur Shirdi Yatra

 Day 1

We landed at Pune at around  4:45Am.  After completing formalities at the airport, our exhausted( from lack of Sleep) group came outside.  A bus was waiting for transporting us to our hotel  7 Apple, which we reached about 5:30 Am and after formalities, got our assigned rooms by 6 Am.  We had about 2 hours to rest and get ready to leave after complimentary Breakfast at hotel.  

First' we visited Dagdusheth Halwai Ganesh temple at about 10Am travelling by 7 autos carrying 3 persons in each.  ( As the temple is located in a busy area with one way transport, we couldn't go by our bus). After a Wonderful darshan with special darshan tickets and a prasad of a modak each from a person unknown to us was an added blessing to the simply awesome darshan on a chaturthi Sunday, we came back by the same autos to 7 Apple.

We came back to our hotel and after a couple of hours, left by the same bus to lunch at a south indian hotel 'Sankar's banana leaf' had a good thali lunch and proceeded to Alandi, Saint Jnaneshwar samadhi Mandir around 2 pm and after darshan and a good sugarcane juice halt,  proceeded to Dehu, Saint Tukaram Mandir and samadhi Mandir.  Reached by 4:30 pm .Completed our darshan by 6 pm and came back to Pune by the same bus.  Reached by 8 pm to have dinner of plain dosa at the same south indian restaurant and went back to 7 Apple for the night by 9:30 pm. 

Day 2

After complimentary Breakfast from our hotel, we proceed to Pandarpur at 9:30 Am by the same bus leaving Pune with a packed baggage for darshan and a one night stay at Pandarpurat Hotel Riverside inn. Tea break on a waysside shop 'Bhuleshwar Misal' at 11:15 for half an hour.  Lunch halt with packed lunch at 1:30 pm in a wayside restaurant.  Proceeding at 2 pm .  Reached Pandarpur Riverside inn at 3 Pm.  Rested a little and got ready by 5 pm .  Went to Pundalik temple and a surprise boating ride on Chandrabagha .  Saw some beautiful sights.  Came back to our hotel, had tea and again left by 7:30 to the main Pandari Vittal and Rukmayi temple.  Since we had special darshan tickets, we stood about 40 mins in the queue and had a wonderful darshan.  After buying a pair of Vittala and Rukmayi idols for myself, came back to our hotel by 9:30 Pm.  Had dinner of thattu Dosa, sambar and chutney and went to an adjacent shop to taste misal pav.  Some mamas from our group had milk here.  Then we retired for the night.

Day 3

Morning at 8 we were fortunate to have mukhadarshan of vittal and rukmayi again without queue and later we did some shopping.  I bought some smaller pairs of idols and bathis.  We had breakfast (sourced from outside)in our hotel of idli vada sambar and chutney.  Again we group of 3 went for some other shopping needs.  I bought some pouches and a couple of duppatas.  Then we packed up and with packed lunch left to Pune by 11:45.  Reached Pune around 6 Pm.  At 7 Pm myself and Ramachandran mama and mami (Chennai) took an auto to a sweet and snacks shop 'Chitale' and bought some snacks to take back home.  Had a nice dinner of chapati and dal at the banquet hall of our hotel upstairs and retired for the day.

Day 4

Our group was ready by 6:45 Am and with packed breakfast and lunch sourced from the same restaurant, we left to Bhimashankar jyotirling temple.  At about 9 we halted and had breakfast of Pongal, vada in the bus.  Then we had a tea cum washroom break in a nearby wayside hotel.  The washroom was neat and clean though there was only one and so the halt was leisurely.   Reached the temple complex around 12:45 noon.  We had another 1•5 kms,  which was not pliable by bus and so we went by two taxis and two scooters to the temple.  Had a wonderful darshan and by 2 we were back in the bus.  Halted around 2:30 on d way to eat packed lunch in the bus puliodarai, curd rice, papad and pickle and left again.  Again took a tea break at 4:45 and proceeded to reach Pune at 7:15 pm.  Then in ten minutes, I freshened up and along with Ramachandran mama and mami took a booked auto and left to Dagdusheth ganesh temple.  Had an awesome darshan.  We returned by another auto and again the three of us crossed the road to a chaat stall by name 'Gayatri chaat' and had a plate of chaat each.  By then, it was 10 pm.  Lakshmi akka was already in the room and we just retired for the night.

