One for 2010

Well, Well Well ...

Absent for a full year. I was skeptical when I was typing this as to whether my account in Blogger will still be alive !!! Fortunately, it is.

Writing this on the last day of 2010 - just to avoid a ZERO entry in one whole year. After all, 2010 is such an important year in my life. My status changed from commited to Married :) My friend once joked - "If you are a processor, wife is the application that takes up the maximum utilization". True. I din't even have the time to ............ blog :) - if I may give that as a reason. Bottomline - I was very lazy, though I had a lot to write about. I could have written about,

My engagement experience - courting a half baked smile because of being under the video light constantly and being the centre of attraction for the first time.

My wedding experience - Enjoying the last 2 days of bachelorhood (nothing that I did anything worthwhile when I was a bachelor!!). More video light - more attention - too much of sweat because of the April temperature at Oppiliyappan Temple.

My honeymoon experience - Wait Wait Wait ... - purely from a travelogue perspecctive :) :) The beauty of Manali, the skiing experience, River rafting at the Beas, the snow capped view from our resort and couple of days at Delhi.

Temples - Girivalam at Tiruvannamalai with wife :) Doddamallur NavaneethaKrishna Swami temple, Madhya Ranga and Adhi Ranga temples thereby completing my all Ranga temples visit (Antha Ranga is at Srirangam in Trichy), Nimishamba temple et all.

Cricket - Series wins and the no.1 ranking in test for India, Australia's slump, Sachin's 50th test ton, CSK's IPL and CL wins, spot fixing and what not. All the best to the Indian team for the 2011 WC.

Movies - like Guzarish and Inception - which made a mark.

Still, something made me not to write a blog this whole year. Whatever it is, it has taken a year for my 51st blog to come :)

Hope this year makes up for the drought last year - Wishing you all a GREAT 2011 ...

Cheers

Prakash

As ManiKantan to See ManiKantan

Firstly, a great round of applause to me.... This is a special blog - My 50th .......... :) :) :). Thanks everyone for bearing with me !!

I made my third trip to Sabarimala starting Dec 8, 2009. Sabarimala trips are special because of the procedure involved. In addition to the 40 day fasting and the Irumudi, swamis (Ayyappa pilgrims) carry other specific stuffs too. As Kanni swami (First timer), one should carry a stick called "Saram" to be offered at a place called "Saramkuthi" as you go atop. The second year swamis will carry a sword made of wood to be offered at the same place. And in the third year, the swamis are called "Manikantan" (Mani = Bell, Kantam = Neck) meaning bell in the neck, as they take a small bell tied to their neck and offer it right at the Sannidhanam (Sanctum). This was special. This was my third trip and hence the title :). Btw, Lord Ayyappa is called ManiKantan as He was found on the banks of Pampa with a bell tied around his neck.

This time was a special experience for me, as we started early (at around 08:30) on Dec 8th. The lunch we had at Dindigul needs a special mention. Superb taste and service at Hotel Saravana Bhavan near the bus stand. We reached Erumeli at 20:00. Had Petta Sastha, Dharma Sastha and Vavuru Swami Darshan as usual and started to Pampa at 22:00. We reached Pampa around 23:30. Took a dip at Pampa in the midnight. Great experience!! Luckily, it was not very cold that time :). We started the ascent at 01:00 on Dec 9th. Reached the top to join a the tail of a 2 km Q :). It was a worthy 8 hr wait and at 09:30 we had the Darshan. Ayyappa, greeted us with His Ghee Abhishekam posture :). Felt happy and tied the bell in the Sannidhanam :) Legend has it that, anyone having this bell at home will get a baby boy. So normally people will snatch the bell even before it's tied. But luckily for me, one swami said he will wait till I tie and then he grabbed it and ran away :)
This time though, we did a lot of moral policing in the Q. We saw people with Irumudi on their head smoking, people running and jumping the Q et all. I think, Sabarimala pilgrimage is all about control and patience. If someone lacks any of these virtues, they are better of not undergoing this rather than spoiling the sanctity of this Holy thing. Well, my personal opinion!!

We had two more darshans of Ayyappa and one of the Malikapuram and started the descent. I had a severe cold and the cetrizine I had in the morning compunded with lack of sleep the whole of previous night made be very drowsy and it was extremely difficult to climb down. In addition to this, the sun was shining bright (no doubt, it will at 13:00 :)) and hence it was hot. It was Ayyappa, who helped me climb down as always :) Well, as said during our moral policing act, we even shouted at some instances and perhaps Ayyappa thought we needed a lesson on patience :) We climbed down safely by 15:00 of course after having our regular Kappa Kanji :)

Of we went to Pattanamthitta, where we took bath in a river around 17:00. Great refreshment and then we reached Kulathupuzha around 20:15 and the darshan was closed for the day. We stayed in the temple mantapam for the second consecutive year :) Had a great sleep.
The opening of the sanctum woke us up at 04:30 on Dec 10th. Had darshan of Kulathupuzha Balakan at 06:00. Of to Ariyankavu and AchanKovil and reached Kuttralam at 12:00. With little funda from Anand and Prasad had the time of my life in a water fall. Went to the 5 falls and it was JUST GREAT. We even had a massage with hibiscus oil and bathed. Of course, all of us got sc***ed with severe cold after that!! Of to Palani to see my favourite God, Subramanya. Special winch and special darshan ticket hepled us to have darshan of the special God in less than an hour :). We left Palani at 21:00 and reached Hosur on Dec 11, 04:30. Swamiye Sharanam Ayyappa!!

This trip is special for one more reason too. After I came back, I went to Trichy and on Dec 20, 2009 - Sunday - something memorable happened which most of you would know :D. Well, I need to change my relationship status to "committed" from "single" in many places!!!
Cheers!!

Tigers' gift to wounded Kangaroos!!

Well, the Indian cricket team has just authored one of the future best selling classics - "How to consistently loose from winning positions - a practical illustration". I am talking about the recently concluded India - Australia series as most of you would have rightly guessed. At the beginning of the series, I thought India would win the series 5-2. Great that the score line read close to that (the last match was washed out and hence it was 2 - 4), but pity that the Aussies came out on top.

The first match at Vadodara was one of the finest cricket matches. With India chasing 290+ with 7 wickets down for 210, Bhajji and Praveen took us close to the victory. When it was 42 required of 3 overs with 3 wickets in hand, every one felt it's gonna be tough. But when they brought it down to 9 required of the last over (with 3 wkts in hand!!), I think Bhajji should have tried for singles and twos (eventually a boundary would have come!!). But, no regrets, great job done and great mettle shown. The Indian team used this momentum well to move 2-1 ahead in the series (Thanks to that 148 run partnership between Dhoni and Yuvraj). That time I thought, it's gonna be 6-1 India!!

Came the 4th ODI at Mohali - it was great bowling to have bundled the Aussies in 48 overs for 250. Confidence can do wonders but over confidence will do what it did to us!! Coming out of a successful chase in the previos match, with many of the batsmen in good form and Sehwag showing his pyrotechniques to race to 50 in 6 overs, all it required was normal, responsible batting to see us through. It was not to be!!

The 5th ODI at Hyderabad was the biggest blooper of all. No one would have expected the team to chase 350. Had India lost by a margin of 100 runs (like the Aussies did in the 2nd encounter), there wouldn't have been much talk. But having reached within striking distance, with 50 runs required in 40 odd balls and batting powerplay still to be taken, Raina played a skier!! Why was Bhajji sent ahead of Jadeja? When 19 runs were required in 18 balls, why did Sachin have to try that shot? His mere presence would have sent chills in Aussie spines and we would have cruised through!! And as the icing in the cake, Jadeja just ran himself out :( As Sunny put it, "Jadeja runs for no rhyme or reason!!" :). The pitch was just a concrete strip (!!) and you just needed wickets (warm bodies!!) to score runs. Again, it was not to be!!

The Guwahati (mis)match needs no mention!!

Sure, we fought in all the games till the end. It was a great show by our team, but we fought when we needn't have :). With Aussies missing some of their key players, this was one of the better chances to have pulled off a convincing series win. But we lost it 2-4 :( Indians definitely were superior players on paper (man to man), but we couldn't finish close games and that has hurt us YET AGAIN!!

Hope we would improve on that aspect and reach and sustain the mush coveted No.1 ranking!!!
All the best to the team for the upcoming SL series.
Cheers!!

Thirupattur Temple Visit

I came to know of this temple on Oct 19 and visited this temple on Oct 20, 2009!!!

