My Travels

My Travels: Ratha Saptami 2012 - snow and patches of ice

2012-01-29T05:58:00.000-08:00

My Travels: Ratha Saptami 2012 - snow and patches of ice

Ratha Saptami 2012 - snow and patches of ice

2012-01-29T05:25:00.000-08:00

In front of our house - He is all ready for Ratha Saptami (రథ సప్తమి) - very prompt !!!!. May He protect our Mother Earth and us all.
I don't have to make any travel arrangements for this one !!! He appears whether I ask or not !!! Let us pray to Him !!!!

USA visa website link

2011-12-01T09:17:00.001-08:00

If you are considering a Tourist Visa to legally visit USA, here is the link that provides lot of information.

But I think this applies only to those from India. The other countries could be different. Some countries don't even need a formal Visa.

http://usavisitorvisa.com/usa-visa.htm

Fellow bloggers and travellers

2011-11-18T06:24:00.000-08:00

I can't believe that I haven't posted any since a month. Time flies. Well, the truth is currently I have nothing to post in this blog. Perhaps I should visit my other blog which contains my North American visits and remember some of my travels in the USA and Canada, before 2006 and post them.

We are still one year away from our next visit to India for the Maha Kumbh mela. My request in the meantime is - if any of my readers have any advice on the Kumbh mela yatra, please be generous with your comments and advice for us.

Haridwar, Rishikesh and Badrinath - 1st time it was in 2006

2011-10-14T04:18:00.001-07:00

Please see my post of August 7th, 2011 for the photos of Haridwar visit.

The main reason we included Badrinath was to visit Joshi Matt, which our travel agency did not include in 2006. Since it was one of the Shankar Peethams, Rao and Nirmala wanted to add to the number of Shankara peethams we visited. Second (my) reason is that we were in the vicinity anyway and for Bhuvana and Uma, this was their first time to this area and they were thrilled. Once we approached the TTD Devasthanams in Rishikesh, we found out that due to bad weather and land slides, the road to Badrinath was closed. Nirmala got us accommodation at the TTD facility. One room for all the four of us. Only two beds and a sofa were in the room. Uma opted to sleep in the varanda on the floor. His needs are always minimal. We had meals at Andhra Bhavan and prior to that we had darsans of Balaji and Chandramowli, both Temples are on the same street. No Temple bells this time. Remember in 2006, I woke up with the ringing of Temple bells at Balaji of TTD?

We decided to go to the Lakshman Jhoola early in the morning to take a dip in the Ganga waters.
Collected Ganga waters for our friends and family and the next day was to take a dip in Ganga in Haridwar, View the haarati there, visit Chandi Devi, Anjana Devi and Maansa Devi Temples. All this I briefly mentioned in my August posts. Photos of Maansa devi from another site.

Yatra special ----" English speeched " - enjoy!!!!

2011-10-14T03:54:00.000-07:00

I can't believe that I found some in Andhra Pradesh. Anyway, here they are !!!

Coffee rates : One set (4)
Full set (6)
Half set (2)
Can you decode this? I could not.

Plane Dosa, plane omlette, plane parantha (?)

Conflake
With milk or sugar (what did they really mean by this question?)

Idle (very phonetic??)

Jam to a butter tost.
The following two, I found in Nellore (boohoo my birth place):

State Bank of India office: Relation Ship Manager

BSNL Telephone company: Prise (????) for FCT 1450 (rupees???)

The finale at Srinagar.

2011-10-03T18:00:00.000-07:00

I settled the account with Noor that night itself. We wanted to leave early in the morning to arrive at Jammu before 4 p.m. I tipped the cook 200 rupees. He wasn't looking for any - a gentleman. since we were delayed by an extra day, I thought Noor might ask us to pay for the accommodation. But he waived those charges and asked the driver to take us to Surya excellency Hotel in Jammu. The rooms were 1800 rupees per room for two and breakfast and dinner were included. For the third bed in one room we had to pay extra and pay for the meals also. After lot of negotiation the next morning, they gave me some discount.
The meals were alright.

I came to know that in Srinagar, no Hindu style worship was allowed in the Temples. We visited only one which was not even functional. Once upon a time. it must have been glorious. Two soldiers were guarding it and one of them gave us a tour of the ruins. The driver told us that it was the Saraswathi Temple we were looking for. But it turned out to be a Shiva Temple. We visited several Temples in Jammu. The most fascinating one for me was Raghunath Temple. It is like visiting many Temples in one compound. I can't even describe how many were represented there. It was just wonderful.

We vacated the room by noon, visit other small temples and went to the railway station for our onward journey to Rishikesh. We thanked Suresh profusely, gave him a huge tip and continued the journey happily ever after!!!

Our return and the helicopter and the corruption

2011-10-03T17:45:00.000-07:00

It was extremely cold in the tent. Uma and Bhuvana were in a better location within the tent. Rao was close to the entrance Nirmala's bed was close to a window, which I noticed in the morning was open all night. She was given two comforters to cover herself and she wore the heavy sweater I took from the USA. But we all caught cold and were coughing and sneezing. We woke up in the morning, washd our mouth and face, had hot cup of spicy tea prepared by the cook. When it was time to vacate and finalize the bill, we were told that we had to pay for ten people since only five of us occupied the tent. No one else came to sleep there. But we had to argue a lot to convince the renter that it was not our fault. After we paid him what was really due, Uma wanted me to pay them a few hundred rupees extra as tip. I just could not understand his logic. After lot of discussion, I paid them and then I noticed that Uma paid him 100 rupees more. When questioned, he said that they did him favors by giving him a long woolen coat to cover etc.
Anyway, we all walked to the Helipad by 6 a.m. I stood in line for the boarding pass. Bhuvana volunteered to keep all those waiting for the same in one line. Some of us had tickets, but no boarding pass. We assumed that we would be cleared first. But, the wait was never ending. We waited for 5 hours and the line did not move. Then Bhuvana found out that they were selling new tickets on the other side of the booth and giving them boarding passes. She and another young man started fighting with the govt. employees who were doing this. Finally we were given a number and were asked to return after lunch. The corruption there is unimaginable!! After a small healthy lunch which was free at the only dhaba there, we went back to the booth. It did not open at the specific time. More yelling, more arguing was going on. Bhuvana separated the people into two line. Those who have the tickets, those who want to purchase the tickets. She made sure that the officers did not sell new tickets until we were all given the passes. She was working on everyone's behalf there. So, they all respected her.
Finally, the helicopters were running and we went closer to the boarding area waiting to be called. Again, more corruption. A police officer by passed us and let a group of five board the helicopter. They were all talking in Tamil and looks like they were his friends. Mind you, this kind of treatment is very common in India. I see Nirmala having this special treatment in Tirumalai when we go for Balaji's darsan. But here, she also minded the discrimination!!!

Finally, we boarded the helicopter at 3:30 p.m. Only Uma had a working phone. I don't know whether I mentioned before - in Jammu-Kashmir area, only postpaid phones worked. Not prepaid ones. BSNL clained there service is good there. Bit they never said that you have to have a post paid account. Uma contacted our driver Suresh immediately after landing and the wonderful Suresh met us promptly on the main road and we left a sigh of relief after all that ordeal.

All of us decided to finish dinner and then go to the boat house. Rao, Nirmala and Uma wanted a South Indian meal. We went to a place called Nathu's. They ordered Dosa which Rao said tasted awful and he could take only a couple of bite. I had Chinese fried rice and it was wonderful. Overall, we wasted money and food there. By the way, it was like a fast food, self serve type. But the tables and chairs were outside and so it was fun. We had Jelebi for dessert and it was yummy !!

Amarnath Yatra continued

2011-09-30T17:39:00.000-07:00

Now that the darsan is over, we got on the pallaki and the carrier asked me how happy I am and how much I am pleased with them. I told them that it was very good and their service was good. Coming down hill wasn't easy. I was nervous because the ground was wet and the crowd was increasing. Everyone going up was focusing on returning before dark. They were given priority on the path. At one point, one of my carriers asked me whether I would be able to walk a short distance since the road is mushy and slippery, the four of them cannot balance easily. I enquired about Nirmala's pallaki and they said she is ok and is a bit ahead of us. I agreed to walk. The path was very slippery, narrow and scary. I was holding on to the bushes and rocks and at one point the walk was on a steep hill. I did not expect that. They were holding my arm trying to support and protect me from falling. I completely ruined my Saree and my new shoes that Gayatri bought for me. It was like a stress test for me. I thought that I would collapse. But I made it and here I am writing my posts. Later on I found out that the other party took turns and carried Nirmala on their back for that distance. He was frank. He said that since I am much heavier than her, they requested me to walk. Well, that is the truth.