Day 5

Due to mama's ( paranthaman) sudden deterioration of health, we were a bit delayed to check out and leave our hotel 7 Apple and left to Shirdi by the same bus at about 10Am.  Our darshan is already prebooked  for 5 pm.  So since we got delayed a bit, the organisers decided to shift Shani Shignapur to tomorrow.  So we are directly going to Shirdi.  We took a lunch break around 2:Pm.  Had packed lunch of veg pulao and curd rice .  Reached Shirdi around 4 pm.  Checked in Hotel Alaukik.  Freshened up and left to temple.  Darshan over by 7 pm.. details noted.  Dinner of Naan, paneer veg curry, curd rice and raita.  Then went to adjacent shop and purchased artificial jewellery for 1500/-.  Came bk by 11 pm and rested.

Day 6

After complimentary Breakfast at hotel poha, dalia veg upma, fruits at 7:30,  we were waiting in the lobby when the reception boy Amar asked me to light the lamp in front of the shirdi baba in the foyer.  I felt so good as it is a Friday.  We left to Shani Shignapur by 8Am.  By 10:45 Am, we completed our darshan and took a washroom break within the temple and another sugarcane juice/tea break on the way and by 11:15 are continuing our journey towards Ghrishneshwar jyotirling temple.  We are yet to reach our destination at 1:20.  We completed our darshan by 3 and left to Ellora caves.  We strolled around after a short buggy ride and then took some photos and after about an hour, left back to Shirdi hotel.  As I had a bad headache, I went to sleep immediately after reaching by 7:30pm.  I skipped both lunch and dinner.  Had a glass of buttermilk for lunch.

Day 7 

After complimentary Breakfast from our Shirdi hotel and checking out, we left to Nasik at around 8 Am.  We reached Nasik by 12 Am, went direct to Panchavati temples which comprised first of the Confluence of 3 rivers Aruna varuna and godavari called Ramakund and then took darshan of Ardhanareeshwara temple and then Kalaram temple.  Then we went to the sita apharan point , where a building is coming up.  Then we saw the five numbered vatavruksha after which Panchavati is named.  We also saw and had darshan at sita gupha or cave where Sita was hidden when Ram Lakshman used to go out.  After this, we went to Shankara Madom where we had a sumptuous lunch.  Then we checked in our hotel Rama Heritage and took an hour rest.  Later, we visited the famous Tryambakeshwar jyotirling temple.  Had a good darshan and again went back for dinner at Shankara Madom.  Hot vegetable upma and poha was heavenly.  Then we all paid some donation and left back to our hotel for the night.  I purchased some good tshirts for kannan at the Cotton point opposite our hotel.  

Day 8

The next day all of us were on our own till 11. So along with mama and mami, I went to buy some sweets and chivda from a shop by name Bagga.  Yummy sweets.  Chivda we purchased from a kondaji chivda shop diagonally across our hotel.  Then we visited the kalika mandir just next to our hotel and then it was time to leave to the airport.  At the airport, packed lunch and dinner were handed over to each of us and we all had our lunch at the airport as our flight was at 3:20 or so.  We reached Bangalore by 5:30.  Then we had a layover of few hours as our flight to trivandrum was only at 9.  After checking in, we had our dinner in the airport and then arrived at tvm by 10:30 pm.  Kannan was there and after saying my goodbyes, we came to Kollam by 12:45 pm.