Thirupattur (or Thirupidavur) is around 35 km from Trichy (a 6 km detour from the Trichy - Madras highway close to Siruganur) and 16 km from Samayapuram (Mariamman temple). The presiding deity here is Lord Shiva in the name of Brahmapureeswarar. As the name goes, the temple has an association with Lord Brahma too!!

Legend goes that a bit of arrogance crept into Lord Brahma's (the creator - in the holy Hindu trinity of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva) head. Lord Shiva wanted to teach Him a lesson and hence, He cut one of Lord Brahma's heads and cursed Him to wander in the Bhoolokha (or Earth). Lord Brahma, got relieved of His curse here (at Thirupattoor) by installing 12 Shiva Lingas and worshipping Lord Shiva. Because of too much wandering, Lord Brahma had lost his complexion and good appearance and Goddess Parvathi blessed Him here to relieve Him off His pains too. So the Shiva here is called Brahmapureeswarar and the Goddess is called Brahma Sampath Gowri (The one who gave Brahma's wealth back) or simply BrahmaNayagi.

There is a separate shrine of Lord Brahma (really majestic of about 6 ft by 5 ft) sitting in Padmasana, with Vedas, Rudraksha and Lotus in His hands. The Brahma here can change one's destiny if the requests of the devotee are genuine!!! The popular pooja here is the turmeric Abhishekam that happens in the noon (we couldn't see it this time), when He will look His majestic best.
One more speciality in this temple is the presence of "Jeeva Samathi" of Sri Pathanjali (the one who authored Yoga Suthram).

There are shrines for Dakhshinamoorthy, Karpaga Vinayagar, Shanmukha nathar, Goddess Durga and Chandikeshwarar. There is a separate shrine for Goddess BrahmaNayagi.

A separate Brindhavana (with a pond) hosts many of the 12 Shiva Lingas that Brahma had installed. The Lingas that Brahma had installed are 1. Pazhamalai nathar 2. Pathala Lingam 3. Thayumanavar 4. Ekambareswarar 5. Kalathinathar 6. Arunachaleswarar 7. Jambukeswarar 8. Mandooka nathar 9. Kailasa nathar. 10. 11. 12.

I forgot the remaining three :(. Sorry about the same. I will update it when I remember it or after I visit the temple next time.

There is another thing to be noted about this temple. The sanctum sanctorum (of Brahmapureeswarar) is around 100 m (300 ft) from the main entrance and there are 6 more entrances between and yet the sanctum is filled with natural light and the main deity can be seen clearly from the main entrance. Also, sunlight falls directly on the deity three days in a year!!

Definitely a must visit temple. I wish I can visit this temple every time I visit Samayapuram (which I do often :))

Cheers!!

Bhramaram - Movie Review

I watched the Malayalam movie called "Bhramaram" on Monday. Well, some how the term "Malayalam movie" gets associated only with one class of movies :D. I do not know what got such a reputation to an otherwise quality industry. Malayalam industry (and Bengali), easily would have produced the most number classics and quality movies in Indian cinema (If someone wants to dispute this, please do so with facts!!).

This incidentally happens to be the first Malayalam movie that I watched in a theatre (though I 've watched many otherwise) and I'm really happy that I watched this one.

The movie is about how an incident in the childhood of some one, distorts and causes irreparable damage to his life. The movie opens in a light environment without giving any clue of what is to follow. The hero (played by Mohan Lal), portrays his lighter side. The first half more or less continues in the same tone except for towards the fag end. The initial part of the second half has the hero showing glimpses of what he is really and the well written script leads up to a stunning climax leaving you with a heavy heart!! I do not want to reveal anything more and make you suffer the way I did by knowing the entire story before hand. It is the screenplay and the climax along with Mohan Lal that keeps you hooked to the seat in an otherwise plain film without much of entertainment and commercial elements!!

Mohan Lal has carried the movie on his shoulders, literally. As one can see, EVERY SHOT ends up in his face, which throws the most suited expression for that scene. He is really a gifted actor and to me he is the second best actor in India (Kamal Hasan, slightly ahead of him!!) :).

In addition to all these, special mention is required for the music director - Mohan Sithara. Not for the songs (there are only 2 or 1.5 perhaps!) but for the background score, which turns out to be one of the movie's biggest plus. The child who comes as the hero's friend's kid has also done well.

Bhramaram is recommended for those who like good cinema. It's definitely not for those who look at movies just as an entertainment. You will definitely have the satisfaction of having watched a nice movie.
Cheers!!

T. Narasipur, Venugopalaswami Betta and Nanjangud Trip - II

This is the continuation of my previous blog ...

One thing I forgot to mention in my previous blog is the presence of Yoga Dakshinamoorthy shrines in all the temples - Dakhinamoorthy in a Yogic pose with Veena in His hand!!

Venugopalaswami Betta:
Well, we left T. Narsipur for Himavadu Venugopalaswamy Betta. "Betta" in Kannada refers to peak. Rightly so, the Venugopala swamy temple is atop the tallest peak in the Bandipur region and that is where we went. The ascending ride was scenic and as we reached the top it was fully misty and the visiblity was less than 10 m! We couldn't see the temple till we were around few metres close to the temple !! Lord Venugopala Swamy was as Majestic as ever - With flute in His hand, cow behind and Gopikas around Him. This idol was also installed by Sage Agasthya. One more salient thing about this shrine is that, at the entrance of the sanctum, there will always be mist (round the year) and the same is sprayed on the devotees as prasadham. Also, there are 77 chakra theerthas around this forest, each having medicinal and divine properties. We learned from a local source that one can cover around 6 teerthas in a day with the help of a guide. There was one such theertha in which a crow took a dip and flew out as a swan and hence there are NO CROWS around this region. We were blessed with a nice sweet and puliogere as prasadham - which was nectar compared to the "sweet" lunch we had on the way :)
Just before the ghat road starts, there is a check post to see whether people are carrying things to make this a jolly good hill station trip (hope you understand)!! Please bear in mind that this is not. This temple is one of the MUST VISITS :)

Nanjangud:

We shivered back (!!) to our car from the temple!! :) We descended down the hill treating our eyes to some nice greenery, valleys, rainbows :), banyan tree and sun flower gardens (stunningly beautiful, as though the field had covered itself with a yellow blanket to keep itself warm!). Nanjangud - meaning, "the adobe of Nanjundeshwara" - is on the Bandipur - Mysore highway, 30 km fom Mysore. Massive temple and an architectural marvel. Nanjundeshwara - The Lord who ate poison - is the Lord who swallowed the poison that came out when Devas and Asuras were churning the milk ocean for nectar. The Shiva linga here is broader than usual. The Amman was looking beautiful as always. There is a massive Nandikeshwara idol too. The Shiva here relieves devotees off all their illness.
On the way back, in Mysore, we also visited a Srinivasa temple (near Datta peetam). The idols (of Srinivasa and Padmavathy) had a striking resemblance to the ones in Tirupathi. We spent some time there and started off to Bangalore.
Again, very happy to have completed a trip that comprised of so many temples that I was visiting for the first time. Planning a similar Mysore and nearby temples trip again. Wish that it gets materialized SOON!!!!!
Cheers!!

T. Narasipur, Venugopalaswami Betta and Nanjangud Trip - I

Last saturday, which incidentally was an Ekadasi we (6) made a trip to temples around Mysore. Well, we started as early as 5:15 in the morning!!

T. Narasipur:
'T' stands for Tirumakudalu, refering to the confluence of 3 rivers - Kaveri, Kapila and Spatika (hidden river like Saraswathi in the Triveni Sangamam). This is the place where Kumbha Mela happens once in 3 years. Needless to say, the place is divine :) We took a holy dip here.

Pancha Lingam:
The main attraction in this place is the "Pancha Lingam" (5 lingams) consecrated by Sage Agasthya.
There is an interesting legend behind this. Sage Agasthya felt that this place was Dakshina Kasi (Kasi of the South) and wanted to install a Shiva Lingam here near the holy confluence. So he asked Lord Hanuman to fetch a Lingam from Kasi (Varanasi) itself. When Hanuman din't come before the end of auspicious time, Agasthya himself made a Lingam from the local earth and consecrated it. When Hanuman came back and saw that the Lingam was installed, He, out of anger, hit the Lingam hence deforming it. From the deformed portion the mythical river Spatika came out (considered to be as sacred as Ganga). Even now, water comes out from the Lingam on top and the same is provided as Theertham / prasadham for devotees. (We got the same!!). This Lingam is called Agasthyeshwara. The temple has Someshwara and Markandeshwara also inside. The Lingam brought by Hanuman was installed outside (1 minute walk from the temple) and is called Hanumantheshwara. The fifth Lingam is around 2 km from the Agasthyeshwara temple and is called Gargeshwara. One will be welcomed by a gigantic idol of "Arthanareeswara" at the temple entrance. One more interesting thing here is that there is a Ganesha shrine, where the devotees can pray and lift the idol (small one). If one is able to lift the idol, then his/her wish will come true. Believe me, there is nothing associated with the strength of the individual. We were able to see people who were unable to lift the idol!!!

