[vittal]

12-March-2022

Finally, the much awaited day of departure to Sabarimalai had arrived. We were all asked to assemble at Valamburi Vinayakar Temple Banaswadi at 02:00 pm. The Senior Nambiar Guruswamy initiated and lead all devotees through the irumudi ritual. Babu Anna had the coconuts ready, emptied the coconut water very neatly by drilling a hole in one eye of the coconut shell. (Refer to the section below to read more about the rituals and the significance of drilling a hole in coconut; Source: Kerala Government website). The Ghee also was melted and kept ready in a utensil. Lord Ayyappa’s photo with essential pooja items was kept ready. The Irumudi filling began at 02:30 pm.

The ritual began with the senior most Kanni swamy, Smt Meenakshi Sankaran, followed by other kanni swamy’s in decreasing order of age.





The senior swamy’s later did the irumudi beginning with Balu Chithappa.

Each devotee had an irumudi bag that consisted of 2 sections and 2 little pouches in which to hold the coconuts. There were also some shagun items of red cloth with haldi Kumkum tied together. The irumudi proceeded as everyone chanted “palli kattu Sabari malaiku ..” continuously. After the Irumudi, each swamy performed swayam pradakshinam 3 times and adorned the irumudi on the head covered by a fresh new bedsheet. Other relatives were allowed to participate by filling the irumudi pouches with rice and dakshina. Everyone considers the swamy with irumudi to be the Lord himself, and everyone, regardless of age, took their aashirwadams. This was symbolic of the fact that the Lord resides in all.

Finally, our Guruswamy Venkat performed the irumudi, in which everyone present was requested to pour ghee into the irumudi and offer rice and Dakshina. Each person’s irumudi was carefully set in a row, neatly arranged on a dhurry spread. The bedsheet helped in identifying each individual’s irumudi.




The Nambiar swamy did the Aarti to the Lord and offered neivedyam. This prasadam was later partaken by all devotees present. Chakarai Pongal was made by Sashi and the Chundal was made by Geetha Manni. The chundal which was a manga thengai kabuli chana chundal was made to perfection with the right amount of flavour of mango, coconut, chilli and aesthetically garnished. The chakarai Pongal was so energised and the right mixture of vellam, ghee, and garnished with Kaju and kismis and elaichi. One could feel the prasadam was made with utmost devotion to the Lord. Each one of us enjoyed the prasadam with a cup of coffee/ badam milk that was served.

We all had darshan of all deities at the Valampuri Vinayakar temple seeking blessings for our safe travel. An early dinner was served of sambar rice, curd rice, bonda, kesari, pickle and some karuvadam. The dinner was tasty and served as the energy source for our travel.
We later relaxed before departing the Railway station.

[vittal]

Departure to station 12th march

We all took our irumudi’s on our head, went around the temple and broke a coconut in front of Valampuri vinayakar (the significance of breaking a coconut is to pray to Vinayakar to remove all obstacles on our journey). With the irumudi on our heads, we boarded the car to depart for the station. Raja, Amma, Vidya and Hari Anna were in a car and we reached the KR Puram railway station on time. Few other cars were together and decided to take an inside route to the station to avoid traffic, however, there was a bit of difficulty and they were all stuck in a massive traffic Jam on the alternate route. As the clock ticked away and the Jam not getting cleared, tension mounted in the minds of the devotees and did their intense prayers of surrender to the Lord. As their cars reached the station, they rushed and ran, each of them accompanied by Mr Ravi, Chinna Gani Anna, Babu Anna and Sashi, who ran with luggage across the flyover to reach platform 2. By the grace of the Lord, all of them reached the platform in the nick of the time, just in time to board the train. At 08:30 pm, the Kanyakumari express left the station.



Update from Shivakumar
When started to railway station to board on the way 5 members of team struck in traffic jam time was running out only 6 minutes left everybody praying for the way suddenly a boy appeared moved out the auto which was holding the traffic we all thanked god our driver moved the car at a high speed dropped us the train was just approaching the platform. Everyone who was in the station helped us by stuffing the baggage into the train, at last, we were inside the train.

We witnessed a great sense of relief in all of their faces and a great deal of gratitude for the Lord’s grace in allowing them to be on the station on time. The seats and births were allotted to devotees and after a long chat and excitement, everyone retired for the day on their respective births. For all of us to keep our irumudis during the train journey, a separate booking was created in the name of Irumudi Ravi.