When we reached the Dhaba area, where we were supposed to meet the rest of our party, we were let out of the pallaki. They asked for the tip. I gave them a very generous one and Nirmala also agreed to the amount. They were extremely pleased.

Now we looked every where for Umamaheswaran and there was no trace of him. Rao and Bhuvana were trekking, so, they would be delayed anyway. We reached around 3 p.m. They announced that the Helicopter service was cancelled due to bad weather. Now, we are supposed to find tent accommodation. We did not even bring a towel or tooth paste with us. Nirmala and I decided to wait for the others before deciding on the tent. Nirmala was weak and tired and so, I was going all over like a little girl looking for the others and talking to the security staff and so on. We were getting hungry too. We waited till 7 p.m. and then saw at a distance Rao and Bhuvana. Per Nirmala's advice I got out of the 'food line' and approached them. They said that they decided to take the pallaki for their return trip since it was getting dark and they were told that sometimes, they stop the devotees where ever they are and they may have to sleep in the cold. Bhuvana said that her brother came down at 3:15 p.m., rented a tent for all of us and he had been waiting for us there. (How would we know????).

Uma's pallaki carriers also helped him a lot. They carried him almost to the tent. But, he told them that he would pay them only after the rest of us arrive. When it came to paying, he did not want to tip. I felt bad because they had to come all the way to the tent to collect the money. till today I don't know Uma's reason for not waning to pay that money.

Anyway, all of us walked to that tent which looked like it was in a distant town. The rest rooms were a long walk too. If you need water for your use, you have to pay. Well, we were glad that at least there were rest rooms and water. It was about 40 degrees and so, very cold. Nirmala was using all the warm clothes and so, I had to shiver a bit and cover myself with the comforters provided in the tent for the night. Roti and daal were served by the cook in the next tent. Uma was very pleased with the arrangements he made for all of us.

Will continue the saga in the next post.

Kumbh Mela 2013

2011-09-16T05:16:00.001-07:00

I just came across this website. Very detailed and informative.

Here is the link:

http://kumbhmela.net/

Cut and paste if necessary.

Finally in Amrnath - a continuation of Aug 11 post

2011-08-20T07:49:00.000-07:00

Now it is real. Within a few minutes, we landed and as soon as we walked a few yards, we were surrounded by the Doley carriers. They were a team of four. Noor warned us that depending upon the demand, they may ask up to 10,000 rupees for the return trip. Rao and Bhuvana decided to trek the 5 to 6 kilometers. The rest of us decided to go on a doley (pallaki). The first one asked for 3500 rupees. I felt it was quite reasonable - four of them have to share that money. Bhuvana was ready with her bargaining skills. I suggested that she can discuss other things, but not money reduction with them. So, she strictly told them that they will be paid only after our safe return, not a paisa before. They happily agreed. I don't know about the other two, but my carriers started praising me, calling me 'mother' immediately. I knew that they were mentally preparing me to give them a big tip at the end of the journey. That was another thing I noticed in India. The ride was good. The traffic was diversified - pallakis, trekkers, horse back riders. The military soldiers were controlling the traffic very efficiently. There were continuously crying children, fighting and arguing families and some happy faces throughout the journey. The carriers asked for some hard candy to suck on. I did not have any. They wanted tea and biscuits on the way. Tea was 30 rupees per cup. Tea and biscuits at another point was 120 rupees. Mind you, no restrooms anywhere. But, feel free to discharge anywhere you like. Absolutely no sanitation awareness.

I was able to see Rao and Bhuvana here and there for a while. Then, we were separated. Nirmala's pallaki was close to mine. But no sign of Umamaheswaran's.

We reached the last few steps to the Holy Lingam. One of them helped me all the way to the front of the lingam by holding my arm and shoulder. Some took off the shoes - I did not. The lingam was about 10 feet in height. We were able to stand and have good darsan for a few minutes, in spite of the pushing crowd. The priests gave me two coins as prasadam. Another blessed me by applying sindhoor on my forehead. By the way, as soon as we arrived there, I saw the flying dove. I wonder what the significance of that is!!!
Both Nirmala and myself were quite satisfied with our darsan and our helpers, who kept reminding me that they are like my children. Now, we came down the few steps and got onto the pallaki for the downward journey.
I took atlest 10 photos of the Ice Lingam from the place where we parked the doley. Surprisingly, not a single photo showed up in the Camera. All the other photos are there. Any explanation? The battery is intact!!!

About acclimatization and visit to the Kheer Bahavani Temple

2011-08-11T13:22:00.000-07:00

My posts are going hither and thither, not in sequence!!!

To get used to the changing altitudes, the trip to Amarnath was arranged in such a way that each night we are at a higher altitude. July 5th Srinagar, 6th to Sonamarg and 7th at Amarnath. We did not use any medicines to get adjusted to.

We arrived Srinagar on July 5th night. We stayed that night in the boathouse. The next morning, after breakfast, we decided to go to the Kheer Bhavani Temple. It was the second time for Rao, myself and Nirmala. For Bhuvana and Uma M the first time. We all enjoyed the darsan. Please go back to my post dated to see the details and picture of the temple. I just copied and pasted that post below, but no pictures.

We sponsored Aarathi this time, the water was white like milk this time in the sacred spring attached to the Temple. We had kheer as prasad, washed the container with soap and water and returned it to them.

The rest rooms are extrmely clean here, no money is charged. The medical volunteers come, set up a booth and the service is free, irrespective of who you are. Of course, it is only minimal check up and minimal medicine that is provided.

When I was coming out of the Temple, I met a gleaming Andhra lady who told me that they have just returned from Amarnath darsan and the Lingam was huge and beautiful. I told myself that we just have to wait another day to gleam about our darsan.

The following is a copy and paste from my post of 2010.

The Kheer Bhavani temple is situated at Tullamula in the Srinagar district. The Kheer Bhavani temple is devoted to Ragnya Devi, a Hindu Goddess. Representing the goddess is a sacred hexagonal spring at Tullamula village, which houses a small marble temple. The legend goes that Lord Rama worshipped Ragnya Devi during his exile. After the exile period got over, Rama asked Lord Hanuman to shift the seat of the goddess.
It was the wish of Mother Ragnya that her seat be place at Kheer Bhavani Mandir in Kashmir. And this wish was conveyed in a dream to a pandit, Raghunath Gadroo. The temple of Ragnya Devi is called "Kheer Bhawani" because numerous devotees offer milk and kheer to the sacred spring. It is believed that milk and kheer turn to black color to warn of any impending disaster. We were told that the spring water changes color frequently. Maharaja Pratap Singh got the temple constructed in 1912. Later, Maharaja Hari Singh undertook restoration work on the temple.

The eighth day of the full moon in May( Jeshta ashtami - wow, my birthday) holds great significance for the devotees of Ragnya Devi. They fast on this day and gather at the temple in huge numbers. It is believed that on this day, the goddess changes the color of the spring's waters. The Kheer Bhavani temple serves as the venue for an annual festival held in May-June, on the occasion of Jeshta Ashtami. During this festival, a large number of Hindus visit the temple to seek blessings of the goddess. Another occasion on which the Kheer Bhavani temple gains special importance is Shukla Paksha Ashtami. On this day, havans/yagnas are performed to please the goddess.

We did not go to Shankara Temple which is a long drive locally and on top of a hill. Last year we three climbed all the steps and made to the blissful darsan. Again, please go back to that post to read it.

Sonamarg to Baltal and on to the Helicopter

2011-08-11T12:30:00.000-07:00

Sonamarg is about 90 km NE of Srinagar and is a very popular place. They used to 'shoot' many Hindi movies here. I don't know whether it is still a practice!!!

The drive is a spectacular sight in Kashmir, in Sindh Valley. The Sindh Valley is upwards and is of sixty miles long and deep rock-girt gorge to open grassy meadow land. You have to see it to believe it.

Sonamarg ' meadow of gold ' has its backdrop snowy mountains against a cerulean sky. the Sindh river flows along here. Ponies can be hired for the trip up to Thajiwas glacier a major attraction during the summer months. I think this is what Rao, Uma and Bhuvana tried to see and since Uma was not up to it after a Km walk, they returned. I have some photos of them in one of the previous posts.

A breathtaking view of Himalayas from Sonamarg valley

The climate of Sonamarg is very pleasant, but the rainfall is frequent though not heavy. Shangloo arranged our night stay in Snowland Hotel. As usual, the arrangement should have been two beds in each room with extra mattress for the third. But due to over booking by the management, we got one double bed and one mattress on the floor (which Rao obliged to occupy).