Madhwa mutt:
Just on the banks of the river, very close to the Agasthyeshwara temple, there is a mutt containing the Brindavana of Sri Sri Raghunatha Teertha who came in the lineage of Sri Sri Madhwacharya Himself. Sri Vyasaraja started writing the "Tatparya Chandrika" but couldn't finish it in His lifetime. When asked, He said, He will incarnate as the 10th Guru (as Raghunatha Teertha) in His lineage and finish the same. In addition to the Brindhavanas, there are 108 Anjaneya idols with Sri Panduranga and Chakram (similar to the one in Nava Brindhavana). It was an awesome sight!! Legend says that 108 of the Vanara sena that accompanies Sri Rama, were direct incarnation of the Devas and these 108 Anjaneya idols symbolise those 108 Devas!! There is also a HUGE number of Nagaraja idols outside!! We went round it, with a little fear :)

Gunja Narasimha Swamy temple:

This Narasimha swamy temple is on the other bank of the river (Kaveri or Kapila). When we went, bridge repair work was going on and hence we had to walk across the bridge and take an auto to the temple. The legend behind this temple is - Lord Narasimha came in the dream of a washerman and said that there is a idol of Himself along with gold coins under the stone where he washes clothes daily and asked him to build a temple. He also told that by building the temple, the washerman will get slightly (as much as a seed) more virtue than he would have got by visiting Kasi - and hence the name Gunja Narasimha.
Believe me, these places are really GREAT!! Do plan a visit somtime. Just awestruck at seeing how many temples have Sage Agasthya's mark in South India.

The remaining temples will be covered in part II of this blog.

Cheers!!

Ahobilam trip II

... Contd from the previous blog
Karancha Narasimha:

"Karancha" refers to a tree ("punga maram" in Tamil). Legend says that, Hanuman was performing penance here towards SriRama, when Lord Narasimha appeared before Him. Startled, Hanuman asked for SriRama for which Narasimha replied that this is his Kshetram and that He was Rama, Narasimha et all. The Narasimha here holds a bow in one of his hands (like Rama) to illustrate this. This shrine is just on the roadside on the way between lower to upper Ahobilam and can be accessed by vehicle. The Narasimha here rules Chandra (or Moon).

The following three temples are in Lower Ahobilam and can be covered in 1.5 hours by auto.
Chatravata Narasimha:

"Chatra" means umbrella and "vata" refers to banyan tree - The Narasimha here gave darshan o Bhardwaja Maharishi under a banyan tree and hence the name. The speciality here is that the Narasimha is a music lover (Sangeetha priyan) and He keeps one of His hands on His lap in the gesture of peforming "Adi Taala". He wxpects His devotees to sing here :). The Narasimha here rules Kedhu.

Yogananda Narasimha:

After killing demon Hiranya, Narasimha did Yoga abhyasam (practise) to Prahladha in this place. The idol will be in the form of Narasimma meditating in Padmasana. The Narasimha here rules Shani (or Saturn).

Bhargava Narasimha:

Bhargava refers to Lord Parasu Rama. Legend has it that Lord Narasimma gave darshan to Lord ParasuRama here. One has to take a detour from the main road into a forest (2.5 km drive) to reach this temple. The temple is on a hill of about 100 steps. It is better to visit this place before evening as this place is infested with bears :) (The guide told us after we came back to the main road :D). The Narasimma here rules Surya (or Sun).

Prahladha Varadhan temple:

This is not part of the 9 Narasimma shrines. This temple is located just few metres away from the mutt near the bus stop. This is one of the 108 Divya Desams of Lord Vishnu. The presiding deity here is Lakshmi Narasimma with shrines for Lakshmi, Andal and Rama.
We had completed all the above temples / shrines on the first day with only the 9th of the Nava Narasimma left to cover.

Pavana Narasimma:

This is the 9th Narasimma. "Pavana" means one who "removes all sins". The Lakshmi Narasimma murthy here does exactly the same. To reach here, there are multiple options. (a) Reach upper Ahobilam, and from there climb 1000 steps and walk 6 km. through a dense forest; (b) Take an auto from Lower Ahobilam, travel around 10 km into a forest (bad road) and walk 3 km. in dense forest (Rs. 650 - to and fro) (c) Take a jeep from Lower Ahobilam and travel 15 km to reach very close to the temple (Rs. 1500 - to and fro). We chose option (b). The ride in auto was bumpy and the walk was through real forest - through water bodies, rocks, bushes. We even saw snakes and langur monkeys. There were lot of insects on the ground. Devotees are allowed only during the day time. The Narasimma here rules Budha (or Mercury).

End of a memorable trip. Lot of travelling, rock climbing, mountaineering, trekking, forest walk and what not and of course great darshans everywhere we went :) We had not booked for the return and hence had to break - Ahobilam > Allagadda > Kadappa > Madanapalli > Bangalore.

Some tips for potential travellers:

1. Book tickets to and from Allagadda. This is the nearest and best place to reach Ahobilam.

2. If not phiysically fit or have vertigo etc. better to avoid Ugra sthambam and take a jeep to Pavana Narasimma.

3. Have enough water bottles (glucose etc.) as water will not be available in all the places.

4. Avoid peak summer - It was 44 degrees when we were there.

5. Get accomodation in mutt. There are not many hotels around even for food :)

6. DO NOT miss Prahladha Varadhan temple.

7. Engage a guide else it will be very difficult and risky.
Om Namo Narayanaya!!

Ahobilam trip I

Ahobilam, located in the Nallamala forest range in AP, is the avadhara kshetram (place of incarnation) of Lord Narasimha. We (I, Vikram and Anand) went there last weekend. We took a Nandhyala bus from BLR (20:00) and alighted at Kovelu Kuntla (05:45) and reached Ahobilam via Allagadda at 08:00. Allagadda is the nearest place to Ahobilam (22 km). We had booked accomodation the mutt and we were ready by 08:30.
There are Nava Narasimha shrines (9 Narasimha shrines - each ruling one of the 9 planets), Prahladha Varadhan temple and Ugra sthambham to see in Ahobilam and the remaining part of the blog gives the details :)

Ahobila Narasimha:

"Aho" means exclamation or surprise and "bilam" means cave, in sanskrit - Narasimha gave a surprise darshan to Prahladha in a cave and hence the name. This temple is located at the entrance of upper Ahobilam (8 km from lower Ahobilam) and is accesible by vehicle. The Narasimha here rules Guru (or Jupiter).

Varaha Narasimha:

"Varaha" is the sanskrit word for wild boar. Narasimha, in this form killed the demon Hiranyaaksha (brother of Hiranyakashipu). This is a small shrine roughly 3 km from the Ahobila Narasimha temple. One has to walk this distance through river bed and rocks. This Narasimha rules the planet Raghu.

Jwala Narasimha:

This is the ugra (angry) form of Narasimha who kills Hiranyakashipu to save Prahladha. The Narasimha has 8 hands - Shanka and Chakra in 2, holding Hiranya's head and legs with 2, piercing his stomach with 2 and holding Hiranya's intestine as a garland with the other 2 hands. The Narasimha here sits on Garuda peetam and has Prahladha praying near his feet. There are idols of Narasimha and Hiranya fighting with each other. This shrine under a rock is again a 3 to 4 km walk up the hill from Varaha shrine. One has to pass through the forest / hill (through steps and rocks), across the falling river (Pavanashini) to reach the shrine. This Narasimha rules Angarakha (Mars).
There is a small water body called Ratha kundam - where Narsimha washed the blood off his hand after killing Hiranya.

Ugra Sthambham:

As the name suggests, this is a Sthambham or a pillar - The very pillar from which Lord Narasimha came out in the Kritha Yuga to kill Hiranya and save Prahladha. The route is a steep 2.5 km stretch to be climbed through small / big rocks and tree roots. Very risky route but I saw a 75 year old lady climbing up and down - that's devotion for you!! :) I, in fact, din't get down the last steep stretch (around 2 metres) - firstly, out of fear :D and also because I was able to clearly get the darshan from where I stood :). Climbing down was great fun and we uttered so many prayers and slokhas, which we din't even realize we knew :) One can skip this part if not physically very fit - but devotion can do miracles :)

Malola Narasimha:

"Ma" refers to Mahalakshmi, "lola" means priyan or one who is liked - Malola stands for "liked by Mahalakshmi" - Lakshmi Narasimha shrine, about 4 km from Jwala / Ugra sthambam start - one has to tread back the route from Jwala till a bridge and go to the other side of the bridge and climb through a stretch of 250 steps and plain land and reach this shrine. The Narasimha here rules Shukra (or Venus).
After Malola Narasimha darshan, one has to climb down 3 km again through a stretch of 250 steps and plains to reach the Ahobila Narasimha temple as the other temples / shrines are in different routes.
Please join me for the remaining 5 Narasimhas and the temple visit in the next blog :)

Veerasami - Entertainment to the core!!