Even though railways had issued a notification couple of days ago that blankets and pillows would be provided, we brought our own. As expected the notification was not yet implemented and we used our own bedsheet and air pillows for the travel.

Mrs and Mr Rajkumar preferred to sit and travel through the night rather than sleep in their births. They mentioned that they generally don’t feel sleepy on the train. After some brief conversation, we all slept. At 5:45 am the train reached Thrissur.

[vittal]

13-March-2022

We reached Thrissur at 5:45 am and our Guruswamy handed over our Irumdis, each of us carried the irumudi in our bags / some of them on the head and walked across the platform. Our Guruswamy called the driver of our tempo traveller, Kavi and we all kept our irumudi in the boot of the tempo traveller. The elders sat towards the front of the vehicle and the rest of us occupied seats as per convenience. Kavi drove us to the hotel that was arranged just for bathing. We cleansed ourselves, bathed and got ready by 7:30 am.





The photograph of Lord Ayyappa was affixed in the front of the van. We boarded the tempo traveller after a pooja to Lord Ayyappa and the van. A loud Sharanam Vili from all devotees pepped everyone’s enthusiasm.


















We reached the Vadakkunathar temple in a few minutes and had a very peaceful darshan. The chants of Om Namah Shivaya filled the air around the Sanctum Sanctorum. The Lord had silver Kavacham alankaram.

[anand.shankar]

Great log, haven't seen too many accounts of Sabari Mala trips. Hailing from KL and with many 'Guruswamys' in the family i haven't been able to make this trip, like many say, it's a calling I guess

I still remember the rush I experienced as a kid in the 90s while taking the Trivandrum Mail from Chennai till Changanacheri, Kottayam, Chenganur.. Flowers, Garlands, Crowds, Songs!

[vittal]

13-Mar-2022 (continued...)

Summary of temples visited on 13-Mar-2022
1. Guruvayur
2. Kondungallur Bhagavathy temple (where we had lunch)
3. Chotannikkkara Bhagavathy temple
4. keezh kavu bhagavathy
5. Vaikom Shiva temple
6. Aranazhika Murugan temple (reaching at 8pm)
7. Ettumanoor Shiva temple (around 09:30 pm)

Due to restrictions, we were not allowed to carry mobile phones and hence we could not click photographs at the above locations. Hence, sharing the written log of our visit to temples on 13-Mar-2022.

At Vadakkunathar temple, we went around the large praharam and returned to the Lodge. We requested the hotel owner to open the dining area for having breakfast. Sri Murugan, Rema akka cousin's husband, had arranged breakfast, lunch, and dinner for all devotees in Thrissur. Mr Murugan brought disposable plates, sevai, idli, vada, chutney, sambar and thakkali thokku. Sambar rice, curd rice, salad and karuadam for lunch and chappathi and thakkali gojju for dinner. The amount of food was roughly three times our food consumption. We loaded the required food into containers and carried it for the rest of the day's journey. We requested him to donate the remaining food to the needy. Thank you, Mr Murugan, for preparing and bringing us such a delicious breakfast, lunch & dinner.

We boarded the Tempo Traveller to proceed to Lord Guruvayur's Darshan. At Guruvayur, the darshan was pre-booked (online booking) for 9:30 a.m. We were accompanied by Ms Divya and her cousins for our special darshan at Guruvayur. We were let in a queue and were lucky enough to get a very close darshan of Lord Guruvayurappan, who was decorated so beautifully adorning a flute and with lamps lit all over. The glorious name of “Narayana Narayana” permeated the sanctum sanctorum, beckoning the lord …the feeling of being blessed was intense.

Our Guruswamy thanked Divya and her cousins who accompanied us for the special darashan. We boarded the van and left Guruvayur. In the van, we played a few bhajans of Sri Manjaparai Mohan and everyone sang along.

Around 1:30 pm, we arrived at the Kondungallur Bhagavathy temple. We rested under the trees and all devotees used the comfort station (restrooms). After that, we had delicious lunch comprising of sambar rice, thayir satham, pickle and karuvadam. The popular delicious dessert pal adai pradhaman was in high demand and everyone had a double serving. The lunch was plentiful but we were able to partake it with some other vendors and impoverished people sleeping around the temple premises.