About the bathroom here - any water that we put in the wash basin came out on to the floor. After one person used, the hot water was not available (they said once opened the hot water tap, it should run continuously, otherwise it will stop). To add to this, due to the power cut, we had to wait till the power came back for the other two to shower. The management was extremely polite. They follow the rule of "'you don't have to oblige, just speak obligingly" !!!

They had food available in their own cafe. The hotel charges included breakfast and dinner. So, we had one meal there and the other in a neighborhood vegetarian restaurant. They promised to pack our breakfast. A sandwich and a piece of chocolate cake. Because of the egg in the cake, we requested two sandwiches for each one of us (but later on, when we opened our bags, there was one very tasty chutney and vegetables sandwich and the cake).

We woke up at 3 a.m. and were ready by 4 a.m. Baltal was only 15 Kms., but we weren't sure how the traffic would be and our Helicopter boarding time was 7 a.m. The breakfast was well packed and even though we paid for the hotel till noon, we had to vacate it. They offered to hold our luggage in the hallway, but we decided to keep it under Suresh's guard in the car. Suresh parked the car at a distance in a lot and walked us to the Pad. We reached the Helipad by 6:30 a.m.

Here, there are many military, security men and women who appeared very busy. But no one was able to give correct information regarding where to form a line when we hold the boarding pass etc. Finally our turn came to go through the gates to the Helicopter parked area. I decided to stand in the front in the waiting line. at that gate. By then, I learned how to manipulate the 'push and shove' of Indian queues. Just before they called our numbers, they weighed each person in order to distribute the weight in each Helicopter. Rao went in a different copter. With 5 in each, one lady was added to us four. Additional person was in the front seat next to the driver. I thought that I would be afraid of heights. It wasn't so - I enjoyed the ride. The peaks were beautiful (yet at that point, it was nothing like the Rocky mountains of Colorado of my Karma Bhoomi.
Caution: They gave us boarding pass only to Amarnath, for the return, we would get at Amarnath helipad. Sounded very easy - but wait till another post for that story.

Srinagar to Sonamarg to Baltal to Helipad and to Amarnath

2011-08-10T12:41:00.000-07:00

Our Train (Uttar S Kranti) from Delhi arrived in Jammu around 6:30 a.m. As we waited to contact the driver over the phone, Rao went around exploring the station and by the time he returned, it was 7:15 a.m. We easily identified Suresh, the driver outside the station. He helped us load the luggage also in the car. It was like a small SUV. I forget the names of Indian cars. It was quite spacious and comfortable. Like I wrote before, due to the traffic and road conditions, we reached our destination around 8:30 p.m. Very tiring and not much to eat, we were exhausted. We were thankful that Bhuvana's aunts packed us some fresh food and so we survived on the train.

Our room # was 32. Two double beds. Bhuvana and her brother got two bed room also. After showering etc. met with Noorji and the cook prepared roti and dahl, salad etc.

We slept well thinking about our next day drive to Sonamarg on the way to Baltal.

Haridwar - Ganga, Chandi and Maansa Devi Temples

2011-08-07T17:23:00.000-07:00

We bathed at Lakshman Jhoola in Haridwar. The evening Aarathi (offering of the lights) was beautiful. I will write details in the future post.

https://picasaweb.google.com/pyadavalli/Haridwar?authuser=0&feat=directlink

Temples around Jammu

2011-08-07T17:10:00.000-07:00

More photos of Jammu Temple, Jammu Railway station, Raghunath Temple, Mahamaya Temple.

With a photographer like Bhuvana, we were blessed with wonderful photos.

Also, the link again:

https://picasaweb.google.com/pyadavalli/JammuTemples?authuser=0&feat=directlink

Before the yatra - Chennai beach and Delhi

2011-08-07T06:53:00.000-07:00

Now that I have mastered the loading of photos, I am providing a slide show as well as a link.

We went to Marina beach in Chennai before our Yatra. You can see Priya, Gayatri's mother-in-law and Sridhar, the great brother-in-law. The other set of pictures are from our Delhi tour - Qutb minar and India gate etc.

Again, copy and paste and 'taste' the link if you want.

https://picasaweb.google.com/pyadavalli/ChennaiBeachAndDelhi?authuser=0&feat=directlink

About Shangloo Travels and arrival from Jammu

2011-08-06T04:34:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine in Philadelphia area gave me a contact name of her friend Mohammed Deen in Leh, Kashmir. Last year we could not contact him during our failed darsan to Amarnath. This year we decided to go through a local travel agency in Srinagar itself. I researched a lot and communicated with other bloggers on line. Finally, The same person recommended this Shangloo travels. The next thing we know is that Mr. Noor M Shangloo, who is the director of operations is communicating with us. We paid the money as soon as we decided who are all going with us. The usual three of us, Bhuvana and her older brother, Umamaheswaran.
Shangloo delivered more than we expected. House boat rooms were beautiful and comfortable - meals were so so.

Our package included picking us up at Jammu on the 5th at the train station, taxi at our disposal during our stay of three days, Helicopter return fare, accommodation for 2 nights at boat house or hotel (our choice) and drop off at Jammu station on the 9th. We agreed to pay 17000 rupees each. Our Taxi contact was Lalit. His mobile # was e-mailed to us. When we contacted him from the train, he gave us the driver's name and number. We promptly located each other and met with him around 7:30 a.m. on July 5th. The driver Suresh is seen in one of the photos. Very satvic wonderful guy. It took us 12 hours to reach Srinagar due to heavy traffic, slopes and wet weather. Actually, there was a scare of the roads being closed from Jammu to Srinagar when we were about to leave Delhi. By God's grace, the roads were opened for our arrival.

The distance between Srinagar and

Amarnath: 143-km
Jammu Tawi: 293-km
Delhi: 900-km
Sonamarg: 87-km
Pahalgam: 86-km
Leh: 434-km
Yushmarg: 47-km
Aharbal: 51-km
Gulmarg: 56-km
Katra: 285-km

By the way, in case you go to these regions, make sure you have a postpaid mobile phone and that too only BSNL seem to work. The prepaid ones don't work there. Umamaheswaran got one and all of us used it when needed, especially to communicate with our agency and families.

This and that - venting

2011-08-06T04:31:00.000-07:00

See my post dated June 4, 2011. I included a link to the Indian Railway system and coding.
Most of our reservations were made by Bhuvana's family. Very efficiently done - but they were all either WL (wait listed) or RAC (Reservation Against Cancelation). Some how with some extra fees for changing, canceling and multiple bookings etc., we managed to travel comfortably. Indecision bothered me the most. Not knowing what is going to happen next was the key to my frustration. When we had extra time between trains in Delhi, we decided to take a city tour in a taxi. We saw very little (Kutub Minar, my last preference) and he charged 3000 rupees for picking up and drop off at the station and giving a car tour of a small portion of Delhi roads. We boarded the train to Jammu by night fall.

I would like to dedicate a special post for my Travel agency, who made excellent arrangements for us.

Moghul gardens, Srinagar

2011-08-06T04:18:00.000-07:00

I would like to start off with these photos. See another 4 posts with photos or links to photos.

Dal lake and Moghul gardens.

Link to photos

2011-08-06T03:47:00.001-07:00

https://picasaweb.google.com/pyadavalli/KashmirAndMore?authuser=0&feat=directlink

Please copy and paste the above link into your browser.

More photos of Kashmir and Amarnath

2011-08-06T03:21:00.000-07:00

I just learned to do this today. My previous post is the fist attempt. Any advice is welcome to improve the look of the post. Most of the photos are from Bhuvana's camera. My camera 'swallowed the actual Ice Lingam photos. No idea how it happened. I took so many - booohooo.

Do you need to sign in to see this slide show??? I created a link in another post.

Some photos of the yatra - not in any date order

2011-08-06T01:09:00.001-07:00

Darsan continued....................

2011-08-05T12:46:00.000-07:00

Once we entered the Temple, Nirmala managed to bypass a portion of the crowd for us. She greeted someone she knew and he arranged for us to stand in front of the beautiful Venkateswara form for quite a few minutes. Usually, it is a few seconds and if you are lucky, you are allowed to stay for 2 minutes before the volunteer security pushes you out. I was lost in time and enjoyed the bliss!!! The shrine was charged with energy. Rao and I slowly came out and waited for Nirmala. We reached the Hundi (where we make our material offeringsI and offered money. Another friend from Chennai gave us some money to be deposited on behalf of his grand daughter five year old Akshara who lives in Cleveland area.

On Wednesday I went to my native town Nellore to visit my sister. She lived on the 4th floor and the elevator was out of order as usual. I had to carry my two small pieces of luggage by myself. Surprisingly, I had no difficulty, no gasping for breath. I spent a night there and returned to Tirupati on Thursday. It is a 3 hour trip each way by a fast bus.