My divine experience in guruvayoor temple

 Having completed 11 readings of Narayaneeyam, I wanted to visit Guruvayoor and have the darshan of the Lord.  Kannan therefore booked two months in advance the same hotel where we stayed last time 'Hotel Pushpanjali' for October 4 and 5, Friday and Saturday.  Friday coincidentally was my birth star 'Chithira' and it was the second day of Navaratri and the first Friday.  We reached the temple at around 12:30 pm, had a sumptuous lunch at brahmana samooham hall and got back to our hotel room.  We freshened up and joined the queue at about 1:45 pm.  The 2 pm darshan had already closed and so we prepared ourselves for a wait of 2 hours to see the 4:30 pm darshan.  To our extreme fortune, though there seemed to be a crowd, at the time we came inside the Sanctorum, there was a very light crowd and by His divine grace, we could go right up to the front.  It was brightly lit up ( which again is rare) so that we could have a very clear and wonderful look at the smiling child lord guruvayoorappa in koorma avatara alankaram.  It was a mesmerizing sight and left an impression on my mind for a long time.  By the time we bought the payasam prasadam and came back to our room, it must have been about 6 pm.  Though I wanted to rest a bit in preparation for the Nirmalyam darshan at 3 Am, I couldn't sleep.  

So leaving kannan, I went back at 7 pm to see the seeveli.   I had no idea at that time that there are two seevelis every single day.  One at 7 pm with just the main elephant 'Gopikannan' and the other at 9:30 pm with 5 elephants including the main elephant Gopikannan.  I took part in the 3 circumambulations with loud chanting and singing of 'Hare Rama hare Krishna' mantra with the small golden statue of the Lord carried on the elephant by the keezhshanthi (devaswom staff).  The wonderful part here was everytime we came to the front, I had another clear darshan of the lord.  This was all three times for all three circumambulations.  It was like the Lord was gracing me again and again and I was drinking and drinking again the divine ambrosia of his smiling grace bestowing face.  This took about an hour and by 8 pm, I went back to the room highly excited and extremely happy.

By 8:45 pm both of us came to assess the situation of the crowd for the Nirmalyam and were shocked to see about 150 people already seated.  I was wondering what to do when one 'miracle person' came to me from right in front of the queue and told us one of us could have a seat in his place.  At that time, I was under the impression that for some reason,he had decided not to wait for the Nirmalyam and therefore was giving his place for me.   But later on I realised that if it was not Lord Guruvayoorappan himself who had brought me there at the right time, none of the following events would have happened.   But later, he said both kannan and myself could sit in that place.  Having secured our place in the queue, kannan asked me to sit as he wanted to rest for a couple of hours and said he would come back by 11:45pm  after bath and sit in my place after which I could go for my bath.  I agreed and sat there.  At around 9:15 pm, this miracle person came back and asked me and two other women if we would like to see the Seeveli.  I was taken aback because I thought I had seen it and the Lord has had enough of me!  But the dear compassionate lord  had more in store for me.  This person told us that it was the second Seeveli with 5 elephants and so we went with him.  He showed us a spot where we could safely keep our footwear and then led us backwards into the temple.  The five caprisoned elephants were a sight to behold and the difference this time was that there was both Krishna and guruvayoorappan on the main elephant and also 3-4 people atop each elephant with white chamarams and other paraphernalia.  Again each time we went along with the elephants chanting and clapping and singing and taking the lords darshan when we came right at front all the 3 times and making prostration in front of the elephants some 4 times in each round when the conch was blown thrice in different designated points in every circumambulation. It was a divine experience that cannot be described in words.   There were women and men from all sections of society and we were all one here in our love for the lord.

Once we completed the Seeveli, this person somehow made us stand right in front so that when the elephants crossed for one last time, the rope barricade was lifted and some 20 of us fortunate ones stood again right in front of the Lord and I was bang in the middle and the lord in front of me.  Oh! it was like I wanted time to stand still there.  Great experience though there was some jostling and pushing, I stood rooted to the spot enjoying what my eyes showed me.

Then this godsend person took us inside where the lamps around the Sanctum Sanctorum had to be lit.  We were given lit tall torches and we had to light the oilfilled wickers of the numerous lamps to light the walls of the Lord.  I could light about 40-50 lamps and again it was a lifetime blessing to do this on a Navaratri day Friday and I felt deeply blessed.

After the last darshan, some 100-150 of us got the trippuga ghee prasad, just drops of the divine ghee that is supposed to cure one of all ailments.  We happily partook of the same and came to the backside and then I had the wonderful opportunity of seeing that the krishnanaattam was going to start with some 7-8 beautifully made up dance artists.