People say "Lightning doesn't strike twice". But it has struck Tamil cinema many times in the form of the man they call TR and in his most ***** (I'm lost for adjectives :( ) film - Veerasamy (VS, henceforth) - Yeah, it was there on K TV yesterday and I and Anand watched it AGAIN. As with the tradition I got calls from the die hard VS fans - RP and Sriram - on this movie getting relayed - Thanks guys!!

Go through this Wiki entry on VS - MUST READ.

This movie was released in 2007. At the time when Tamil people are going through the pain of Chimbhu (TR's son) acting as hero in movies, TR just UNLEASHED himself on the audience through this blockbuster!! I saw it once and then again and then again and then - the count is now 11 and it WILL increase :)
Well, I'm not going to waste time in telling the story - there's none!! And it's not the story (!!) which makes VS what it is, but there are certain other things, which I would like to touch upon. TR plays the title role, he is a) an MLA (THE IDEAL one), b) a lawyer, c) a brother, d) a lover, e) a saviour and f) a dier (??).

a) & b):

This part of VS occupies the screen predominantly. The introduction of VS is just superb!! Not even Rajinikanth or alikes would have had such a sequence. I heard that Daniel Craig (007) is contemplating flicking this scene in his next movie (of course paying heavy royalty to TR). VS will be inside a building fighting the villain gang and suddenly he walks out with 5 fighters "exploding" out of the roof in 5 different directions at the backdrop. Breathtaking!! You should not fail to listen to the BGM. There are many scenes where VS fights against corruption in different government offices. The scenes deserve an acamdey award for lack of maturity and the length of irrelevant alliterating dialogues!! In fact, you can bear a corrupt India rather than these scenes :)
c)VS as a brother

I'm already crying. You also should, not because of the weight of the sentiment but for the plight of the sister! I would have been serving a 14 year term in jail for murder if I had a brother like that!! Or perhaps, I would have been let off considering it to be murder for self defence :) Though there are many scenes, the first one, when the sister asks for jeans and VS' explanation on why she should be wearing only sarees and salwars, gets the first position. I was surprised the sister din't run on the road naked after listening to VS :) There are many more after the sister falls in love and VS expresses his confidence, his shock, his surprise, his affection et all.

d)VS as a lover

The best. Love is blind - True. I just LOVE VS' romantic expressions. Mumtaz, who plays the heroine has also given an equally enviable (!!) performance. It's just a great pair - VS is around 5'4", 95 kgs and Mumtaz is 5'2", 105 kgs and they both dance in the GREATEST duet of the millenium. There are other songs when VS turns a poet - wind blows, rain falls and what not. And in the scene when VS parts his love your hearts get heavier than VS himself. The song after that when VS thinks of his erstwhile love just pushes you to the grave...

e)Saviour

There are two fights which are noteworthy after the introduction. One when he jumps from the roof wearing a red track suit (sleeveless) - you get a feeling that there are two legs emanating from the shoulder!! The villain is the most unlucky soul - he had to listen to TR's dialog (by when he would have been completely drained) and also receive his power packed punches and kicks!! The climax fight is the best - when VS dances on the road with his dhoti on one hand and a sword
on the other - absolutely awesome!! You just exclaim - "He is GOD"!!

f)

He dies in the end. The only death sequence in the history of world cinema, when the entire audience would have burst out laughing. His head falls with a BGM of "TING!!", the moment he knows he has not kept his word. Mumtaz also dies. End of it. The audience wouldn't have realized that they had lost 3 precious hours of their life.

I have tried to capture the VS magic to the best of my ability. I apologize to the fans if I had missed / slipped any scenes. Please do add those in the comments section.
I am busy checking for the DVD (it's worth to own one) and the red jersey of VS. Btw, I would recommend IIMs to make their students watch this movie as part of the anger management and patience development courses.
Bye!!

IPL 2 - Goods and Bads

I had written too many temple blogs recently :). I hope I will continue to write too!! But, for a change this time, here are my views and and a quick recap of IPL 2.

This edition started with a huge drama. When there were questions raised - election or IPL, the answer was obvious - though both have many things in common viz both are team "games", players who represented one team played for someother team (politicians switiching parties and parties switching alliances), star attraction (actors / actresses roped in by parties as well as teams), stars owning parties and teams, cheer leaders (in elections, we, the people and party workers do this job, dancing and celebrating without reasons :)) and above all the GREATEST similarity is the amount of money involved :) - and the IPL was moved to SA. I felt weird when the Indian PL is being played in SA!! But the voter turnout (sorry, audience turnout) was on similar lines and the whole event was a success!! Congrats to BCCI and Modi :)Now, my team (CSK) started rather sluggishly and picked up towards the middle and later part of the tournament and as expected, reached the knockout stage. I was happy that my list of teams reached the semis - CSK, RCB, DC and DD. After this it was anybody's game and DC won in the end. The script couldn't have ended better - Two teams that finished 7th and 8th in the last edition just reversed and played the finals. I was happy for the consistency of DD and CSK reaching the last 4 stage in both the editions!!
But I strongly feel that the knockout stage is the real spoiler in any tournament - not because we lost - but I have my reasons. In the last edition, RR were deserving winners - they showed consistency in the league stage and were literally unbeatable. But KXP was not far behind with as many as 10 wins. But who played the finals with RR? CSK!! (my team :)). In this edition, DD showed real consistency and were table toppers. They had 8 wins out of 10 matches and were playing the remaining 4 games just for the heck of it. When it came to semis, Gilli had a great day, just ra**d everyone and won the game. Ironically, unlike Bangalore, DC din't even earn their semis berth. They were in because KXP lost to CSK in their last game and KKR spoilt RR's party. Somehow RCB deserved a vistory because they were consistent towards the later part of the tournament at least and they defeated real top teams (including DC!!) on their way to the semis. DC on the other hand were totally inconsistent, winning 4 / 4 to start with and then 3 / 10 towards the end (this is poor!!). DC have one less win than DD, having played one more game (the finals)!!! This is ridiculous :( DD - 10 wins / 15 matches and DC 9 wins / 16 matches)

The point I'm trying to drive is, that this kind of a knockout pattern just makes a mockery of the entire league phase. Ideally, at the end of the 14 matches have a best of three finals between the top two teams to reward consistency. Or if there were four teams selected, have a Super 4 kind of concept where teams carry forward points based on their win / loss record against the remaining three qualified teams and then play each other once more. Then decide the finalists!! This would help the tournament and also in generating more revenue :) Otherwise, the champs will be decided based on just one bad day that a good team may have like it happened this time!!

I don't have any grudge against DC but just that I felt something was wrong and hence the post.. End of the day cricket is a sport (a funny game) and anything can happen any day and more so with the T20 format.

DC - Congrats!! RCB - Well played!!

DD - Really Sorry!! MI - Try to win!!

RR - Lightning doesn't strike twice!!

KKR, KXP - Thumbs down!! (I just don't like these teams :()

CSK - My heart is with you!! Well played and you will be the champs in the next edition :) :) :)

All the best to the Indian T20 team... Let's keep the cup :) :)

PS: All you need to win the IPL is to make a 37 year old, retired Aussie player to captain your side!! Just thinking :)

Cheers!!

Kanipakkam and Tiruttani trip

Yahoooooooo!!!! I completed all the 6 adobes of Lord Muruga ("Aru padai Veedu")!!! It happened on May 16, 2009 - saturday.