The same evening, we went to Tiruchanur to have the darsan of Padmavathy. While we were standing in line holding the ticket for the kumkum pooja sponsorship, there was another couple in front of us who had sponsored a bigger pooja and while the priest was paying a lot of attention to them, he thought that we were in their group and mistakenly made us sit in the front along with them. We had wonderful time and did not realize that it was an error until suddenly he ignored us, did not give us kumkum or prasadam and was profusely thanking the other couple. What ever the mistake, we had wonderful time and we left with happiness.

Now that Nirmala showed up with mild infections, we went to visit the doctors etc. on Friday and with whatever time was left, finished our packing. The next day w left to Chennai railway station. Waited for about two hours for Bhuvana and her brother Uma to arrive )they are local Chennai). They made all the train reservations for us and held the e-tickets. We had to wait for the railway official to show up and allocate our seats/beds etc. This happened only after 6 p.m. Bhuvana brought plenty of delicious home made food for all of us to eat on the train. We also took some and the food was abundance. The company was good and we sang bhajans, recited Hanuman Chaleesa and had blissful time. By the time we reached Delhi, we could not finish all perishable food and had through it away. I felt very sad for that. The taxi arranged by Bhuvana's uncle was waiting for us at the station, the train was amazingly on time and we spent the day at her Uncles' place. They are twin uncles with wonderful wives. We decided to hire a taxi and go around part od Delhi before our night train time.

Darsan of Balaji.

2011-08-05T08:11:00.000-07:00

Nirmala advised that Tuesdays are usually less crowded and we could join the senior citizen line for darsan. I was happy because we don't have to bypass the crowd and everything is legal. Looking at me, they did not even check the p-roof of our age. Rao and I sincerely carried our Passport/Visa books. Nirmala had her usual Devasthanam badge!!

We took an Auto-rickshaw to the bus stand. Nirmala went to the counter and bought the return tickets.
Got comfortable seats and a beautiful ride. It was hot, but, did not matter. The vegetation is enormous. Reached the senior citizen line by 9:30 a.m. In spite of security and volunteer scouts supervising the crowd, many young men and women climbed over the fence and joined the line in a very disorderly manner. They appeared to be educated young men and women - just the Indian way of life, I guess.

At and from Chennai airport - a preface

2011-08-05T08:00:00.000-07:00

The flight from Brussels arrived on time. Customs and Immigration was a 'breeze'. The employees were extremely polite (unlike at Bombay airport). When asked, the security at the exit door directed us to the Taxi counters. There were three booths. the first one said it costs 450 rupees. Just checked the second one - they wanted 350 rupees for the same size and type of taxi and same destination. Naturally, we picked the second. One man helped load the trunk with our suitcases. Did not wait for a tip - but we paid him anyway.

Reached Nandanam (Gayatri's in-law's location) very early in the morning. Were greeted by happy faces of the family.

We enjoyed our stay with them for more than three days. Visited three Temples that I mentioned in my previous post. Spent a lot of time at the Marina beach. Will post those photos soon.
Informed Nirmala about our arrival. Mohan had our tickets ready for Tirupati by the train named Saptagiri. It was a Sunday and the Tirupati platform was literally packed with people. All were standing shoulder to shoulder - I never saw such a crowd on a train platform, even in India!!!

Reached Nirmala's abode, had dinner and rested well. This was Sunday. Planned to visit Tirumalai on Tuesday. More next.

Astronomy, Astrology and just to keep the blog alive

2011-08-02T01:53:00.000-07:00

The following link is very interesting and informative for those that like to explore The many calendars.

I love it, even though it is a lot of reading.
I still haven't gotten the mood to write about my 2011 yatra. Will do it soon. In the meantime, this link should keep you all busy!!!

http://www.greatdreams.com/2012.htm

Positive beginning - Jai Amarnath

2011-07-01T18:54:00.000-07:00

American Airlines was excellent this time. Jet Airways was so-so. Had wonderful time with Priya and family. We visited Hanuman, Rajarajeswari and Shiridi Sai Temples those 3 days. Also, went to the beach. Received by Nirmala in Tirupati as usual. Happy to see each other again. Visited my two sisters and really great rapport. Made a few phone calls and sent mail to some - those that communicated with me.
Today, the yatra begins. We are leaving by train from Chennai to Delhi. Meeting Bhuvana and her brother on the train. Very excited about Bhuvana's company. We reach Jammu on July 5th morning. From then, may not check mail till the 15th. Our helicopter tour is on the 7th.

I will write the details after my return. Unlike last trip, this time, it sounds very positive. Nirmala was slightly sick, but she is doing good today. The heatwave was the reason.

Will talk to you all later.

Random thought - Shakthi Peetham

2011-06-18T16:25:00.000-07:00

I was talking to a friend today about the Shakti Peetham in Kashmir. We both are going to be in Kashmir this summer and we all want to see this Temple. I did some research and sent her the links. Then suddenly I remembered another Temple. I don't recall posting about it in my blog. So, just thought that I should post the following information that I gathered long time ago. If any of my readers are interested, they can include it in their plan.

Here it is:

Regarding the temple of Shrinkhala devi near calcutta:
It is said to be situated as you said in Hugli district in a place by called Pandua.

Shrinkhala devi was supposed to be in the past.
At present there is no temple in the place, a minar was built there by muslim invaders and at present the place is under the protection of Archeological society of India, the doors were locked and we came to know that entry was banned into the temple for security reasons.
There were ruins of temple in front of minar.
Another supportive evidence about the temple was obtained when we enrquired local residents, Every year during magha maasa (Around February) a festival by name MELA TAALA of about 30 days duration is celebrated in the premises of the minar which is attended by local hindu and muslim communities in large numbers (More than 1 lakh). It is one of the important celebration of that place.
Another interesting fact is that near to Pandua there is a temple of Hanseswari mata which is regarded as Shakti peetham.

Taking into consideration all the above facts observed and collected it could be a possibility that it was the place where there was Shrinkhala devi temple.

About Indian Railways

2011-06-04T04:17:00.000-07:00

Now you all know that we are aiming at Amarnath darsan next month. July 7th was chosen by Shangloo travels, per our schedule. Hope we are successful this time. In this process, I tried to understand the Indian Railways terminology. While searching for all kinds of information, I came across the following link and it is wonderfully useful, may be a bit old, but not outdated.
Click here.

Since I found it on google search, I guess it is ok to use that link here.

Check these out - interesting

2011-05-30T16:50:00.000-07:00

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus_in_India#Jesus_in_India

http://mukti4u2.dk/Srinagar_Shankaracharya_Temple.htm

I forgot to write about the Shankaracharya Temple in Srinagar which just the three of us Myself, Rao and Nirmala visited (I mean the rest of the group did not join us). It was 400 plus steps, but I slowly managed to climb and it was worth the strain. The Temple is charged with divine energy. Now that I found these links, we can see all the details.

This was added to my Vaishnodevi adventure post

2011-05-17T13:29:00.000-07:00

I almost forgot that I did not complete posting the rest of the saga. Today is May 17th, 2011 and one of my readers (a new addition as a reader) who is like my own daughter asked me "how did you unite with the others afterwards?"

Now I will write whatever I can recall.

We woke up in the morning, had a bath in the attached tiny bathroom. The hotel waiter brought us a bucket of hot water. W came back and sat in the front room of the booking office. All the autowalas started coming one by one. They were all looking at us. Each and everyone was whole heartedly sorry for us. Around 8 a.m., an auto arrived. We saw my husband Rao, our (useless) guide Anbu and another friend from the group Shankara Narayana (who adopted me as his sister). I ran and hugged Rao. Shankara Narayana and Rao hugged both of us. We never hugged anyone like that. I started sobbing. Anbu looked very compassionate at that time. He was equally worried for the two of us. He immediately went into my good books. They told us how they spent a sleepless night worrying about us and so on. Rao also had a small adventure. He trekked down all by himself without shoes. Someone stole his brand new walking shoes. When he came down, he also forgot the name of our hotel. By 10 p.m. he somehow located it with a land mark.

All the autorickshaw drivers were watching us like they did a happy ending of a movie.

Suddenly I remembered the driver who drove us around the previous night. He was parked at a distane and when I asked them, they unanimously declared that he was the one. I walked over, gave him 500 rupees (that I took from the 'brother') and thanked him. We reached the hotel.