This was at about 10:30 pm and it was supposed to last for 3 hours or so.  Our group of 3 women quickly decided among ourselves that we would go and have our baths, change and get ready for the Nirmalyam darshan and then come to witness the krishnanaattam for some time.  We accordingly came back around 11:30 and then I sat and recited Lalitha Sahasranamam for the day and took darshan of lord Ganesha there and thus began another auspicious day.  After recitation of the Lalitha Sahasranamam, the other younger lady Leela came along with me to watch the krishnanaattam.  It was a graceful dance sequence where 2-3 men were singing and narrating the various stories of lord Krishna for the dance troupe along with traditional accompaniments.  We watched this for almost an hour between 12 and 1 Am and here too there were about 100-150 people in the audience seated on the floor.  I got a good partially standing and sitting spot near the steps where we get the free sandal prasad after regular darshan.

Around 1 Am, we returned back to our queue.  At about 2 Am we reached the final maze . The next hour was a bit difficult as I was feeling terribly sleepy.  I however managed to chant the Vishnu sahasranama in my mind.

Nirmalyam @ 3 Am was again a divine beautiful experience as we are allowed right in the front of the Lord for a slightly longer duration of few more holy seconds to enjoy his beauty and divinity.  By 3:20 we had completed our darshan.  We came out and had some sugarless hot coffee outside the temple entrance where I could see the new renovations of the roof and sculpture of the nine avatars and some other significant statues on either sides leading towards the entrance.  We made few small purchases to gift and for my kitchen needs and came back to our room.  Rested for 3 hours till 7 Am.  Got up, freshened up and took an auto to mammiyoor Shiva temple and had a good darshan there also.  Had breakfast at Aryas, checked out and left to the station at 9:15 to take the guruvayoor express to trissur and then the 10:40 vande Bharath from there to Kollam.

Our trip to Madurai and Trichy for Onam 2023

 Our Onam trip to Madurai and Trichy 2023

On 26th August morning at around 6:30 Am, we left by car 🚘driven as always by Kannan to Madurai via Tenkasi -Senkottai. We had our breakfast in Punalur in Aryaas and continued our journey and reached Madurai by 12:15 Am. We stayed at Hotel North Gate. Had our lunch in the restaurant of the same hotel and rested for some time. In the evening, we got ready by 5:30 pm and went by auto to visit the famous Madurai Meenakshi Sundareshwarar temple. After a couple of hours of wait in the queue, we had a nice darshan of both deities. As we were coming out, some people were distributing tamarind rice prasadam. We were fortunate to get it and after going around a bit, we came back to our hotel by auto after light dosa dinner outside. 

The next morning 27 Aug, we left after the complimentary breakfast here by around 10 Am to Trichy. We reached our hotel Mayavaram Lodge by lunch time, had our South Indian lunch in the 369 canteen attached to the hotel and rested. In the evening, we visited the famous Malakottai pillaiyar temple which was only a 5 minute distance away. The climb of 220+ steps was a good exercise and we felt great to see the huge deity and the city of Trichy all around from the top of the hill. We also had darshan of the Shiva (Thayumanavar) and Parvathy deities little down on the hill. Got many bananas as prasadam that were being distributed by some devotees. We came back to our hotel for the night and had our dosa dinner in the same canteen. 

The next day, 28 Aug we just rested in the morning as the weather was very hot and about 3:30 pm, we left for Srirangam in our car. It was a 20 minute distance from our hotel. It was an important day being the pavitra utsavam day or poochandi sevai day, which is a once in a year ritual. The temple was therefore crowded. We had to wait about 1 hour in the queue and then we had a good darshan. We then went around our hotel and did a bit of shopping, mainly in the Khadi bhavan and then had chaat for dinner at BG Naidu sweets that was a stone's throw away from our hotel. 

The next day 29 Aug, Thiruonam day, we left early around 7:30 Am and visited the awesome Jambukeshwara temple. It is a beautiful huge shiva temple that also has a shrine for Goddess Akhilandeshwari. We had a very good darshan as it was not at all crowded. After our temple visit, we had our breakfast in a vegetarian hotel just outside the temple by name Mani vilas. It was tasty. From there, we went to another divya desam of Lord Vishnu by name Azhagiya Manavalan temple. The deities are Venkateshwara and Padmavathy onthe left with utsava moorthy at the front side. There is a separate shrine for Tiruppannan azhwar. 