We could easily clean our utensils and get ready to board the van because there was a water facility at the temple. Around 03:00 pm, we left Kondungallur towards Chotannikkkara Bhagavathy temple. Everyone had a nap as we reached the temple at 04:30 pm. The Chotanikkara Bhagavthy temple was calm and had fewer people. Each of us could comfortably have 3 darshans with ease. We descended to the keezh kavu bhagavathy, watched the Vedi vazhipadu and ascended the stairs back to Mel Kaavu.

We stopped at Ganesh cafe near the temple for a cup of coffee. The weather started to cool down a bit as the evening had set in. We left Chottanikkara to Vaikom Shiva temple. The huge temple praharam of Vaikom Shiva temple in all its grandeur welcomed us in during the time of Sandya. We were blessed to have aarti darshan and prasad at the temple. We boarded the van to reach our next temple, the aranazhika Murugan temple and reached there at a time nearing 8:00 pm. We witnessed the sewa seeveli at the temple and the last aarathi of the day as the temple was nearing closing time. We also received temple prasadam - payasam and panchamrutham.

After the darshan at Aranazhika Murugan temple, we boarded the van to reach Ettumanoor Shiva temple around 09:30 pm. The temple had closed but we rested at the temple mandapam to have our dinner. Everyone was tired but the temple darshans and the eagerness to See Lord Ayyapan somehow gave everyone energy. Everyone had a light dinner of thayir chadam, chappathi and thakkali Gojju. We distributed the remaining chappathis and gojju amongst the street vendors around the temple.

We boarded the van for Erumeli around 11:00 pm. Everyone quickly took a nap as after this, it was only staying awake till we reach Sabarimala. Before everyone could realise, at 12:05 am we reached Erumeli. We were dropped off near the Vavar Mosque.


The only photo we could take outside the Vaikom Shiva temple

[vittal]

14-March-2022 (Monday) early morning 12.30 am

At 12:30 am (post-midnight), all kanni swamys were made to wear headgear with a tiger picture on it, a small arrow with a feather on it and colour on the face (gulal). All of us were also given a dummy sword, mace and we danced to bliss. This represents the victory of good over evil and Lord Ayyappa was said to have danced in the forest when he vanquished the Mahishi. This dance is called Pettai Thullal. All of us danced and visited the Pettai Sashta temple and Vavar Mosque singing “Swamy chindaga thom thom, Ayyappan Chindaga thom thom”

[vittal]

We later had our bath at Erumeli, freshened up and repacked, carrying only essential items for the trek to Sabarimala. We boarded the van and were dropped off at Pamba at 03:00 am. We took our irumudi and placed it on the banks of river pamba, had prokshanam of the sacred river water and did a pooja. Before we left, our Guruswamy had a difficult time handling the doli walas who kept pestering and bargaining. However, in the end, some doli walas agreed and arranged one doli for Amma. We all were quite excited that the trek to Sabarimala had now begun. We started trekking around 04:30 am.

The trek was 6 km long but steep. Although the road was laid down, it was not smooth and had lots of gravel, making it to the song “kallum mullum kaalikku medhdai”. Walking barefoot was not easy, but constantly chanting the name of the Lord gave us the strength to climb. An early morning trek helped us to climb in fairly cooler weather at this time of the year.

The route to Sabarimala was surrounded by Periyar tiger reserve forest on either side and the roads were well lit with tube lights and many pilgrims trekked during the night. Our Guruswamy Venkat, Rajkumar, Arul and Sukanya walked the entire distance with the irumudi on their head. The others used a bag specifically to carry the irumudi. We climbed the path at our own pace with one senior volunteer who kept track of all of us and motivated us. We will always remember the statement by Hari Anna “It is important to complete and not compete”. There were several kiosks for drinking water and some juice and fruit stations at intervals along the trekking path, however, we chose not to eat or drink much to make the trek easy.

There were not many convenient toilet facilities but a few along the route. Around 07:00 am, we reached the top of the Sabarimala.






Doli - en route sabarimala

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dFI...ew?usp=sharing

[vittal]

14-Mar-2022 at Sabarimala

We later took the irumudi on our head and climbed the auspicious 18 steps with Sharana Gosham. The police officials helped us to climb the steep 18 steps with ease. As we reached the top, we were in a state of celestial bliss. We walked to the Sannidanam, where the Lord was seated in all his grandeur and majesty. The nei abhishekam was being performed when we reached the Sanctum sanctorum. We had a blissful darshan with total awe and tears of bhakti flowing down from our eyes. We went around the sannidanam and had darshan of Nagar devata and descended the steps after offering dakshina in the Hundis.