Yatra 2011

2011-05-17T04:34:00.000-07:00

I can't believe that I decided to this one more time. This time I hope to blog better. My children Gopal and Gayatri have been providing me with the tools and examples from other bloggers. But, I haven't paid much attention to their advice. Now, Gayatri gifted me with a book. 'Globejotting" by Dave Fox. Gopal in the past provided me with links on how to let the world know about my travel journals. I wish to use both of these this time. I would like to receive comments and advices from my readers. Any comment is accepted - no hard feelings. Our next yatra is in very initial stages of planning. We should finalize this week and the whole world will know. Two more people are asking to join us if we went to Amarnath. And we are focusing on that only, anyway.

About the actual yatra, in my next post.

Thoughts about next yatra

2011-03-19T16:00:00.000-07:00

Now that the snow has melted and spring is nearing, we are thinking of completing our Amarnath yatra. No travel group is willing to arrange just Amarnath. They want us to pay for the whole package, which is a waste of lot of money for us. Moreover. I have several medical checkups in April and on May 10th my Cardiologist has to give me permission to go to that altitude. Based on that only I cant even buy my ticket to India.
If there are any readers of my blog who had travelled on their own and made this yatra, please make a comment and let us know how to go about it. We can communicate with e-mail. The only information I have is that the darsan dates begin on June 29, 2011. I checked with Southern travels and they give discount only for accommodation. We have to pay for all transportation charges in the package even though we join them for only Amarnath. They were very prompt in replying which I appreciated very much.

Amarnath yatra - in the news

2010-11-25T13:35:00.000-08:00

"Jammu, Jul 28: The Amarnath yatra was today suspended from Jammu due to inclement weather prevailing in the state.

A fresh batch of pilgrims was not allowed to proceed from the base camp of Bhagwati Nagar here for onward journey to Kashmir Valley as rains have been lashing the state, including on the Baltal and Pahalgam routes, official sources said here.

The yatra has already been suspended from camps at Nunwan in Pahalgam and Baltal yesterday due to heavy downpour resulting in slippery tracks, they said, adding the yatra was also stopped at the transit camps along the route due to the same reason.

Authorities did not allow pilgrims to proceed in order to avoid overcrowding at base camps, they said, noting that pilgrims usually reach these camps in the evening and after a night stay undertake the journey to the shrine."

So, we stayed in the tents for two days even when it was raining and the beds were wet.

Surprisingly, we did not even catch a cold during this trip!!!.

There were several Dhabas serving all three free meals. The only condition is - be there on time and don't waste even a speck of food. Take only what you think you can eat. They will be watching you like hawks and will suggest that you eat all of it.

The bath rooms were far away, not comfortable to use either. We did not know that tents were available with attached bathrooms. Credit (?) goes to our Travel agent whom we paid 1000 rupees per night for A/C rooms etc (I know I said this in another post also).

I bought two shawls and two dress pieces from the local vendors.
We will have to make another trip to Amarnath to really call it a yatra. But during this trip, I learned a lot - what to do and what not to do.

Thanks giving

2010-11-25T08:56:00.000-08:00

Today is Thanksgiving day in USA.
Having been in this Karma Bhoomi of mine for almost four decades, I want to follow the tradition and thank each of you who entered my life path and added beauty to it.

Happy Thanks giving.

Vaishnodevi trip adventure - Helicopter trip

2010-11-04T04:08:00.000-07:00

Nirmala and I were very happy with our darsan of Mata Vaishnodevi, even though the walk was more than we anticipated. If we had taken a Helicopter, I was told, the fee was 2200 rupees. But you need to walk again extra kms or take a doley from that point to near the shrine and that would cost extra 2000 rupees or more. That is why we hired the doley. Even after the trip we felt the rate was very high compared to the doleys at kedarnath and Sabarimala. Those hills are steeper and those roads are less comfortable.
The other couple met us outside the shrine as we did not wait for them in the darsan line. The lady was diabetic like Nirmala and was exhausted. The return trip was faster, less than 3 hours. Climbing, it took us almost 4 hours. Rao said his trekking also took about the same time. On the way down, at one check point, we handed over the receipt of the palanquin to the Govt. agency. Once we reached the palkis (palanquins) parking area, we paid them the balance and then a tip. For some reason, the other lady paid them only the tip and refused to pay the balance of 2400 rupees. It took lot of convincing on our part to make her pay the balance. It was dark since the Sun set and we now were ready to hire an Auto to go to the hotel. Suddenly, I was startled to realize that I did not know the name of our hotel. I checked with the other three and they also had no idea. Now, where do we go and who do we ask?. We did not see anyone from our group in the vicinity.

Now, it became my responsibility to think of a way out. I suggested we go to the place of booking in an Auto and since they were open all 24 hours, they may have record of our hotel address. We felt a big relief with that idea and after some enquiry, found the booking place.

Of course, the office was open. We were shocked to find that they never bother writing the name of the hotel. Now we are back to square one!! I had a vague memory of a police booth across from where we hired the Auto outside that hotel. Nirmala and I went to that police station, I looked around, but could not see a hotel. We walked around that area, the bus depot and talked to some people and finally tried to get information from the police. They were of least help. They were very brief and very unfriendly. So, we went back to the booking office. Nirmala did not bring her cell phone with her and she did not have the phone # of our guide in her memory. The other two were sitting in a small tea stall nearby and the man (I forgot his name) was showing his hotel room key to everyone that he met to read the small print on it and identify the name of the hotel. I tried to tell him that there was no name on the key and only the name of the manufacturer of the key was written. But, I could not convince him. He was a retired deputy collector from Anantapur. The rigidity of an Indian Govt. employee was obvious in him. His wife was getting restless. Nirmala and I hired an Auto and drove around to see whether we could recognize the hotel building. The Auto drivers were very much concerned for us. After a couple of rounds, I had no money left and we returned to the office. Then I reliazed that I did not have my footware. Since they don't allow in the Temple area, I did not bother wearing them at all. It was 8:30 in the night and I was the only sane, relatively physically fit. I started walking up and down the streets till 1 a.m. Amazingly, the roads were safe and the people were very helpful. Another auto fellow volunteered to take us around and he drove a lot even after I told him that we did not carry any more money with us. All he wanted was to find our hotel and to keep us safe. What a sacred place!!!!! Finally, we checked into a room in the attached hotel to the booking office (with minimal fecilities). Actually, the other gentleman decided to do that and he had enough money to pay, 250 Rs/room. By then, I owed him 500 rupees for the meals and the room.

Remember that we did not pay for the Auto nor did we take name or Id.

The saga continues................. This post became longer than I wanted it to be. More in the next.

I almost forgot that I did not complete posting the rest of the saga. Today is May 17th, 2011 and one of my readers (a new addition as a reader) asked me "how did you unite with others afterwards?"
Now I will write whatever I remember.
We woke up in the morning, had a bath in the attached tiny bathroom. The hotel waiter brought us a bucket of hot water. W came back and sat the front room of the booking office. All the autowalas started coming one by one. They were all looking at us. Each and everyone was whole heartedly sorry for us. Around 8 a.m., an auto arrived. We saw my husband Rao, our (useless) guide Anbu and another friend from the group Shankara narayana (who adopted me as his sister). I ran and hugged Rao. Shankara narayana and Rao hugged both of us. We never hugged anyone like that. I started sobbing. Anbu looked very compassionate at that time. He was equally worried for the two of us. He immediately went into my good books. They told us how they spent a sleepless night worrying about us and so on. Rao also had a small adventure. He trekked down all by himself in only his socks. Someone stole his brand new walking shoes. When he came down, he also forgot the name of our hotel. By 10 p.m. he somehow located it with a land mark.
All the autorickshaw drivers were watching us like they did a happy ending of a movie.
Suddenly I remembered the driver who drove us around the previous night. He was parked at a distane and when I asked them, they unanimously declared that he was the one. I walked over, gave him 500 rupees (that I took from the 'brother') and thanked him. We reached the hotel.

Our Vaishnodevi adventure - Jammu, Kashmir area

2010-10-27T12:09:00.000-07:00

Vaishno Devi Temple of Mata Maha Kali, Mata Maha Lakshmi and Mata Maha Saraswati is one of the heavily visited Hindu shrines. This is located in the Udhampur District in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. It is a shakti peetham. Who and when it was built? - there was no information on that.

The facilities and cleanliness throughout are very impressive.

Reaching Vaishno Devi by railway is a relatively economical way and you can easily get the super fast and express trains for the various destinations of India including Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai.

Road access to Vaishno Devi is very convenient also. The region has well-maintained network of state and national highways. We passed through destinations that connect Jammu (the nearest transit point of Vaishno Devi) namely Tarn Taran, Amritsar, Jallandhar, Ludhiana, Patiala, Chandigarh, Delhi, Jwalaji and Srinagar - of which Jalandhar and Jwalaji, we did it on our own, not with the group even though they were supposed to take us to those places.