We came back to our hotel for lunch and rested. In the evening, we went around the market area again and again had a chaat dinner in the same place as before. 

The last day 30 Aug we left Trichy early by 7:30 Am and reached a place called Melur that was 30 kms before Madurai. Here we had our breakfast at a newly opened vegetarian restaurant Susee Bhavan. It was good. 

We continued our journey to reach Rajapalayam for a simple lunch of curd rice/ sambar rice at our usual place Ashok Bhavan, which we saw to our dismay was faring poorly. 

We continued our journey to reach Srivilliputhur, where we visited the famous Vishnu- Andal temple at the avatara site of Andal. It is an awesome temple with a huge reclining Vishnu, brahma from his navel and Goddess Lakshmi at his feet. We also had darshan of the Andal shrine and a very beautiful Lakshmi Narasimha shrine here. Outside, we treated ourselves to some fresh paalkoa in the factory outlet. 

We came back to Kollam via Punalur after picking up our Omi from Sumiran Kennel and reached home by 6:40 pm. Had a light dinner of steamed sweet corn. 

My Solo Guruvayoor visit

 My solo trip to Guruvayur

This is my second visit to Guruvayur by myself. The first time I went, I only went alone one way and was later joined by my family and we returned together. 

But this time, I was all by myself for a day and half in the temple precincts. I immensely enjoyed both my temple visit and the journey by train to and fro. 

I took my first train at 6:55 Am in kollam station and reached Trissur at 10:55 Am. From there I took the passenger train to Guruvayur which left at 11:30 Am and reached by 12 pm. I took an auto to the temple from the station as I didn't know how far it was. My hotel room was within the temple precincts. After I checked in and freshened up, I went to check on the queue and had the shock of my life. It was a serpentine queue starting at one end and ending at another direction with people still joining in. So I decided to have my lunch. When I came back at 1 pm, I found that the queue had closed for the 2:30 pm darshan and I was told that I could join the queue but would get only the 4:30 pm darshan. Still I decided to join the queue. 

A bachelor guy from Malappuram was sitting beside me and he asked me if I would like partaking the paal payasam he had booked in advance as he didn't have anyone to take it home to, his mom being a diabetic.  Would anybody in the right frame of mind (and health) say No to that? 

 Being by myself, I wouldn't have known to get the payasam ticket before I joined the queue. This was in the noon. 

I learnt many other procedures about the temple from the same person and saw many wonderful sights that will be ingrained in my memory for a long time. Both times I wanted to see the Lord, I had to wait in queue for 3.5 hours. But since We were the first lot after the 2:30pm group of people, we had darshan almost immediately after 4:30 pm. 

Whatever few sorrows I had taken to share with the Lord seemed suddenly so petty and trivial after listening and observing random people and families (what else would one do for 3.5 hours) and when I finally stood in front of Him and looked at his enchanting smile in the form of a bow wielding little Lord Rama, I stood there mesmerized and smiling too, unaware of myself. What a wonderful experience! And when I was told to move on, I realized I was filled with joy. And then came the three glassfuls of paal payasam prasadam, which I never expected to get.  I felt doubly blessed. 

The next darshan I had was the same night when I joined the queue at 11:30 pm for the Nirmalyam darshan at 3 Am the next morning. Both darshans were equally awesome. But I especially loved the feel of actually waking the Lord because we were right in front of the still closed Main temple door and were chanting the holy name and sharp at 3 Am the doors were thrown open and we were the first and only 40 or so people to be fortunate enough to get the Nirmalyam darshan.(this is the Lord as he slept and is awoken in the previous day's alankaram). The queue was closed again and the next set of people could see the Vagacharthu darshan, which was after the Lord was decorated. 

Also the Camaderie between us people waiting to see the Lord was so much present especially because of the absence of mobile phones with us. If we have humans becoming only e-social these days, in the absence of our phones, we again become social beings.  I could feel how that in itself was a 'feel good' factor. I also got to know so much about the lives of the fisherfolk family from Cherai near Ernakulam, whose young daughter was sitting beside me. She narrated how they had to shift to a school camp for a week during the floods a couple of years ago after their home had flooded and also talked about their day to day lives. This was in the night. The crowd of people for the Nirmalyam would confuse you as to the time of the day or night. 