Great things are spawned out of no where and this was no exception. As Vikram casually suggested on Tuesday (May 12) that we can visit Kanipakkam this weekend, I felt a great and immediate urge to join him and what more, also got the plan of going to Tiruttani!! So we planned and executed the following trip :)

Kanipakkam:

We started from Banaglore to Chittoor on friday night. The bus was at 23:30, not a great one though!! Never mind, it took us safely to Chittoor at 04:20 on Saturday. Kanipakkam is around 15 km from Chittoor and by 05:30 we were in Kanipakkam. As it was election counting day, there were lot of politicians and party vehicles around. Well, who would not want to worship "VaraSiddhi Vinayaka" (Ganesha who grants boons) on such an important day. Yeah, the main deity there is Ganesha!! Legend says that this was a Swayambhu (born by itself) and the idol here grows horizontally (by breadth) every year!! Ganesha was looking very cute though. We were lucky enough to get 3 darhans as it was not crowded at all. There was a shrine for Hanuman too. Two bachelors together - guys better be careful at least inside if you go :D. One more info about this temple is, there was a practice till few years back that criminals were brought here and made to take a dip in the tank and also worship the lord and they will confess to their crimes immediately after the dip as the Ganesha here is a saviour of Dharma!!
We came out of the temple and had a not so great breakfast. I got to eat white rubber balls for the first time in my life. Btw, the hotel had named them as idlies :D

Tiruttani:

We were back to Chittoor by 10:00. The bus to Tiruttani was from a separate depot. There were many private Tamil Nadu buses from that depot and we got one immediately. It was a two hour journey via Porunai, Sholinghur. We reached by 12:15 and to our luck it was not hot at all. Incidentally, the previous day Tiruttani had logged the maximum temperature in TN (42 deg C)!!We took a room near the foothills. The lunch was great and we ate like pigs (I am sorry about that but we really did :)) and slept like logs for 3 hours. At 16:30, we started climbing Tanikachalam (that's what the hill is called). There are 365 steps and on every new years' day the steps will be worshipped (for the next 365 days to be good :)). We climbed in around 20 minutes as the steps were broad and the weather was also fine.
We took three darshans - two free and one in 25 Rs ticket. GREAT!! Subramanya was dressed in red silk the first two times and in white silk the third time. There were shrines of Valli and Devasena on His either side. This is the place where Subramanya got married to Valli. The Utsava murthy was Shanmuga (six faced Lord) and there was a Abath Sahaya Vinayagar (Ganesha who saves you from danger) shrine along with shrines of Shiva and Durga. We spent around 3 hrs on the hill and got to see the sun set ;). I also got a peacock feather - I wanted it for around 20 years and somehow I couldn't / din't buy it !! Everything has a time ; As we climbed down, I saw the last 3 overs of CSK Vs MI match which CSK won by 7 wkts :) Had dinner and a great sleep after watching DC Vs KKR game which DC won.
We climbed again the next day morning at 7:30 and got a darshan of Subramanya with golden armour. Very satisfied as we got to spend nearly 20 min in the shrine :) :). We came down by 9 and left Tiruttani for Tirupathi at 10:00.

Govindaraja swamy temple:

Tiruttani - Tirupathi was again a 2 hr journey via Nagari, Puthur. We reached by 12:00 and our bus to Bangalore was at 14:00. As we stepped out of the bus stand to just have lunch and leave, an auto wala told that there is not much crowd and we can have a darshan in Govindaraja swamy temple. So off we went, unable to leave Tirupathi without seeing Him :) There was not much crowd and we had darshan of the main deity, Parthasarathy perumal, Andal devi, Kalyana Venkatramana swamy., Ramanuja and Mahalakshmi - all in a jiffy and we were back in the auto towards hotel Mayura. The lunch was awesome as usual.
We had to wait for 40 min for the bus and it was very hot, but we found a AC waiting hall (fundooooo!!!) in the bus stand charging Rs.10 per hour !!!!!!

Happy that I had darshan of Ganesha and Subramanya (completing the six adobes) on the same day and also that of Govindaraja swamy. First time to all these places ...

Cheers!!!

Tiruchendur and South TN visit

My long time plan materialized on Apr 24, 2009. I had the darshan of Subramanya Swami (Senthil Andavar) at Tiruchendur, taking my tally of six adobes (Aru padai veedu) to five, with Tiruthani remaining. I will write a blog about the 6 adobes once I complete Tiruthani too :).

Tiruchendur:

We (I and my parents) started from Trichy by cab on Apr 24, 2009. It was a 6 hour drive (via Viralimalai, Madurai, Aruppukottai and Tuticorin). We got to see the salt lakes in Tuticorin and I kind of liked the place. We reached Tiruchendur at 15:00. Took a room in a hotel just next to the temple. The temple is right on the sea shore (Bay of Bengal).
We arranged for Darshan through the hotel itself. It's normally crowded and apparently it's the second most crowded Subramanya temple (after Palani). The darshan starts with a Ganesha shrine (as usual) followed by the sanctum of lord Subramanya. We had a darshan of Subramanya in Golden armour (Thanga Kavacham). We then went to Pancha Linga shrine (5 lingas), which is next to the sanctum, but one has to pass through a narrow lane next to the Subramanya shrine to reach there. Legend says that, Subramanya afetr killing the demon Surapadman, got "Brahmahathi dosha" (not sure how, Surapadman can't be a Brahmin!!) and He performed puja to this Pancha linga to overcome this. Also, as He is performing puja Himself, no one else perfroms puja here. There is a narrow crevice open to sky and legend has it that Lord Devendra also offers his prayers to Shiva. It's only from this shrine that one can do a pradhakshinam (circumambulation) of the Subramanya Swamy shrine. Utsava murthy (Lord Shanmuga) is also close to the sanctum. One more special shrine is that of Muruga with His anklet as His weapon. As per mythology, Lord Muruga was mocked at by Surapadma for not having a weapon of His own (Vel was provided by Goddess Shakthi), for which Lord Muruga showed His anklet saying this would be sufficient to kill him. Interesting!! There is a Maha Vishnu sannidhi (with a Ranganatha shrine next to it). Next to this shrine, there is a destroyed rock, believed to be the erstwhile Krouncha malai, ruled by Tharakasura (Surapadman's brother). Legend has it that this was proptecting Surapadman's city (VeeraMahendrapuram - which was in the sea) and was destroyed by Lord Subramanya first. Then there is the Kalyana Ganapathi shrine. All these shrines form a Om (ஓம்). We then visited the Valli cave temple, where Valli hid Herself when Lord Ganesha took the form of an elephant and inimidated Her, to help Lord Subramanya during His romance with Valli :). We also had a darshan at 20:00 (Vibhoothi kavacham). We spent a lot of time in the beach and I enjoyed playing in the waves :)

Next day early in the morning at 05:00, we were in the temple again and we had the Viswaroopa Darshan at 05:30. The handsome God He is, Viswaroopam was just superb. The temple is open from 05:30 to 20:30 through out.

The God here is very powerful. Adi Shankara has authored Subramanya Bhujangam in this temple on this God, when he was suffering from a severe stomach illness and was cured immediately. Recently, in 2006, when Tsunami hit the entire coastal Tamil Nadu, this was the only place where the sea receded and there was absolutely no damage to the temple and no casualties here, in spite of the close proximity to the sea and many devotees were taking bath in

the sea.

SriVaikuntam:

We left from Tiruchendur at 07:45 to SriVaikuntam, which is just 20 km away on the Tirunelveli main road. There is apparently nava tirupathi temples (9 Vishnu temples) in this area, each ruling to one planet. We just visited SriVaikuntam (which was for lord Surya or Sun God). Swami here is called Kallapiran or Vaikuntanathar. Two Lakshmi shrines - Vaikuntanayaki and Choranatha nayaki. This is the 54th of the 108 Divya desam temples of Lord Vishnu.

Nellaiyappar - Gandhimathi temple - Tirunelveli:

After SriVaikuntam, we reached Nellaiyappar temple in Tirunelveli, a city 50 km from Tiruchendur. Massive temple!! HUGE!! Superb darshan of Nellaiyappar and Gandhimathi amman (She was looking very beautiful). There are around 100 big shrines in this temple and I feel it's enough if you visit this temple once a year and get a darshan of all Hindu Gods at one go :). Interstingly, there was a idol of Ravana!! Also, this was one of the pancha sabhai temples (5 temples one fo each metal - this one is for copper or Thamiram, it is on the banks of "Thamira"barani river).

Madurai:

Finally, we reached Madurai at 14:00. Very bad lunch at College House. Meenakshi amman was as beautiful as ever. We eventually reached Trichy at 21:30 on April 25, 2009.

Good trip and with this my mother had seen all the six adobes of Lord Subramanya. Hope I also do that soon :)

Cheers!!