We were directed to ABASS (Akila Baratha Ayyappa Seva Sangam), where our group had settled the irumdi and got the ghee ready for abhishekam. We joined the group and rested a while. Our Guruswamy took all the maligaipurams to a special pooja darshan. We were allowed to stand in front of the lord for half an hour, witnessing the special pooja that culminated in Aarathi. The Lord’s beauty was shining in the light of the karpoora deepam and a long line of lamps lit on one side of the sanctum sanctorum was a darshan that will stay vivid in our mind forever.

We returned to the resting place at ABASS. some of the pilgrims took a rest and caught up on a little nap. We also had hot Pongal and sambar prasadam provided for all piligrims to Sabarrimala.

We later took the coconut provided to Maligaipurathu matha temple about 250 meters from the main temple. We rolled the coconut in pradakshinam of the temple and kept it aside. This ritual is supposed to symbolise “go daanam”.

We all got ready to descend. we clicked a few photographs with the 18 steps in the background. The temperature started to become hot as the day progressed. Many of the pilgrims purchased chappals for their descent. The descent was difficult as the steep gradient put more pressure on the knee and feet, causing small gravel to pierce the feet. Some of us felt the descent to be tougher. Frequent stops at water kiosks were refreshing, and also some gulps of medicated hot water (chukka vallam) was a relief.

We reached Pamba, and the sight of the plains was a great relief. We had cool tender coconut water at pamba and walked to the bus. Our aching feet were eagerly waiting for rest. It was noon by the time we boarded the Van. As soon as everyone boarded the bus, everyone was fast asleep unmindful of the hot weather or space constraints/ or pain. It was nearing lunchtime, 01.30 pm when we began to look for Vegetarian restaurants. It was very difficult for us to get a vegetarian restaurant en route. Everyone took out some homemade snacks and almost decided to skip lunch. It was nearly 03:00 pm when we just were lucky to pass by Annapoorna restaurant enroute to kumili. We had rice thali and some of us had chappathi kurma, dosa chutney etc. We also refilled some drinking water by purchasing packaged drinking water. After lunch, we stopped for a short while at the spice shop at kummily where some of the devotees bought spices and also hot nendram chips at the Malabar chips shop.

We entered Theni after Kummily into Tamilnadu state. Our drive was now continuous until dinner. We had dinner at Hotel Apoorva Vegetarian. We left after dinner around 09.30 pm reached Palani at 10:00 pm. We all checked into Pattaiah palace hotel very close to Palani Murugan temple. We all were thankful almighty for the safe arrival. We had very convenient ac rooms and hot water to soothe our aching feet. We had a good night’s sleep and were ready for the next day’s Pazhani Murugan Darshan.

[vittal]

15-March-2022

After a very good night’s sleep with a lot of gratitude, everyone woke up with renewed vigour and enthusiasm for the next day’s Darshan. We all were asked to report at the winch station at 06:30 am. some of us grabbed a cup of coffee and walked to the winch station. Others started their climb uphill a little later. Our Guruswamy’s contact had arranged for a VIP darshan. We were taken by the winch in a special queue without any waiting and reached the hilltop at 07:30 am and well coordinated. We all proceeded to the kalai pooja queue for the special pooja darshan. We were made to stand right in front of the Lord’s Sanctum Sanctorum. We witnessed the Abhishekam followed by Alankarama and Aarathi with Haro hara gosham from all devotees present. the Tirupugazh chanting was done by the temple representative while the Lord’s alankaram was in progress. The archanai was done with tamizh mantras.

It was a good half hour in front of the Lord, that one could not have even dreamt of. We all walked out of the temple with extreme gratitude to our Guruswamy Venkat who enabled this darshan for us.

All of us visited the Boghar SIddhar Jeeva samadhi and received prasadam. We later removed the mala by the temple priest at the Vinayakar Sannidhi at Pazhani. We all walked to the winch station and descended at 09:30 am. Enroute our Guruswamy purchased Pazhani panchamruta prasadam for all at the temple counter enroute.