The shrine is at an altitude of 5200 feet and visited by millions of devotees each year. One can trekk, take a doley or a helicopter. We had the option of the latter two. Rao opted for the trekking the 12 to 14 kilo meters. I heard that you can do one way trekking also. The helicopter would take you to only a certain point and then we walk another 5 kms. So, Nirmala and I decided to go by the doley all the way, to and fro. Trekkers can hire a porter to carry our baggage, if any. The whole climb is a paved path and very clean with all neccessary fecilities for food, bathroom and so on.

Let me go back to the beginning. From Delhi, one can take an overnight train to Jammu and it is additional 3 hours by bus to Katra (the base camp) where the hike begins. Since we were travelling by bus from Delhi anyway, we did not have to look for alternate arrangements. Thanks to the useless Travel agency we picked, we had a long overnight journey by a very uncomfortable bus from Delhi to Jammu anyway..

We took an auto rickshaw to the office where you book the doleys. The cost was 3200 rupees total, out of which we paid 800 rupees there and the balance to be given to the doley group after our return. They are all registered with the Govt. and so you are safe and secure.

After approx 7 km of hike you'll reach AdhKawari (Ardh-kawari). This is where Mother Goddess meditated for 9 months in a cave attaining spiritual wisdom and powers. The pilgrims wait in queue to enter the holy cave.

A token is issued - one per family/group. The typical wait time after the token number varies.
The doley carriers stop at this midpoint for tea and snacks. You pay extra for this.

Some take a dip in the cold water here. We did not.

I felt that we walked alot after getting off the doley to reach the line that walked through the maze. Finally, when you reach the marble cave where the actual manifestation of Vaishno Devi resides, you are allowed to worship just for a couple of seconds. The crowd is so much that they cannot allow you to stand for longer than 5 seconds. Perhaps it depends on the season!!

Also, I bought a package of kumkum (sindhoor) to offer to Mata and to bring it back as prasadam to family and friends. But the security did not allow it even though it was a sealed package.

The pilgrims keep reciting "Jai Mata Di" all through out the journey from Katra to the Mandir and back. People much older than me were trekking and I felt ashamed for being carried in a doley.

Watch out for aggressive monkeys who can snatch any small bags that you are carrying.

After worshipping at this Temple, you may go over to Bhairon Temple. This is at a further higher altitude and steep. This is at an elevation of approx 6600 feet. It is very scenic, but I did not carry my camera to any Temple this trip.

We had great darsan and there was another couple from Anantapur who tagged along with us. We were the only ones that took doley ride.

So far, things ran smooth. I will write about our adventure in my next post.

Near the Golden Temple - Amritsar

2010-10-27T07:22:00.000-07:00

This is a must see Temple. Soooo serene and calm!!!

More photos.......

2010-10-27T07:08:00.000-07:00

Kheer Bhavani

Adi Shankara

I forgot where these were taken.

	Kheer, Khir or Ksheer are all the same

The Kheer Bhavani temple is situated at Tullamula in the Srinagar district. The Kheer Bhavani temple is devoted to Ragnya Devi, a Hindu Goddess. Representing the goddess is a sacred hexagonal spring at Tullamula village, which houses a small marble temple. The legend goes that Lord Rama worshipped Ragnya Devi during his exile. After the exile period got over, Rama asked Lord Hanuman to shift the seat of the goddess.
It was the wish of Mother Ragnya that her seat be place at Khir Bhavani Mandir in Kashmir. And this wish was conveyed in a dream to a pandit, Raghunath Gadroo. The temple of Ragnya Devi is called "Kheer Bhawani" because numerous devotees offer milk and kheer to the sacred spring. It is believed that milk and kheer turn to black color to warn of any impending disaster. We were told that the spring water changes color frequently. Maharaja Pratap Singh got the temple constructed in 1912. Later, Maharaja Hari Singh undertook restoration work on the temple.

The eighth day of the full moon in May( Jeshta ashtami - wow, my birthday) holds great significance for the devotees of Ragnya Devi. They fast on this day and gather at the temple in huge numbers. It is believed that on this day, the goddess changes the color of the spring's waters. The Kheer Bhavani temple serves as the venue for an annual festival held in May-June, on the occasion of Jeshta Ashtami. During this festival, a large number of Hindus visit the temple to seek blessings of the goddess. Another occasion on which the Kheer Bhavani temple gains special importance is Shukla Paksha Ashtami. On this day, havans/yagnas are performed to please the goddess.

Our adventure continues

2010-10-27T07:03:00.000-07:00

www.religiousportal.com/JwaladeviTempleHimachalPradesh.html

I thought that I would post some photos from our trip. No theme, no order yet! We covered Kurukshetra and another Devi Temple near Jalandhar. We are very grateful for all the help we received from the Kapoor family and their niece Charu Malhotra of Cleveland. I will provide the details when I actively start posting again.

Our group and Nirmala and I all ready for the cold weather

On our way to Kashmir

Our Sabari Malai trip - transportation, the weather etc.

2010-10-24T12:48:00.000-07:00

We boarded the train at Tirupathi to go Ernakulam (Kerala) on Sep 17th. It was an overnight journey. Very comfortable journey and the fellow passengers were young and helpful. We arrived the next morning and Nirmala's niece's husband Sudarsan picked us up at the station and dropped us off at the Prasanthi hotel, which was walking distance from their apartment. Due to the rains, the climate was cooler than expected. After freshening up, we walked over to their house and had lunch there. On the 19th-20th night, we were to go up the hills. A taxi was arraned to pick us up around 3 a.m. Nirmala decided to spend the day time with her niece's children. Rao and I had good rest in the hotel room itself.
The taxi arrived on time and the journey to Pampa near Sabari Malai was very comfortable. Rao started trekking and Nirmala and I hired the doley. The altitude of the hill is close to 3000 feet, steep and path not so easy to trek. The four men that carried each doley wore very loose slippers. The doley was made up of one bamboo easy chair and two long rods. No cushions, no belts to hold you. They took a short cut and it was the most uncomfortable ride. The cost varied from 2000 to 4000 rupees. After some bargaining, we agreed to pay 2200 rupees each. Throughout the way, there was no problem for bathrooms. You just release anywhere you like.
My palanquin (=palki, doli) carriers, after dropping me off told me that they would be right back in 10 minutes after taking another lady (who had darsan the previous night and who was waiting for them to take her back) down the hill. It took about two and a half hours for them to bring us up the hill. By then, I learned the India unit of time. No matter who says it, when they say 'five minutes' it could be upto five hours. I tried to argue with them, but they left anyway. We had great darsan and we finished it in 40 minutes. We were not allowed to go near the idol anyway. The darsan was only from a few feet away.
Now, after walking over to the doley parking area, Nirmala's doley was ready and my people retuned only after 2 hours. Then they put me on a different chair, smaller and more uncomfortable. It was a scary ride coming down. I will never go on a doley again. Rao was blissfully walking and enjoyed the beautiful vegetation!!!
I will write about the actual darsan in detail in my next post. Don't forget to click on Pampa in the second paragraph. Click here to see the scenic beauty of the place.

It was a happy ending - or a new beginning

2010-10-22T13:29:00.000-07:00

Now that I am back in my own nest in Cleveland, I look back to see what happened in this trip. Since I could not post much during the yatra, I thought of walking backwards and cover from the last few days in India. the purpose of our trip now appears to be very different from a spiritual pilgrimage. The focus was more on compassion, seva, self analysis, some transformation!!!
Things started being calm and blissful since a week ago Thursday. Rao was not with us - so I have to speak for only myself and my life. He was and he is still in Hyderabad with his brothers. I am sure it is gradually improving for him also. Anyway, on the 14th, Nirmala and I visited the local ISKCON Temple in Tirupathi. In the past, I showed no interest. The Temple was huge, with exquisite architecture and beatiful vibrations. We spent about an hour enjoying the bliss. Both of us sponsored a free meal for 20 people. My father-in-law's death anniversary was on the 18th and since I could not be at Hyderabad for that, I thought of doing this. Nirmala just followed m - she is very generous and spontaneous for such deeds. We visited two of our old friends' homes to see the Navarathri bomma koluvu.
On Friday we went the Padmavathi Temple in Tiruchanur. The darsan was splendid since the crowd was very little. I felt really great. On Saturday I boarded the train to Chennai and reached Gayatri's in-laws' home by 2 p.m. Rested well in their good company. On Sunday, they took me to Sundaram for Sai bhajans and that, I was craving for a long time. From their we went to the Ramakrishna Math in Mylapore. This was a first experience for me. I listend to the vedic chanting. To our surprise, each individual was blessed by the priest with sacred water. Then we went to the local Shiridi Sai Temple. Being the day of Maha samadhi of Baba, there were many activities going on. Children were singing bhajans in one room. Elderly were chanting Sai names in another. Lectures were going on in another room. We spent time in each room, had some prasadam and returned home.
I felt that my yatra had just begun. I still feel the happiness that I received that day. I owe my thanks to Mohan and Priya for taking me on this one day yatra.