Thalakaveri and Coorg trip

There is generally a belief that one shouldn't explore "nadhimoolam" (origin of a river) and "Rishimoolam" (origin of a sage). But there is no harm in worshipping a nadhimoolam, if you know where it is :). So we went to Thalakaveri - the starting point of River Cauvery or Kaveri - it is in Coorg district of Karnataka.
Btw, I and Vikram, in addition to seeing Thalakaveri et all, had one more secret agenda. Well, I can't elaborate on this any further and would definitely appreciate one-one queries / calls regarding the same. After all, all is fair with love and war!!
We (I, Vikram, Anand & fly) started from Bangalore at around 2300 on April 4, 2009 in a Tavera. Well, things were fine for around 2 hrs, when suddenly, the driver stopped the vehicle. Part of life, the back wheel was punctured. But what shouldn't and couldn't be part of life was that the stepney was also punctured!! He appeared to be an awesome driver, who had read geography when he was drunk or asleep!! He was very sure that the nearest big town was Maddur aound 40 km away from the place where we were stranded!! Then we tried stopping the vehicles moving on the road for help. Every vehicle that passed went Vrooooom when passing us, as though we were the final pole in an F1 circuit. I don't blame them anyways as these kind of midnight stops can lead to anything (I mean it!!). God gives tests and gives the answer key also in sometime. A highway police patrol, which saw us, came to our rescue. Thankfully, they were not naxals / dacoits in camouflage :). I have to thank those people as they helped us take the tyres (both :)) to Srirangapatna (JUST 4 km) along with the driver and Anand's fly - Anand even offered to go along, but we (I and Vikram) stopped him, as it is always better to get stranded with as many people as possible :). Added to that, the police men told that this is a dangerous area!! Imagine, three stupid people, sitting in a punctured car, on a "dangerous" highway, at 0100 in the morning, windows closed, half asleep, discussing hopeless things... Experience, which could never be forgotten!! We spent an hour after which the tyres came, got fixed and we started at 0400..

Awesome!! Two eyes are definitely not enough to see and appreciate the picturesque Coorg district and the entire travel stretch... Very fertile and green every where. We reached Thalakaveri at around 0900 and it was so foggy that the visiblity was near zero. I got the scare of my life, when I heard that we have to take a dip in the pool near the actual start of Kaveri. I would have preferred to go back to the "dangerous" highway!!

Thala Kaveri:

It is actually a sacred place rather than a tourist spot. A very small 1.5' by 1.5' square - where Goddess Cauvery starts and flows through two states!! Really amazed. Did "Sankalpa snanam" (some rituals and took a dip - fortunately, the Sun was out :)) and performed puja. There are also shrines of "Lord Agastheeshwara" and Ganesha (actually responsible for Cauvery to be flowing from here). There was also a 500 step ascent at the end of which there was nothing (really) - a view point. Like a**** we climbed the steps, took some snaps and climbed down. Just realized that we are geting older.

Abbey falls:

Now that we are done with the main agenda, we asked the driver as to what are the other places of interest around (a mistake indeed). The hero suggested a place called Raja's seat - a rock bench, where the king sat and admired nature. Our 42 senses worked (we were 7 people and all our 6 senses worked :)) and we din't want to see some rock at noon (at least if a queen had sat there we would have :D). So now, the driver suggested Abbey falls. This time we weren't lucky :( We went with dreams of playing in the water fall n all that. We paid 20 Rs for parking and walked down a descent of 2 km with towel, shorts etc. There was a water fall and there was water also. But, the maximum you can do from the place till where tourists are allowed was, hear the sound of water falling and see it too... Nothing else. Again like ***** we climbed up!!

Balmuri falls:

After the Abbey debacle, came the best part of the trip (life does have ups and downs!!). Balmuri, nearly 10 km from Srirangpatna, is a water body - with water flowing த்ரௌக் small man made interruptions - Awesome place to enjoy. Really great!! No risk involved and the 2 hours time we spent in the water made it the greatest two hours of the trip.

Srirangapatna temple:

The temple of Ranganatha swami (MahaVishnu in a lying down posture), very similar to the one in SriRangam (in Trichy). In fact, there are three Rangas - Adhi Ranga (in Srirangapatna), Madhya Ranga (Shivanasamudra) and Antha Ranga (Srirangam) - I have seen Adhi (beginning) and Antha (end) - no philosophy involved :)

We left from the temple by around 20:00. Nothing much to tell about the dinner we had, except that again I would have preferred starvation or getting stranded - driver's choice of hotel :) We reached back by 22:30 - end of an eventful 24 hours - excepting for the puncture, Abbey and the dinner - enjoyable one too!!

PS: please contact me if you want the address of the driver ;D

Bye!!

Jyothirlingam Darshan I - SriSailam

Sourashtre Somanadham, cha Sri Shaile Mallikarjunam,

Ujjayinyam Maha Kalam, Omkaram, amaleshwaram,

Paralyam Vaidyanatham, cha Dakinyam Bhimasankaram,

Sethubandhe thu Ramesam, Nagesam thu Darukavane,

Varanasyam thu Viswesam, Trayambakam Gouthami thate,

Himalaye thu Kedaram, Ghushmesam cha Shivalaye,

Ethani Jyothirlingani sayam pratha paden nara,

Saptha janma krutham papam smaranena vinasyathi.

I want to visit all 12 Jyothirlingas and hence the ambitious 'I' in the title indicating 11 more blogs of the same genre will follow over the remaining years of this birth of mine :)!! Yes, I visited my first (second in the actual list as in the sloka above) Jyothirlinga sthalam - SriSailam - Mallikarjuna Swamy and Bhramarambha Devi.
This link gives the definition of Jyothirlinga and lists the 12 Jyothirlingas across India. Well, we (I, colleagues with family and friends) started from Bangalore by bus on March 13, 2009. There are two Super Luxury APSRTC buses from Bangalore to Srisailam and we took the first one at 1720 hrs. It was a 15 hour journey (via Anantapur, Kurnool, Atmakur).
We reached SriSailam by 0730 on March 14. It was a scenic route through ghats and forest. Thanks to Rajesh, our accomodation was arranged (lots of choultries / cottages available and the rooms are indeed good). Our Abhishekam was also arranged immediately. Unlike Tamil Nadu temples, here every one will be allowed to touch the Lingam and worship. Also, if one wishes
(if he's fortunate enough, rather!!), one can perform Abhishekam oneself to the Lingam (Mallikarjuna Swamy) at the sanctum sanctorum. The ticket costs Rs.600 - only one person will be allowed unless married, in which case, the couple will be allowed. It was a 15 minute Abhishekam and a phenomenal experience indeed. Do not miss it, if you happen to go there.
Followed by this, we went to Bhramarambha Devi sannidhi. This happens to be one of the Ashtadasa Shakthi Peetams. Had a great Darshan. We then worshipped the other Sannidhis - Vruddha Mallikajuna Swamy, RajaRajeshwara/Rajeshwari, Lingams et all along with Seetha and Rama prathishta sahasra Lingams.
There is also a branch of Kanchi Kamakoti peetam at the entrance of the temple, with shrines for Adi Shankara, Kumara swamy and Sri Sri Chandrasekharendra saraswathy (known as Maha Periava) - grace personified, as always.

The following are the other places of interest which we visited,
Sikhara Darisanam:

"SriSaila Sikharam Dhrushtva, Punar Janmam NaVidhyate" (The one who sees SriSaila Sikharam is relieved off rebirth), says Skanda puranam (written there :)). This is a point around 8 km from the temple from where the temple's Sikharam (Gopura Kalasam) will be visible for people who don't have rebirth. As expected, I couldn't see :) - I realized yet again, that I need to go a loooooooong way before attaining salvation (if at all!!) :).
IshtaKameshwari temple:

21 km from the main town, around 10 km inside deep forest is a small temple of Ishta Kameshwari. Jeep is the only mode of transport. There is NO ROAD whatsoever - one gets reminded of roller coaster (natural). I had to pray that I should come back fully :). Jokes apart, once one travels the distance, there is a very small shrine of the Goddess. One needs to crouch and go through the small (3 feet) enclosure to have a Darshan of the Goddess. The speciality here is that, the devotees can apply vermilion (kumkumam) to the Goddess' forehead. Great experience!! Had to comeback through the same road and at the end of the travel, I din't know which was where inside my body :). The travel will be difficult for people with back aches and weak spines.

Phaladhara Panchadara:

This place is a natural stream (five streams rather) of water with 5 different tastes signifying the forehead of Lord Shiva himself!! This place was so holy that Adi Shankara composed Shivananda Lahiri and Soundarya Lahiri in this place. There is a shrine of Sri Adi Shankara in this place. The water was unbelievably fresh. A nice place.

Hatakeshwaram:

A small temple of Lord Shiva.

Sakshi Ganapathi temple:

Sakshi means proof. The Ganesha here, takes note that one has visited SriSailam - kind of takes attendance. A cute little temple just like any other Ganesha temple :).

