Rahu
Huge crowd there, for Rs.50/- per head, one can get up-close and personal with a miracle we witnessed, looked awesome. When they pour milk on the idol it turns into light blue !!!!! I’m one of the skeptics about miracles, but when you see it you have to believe it. It could be a chemical reaction of milk with something on the stone, the collected milk at the base also has a slight blue tinge!!!!!!! Things are pretty organized there, the pooja, the abishekam and even the Prasad is neatly packed into yellow colour bags. There too, Ranan-power eased things.
Lunch time saw us at Hotel Paradise Resort @ Kumbakonam. This was a surprise in the middle of a religious / country setting, a 3 star resort, well maintained, beautifully landscaped, clean and impressive with good food. During lunch, met the owner Mr.Raman, ex-US-software-professional to check out his packages for some friends abroad who wanted to do the Navagraha circuit, sounded reasonable. For our efforts we got a 20% discount on the tab.. well that was a surprise gift too
The post-lunch leisurely drive towards Gangaikonda cholapuram, UNESCO Heritage Monument was eventful. We passed the Kavery river bridge and then the Killidam bridge and saw an unbelievable sight. There were live crocodiles, we counted 4, mouths agape on the sand & people bathing hardly 1 km away!!!!!!!!!!
It was surreal, like a scene form a sci-fi movie; huge, fearsome, lively crocs on display which looked hungry, ready to attack, people peacefully washing cloths, bating, frolicking in water….. our paradigms were shaken. Rajan told us calmly, these crocs do not disturb even animals, they eat only fish !!!!! Lord-love-a-duck, this one’s for the books, domesticated crocs indeed!!! We stopped for 7 minutes on the narrow bridge hoping one of the crocs would plunge into water go grab a man, no such luck, traffic piled behind us, horns started to blare, Rajan got uncomfortable and we reluctantly moved. I have seen many strange sights, this one would take the cake.
We reach the Temple around 4 pm; go inside for a look-see. The Shiva inside was majestic, the many pillars like legs of Colossus and the architecture exquisite. Rajan’s narratives augmented the silent story on stone; a must-see site for anyone. More of the story @
Gangaikonda Cholapuram - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]
Towards Chidambaram about 28 kms from this site is a good IOC pump with lots of space, bang in the middle of miles and miles of green paddy fields. It’s riveting, the greens soothing and resembled Kerala greens in every way. The coffee and service after Diesel was exemplary, we just sat and soaked in the local scenes stuck to our seats for 20 minutes or so. Rajan had to prod us to move, otherwise we would miss the timings @ Chidambaram temple and the Crystal Linga Pooja @ 6 PM. We rush in time for the Abishek Darshan on the Crystal Shivling; this is one of the biggest crystal Shivas available in the world, very vary valuable and old. This temple is also famous for the dancing Shiva as the deity; don’t think anywhere else a non-linga Shiva is worshipped. Rs.50/- gets you close to the deity, more money to the priests gets you personalized service!!!
Chidambaram Temple - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Word of caution here, reportedly, and specially @ this temple, the money making touts / priests are crafty, they’d ask you to write your name/ address on some register for charity and demand Rs.5000/- (they think big here) or come up with some such scheme. They offered the register to us, we bowed & steered clear away from them. It’s at times like this you realize the value of good guides.
Next stop, Vaitheswaran Temple, the temple for MARS, God of Valor, Victory and Strength
Vaitheeswaran Temple - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The water in the tank is believed to cure all skin diseases, this is the place where Ramayan Jadayu was cremated, where you are supposed to do the Sevvai, packet of Jaugary and sugar to be diluted into the pond. They don’t allow the dilution anymore, you have to thro it into a designated place, the packets of Jaugary /Sugar are sold for 50/-; bargain, you’d get it for 10/-. The temple itself was magnificent, big and visit-worthy. We could get up-close for a worship thanks to Rajan-connection and our stock of 10/- rupees got depleted plenty. By 0730pm urgency was mandated, Suryan temple would close @ 8 pm. When we reached, the temple was closed & we decide to come again the next day. The SUKRAN temple at Kanchanar , temple famous for life, wealth and property; was also closed, but we could get the Darshan from outside.