But, prior to this, when Rao also was with us in Chennai in September, they took us to see few other temples. Local Ayyappan Temple, Hanuman Temple and Kapileswara Temple in Mylapore and Parthasarathy Temple. The Kapileswara, I have visited during my previous visits to Chennai.

Nangainallur(Nanganallur) Hanuman in Chennai:

In 1989, Sri Paramacharyar of Kanchi entrenched this 32 foot Idol of Anjaneya carved out of a single rock. Marui bhakta samajan trust are the ones that wished for this Temple. This Temple is known for bestowing better health to devotees and the idol is believed to have healing powers. The day of our visit, He was adorned with a vada maala that extended far beyond the 32 foot statue. I felt great vibrations in the Temple. No pushing or shouting anywhere.
The other forms indoctrined here are of Sri Rama, Lakshmana and Seetha with Anjaneya, Vinayaka, Raghavendra and Krishna with his consorts Rukmini and Satyabhama.

Each visit was unique and we both felt the bliss immensely. We missed not having our dear friend Nirmala with us. The main reason being she was our companion in all other Temple visits.

About SRI BALAJI TRAVELS of Visakhapatnam

2010-09-01T02:21:00.000-07:00

This is the first NO when you want to go with a tour guide. In the USA, we would have put him in jail for fraud. In India, people just seem to make big noise and it ends there. What did they do or did not do?

They promised in a typed flyer a tentative program of Amarnath yatra for 15 days including train travel and rest. The meeting place was Delhi. People could join them from Hyderabad, Rajahmundry, Visakhapatnam and Vijayawada. We three opted to travel and pay our fare separately from Tirupathi to Delhi and join the rest there. This was not only economical for us but also we wanted to see Mathura (Brindavan) on the way (it was not included in their program). When we were approaching Delhi, Nirmala called the agency and they gave three names of contact. Two were from the group and the third one was a local tourist agency by name Birla. The first two were not available and the owner Rama Rao of Visakhapatnam would not answer phone calls. Finally, we called Birla and he instructed us to walk over to his office located accross from the station.
When we met Birla, he told us that others in the group were taking a city tour and once they returned, we would be put in a local hotel nearby and we all leave for Jammu/Kashmir area by a bus the next early morning. Imagine traveling 750 km in a bus on Indian roads. Later on, as it turned out, it was a horrible experience. More to come......................................

From the beginning............................

2010-08-22T19:37:00.000-07:00

American Airlines service was much better than I had anticipated. I heard so many horror stories prior to my departure which made me repent having chosen the Jetair-AA package. The staff were very pleasant at the Cleveland airport. I had my favorite Bruegger's bagel for lunch at the Cleveland Hopkins airport. Arrived at JFK on time. Rao had a slice of Pizza for lunch there around 3 p.m. In the lobby, we met a couple from Kanchi, returning from the USA. They both were doctors. We had some conversation. She gave me her phone#s just in case we visited that area again. She has a sister in Ahstabula, Ohio (All are Sai devotees).

Now about the visa. Jet air employees were excellent. We had to show our visa also before departure. They advised me to keep the Passport and the Visa (OCI/PIO) always together. The plane looked new. We were given soft wash cloths (cold) to freshen up. Fellow passengers were exchanging seats to keep the families sit together, as much as possible.

Since our tickets were by Jetair, the baggage rules of them applied for us. We were glad that 2 pieces were permitted. Carry-on should only be 22" and 7 kgs. But I saw people bringing in very heavy and big ones inside the plane and they were being squeezed into the cabin above the seats. Jetair did not bother about it inspite of their efficiency in other areas. In addition to that, the staff were moving the luggage from one seat area to another without even consulting or informing the owners. Other than this, no complaints about Jetair.
I will write about Brussels airport next. Jet air stops there for about 3 hours for fuel refill, cleaning and food service etc.

Let me start with positive news

2010-08-09T18:40:00.000-07:00

We finished the travel in the Northern part of the country. We still have Sabari Malai and Puttaparthi left. So far we have covered Vaishno Devi, Kurukshetra (place of Sri Krishna's Bhagavad Geetha to the mankind through Mahabharata) Amritsar Golden Temple (a must to visit for all), Mathura and Brindavan (high vibes here - you don't want to leave the premises), Jwalamukhi Devi (one of the Shakti Peethams) near Jalandhar.
I will add details and photos in the future. Atleast this time I have access to a computer at Nirmala's place.
This time I have lots of comments about India, her people and her current tradition and culture, which I want to cover soon.

Yes, we are ready for the Yatra 4

2010-07-13T13:47:00.000-07:00

My suit cases are packed. Rao, I am sure, will start soon and finish before 10 a.m. tomorrow. The American Airlines would neither let me print the boarding passes nor let me check-in online. So, we have to be at the Cleveland airport at least 2 hours before departure. From New York, we are flying by Jet Airways and I am looking forward to that. I was told that their service is wonderful. But, I could not get the seats allocation over the phone since they filled 30% of the seats already and they told me that is all they are allowed to do ahead of time. My Travel agent never told me that I could even call them for seats. Now I know and I have to see whether I can get it done in Cleveland itself. I stopped traveling by Air India because of their poor customer service in the past decades. Now, this is first time I am traveling by American Airlines domestic!!!!!

We land in Chennai airport around midnight. A Taxi will be sent for us from Tirupati and the journey would be about 3 hours. We should reach Nirmala's place by 5 a.m. local time. I will go to Nellore my native place on the 17th to visit my sister(s) and it will be a day trip by bus, a 3 hour journey each way. On the 18th, we will go to Tirumalai for the Shasra Deepa (thousand lights offering) Alankarana of Sri Balaji, also referred to as Malaiappa. Nirmala purchased the sponsor ticket for the event long time ago. We will rest on the 19th and leave for Delhi the next day!!!

I will write my next post as soon as I get a chance to meet an Internet Cafe.

Follow me (us)!!!!!

Sahasra Deepalankarana Seva

Every day evening at 5:30 p.m. Sahasra deepalankarana seva is performed in the Unjal mantapam located on the south eastern corner of the Srivari Temple.

Sri malayappa swami along with Sridevi and Bhudevi are taken out in procession to the mantapa, where one thousand wick lamps are lit. In the midst of vedic chanting and singing of Annamaya Sankirtanas, the Lord seated aon an unjal is rocked gently. The grihasthas who purchased tickets for performance of this seva are given Vastra bahumanam.

Geethanjali and Amma Karunamayi

2010-07-02T12:43:00.000-07:00

Recently, Amma Karunamayi visited Cleveland. Myself, my husband Rao and my grand daughter Geethanjali went to have Her blessings. We were approaching the Church door and saw the van coming. We just waited and thought it was proper to have Her go in first. Someone put a garland around Her neck and Geethanjali had 3 jasmine flowers in her hand which she wanted to give at the individual blessings time. Instead, she walked over and offered them to Amma and every one was so thrilled at the sight. As Amma approached the door, I had it wide open for her, feeling grateful for that opportuniy. She looked at me with a beautiful smile and asked "baagunnara amma?" in Telugu. Meaning Are you alright (= How are you?) After she went in, I paid $36.00 to their organisation for Amma to write the Saraswathi Beejaashram on Geethanjali's tongue during individual darsan. They gave her a yellow thread with a pendant hanging on which you could see pictures of Saraswathi on one side and that of Amma on the other. She wore it around her neck.

There was a speech and Srichakram abhishekam first.

It was a long wait for the five year old. Finally, when our turn came, we three approached Amma. I gave an index card with a question written. Geethanjali wrote her name 'Anjali' on her card and gave it to Her.
She blessed us by putting Her hand on our head and pressing it.

Amma wrote the saraswathi beeja akshram on the little one's tongue with a Tulasi (sacred basil) stem.

Now comes the interesting part. Geethanjali, with full reverence, spoke in Telugu. Asked Amma "nenu Durga suktham neyrchukunnanu, naanna nerpadu naaku, inka yemi neyrchukomantaru, Amma?" (Meaning = I learned 'Durga Suktham', my father taught me and what do you want me to learn more, amma?') Amma took it very seriously and replied "Saraswathi, Medha suktham neyrchuko" (meaning = 'Saraswathi, learn Medha suktham'). Anjali nodded her head. Turning to me, Amma said "ammayi chaala humble"= this girl is very humble/polite.