We all had breakfast at Gowrishankar restaurant. We had Pongal vadai, idli etc. Outside the restaurant we found a seller selling Thengai Poo, that is coconut flower/ coconut embryo, it was rare to see this and hence bought one flower to see how it tasted and shared with all.

We walked back to Pattaih palace about a Km and repacked all our luggage for our onward journey back to Bengaluru. We boarded the Van at 10.45 am after breaking coconuts and a short pooja to offer our thanks to the almighty for the safe journey and blissful darshan. We also took some cuttings of the Karpooravalli plant and perandai creeper that was growing wild at a corner.

[vittal]

15-March-2022 from Tirupur to Bengaluru

We boarded the van and reached Tirupur in the afternoon. We seated ourselves on the platform waiting for Intercity express towards Bengaluru. Our cousin sister Seetha akkas brother Raja came to Tirupur railway station with lunch packed for us. He also was sweet to bring one T-shirt each for our male pilgrims as he had a textile business at Tirupur – Blueberri T-shirts. We munched on healthy cucumbers while waiting for the train that arrived ½ hour later than the scheduled time of departure.

We comfortably boarded the train and seated ourselves in the cool air-conditioned chair car compartment. The waiting time at the station gave all of us to know more about our families exchange information about each other. We opened our yummy lunch boxes which had tasty puliyogare, thayir chadam, vazhakka poriyal. We were also served a cup of chakkara Pongal specially made by Seetha akka’s Brother Raja’s wife as it was their daughter’s Birthday.

We had a sumptuous afternoon lunch and started to chat. We had a lot of entertainment from our witty Gani Chitthappa who kept us laughing through the journey with his amazing quick wits that came in surprises. Lots of old stories and anecdotes were shared by Balu Chitappa and Rema akka whose mimicry and narration skills kept the entire lot of us in Splits of laughter.

We all didn’t want to leave the group, but yes the trip was concluding. We reached Bengaluru with a feeling of being part of a large family and praying for everyone’s good health and happiness. The trip was enriching with each of us learning a lot from each other’s quality. An immense feeling of being blessed kept us grounded and we all left for our homes. The euphoria of the trip will keep us charged for longer than one can imagine.

Swamy Sharanam

[vittal]

Whether we were first-timers or had gone several times before, every one of us had unique experiences on this trip. In their own words, they describe their personal experiences below.


Mrs. Meenakshi
1st time
Guruswamy kindness and supervision,
When I was wearing the Irumudi given by the guruswamy, I prayed to have the darshan of the Ayyappa Swamy. I was so blessed that the guruswamy held my hand, showed the path so that I could have the darshan of the Lord Ayyappa with Ghee abhishekam and alangaram.
After descending from the Sabarimala and reaching the river Pamba, upon the request of our fellow devotees (Rema, Chithra, Malati, Jayalakshmi), due to hot sun, the forest officer took me to the parking area, identified our van and made sure that I have boarded the van safely. My thanks to the forest police officers who helped me in this hot sun by ensuring that I am safe and do not get lost.

All my fellow devotes took good care of me. At various instances, they would quench my thirst, offer snacks in the bus/train, support me at difficult places/terrain to climb and while descending and give preference in the queue for darshan.

I had such a feeling that God is asking me to come and that “Don’t be afraid, I am here to support you” and was blessed to have the darshan of God with full alankaram, abhishekam & dharshanam at the temples visited during this trip. The pilgrimage was an unforgettable and once in a lifetime experience.

[vittal]

VS Ganesh
Swamy saranam.

It was my trip may be the 20th time. Every trip is unique and felt like something new experience and this time with family praying together in front of every deity and Ayyappa the lord of our lord climbing 18 padi was like a dream of life coming true. words will never make justice in describing the experience.

The trip was organised so nicely taking every small detail to provide the utmost care and comfort.

The devotional songs by Vidya, Rema and pinpaatu by the group supporting gave the best of divine experience hearing provided a treat to our ears.
The food arrangements were too good suiting all our taste buds. Awesome is too small a word.

Arrangements for darshans especially at Guruvayoor and Sabarimala was possible only because of the influences of our guruswamy. Great respects to him for taking care of the complete trip taking and bringing us back after giving the highest devotional experiences of our life and nothing to be taken from Raj and Shanker for being so helpful in making the trip a big success.

A lovely devotional trip with like-minded devoted people giving us the best of darshans and amazing food taken care of to the minutest comforts, enjoying every moment of unity.