Kanjanur Sukran
We stop on the way after Thiruvadai Marudur for Dinner, nice, hot, clean veg. place. On the way back we pass the Papanasam temple and back to Hotel Oriental @ 10 40 PM and hit the sack ASAP. It was a tiring day, we covered 300 kms and covered most of what we planned and some more.
15-11-07: A pleasant morning saw us having breakfast with Rajan @ hotel restaurant, food pretty good. Today we need to cover the rest of the Navagraha and also cover Velankanni, a hectic schedule of 300 + kms. We start late waiting for the car to get washed and reach Alangudi for the GURU temple, temple of education and many other things.
http://www.chennaionline.com/toursnt...ip/alangudi.as
Though unplanned, it turns out to be the famous GURUPAYERCHI day, the whole place was packed with cars and people. Heavy barricades, guards and arrangements were made for lakhs of devotees who would visit that day and the next, we were worried. We circled for parking, used all the by-lanes guided by Rajan and got as near to the temple as possible. Guarat license plate, a friendly cop allowed us to park near the temple (otherwise it would have been 1 km of walk) and special Darshan ticket @ Rs.100/- per head later we whizzed past the crowd and had a great darshan.
On the way to Suryanar temple we passed the famous Pattai Katti Mariyamman temple; people come from far and wide / abroad to see the annual ritual of taking live devotees thro the streets as if dead; reportedly, once on the dead journey, devotees stop breathing and become dead till they reach the temple and come alive!!!!! This would be something to see.
We reach SURYA temple, bestower of health and prosperity, built in 1100 AD. Have darshan @ the Ganapathy there, lots of marriages there, it’s the wedding season. Inside the small temple, we could get up close for a close Darshan URL:
Sree Surya Bhagawan
We finish that @ 12 noon, the next stop Ketu temple 70 km away would close @ 1 PM. The road was bad in this patch, 20 kms of gravel in one section, we head towards Poompuhar Beach to kill time and grab lunch. This is a basic town, devastated by the Tsunami on 2004. Reportedly, 1500 years back this was a flourishing port, swallowed by a Tsunami, still under water
There’s a beautiful temple on the beach, which was submerged in the recent 04 tsunami. We find a wayside small restaurant, had to wait for 30 mts for food to be prepared for, turned out to be great basic hot lunch on a banana leaf, cost Rs.100/- for 4 of us with all the extras !!!!!! We head for Perumballam 10 kms away and reach there, around 320 to wait for the temple to open at 4. We were lucky, lots of Ayyappa crowd and the temple opened @ 330, good Darshan and drive off to touch the next very important temple, the Sani Temple, 45 kms off near the cost. We leave Karaikal behind and follow the sea on the East Coast Road, god surface till Nagur, pass Trirukadeyr where the famous Abirami temple is and detour 3 kms to enter the Tranquebar fort gates.
Nordic Culture > Tranquebar, the Danish East Indies - Scandinavica.com
Tranquebar is the only living Indian connection with Denmark and is a great photo spot / beach / museum; there’s a also a 3 star resort which offers good food. We spend 10 minutes on the beach, take some snaps, enter the beautiful / soothing / green country roads of Tirunallar @ the SANI TEMPLE, the God of bad times, one who is close to even Yama
Puja at Darbaranyeswarar Temple (Sani Sthalam):Saranam 
The temple setting is classic, huge-sprawling-typical-TN-temple, you feel like you’ve stepped back 50 years in time, the semantics and mood of how a temple should be is captured in an freeze-frame. Of all temples we visited in Tanjore, we felt happiest inside here, we did not do any special pooja, was only in front of the deity for a brief 5-7 minutes, hardly spent Rs.10/- for lighting the lamps. After the worship, I personally felt irrationally happy, me-thinks it has a lot to do with the highly charged/ ionized air your could sense (the air felt different, charged & cracking with energy), Rajan said this happens to lots of people. Sitting in front of a laptop, in a digitalized world, dealing with facts/figures, using logic as the fuel food to deal with daily problems in life and writing about something intangible / unexplainable / meta-physical, sounds absurd; well….. that was what we felt inside the temple and I feel compelled to share it.