Only some people dozing off and on would remind one of the dead of night time that it was. I realized how fortunate and blessed a life I have been given on listening to these stories of people from different strata of society. People had mixed reactions when I told I was there by myself. Most said I was brave, but a few looked on with suspicion. It didn't matter because I was here to see the Lord and nobody's opinion mattered. 

After Nirmalyam darshan,i went to my hotel room and rested for 4 hours. By 8:30 Am, I was back in the temple and was in the inner sanctum (not the innermost where we see the Lord, but the outer circle within the sanctum, which didn't require you to stand in queue,but you wouldn't be able to see the Lord unless there was no crowd) . I did 3 pradakshinams, chanted the Vishnu Sahasranaam and just sat there till 11:30. By 12 I was back in the room and after half an hour I was again back at Guruvayur station to take the train to Trissur and from there, my return journey by Venad to Kollam. Reached home at 9 pm after an eventful, fruitful, maiden solo tour. So on the whole, I felt greatly blessed and I now look forward to my next solo trip. 

The Mobile phone story

  In many European countries, some days are observed as Pollution-free days when people, including office goers, use only either cycles or walk to their workplace.  What a beautiful concept!, I used to think.

In a similar thread of thought, I used to wonder if it would be good to have mobile phone free days. People are nowadays attending Vipassana camps which mandate keeping away from electronic gadgets including phones during the tenure of the camps. 

 Sometimes, technology and the need to feel connected can get into us so much that it takes away our need for personal freedom. How many of us can sincerely keep away from WhatsApp, at least for one day? Sometimes, I wish I could go back to those days when mobile phones were unheard of.

  A couple of weeks ago,  an unexpected big wave totally immersed my mobile phone when I had only wanted to immerse my feet in the waves of the beach near my home. My ‘not  so old' Phone ‘died’ as a result. 

Though I was initially saddened as I only had had a glimpse of the pictures I had posed to amidst nature only a few moments back,  but which was now lost forever,  I told myself, here was my 'Golden Chance' to live without a phone, at least for a few days.

 I started a new day as always with my study chanting  of the Lord's name. At one point I got stuck . I went to my phone to listen to the downloaded audio file before returning back disappointed to my photocopy and completed my chanting as best as I could manage. 

 The calling bell chimed. And it was our iron wallah. What did I owe him? I had no clue as I always put that in the notepad on my phone.   I had to go out to buy our provisions for the kitchen.. My list again was lost as it was again in the notepad on my phone.. 

To add to my frustration, the landline was down. It had been down for a few days now, but none of us had bothered for obvious reasons. Could I call someone to lament? No, I didn't have either my cell phone or my land phone now. And all my contacts were stored in my cell phone 

 OK, let me motivate myself,i thought. Let me make Rash Bora. I had craved eating the sweet for some time now.  Yes. OK, so where was the recipe?. Oh no, I had it saved in Pinterest on my phone again. Now I was beginning to become sad. 

 My new maid, who hadn’t turned up on Saturday, came a few minutes late, and I looked at her menacingly. She started ranting as to how many times she had called me on Saturday and why hadn't I called her back. Definitely, I would have had some missed calls on my phone. I briefly narrated to her the tragedy of my phone. 

 The calling bell Again. I rushed to see that I had an Amazon delivery. I had ordered a book. Thank God I tell myself now. At least I can read my book in peace. 

Can I have the OTP Madam? He says as I'm extending my hand to receive the book.  Grinning sheepishly, I briefly narrate the  calamity to my phone again.

Chitra, You better browse and see what phone you want, said my husband this morning, to which I bravely replied. Let me be without a phone for a month at least.

 Now I wonder, can life go on normally without a cell phone, even for an ordinary soul like me? 

I sit with my new book in the Sit out and our dog Omi is scratching away. OK, let me give you a bath. I say to Omi and myself and an hour later, Omi  is sleeping blissfully after a refreshing bath and a hot grub. I look at him enviously and think to myself what a fortunate “mobile phone free” life he has!!