A trip to Thirkoilur & Pondy

Pious, Sultry & the beaches...That's how this trip over the weekend was experienced.

Another trip planned at the last minute; the destination was Thirkoilur, Tamil Nadu. My mom & sister always wanted me n Preeti to visit Thirkoilur & take blessings from Sri Raghothama Theertharu, for a long time now. I also wanted a break from by routine and was planning a drive before the Petrol rates hit Rs. 80 in Bangalore!

So, while planning the route to Thirkoilur which is 240 KMs from Bangalore, I realized Pondicherry was just 75 Kms away! We then extended our trip and got Mihir & Mahima too on board.

We started our journey on Friday, 18th May by 3:30 PM; Picked up Mihir & Mahima on the way.
After a hectic drive through JP Nagar, BTM & Silkboard traffic, we hit the toll roads by 4:30 and the traffic delays were compensated on the Highway.

Stopped en-route at Kamat near Krishnagiri for coffee & snacks break.

There were lot of confusions with our stay, as accommodation at Thirkoilur was not confirmed and we had to reach before 10:00 PM for us to explore possibility of getting a room there.
Other alternative was to stop at Thiruvannamalai (which is 40 KMs before Thirukoilur) which is a bigger town and could stay overnight there.

Drive till Krishnagiri on NH7 was good, but once we were off the National Highway, the roads were bad & the ride was bumby which took a toll on our energy.

By the time we reached Thiruvannamalai, it was already 9:00 PM and we were yet to have our dinner.

Language being a barrier in Tamil nadu, as people over there either do not want to or do not know anything else apart from Tamil, I managed to find a Udupi hotel. The owner over there luckily knew Kannada and he did not recommend us to goto Thirkoilur at that time, as no one would be available.
So, we ended our journey there & stayed at the same hotel which had decent A/C rooms.
A/C room was a great relief from the hot air outside even at 9:00 PM in the night!

Saturday early morning we checked out the room and reached Thirkoilur by 6:15 AM, as planned.

Thirkoilur hosts the moola brindavana of one of the famous Gurus of Sri Madhwa parampare (14th Guru) - Sri Raghothama Theertharu.

It is a popular belief that he is a great healer and people with all kinds of health ailments come over here to get the Guru's blessings.
People share stories of mentallly challenged, physically challenged, childless being cured with his divine power.

There is a practical way of sharing the Guru's healing touch to the devotees at the Mutt.
All the devotees are lined up and the priest generously sprinkles holy water, imaginably the water used for brindavana abhisheka.

The peaceful atmosphere, temples inside the Mutt campus, friendly Mutt staff, "non-commercial" attitude of the Mutt, Puja procedures adds up to the sanctity of the place & one's belief in his holiness.

The huge Brindavan which is open to the air gives ample view to each & everyone in the Mutt, with ample space for all devotees to sit & pray Sri Raghothama Theertharu, helps the devotees to peacefully spend time at this serene place.

We did all sevas & namaskarams possible to our satisfaction, though the heat was always bothering us and had to literally run to complete our pradakshinas as the heated cement flooring were unbearable to walk on, by noon.

The Mutt campus was huge & had ample space for us to relax & for kids to play.

Before the puja at the Mutt was scheduled to begin, we visited Sri Thrivikrama Temple nearby, which is an ancient & a massive one.
The idol of Sri Thrivikrama is quite huge (around 6 Ft) with the Right Leg lifted towards the sky.

Right outside the main sanctum sanctorum, resides Goddess Durga. My mom had some offerrings for the goddess in form of a Saree & some other stuff.
The best part was the Saree that was offerred, was draped on the Idol in front of us and the priest performed puja. This was truly mesmerizing & Preeti had her moments with the goddess!

We later returned to the mutt to witness the Puja procedures.

This was immediately followed by a good heavy lunch at the Mutt. We rested for a while and continued our journey towards Pondy.

Drive to Pondy was enjoyable. At Pondy we had requested Mr. Vasant Maiya to book accommodation for us.
Once we reached Pondy by 3:00 PM, Mr. Mihir who works for Mr. Kothari (Mr. Vasant Maiya's friend at Pondy) was waiting for us at the Guest house and ensured we were comfortable at the Guest House.
Unfortunately, the room did not have A/C and all of us found it very difficult to manage as the Fan was not sufficent to beat the scorching heat.

We could not stay at the room for long and we headed out to take a dip in the Beach. The water was very salty there & was not the cleanest beaches, but it did little to control our excitement to play in the water.

The kids enjoyed the beach thoroughly & were in no mood to get out of the water.

It was very sultry & humid once we were out of water and we all badly needed a shower, so we headed straight back to the room.
We came down to have Dinner at the Canteen, but it was closed by 8:00 PM. We then started exploring nearby restaurants and finally landed at hotel Suruguru, which Mr. Kothari had shown us last time we visited Pondy.
Everyone liked the restaurant as the A/C was very effective & food was amazing. We ended a good day of hectic activity and we needed a good sleep. Inspite of unbearable weather, we were too tired & we managed to get a good sleep.