NS dam:

Dam built across river Krishna - is around 20 km in the Hyderabad - SriSailam route. Nothing great - Just timepass.

Well well, we were there for two days and had three darshans at the temple. Tickets of Rs. 100 and Rs.50 are available in addition to the free darshan. Came back through the same route and had a highly unforgettable dinner at Kurnool bus stand. It was so hot and spicy that you won't know whether the food was cooked or you are getting cooked while eating!!! oooooooooooooooooooh.
We reached Bangalore on Monday morning (1500 bus from SriSailam).

A really memorable experience. I wish everyone gets a chance to visit this place and pray that I am fortunate enough to visit the remaining 11!!
Om Nama Shivaya!!!

Naan Kadavul - A classic

Well, the year has started for Tamil (not restricted to!!) movie buffs with a stunner. Three years it took for Bala and Arya to come up with this classic (I would call it one). A lot of research has gone into the movie - the life of Aghoris, the beggar mafias (I don't know how to call them) and spinning a story relating these.

The movie is captivating right from the opening - The holy Ganges and Bala's trademark tragedies (yet realities of life) on the banks, set the stage. The initial sequence leading upto the introduction of Arya was well thought out and the scene where Arya is identified was simple but startling! When Arya moves out of Kasi, I was actually thinking what next! If it were a cliche' film what followed would have been regular family sentiment, senseless duets with a bubbly heroine, gravity defying stunts leading to the conquer of the villain and a happy ending - Well, I wouldn't have blogged about such a film... :)

Now comes the social menace that Bala has chosen to handle in the movie - beggar mafias. What follows is really frightening (for the faint hearted). The villain has delivered a stunning performance. He along with the choice of support actors for beggars and the environment in which they live has provided the necessary "gloom" in the movie. It actually took some time for me to identify Puja and in the climax it's just impossible!! The blog would be a spoiler if I reveal anything further :)

Arya has done well - a real break for him and worth the 3 year efforts. Ilayaraja is really a maestro. The music stands out and the BGM can't be better. "Pichai paathiram" song is just beyond adjectives - music, lyrics and video - copybook stuff!!Screenplay is tight amd cogent but for an unnecesary 10 minute comedy (not really!!) in the police station (must have been avoided :().

Overall, a bold movie (deserves award(sss)), which can be an encouragement for people who want to create classics. Some might not like this - to such people I would suggest "change your outlook".

A must watch, I must say.
Cheers!!

Sabari Mala Trip III

Firstly, Happy New Year to all and wish you a Happy Pongal too!

...Contd from Sabari Mala Trip II

Well, after so much of divinity, it was time for some fun!! Yeah, we went to Kuttralam from Achan kovil. For those who do not know, Kuttralam is a water fall near Tenkasi/Senkottai (water source is through the rains in Western Ghats). There are many water falls in the town at different locations and we visited the Main Falls. Awseome!! Superb!! Any interjection / adjective will fit in when I set out to explain the feeling of even being near the fall. The water was COLD and fortunately for us the force was also GREAT!! Great experience, given that this is my first time in Kuttralam. We din't have much time there anyways, otherwise, I would have tried the oil massage and other facilities available there :) After the bath, we were really hungry and had a nice lunch there. There is a Shiva temple (Kuttrala nathar), but we couldn't have a darshan there as it was around 2 PM and the nada will be opened only at 4 PM.

Now back to divinity :)
Srivilliputhur:

For people who've not heard of Andal or Kodhai, She is a lady love (one of the many rather) of MahaVishnu (Vadabadhrasayanar). Srivilliputhur is the place where she belonged to and we visited the same. Typical Tamil style temple with huge Gopuram (The tower features in the Tamil Nadu Govt. state emblem!). Andal was looking awesome in Her shrine.

Adjacent to it is the Vadabadhrasayanar (Sleeping pose facing the North) shrine. The Vishnu here had Brahma on the lotus coming from his navel and fighting a demon!! Great temple and great darshan. I and Anand had some secret prayers!!! :)

In addtion to the temple, Srivilliputhur is famous for milk khoa (sweet made out of milk of course). Packed our bags with kgs of the same :).We decided to stay at Thiruparankunram (near Madurai). When we reached there in the night, we were (not) surprised to see heavy rush and no place to even move leave alone staying, sleeping et all. Cometh the hour, cometh the man (God??). One of our group members had a choultry in Nilackottai (around 40 km from Madurai) and was available for staying taht night. Thanks to him. Off we went there. Stayed and had a good sleep.

Next day we left by around 9 AM to Azhagar koil and Pazhamudhir cholai and then to Meenakshi amman temple. There is already a blog (titled Temples Temples and Temples) about these places and so don't want to tell it again. Needless to say these are all must visit places and we had superb darshan everywhere!! :)
One place that we din't visit during our last visit to Pazhamuthilcholai was "Nupura Gangai". This, as the name suggests, is a continuous water flow from an unknown source!! Researchers have been left confused and the reports are inconclusive. The water of course is considered holy and medicinal (legend says that the water can cure many diseases and also saves against
black magic and other evil forces). There is a Devi shrine (called Rakkayi) near the water source.
We left from Madurai to Hosur at night (8 PM - The reason for the delay is best not discussed!) after dinner.

Reached Hosur by 7 AM (you know the driver anyway) and finished the post Sabari mala formalities and off to office :)

Well, Thanks to Ayyappa once again for making us complete the trip (my second one) and hope to make many more like this.

Swamiye Saranam Ayyappa

Sabari Mala Trip II

...Contd from Sabari Mala Trip I
While getting down any hill, one needs to be very careful as it's tougher and calls for great caution. But it goes without saying that it will be enjoyable. There won't be any control on one's own legs. Just that we start and go along with the momentum and take great effort to stop. Sabari mala is no different - especially with the 75 degree Appachi Medu and Neeli mala to be treaded down :). It was raining and drizzling in top of that!! Balaji, amounted for the maximum fun yet again - be it scheming against carrying the prasadam container or holding the side bars tightly and taking one step after another or tackling fast runners from behind, providing us with a running commentary through out as to how one has to approach getting down a hill :). At some point, Anand just couldn't stand the comedy anymore that he sat down and laughed and curious on lookers felt he was sick tried to offer help :). Like last year, I had kaapa kanji and kattan chai etc. on the way and signalled our reaching kanni moola ganapathi shrine with a tender coconut :)

When the entire team arrived, again Balaji expressed his anxiety over how to reach Kottayam for catching his train to Mumbai. After huge discussions, it was decided that he will be dropped at Pattanamthitta. Well, we got down after worshipping Kanni Moola Ganapathi and Pampa and praying for the next visit, we boarded a bus to Nilakkal, the place where all vehicles will be parked.

After successfully completing Erumeli and Sabarimala it was time to visit the other three adobes of Ayyappa. So, off we went to Kulathupuzha (It's very close to Pattanamthitta where Balaji got down and we had our dinner), where we were accomodated in the temple mantapa.

Kulathupuzha:

This is one of the adobes of Ayyappa, where He is a Balaka or Child. It's a small temple on the banks of a puzha or river. We had a bath in the river and the water was really good. The temple, had the main deity and shrines for Naga (snake God), Bhagavathi (in a peculiar pose as if She was dancing or saluting) and of course Ganesha. One more interesting thing is the number of varieties of fish in the river (We offered puffed rice (pori), groundnut etc. to the fish). For more on the legends of Kulathupuzha read Prasad's blog.

Ariyankavu:

This is on the Thenmala hills in the Kottayam - Senkottai route. A very picturesque drive with many hair pin bends et all. Here, Lord Ayyappa is in the form of Ayyan - the deity looks very much like the One in Sabarimala. The temple also is on the banks of a water body (I don't know which one) and has shops selling spices and fruits available in the nearby forest.

Achan Kovil:

After Ariyankavu, we were to go to Achan Kovil. We somehow had a great urge from the beginning to visit this temple. The temple is in the midst of a thick forest (20 km ride inside the forest) near Senkottai. The ride was awesome. The driver din't want to take us there but we made sure we go. We started only around 11 AM and we thought that the temple will be
closed from 12 noon till 4 PM. So we were under great tension :). But we reached the temple in roughly 70 min and came to know that the temple closes roughly at 1:30 PM. We had a lot of time and had a great Darshan. Well, in Achan Kovil, Lord Ayyappa is a King, with his consorts - Purna and Pushkala - They are not females but embodiments of completeness and wealth.
The legend says that Here Lord Ayyappa can bestow one with wealth and other earthly needs as he is a King himself while at Sabari mala he can give knowledge and contentment as He is a Yogi/Sanyasi there :) One more legend in Achan Kovil is that the sandal prasadam here can and will cure any venomous snake bite. This link has a good account on Achan kovil and it's legends.

