Temple Tour - 17th Feb 2011

On 17th Feb 2011, we started from Chennai at around 7.30am but while reaching Tambaram, the time was 11.00am. 3-1/2 hrs, we caught up in the huge traffic. After filling up the Tank at Pazhavanthangal, we proceeded to Panchavatee Hanuman Temple near Pondicherry. As usual, we took our lunch with us. This Panchavatee is situated in the Tindivanam - Pondicherry Highway. Now the entire stretch has been converted as Four Lane (including Tindivanam - Pondicherry). To go to the Temple, one has to skip the Four Lane Highway and enter the village (sign boards of Panchvatee will be there) and the temple is in the Main road itself. By the time we reached the Temple, it was 1.00pm and the temple was closed. Normally the temple will be open from morning 7 to afternoon 12 and evening 4 to night 9 during week days and from morning 7 to night 9 during saturdays and sundays. So we waited there till 4 to have darshan at the temple. There are places to take rest adjacent to the temple along with the toilets. The Temple is being run by the Trust and very strict procedures are being implemented. The main deity is Panchamuga Hanuman of 32 feet. They have also kept floating stone brought from rameswaram and it was mentioned that the stone is part of the bridge constructed during Ramayana period to Srilanka. They also distribute prasadams after Darshan.

For further details regarding this temple Click Here


After having Darshan a Panchavatee, we proceeded to Prathyangara Devi Temple, which is on the NH fromTindivanam to Pondicherry and 3 Kms from Panchavatee. There is a small sign board for this temple and as we missed that sign board, we missed that temple too. Our next destination was Thirunallar. Since it was already 4.30pm, we rushed to Thirunallar as it was 135Kms from Pondicherry. We took NH45A via Cuddalore, Chidambaram, Sirkazhi, Thirukadaiyur, Karaikkal route to reach Thirunallar. Roads are absolutely marvellous. We took Chidambaram bye pass and Sirkazhi bye pass. Since Sirkazhi bye pass was not complete, we have to enter the Sirkazhi town in between the bye pass to proceed further. Heavy Traffic Jam in the town as some maintenance of roads were going on.

After crossing Sirkazhi, we have to take left to reach Thirunallar. If we go straight, it will reach us at Vaitheeswaran Kovil, Maiyladuthurai etc. This left road takes us to Nagapattinam via Thirukadaiyur, Karaikkal route. The route from Mayiladuthurai joins in this route at a place called Akkur. This route also bisects Mayiladuthurai - Poompuhar route. With all our efforts, we could make it to Thirunallar by 8.00pm. Karaikkal and Thirunallar are under the control of Pondicherry. To know more about Thirunallar Click Here

To our surprise, there was absolutely no crowd at all in the temple even in the Shaneeswaran Sannithi. Since it was not also a Saturday and the temple was also on the verge of closing for the day, we could not find any crowd there. We had an excellent darshan and started to Kumbakonam. We decided to have dinner at Thirunallar and enquired with the Policemen near the temple and they advised us not to have food at Thirunallar and better to have it either at Mayiladuthurai or Kumbakonam.

So we decided to have dinner enroute or to have at our relatives house where we decided to stay. We started from Thirunallar at 8.45 pm and proceeded to Kumbakonam. We took Peralam, Kollumangudi, Kumbakonam route. The roads till Peralam are good enough. Peralam is a small town in the route of Thiruvarur - Mayiladuthurai. It is a junction to reach Thirunallar while proceeding from Kumbakonam. From Peralam, if we proceed 5 Kms towards Mayiladuthurai, we can reach Kollumangudi and from there we have to take Kumbakonam route which goes via Thirunageswaram. The roads from Kollumangudi towards Kumbakonam are good till 7th Km from Kollumangudi. After that there are absolutely no roads, only pothholes. And only paddy fields all the side and very rare to see any village or house and no traffic at all. If something happens to the vehicle, only to strand no other go.

Thanks to my i10 which got us safely from Thirunallar to Kumbakonam. We were able to reach Kumbakonam and found the restaurants are closed. Then we decided to have dinner at our relatives place and proceeded to Swamimalai, the place they reside.

Temple Tour - 15th Feb 2011

I got to attend one marriage at Chennai. So I decided to transform it into a small tour for 5 days in my car along with my family. I started from Coimbatore at around 10a.m. and reached Thoppur (in Salem - Dharmapuri Stretch) by 1.00pm and had a break there at Adyar Ananda Bhavan. We took lunch with us. The route I took from Coimbatore is Coimbatore - Sathyamangalam - Athani - Anthiyur - Ammapettai - Mettur-Mecheri-Thoppur. The roads are absolutely marvellous with very very less traffic. From Thoppur we started at 2.30pm , I took the route of Dharmapuri - Krishnagiri -Vellore.

GOLDEN TEMPLE AT VELLORE

We landed at Vellore Golden Temple at 4.30pm. While proceeding from Krishnagiri, there are two approach roads to Sripuram Golden Temple. First one, you can take a right just after Pallikonda Toll Gate and from there the temple is 15 Kms. Roads in this route is very worst. Another one is, after entering the Vellore City, take a right just opposite to the Old bus stand and the route directly land you up at Golden Temple which is 7 Kms from Vellore City. This Route is better. There was enormous crowd to that temple. Most of the tourist are coming from Tirupati. Similar to Tirupati, the Golden temple also have lots of restrictions. The Free Darshan as per their sign-boards will take nearly 3 hours. They allow you inside the temple batch by batch only. Apart from that they have some tickets for Rs.250/-, where you will not require to wait for hours to have darshan. But once you cross that batch section in the Free Darshan queue, there will not be any crowd and you have to walk nearly a kilometre to reach the sanctum- sanctorum. The walk will be in the shape of a star. The sanctum-sanctorum is in a small pond. The scene cannot be explained and it should be seen and felt.

For further details regarding this temple please Click Here

RATNAGIRI BALAMURUGAN TEMPLE

After finishing darshan at Golden Temple, Vellore we proceeded to Ratnagiri Balamurugan Temple which is situated just 2 Kms from Vellore in Vellore-Chennai Highway. While proceeding from Vellore, there will be an arch to enter the temple where the vehicle will go upto the temple which is situated on the top of a rock. You will be able to view the Temple from the Highway itself. The temple was very neat and clean and we had a very good darshan there. You can also have the details of the temple by Clicking Here.



After finishing darshan at Ratnagiri Temple, we proceeded to Chennai. We started at around 7.30pm from Ratnagiri and reached Chennai by 9.00pm. While entering Chennai, we took Poonamallee-Porur-Kathipara Route. There was heavy traffic jam at Porur Junction due to Metro Rail Project. It took 1/2 hour to cross Porur Junction. We attended the marriage on 16th Feb 2011 and continued our tour from 17th Feb 2011.

Introduction

I have launched this blog exclusively to share my travel experiences with you all. As I have toured many places all over India, I have come across varieties of interesting things which I want to share with you all. I was thinking of this launch for the past 2-3 years and could not find time to do it. Atlast I could make it. In this blog, you can get the details of my travel to various places along with the route map and any available contact details.

Let's Start.........