Thanks to each and everyone for bearing with us and also kudos to Kannu, Raj and all for making our trip memorable.
Kudos to all the first-timers for being so cooperative throughout the trip, especially for my wife Jaya, it was a dream of her life to visit Sabarimala. Love the man Shivakumar who provided music out of the vessel, when no drummers were available at Erimeli to lift up the tempo and moods of all our kanniswamies perfect with colours and crown with sword and holding gadhai. So beautiful.

Also very thankful to those who could not accompany us, but took part in arrangements in every way they could. Thanks a lot to Babu not only for making my trip painless physically but gave me a pack of pain killer tablets to distribute to those who might need it on the trip, which played a big role in taking care of our fitness.

In all these years we were never allowed to climb 18 padi on our own by the police, without pulling us during the 18 padi climb. This was the first time we were left on our own to climb.
Even AYYAPA had more time to give darshan this time, which has never happened in my past years.
In all a very satisfying trip inspite of all our physical hurdles.

And last but not least: kudos to Rema and Balu for keeping us entertained with their witty and useful info. In all, it was a great trip to be cherished for a lifetime.
My sincere namaskarams to our dear mami, Raja's mother to travel with us and keep blessing us with her mesmerising smile, boosting up our energy.

Yes “dil maange more”.
Loved every moment. Blessed to be part of this group.

[vittal]

Jaya
It was my dreamy 1st-time visit to Sabarimala in my life. The devotion at its best with everyone so friendly was boosting up my energy. My sincere thanks to our guru swami for providing this opportunity.

Nice to travel with such a devoted group and looking forward to many more such experiences during my lifetime. My namaskarams to your mother.
Can't ask anything more than praying in every temple with my husband on my side. In all, it was a great trip, full of devotional songs a treat to the mind, tasty treats of snacks and lunch, travelling with such wonderful people. My heart is full of thanks to kannu gurswamy for providing me with the devotional experiences of my dreams.



Rajakumar
Thank you everyone for making this pilgrimage a memorable and remarkable one by the blessings of LORD AIYYAPPA. Kanni Swamies maaligaipuram making it with a lot of devotion and determination. I am blessed to be associated with venkat guruswamy to join hands for this pilgrimage.
SARANAM AIYYAPPA

[vittal]

Balu Chitappa

Chinna Gani helped us to board the train at KR Puram, Bengaluru despite all odds and driving with cool composure and pretending to enjoy my stories and jokes as stress busters.
I am with you in expressing similar feelings. Kudos to unrelenting commitment and dedication besides unselfish efforts to make this a great trip. I enjoyed the company of all of you.
It is the 5th time for me. It was exclusive with less crowd around you. Climbing 18 steps without others rushing and pushing you. A delightful unhurried darshan of Ayyappa. Walking barefoot on sharp gravels with grit.
This trip was wholesome. Good darshan, great company, bhajans and lively and witty conversations in between, super tasty food, a nice driver. Kannu is the most committed guruswamy, keeping his interest last and putting everyone first.



Shiva Kumar
It is a divine experience, every moment is fine, the care towards senior citizens is great, we thank everyone involved in making the finest feel of divine pilgrimage, my personal thanks to guruswamy.

[vittal]

Hari

An excellent pilgrimage. With so many senior citizens that too for the first time and many with health issues I wonder how it was possible. The grace of God and the bhakti of the entire group made an impossible task possible. Kudos to our Guruswamy and Rajkumar Swamy who believed it was possible and took all efforts to make this pilgrimage a wonderful experience till the end (starting from Guruvayur Sannidanam and Palani) using all the contacts. Kudos to all our Maligapurams for the devotion and enthusiasm to make this happen.

The services of Babu Sashi Manju Ramani and others who helped us to board the train at the last minute. The effort was taken by Murugan who arranged our breakfast lunch and dinner. Our group members had brought a lot of tasty snacks which were very useful. The services of Divya and her relatives at Guruvayur Mr Sibi Nair and Anil at Sabarimala helped us to have a wonderful darshan. Mr Ravindran at Palani helped us to have a wonderful darshan inspite of the huge rush. A big thanks to Raja who provided us with a great lunch with a special mention of the sweet Pongal.

Last but not the least, a big thanks to our normal group members who could not travel with us for their help in the conduct of the pooja and during Kattu nerai.

An excellent pilgrimage.

A big thanks to all!