Sunday, again we started the day very early and went for a good walk on the Beach road.

Had good breakfast at the canteen, got ready by 10:00 AM and started from the Guest house.

We then headed towards Osudu Lake, which was a huge one. The kids had a good time at the park.

Boating was next in the list.

We then headed towards Auroville. As we had to walk a lot at Auroville to see places, it was tiring for us, specially parents.

We somehow managed to get a glimpse of the MatriMandir.

Tired & Hungry, we rushed to the Restaurant at Auroville.

Each of us had good memories of the trip. As kids were around, all of us were pre-occupied with kid's safety & needs.
The kids too were fun & good company through out, with their innocence & mischiefs. Even the kids had a great time with their parents not around and we spoiling them with choices of theirs ;)
The Word Builder game the kids played on the way back was full entertainment for all of us.

As usual, the drive was one of the best features of the trip.
I must say, people in TN just do not have traffic sense and do not care for traffic rules and drivers were very arrogant & careless on roads.

The GPS & Maps on my phone, helped to navigate with ease even in the remote corners of the route.

A drive to Udupi

Another Visit to Udupi over the weekend; planned at the last minute for more than 1 reason...Got my Car serviced last week and was itching to take her on a good long drive; To attend a wedding in Udupi; And to attend few religious festivities at Preeti's hometown.

So, started the journey on Friday noon with Preeti, her mom and her mom :)



The drive was amazing...I thoroughly enjoyed every Kilometer I drove...The 6 lane stretches across Hassan till Channarayapatna was bit boring though; The fun began once I crossed Channarayapatna as the 2 lane stretches started.





As we neared Sakleshpur, the drive was just getting better. Shiradi Ghat Roads were in good shape and could ease through the Ghats section.

I thought everyone else were enjoying the drive as well, but it turned out that they were scared & tensed to be seated...I am not sure if I was driving rash or they were simply scared of traveling in Ghats. However, I thought I knew what I was doing & driving with all care & responsibility.




So, we reached Udhyawara at 11:00 PM and settled down. Preeti couldn't sleep the whole night and was scared of some payal sound all night, so she kept me awake as well. Morning it turned out that it was the Dog that was chained kept making noise.

Saturday morning, we started the day early and headed out visiting Vinayaka temple and Lord Krishna in Udupi. My friend Sameera was in Udupi co-incidentally & spent some good time with him.

We then went to Brahmalingeshwara temple to meet all relatives there & watch the Puja & Homa there.









We finished lunch & went to Yedabettu to relax.

Later in the evening, we set out for a small outing to nearby places.
As we touched the highway, I could feel that one of the Tyre was flat. I immediately parked the car aside to check, and the rude shock was that 3 tyres were flat! How on earth can all 3 tyres go flat at once!! After the initial panic & running around (tried to get some local mechanic's help, tried calling on-road Hyundai Service) and nothing worked, I finally drove down slowly for around 500 mtrs, I could find a Puncture shop who filled the air & things were just fine!

As i10 (as most cars these days) have tubeless tyres, possibility of tyre going flat fully is simply not possible and it must be a mischief of localites who took out the air from all 3 tyres!

Whew, after this circus we headed to Saligrama...visited few relatives & temples. Stopped by Hotel Mantap, well known for it's Mundakki puri, which was indeed yummy.




We were back to Brahmalingeshwara temple by 8:00 PM, to be present for the next event - Dakke Bali.

The stage was set for this religious show, with the open space well decorated with colourful flowers, lighting & the center of the hall had this huge Mandala, around which the act takes place and people are seated all around.







The priest starts the proceedings with lot of Puja and sets up the scene for the artists (apologies! not sure I can call them so, but did not find a better word).

Dakke Bali went on till 10:30 PM. The whole act involved a Nagakanika dressed in traditional silk clothing along with 3 musicians dancing & playing drums in front of the Diety who is believed to have acquired the holy spirit within during the performance.







The whole dance & music along with the Vaadhya, makes the atmosphere spiritual & mesmerizing. All the songs played by the artists seemed to be praising the Lord who has entered this Deity, very similar to Yakshagana style of music.

We took blessing from the Deity & went back to Yedabettu to rest for the night, hoping & praying that no one plays with my Car Tyres again!

The stay at Yedabettu was a re-visit of my earlier experiences blogged as "Greens & Mansions". I always liked staying at such huge ancient houses. It is so good to see people still believing & living the basic, traditional, undisturbed by the City way of life. The people-to-people care, concern, relation they share is so genuine & selfless.







I so much loved interacting with people over there.

The next morning (thankfully, the car tyres were intact), we headed back to Udhyawara...Had breakfast, got dressed & headed for the wedding in Udupi.

The wedding was "colourful" n festive. Shalini athe was especially happy to see us, as I have missed so many other functions in her family.

After a good meal, Me & Preeti headed back to Bangalore, as her mom & granny stayed back.

The journey back was more fun, as I had no one telling me to be careful & to slow down. Preeti was busy sleeping and I was busy enjoying the drive.

Now am back to my routine life, with lots of beautiful memories of the drive, Dakke bali, the people & my stay at the ancient house.