"I think that travel comes from some deep urge to see the world, like the urge that brings up a worm in an Irish bog to see the moon when it is full. ~Lord Dunsany"
i wish i had this little urge long back in life... in my humble opinion, travelling doesn't necessarily mean going overseas, its just a part off! travelling within your own land, travelling to see the diversities of your own culture is the first step to get rational. i started visiting new places in early 2006 and i wish i only follow 'Moore's law of travel' in years to come....
one of my friends started visiting 108 divya desams of shri maha vishnu and i too joined him... Thiruvalloor, a small village in the suburbs of chennai holds the Azhagiya Singar perumal koil.... we had all modes of travel... went by bike till central station, took up a suburban train till thiruvalloor station and took the local bus to the temple.... and walked a few minutes before we could find this temple.... a perfect travel, shall i say.... to meet the perfect deity....
lots of weekend plans involved a visit to the thiruvallikeni Parthasarathy koil, which is one of the two divya desams inside chennai, the other one being thiruneermalai. while i write this, i am reminded by the eternal, that thiruneermalai is still in the 'to do' list. Parthasarathy temple is unique atleast to me for one reason, the lord sports a moustache which is not a common sight...
one another travel memorable was the travel to srivilliputur....three of us planned the trip for a weekend.... srivilliputur is the birth place of Andal, one of the twelve aazhwars who sung the glory of the Lord. the main deity is vadapatra saayi perumal with Andal (kotha naachiyar) as his consort.... adjacent to the main temple is the birth place of Andal which holds the Andal sannadi... a terrific place with serene atmosphere, no wonder why it is a divya desam. we also visited a place called thiruvannamalai, some 15 minutes of back breaking auto travel from srivilliputur... interestingly, the deity is perumal here, juxtaposing the name of the place.... this is one of the oldest temples with over 100 steep steps on a rocky hill.... if you wish to see tranquillity, this is one of the place you ought tobe. enroute back home, we also visited the thiruparankunram temple near madurai. murugan, being my kula deiva and ishta deiva, i seldom miss an opportunity! there can be no better end to that day, a travel to Meenakshi Sundaresar temple in madurai on a 'pradosham' day....
a smaller trip to Sthala sayana perumal temple with Nilamangai thayar as his consort, in thirukadalmalai, now mahabalipuram, in my bike on my friend's birthday! initially we could not locate this temple, but as i always believed that a trip to see the Lord can never fail, we were escorted to the temple by lots of well wishers way by. we had the privilage of visiting Nithya kalyana perumal temple in thiruvidanthai too on our way back home. trip to sriperumbudur, kancheepuram, thiruneermalai and lot others is on the cards and i am definitely sure 2007 opens avenues for that.
one another 'picnic' sort of travel is the one to hyderabad... one of our friends got settled there and we took that opportunity to see the place... we travelled in and around hyderabad, secundarabad, golkunda fort.... a trip for a couple of days, worth for every penny spent.
different language, different people, different time zone, different life! yes, i have been to both the forward time zone, china and to the delayed time zone, dubai! two contrasting cultures indeed.... suzhou is a perfect blend of rural and urban culture.... beautiful river cruises, terrific gardens with chinese architechtures, oh, and the sufferings with verbal communications.... even people who knew english, did not know what vegetarian means! how pity!!! had to survive on biscuits, juices... what else should you sacrifice for a terrific trip!!! beijing, definitely is 50 years ahead of chennai... 'the great wall' should have felt proud on me visiting it, sadly all alone....clicking couple of photographs of the two greats together :-)dubai, on the other hand, is truly cosmopolitan! with mostly indians and pakistanis, so it was like being in home....
A perfect way to bid farewell to 2006 was a visit to 'God's own country' with my extended family members... we were 14 of us, 4 of them above 55 yrs, 5 of them below 12 yrs! starting with a darshan of guruvayoorappan quite early in the morning.... we also visited athirampally falls enroute to kaladi...'the holiest place on earth'... got so touched to stay the night in kaladi, where our guru, shri Adi Shankaracharya was born... visited the 'janmabhoomi' kshetra first thing in the morning! our visit also included places like chotanikara where the presiding deity is Bhagawati Amman and then we moved on to ettumanur, a sivan koil where unfortunately the deity was perhaps not interested in giving us a 'darshan'... our next visit to kerala would definitely have ettumanur, vaikkam as the priority places to visit.... a darshan to the Anathapadmanaba swamy temple, trivandrum on the vaikunda ekadesi day should have given my family members so much of 'punyam', sadly not for me though! i had to sit out taking care of all the baggages! hmm.... i belive, sacrifice gives more happiness and is akin to moksha!
"A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving. ~Lao Tzu"
At the dawn of 2007, i wished myself a good travelling year... definitely not intented on arriving!
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3 comments:
travelling is always a pleasure to me also as my friend....because i have been with him on his earlier travels in the years between 1999-2004....the only difference is at that times...it was not disciplined and focussed.....like the way he did in 2006...also one more point wat i liked in his blog.....and also many of todays generation doesnt realise...the importance of our country's heritage/tradition which is reflected in various places........in that way....i think he wud also accept that i am bit more lucky than him in view that........i have been to almost all parts of india in the past 8 yrs and seen many beautiful places and had some great experiences....from the hills of mussouri,shimla and fort of jaipur/agra in NORTH to the valley of nashik/hills in gujarat and mumbai in WEST with some great bushes in kalakadu near tirunelveli and a bit of kanyakumari in SOUTH having a taste of every metro of this country....and trying to explore EAST with a eye on darjeeling/sikkim.
Hey, do you remember the memorable trip on 1st and 2nd of June 2006... within a span of two days, we visited our college, swamimalai, thanjavur peiya kovil, viralimalai, srirangam, gunaseelam and vayaloor??? oh, that trip was awesome and somehow i missed it in my blog....
yes...u have missed that trip which in turn points that u didnt think of me while writing the original blog...left is left...i wud suggest u write one more blog where there are details about travels involving only we two..but i think for this u need to sharpen ur memory.....atleast i wud expect u to mention the major dates and places visited by us........after all details...also something abt me da....i wud luv to read that blog....
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