That done in the fading light at 540 pm, we take the now congested costal road towards Nagur Durgah and Nagapattinam. The single track road deteriorate, evening traffic is thicker, slow and unorganized. There’s a huge rush at the Dargah, parking restrictions and no chance of doing the visit under 30 mts, Rajan recommends a skip and we muscle through the irritating traffic. The full might of the headlights and road-presence of the Scorp comes in handy, we pass Nagapattinam which was completely knocked out in the Tsunami of 04,
Nagapattinam - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
head for Valankanni. We pass the point where NH 67 starts, take a L Turn towards the Church on the East Coast Highway being made. Constructions work is in full swing, sections of huge craters, gravel, mud and nothing. The Scorp’s power, big wheels and GC is God-sent on bad roads, we appreciate this having driven/ travelled long-distance in a sedan for the past many years. We’re soon past this pain and reach the parking lot of Velankanni Church at 7 pm.
Vailankanni (Velankanni) - Church of Our Lady of Health, Annai Vailankanni
The parking lots are relatively empty, low crowd, we get inside the Church, walk around, take some snaps and sit inside for 20 mts quietly to enjoy the silent rest. This Church is a must see, beautifully located, the maintenance and cleanliness something to learn and the disciple of the devotees there worth emulating. Rajan tells us to hurry, we have to reach Sikkal, before 9pm and reach back base Tanjore, 90 kms away. We start @ 750 pm from Velankanni and reach Skkkal, 13 kms away in 30 mts to visit the famous Singaravadivelar temple, the abode of Lord Karthikeya, we were a lucky to hit the temple on an auspicious Sasthi Festival day, unlucky to find parking difficult, thick crowds made even walking difficult. We somehow manage to park and get inside the temple, the architecture of the temple worth seeing; Ranjan Power makes things easy, we have a great darshan and hurry back towards Thiruvvaiar for the dinner stop. Hotel Park has lots of space to park, the staff busy watching India/Pak cricket match in progress and dish out OK dinner. The road through Thiruvvaiyar, Needamangalam, Ammapatti, Tanjore was OK, we did the 60 kms in 1 hour, some sections follows the river, small sections are bad but by and large surface good, though single track.
We bid adios to Rajan, take his address / details and seek his guidance for the next day’s trip to Rameswaram. He was ever ready at 11 pm, whipped out his Maps / distances and offered lots of useful information for the onward journey till Terechendur.
16-11-07: Knowing we have to do only 270 kms, we get up late to a leisurely breakfast, have the truck washed and head out to fill gas, there’s a good IOC station next door. Oriental Towers has a huge parking lot, I talk to many taxi drivers about the best route to Rameswaram, one Scorpio taxi has just arrived from Tuticorin on this route, the driver practically crying, there’s no road here!!!! Drivers recommend to take the Pudikottai, Devakottai, Ramanathapuram route which is drivable and fast. We start @ 11 am, leave Tanjore behind, the single track 33 kms till Pudukottai has smooth surface and stop for a Coffee, only 2/3 decent veg b’kfast places, finish a quick Dosa / Vada stop and head to Karaikudi. The road for the next 20 kms rough but great vistas with desolate country. The population thins out, you hardly see anybody, mostly green paddy fields. At Karaikudi, 1 pm, we search out Hotel Annapoorna for lunch, the only decent place for lunch. Road till Ramanathapuram, 90 kms away, has some rough sections including the E Coast Road agony, but drivable; took 100 mts for us to cover. From R’puram to Rameswaram, 70 kms is great road though single track with one of the best scenes in India. We pass Mandapam and stop on the Pamban bridge @ 4pm.
Pamban Bridge - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The longest sea bridge in India @ 2.3 kms, takes your breath away; Bay of Bangal and Indian Ocean on both sides, the cantilever railway bridge on one side, the fishing port with bobbing boats dotting the sky line, salty wind whistling through, looked like a dream-scape. We spend 10 mts for some snaps and reach Hotel Royal Park @ 5 pm, this is one of the few decent options here. We check in, check for a guide and decide to relax for the day and watch TV. During dinner the guide, Kannan meets us and tells us to be ready @ 8 am next day for the temple visit. We found everything expensive in Rameswaram; the hotel manager told the sob-story how getting quality people is next to impossible, most people fisher folks, everything expensive, most of the services cornered by politicians, everything had to come in from the mainland. An anti-thesis for the Ram Rajya and the temple he established.