Really happy that I was able to visit all the 5 adobes of Ayyappa.
The remaining part of the trip was in Tamil Nadu and will be covered in the next part of the blog :)
Swamiye Saranam Ayyappa
.... To Be Contd ......

Sabari Mala Trip I

I was blessed with my second Sabari mala trip (Dec 7 - Dec 11). The first part of our trip will be covered in this blog.

We were to have "Irumudi Kattu" and leave on Dec 07, 2008(Sunday) from Hosur. Like last year, my mother had come to Bangalore a day earlier. She along with my aunt and cousin started early morning and reached Hosur on time (Thanks to them!!). This time, the kattu was in a Ganesha temple. Needless to say, the atmosphere was awesome and compelling. All the kattus were over and by 11:30 we had a great lunch (prasadham) and were ready to leave.

We had left Hosur by 11:45. The vehicle was not upto the mark and the driver's attitude was pathetic and that proved to be the only hitch in the otherwise fantastic trip. After all you need something which is not good!! That's life :). On the way, we had a bath in river Bhavani (I guess), between Salem and Karur. This time we had three kanni samis (first timers - last year I was one). One was Vikram (V) and the other one Balaji (B). Both are funny people in their own rights. B was explaining his experience at the Baghu Bali temple and that became a code word for all of us at various instances. We also had a lot of arguments (political / religious / junk) through out which added spice to the travel :). V was sleeping royally, come what may...

We reached Erumeli only at 6 AM on Monday (The van driver had hit a cow / calf / bull not sure what) on the way. He was dozing through out as we were. At Erumeli, we visited the Petta Sastha temple, Vavuru Samadhi and the Dharma Sastha temple (Erumeli is one of the five adobes of Ayyappa swami - I will write in detail in the next blog). V and B were supposed to do
Petta Thullal, but they din't just as I din't in the last year :). Erumeli is the start of the peria padhai, the 50 km ascent to Sabari mala. As we din't take that path (we take the smaller path 8 km from Pampa), we got Sarams (for first timers) and knife (for second timers - me :)) there and we started to Pampa by van.

Pampa, is the holy river at the foots of the Sabari mala ascent (before Neeli mala). Mythology says, that Ayyappa was found in the banks of Pampa with a bell tied around his neck when king of Pandalam, Rajasekara Pandian found him. As is the ritual, we took bath in Pampa, carried the Irumudi and started the ascent. Irumudi is a holy package containing ghee filled coconut and rice (mainly) on the front side and two more coconuts in the back with or without other things that the traveller may require. After Pampa, one will reach the Kanni Moola Ganapathi shrine (where coconut should be broken as an offering), go up Neeli mala, Appachi medu and Sabari peetam. Our team's protocol is that no one should go beyond Subramanya padhai until the entire team reches there. During the ascent, Balaji was lured by pineapple vendors and was pressed by some external force (!!!) not allowing him to climb and he was successful in not carrying the ghee container (giving weird reasons) et all. All these added to our fun quotient.

Once the entire team reached, we were lucky enough to get a by pass and reached the Holy 18 steps and the Sannidhanam in no time and our darshan was over by 5 PM :) :) :). Everyone was emotional at the great Darshan bestowed on us by Him. We got a room to stay. Throghout the evening, we were able to have many Darshans (thanks to Him).

I and Anand had the opportunity of going for the Ghee Abhishekam the same night. The Ghee Abhishekam, starts at 4 AM everyday and goes on till 11 AM, but one has to join the Q, the previous night itself for a early completion next morning. We went to the Q at 10 PM in the night and was shocked to see some 10 layers before us, all sleeping in the Q. We were intelligent enough to define a new end (at the 4th layer) to the existing Q and soon there were people joining after us :) (trend setters). We were in the open and had very less space. Anand made himself into an 'S' and managed to sleep and even snored on top of that (gifted soul). All was well, when suddenly at 00:45 someone in the area shouted "Swamiye Saranam Ayyappa". That was enough for the sleepy members of the Q, who were disoriented in space and time, to think that the Darshan has started and there was a huge commotion. We used the commotion to move to the first layer of the Q :). From 0045 to 0400, the time flew and the next morning we were able to see the Ghee Abhishekam Darshan and back to the room at 5:30 (on Tuesday).

Then we saw many more Darshans, finished darshan of Malikapurathamma (the female deity there), ate Panchamirtham (4 rounds :)) and started getting down.

Swamiye Saranam Ayyappa
.... To Be Contd ......

Unforgettable Diwali !! - My costliest Trichy trip..

Of the five years I've been out of Trichy, this Diwali was "special". In fact, not the Diwali per se, but the things that happened before Diwali.

I had planned and booked my Diwali ticket well in advance (as I normally do). To be very specific, I booked the onward journey (for Oct 24, 2008) ticket on July 26, 2008. Exactly 90 days before (Indian Railways doesn't allow any earlier!), you can count if you have a doubt :). Actually, there were no tickets available from Bangalore to Trichy (there are people worse and more paranoid than me :)), I had booked it from Maddur to Trichy (an excess of Rs.20 doesn't really matter). This was the flashback...

On Oct 24, 2008, I (along with Karthik and Ravindra) left office at 2:45 PM (on time, normally I leave at 3:30 PM). We got a Suvarna bus and got a business class ticket ( Rs.5 extra - I am serious, please check in Suvarna buses of KSRTC if you don't believe me). It was raining pretty heavily and I got down at Silk Board. God!! It was like the Bay of Bengal. Took an auto from bG circle to my place. The guy was cool and asked for just Rs. 30 (in place of Rs. 20). When I reached halfway, I was able to see a Pacific Ocean - Bermuda triangle rather... The vehicles which dared pass through the water actually started floating and disappeared!! The devil in me enjoyed the lighter side of the sufferings of those people though :). The auto driver told me that he has to take a big detour to avoid this mess and charged Rs. 60. It really doesn't matter!!

I reached home, packed and was about to leave - it started drizzling. Din't mind it really and got an auto to Majestic at 5 PM. The auto driver told me that the road was pretty bad and flooded (I knew it !!) and that he will take a different "shorter" route. I said yes. We entered the narrowest lane in Bangalore (it was raining heavily by then) and saw the biggest possible traffic jam. I asked the auto wala, whether I can make it to the 7 PM train. He said "Aaraamaagi" (coolly!!). We were there in the jam and I was able to see all the possible vehicles that man had made. trying to turn, manouvre, race ahead... It's a really competitive world you see!!

Well, at the end of a 90 minute wait in the lane, we reached wht people normally call as main road. It was 6:30 and I asked the auto wala about my prospect of catching the train. He said "Kashta sir!!" (Difficult!!). That explains. I reached the other side of the Rly Stn at 7 :05 PM and took 2 subways (drenched in the rain in between)to reach the station. Ran to the 6th platform and found a totally empty platform. The inevitable had happened. The bloody train came and left on time!! My first time of missing a train.. It doesn't really matter!!

Came out of the station. It was raining as if it is the last monsoon in Bangalore for the next 40 years!! Searched around in Majestic bus stand for tamil Nadu buses. Later came to know that the TN buses have been shifted to the Wilson Garden bus stand. Why now??? Took an auto, who luckily charged a meagre Rs. 50. Reached the other bus stand. Got a person, who was having a ticket to Madurai, which I can take till Salem (Rs. 280). When I was waiting for that bus, a direct bus to Trichy was passing me. I was greedy enough to leave the old bus guy and go in pursuit of a ticket. The conductor later said there are no tickets (as if he din't know it before!!). When I was in the midst of nowhere, not knowing how to go, call it supernatural intervention or divine grace or dame luck or whatever, someone asked me whether I need a ticket to Trichy for Rs. 320. The bus was a Karnataka Sarige bus (worse than the Suvarna town bus I had taken!!), still, that was to be my Titanic for the night. I got a special last seat (# 52 to be precise) and the roads do have a lot of bumps... The bus was scheduled at 22:22 and eventually came at 23:15 and left at 00:00.

I reached Trichy at 09:00. I'm actually going through the 7.5 year saturn period and that sure has it's effect.

Total expense for the Diwali travel: Rs. 204(train) +60(auto1) +150(auto2) +50(auto3) +280(missed bus1)+ 320(travelled bus2) = 1064 + drenching in rain + no dinner + too much of running + too much of tension + Rs. 80 (antibiotics and vitamin C for cold).... :(

The Diwali was as usual great and had a nice return journey.....
All said and done, I will never forget Diwali 2008....