I was filled with happiness. And I felt really proud of Geethanjali.

Yatra 4, almost ready

2010-07-02T12:14:00.000-07:00

I would just like to mention all the places we plan to visit in July and August, 2010.

Tirupathi to Delhi, Delhi to Jammu/Kashmir.

Amarnath, Vaisno Devi (we have decided to take the Helicopter - no 45 km trekking)
Kurukshetra, Amritsar (Golden Temple) and then to Jalandhar.

From Jalandhar, we take a Taxi to Dharmasala, Jwalamukhi and return to Jalandhar.

Train to Rishikesh from Jalandhar, Taxi to Badrinath from Rishikesh (we missed going to Joshi Math Shankara peetham during our first trip to Badrinath. So, we have decided to include it in this yatra since we will be in the vicinity anyway. Night stay at Badrinath/rishikesh.

Return to Delhi by Taxi from Rishikesh. We were planning to go to Jaipur, Mathura etc., but it was cancelled by our domestic planners in India. Time and health and energy permitting, we will visit Pandaripur. By the way one more sakthi peetham in Assam, Kamakhya also is on the agenda.
Finally, Pandaripur to Solapur to Tirupathi.

As we continue our journey, I will make notes and start posting whenever a computer becomes available.

For the time being, my readers will know that Yatra 4 is REAL!!!!!!!

If all goes well, we will go to Sabari Malai in September after visiting our immediate families and some friends.

Thats all folks!!! Thanks for joining and following.!!!!!

I found these interesting.....................

2010-06-21T09:38:00.000-07:00

http://www.earthrainbownetwork.com/FocusArchives/June212010Meditation.htm

With so many natural disasters occuring on Mother Earth, I feel and believe that these meditations should help.
I would like to add the following prayer for the benefit of oneself as well as for the fellow human beings.
This prayer is from within the above link. I posted this separately for those who don't want to go through the whole link.

I am a soul
A divine spark of the Infinite
That gave birth to this universe.

I remember Who I am
and serve the Greater Purpose of Life
as One with All That is.

I came here with many other souls
to assist in the expansion of Light
on this living planet Earth.

I accept to let Love
Be the guiding beacon of my life
and to shine Its radiance in every moment.

I am a soul
and the sole purpose of my existence
is to be All That I Am.

So be it.

Astrological info.

2010-06-15T09:29:00.000-07:00

http://www.librarising.com/astrology/misc/feb1962.html

http://www.greatdreams.com/2012.htm

For the past few days the thoughts of 'Ashtagraha kootami' of 1962 had been haunting me. So, I searched in the panchangam for the dates that happened in 1962. Per the 110 year panchangam (almanac) book that I have it happened on Feb 4th and 5th in 1962. Click on the first link and see the interesting diagrams.

Also, there has been so much talk about the Mayan Calendar and many predictions for Dec 12 (or 21) of 2012. I strongly believed until yesterday that it was not the end of the world, but change in our awareness for the better. Now with so many natural disasters happening and Earth is being physicaaly going through so much turmoil and changes, I stared wondering whether a disaster or an end is really approaching!!
The second link shows a lot of research done and compiled by someone and is quite interesting.

I am still planning to go to the Kumbh Mela in 2012 in Prayag/Allahabad. According to the same panchangam, all but Mars (kuja) are lining up in one sign (not Aquarius) this time in December. Need to do more research on that!!!!!

Hope you all enjoy this post.
Our next yatra is starting pretty soon, in July.

Maha Kumbha Mela 2012 - 2013 and who wants to join????

2010-04-14T06:04:00.000-07:00

I know our 2010 yatra has not begun and you must be wondering 'Is she crazy? Already she is jumping into 2012-2013? Last night we were talking to a friend Linda and she wants to go. We are hoping that Sri Babaji mentioned in Paramahamsa Yogananda's 'Autobiography of a Yogi' will give us His darsan.That triggered my search and I want to go too. I very much wanted to go in 2000-2001 and could not. Below is a website which throws lot of light on the sacred festival. I want to finish all my yatras before 2014.

Maha Kumbh Mela:

www.kalpavasi.com/rs-758-cr-plan-maha-kumbh-2012-13-prayag.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahavatar_Babaji

Amarnath and Vaishno Devi trekking tour

2010-03-18T05:54:00.000-07:00

We got a lot of information from many websites. But the one link below gave the clear virtual tour. It is beautiful, like the Rocky mountains that I have seen in Colorado. If trekking, I would not attempt riding on a Pony.

After seeing this virtual tour of Amarnath trekking, I am glad we decided to take the Helicopter tour.

Now regarding Vaishno Devi, this site was informative.

Hot vs. Cold - between yatras

2010-03-01T07:56:00.000-08:00

We are planning to go to Amarnath next summer !!!!!

The above photo is our street looking from our door step. The clouds are waiting to add more snow.

For those of you in Andhra Pradesh, India, wondering how life is for me in the winter!! - It is your 30 + degrees C vs. 0 degrees C here in Cleveland, Ohio.

Here are photos to give you an idea of how the outside looks for me now. In the photo above, see the icycle hanging in the corner. It is about 6 feet long.

The photo below is just in front of our house.

My grand daughters

2010-01-02T04:34:00.000-08:00

By now, all of you know that I have two precious grand daughters. Geethanjali will be 5 on June 16th and Sharanya will be 2 next Saturday, Jan 9th. I can't believe it.

Currently Sharanya is doing her own yatra in India, having Baba's darsan in Puttaparthi. This is her second visit to the Holy place - already !!! About her, she remembers everything you tell her, I thought only Geethanjali was a memory bank !!!!. I am sure she will communicate in her own way about her grand and great grand parents in India and also her uncle (chittappa) Sridhar when she returns. I daily think of her words "bye ammamma' whenever she doesn't want to continue the conversation. She likes the fast dancing whenever I sing 'taam dhittaam....' over the phone.

Geethanjali is also a divine soul. She recently told me that before she came 'here', she was with Krishna, Rama, Buddha etc. and then she was placed in her mother's womb (stomach) by The Buddha. I did not ask her - it was her own spontaneous statement. Makes me wonder who she was in her previous birth!!!

Power failed - as though I was in Andhra Pradesh

2009-12-11T04:33:00.000-08:00

I know these days I am not writing about my yatras in India. That's because it is still many months away. In the meantime, my life is not at standstill. Interesting things are happening. My previous posts were about 'Amma' and I consider it as part of my (life's) yatra. Now this post is about how to make life interesting inspite of hurdles.
Last Saturday, Dec 5th evening we were watching the movie 'My Fair Lady' from 1964. I don't normally watch much TV - just a couple of game shows and some news. But this one is my favorite and I have seen it many many times and I did read 'Pygmalion' during student days. Suddenly just around 6 p.m., the power went off. Normally, it returns within minutes. This time, it did not. I had rice cooking in the cooker. The side dishes were done by then. My husband suggested that we go out to eat. At the beginning I did not agree because, my cooking was almost done. We waited till 7:30 p.m and decided to go for a Pizza. Before that, I called the First Energy emergency number to report the power failure. Could talk to only the machine. According to that voice, the power would resume by 8:30 p.m. and I would get a call to check to see whether we got it resolved. Thanks to the Cell phones, we had alternate number.
I started singing bhajans (I remembered Amma saying 'sing bhajan') and then some old devotional songs private as well as from the movies. Then we read the first two chapters of Bhagavad Geetha. When it was 7:30 p.m, Rao disconnected the electric garage door and lifted the door up for us to take the car out.
We went to the nearest Pizza place which was empty and one young man sitting inside said that they had power gone too. The next one was Little Caesars on Richmond road and they had a large cheese pizza for $4.99. We came home with the dinner. Lighted the candles and put one in each room.(My match box and emergency candle kit were handy). Topped the pizza with my vegetable dish and had candle light dinner. We finished eating around 8:15 p.m. and the power came back. I finished cooking the rice. No phone call from the Electric company till 10 p.m. and again they called at 1:11 a.m. while we were asleep.

This dinner was more peaceful because our focus was on the food - not on the TV. There was conversation - not just listening to the repetetion on the TV. That short time was spent as a family.

I thought we have covered most major Shiva lingas, but,

2009-12-05T04:54:00.000-08:00

I just came accross this site. Very interesting. We did not see this since we never went to Coimbatore. Dhyanalinga Temple is situated 30 kms west of Coimbatore at the foothills of Velliangiri Mountains, part of the Nilgiris Biosphere.

We will have to visit this place soon.

November 24, 2009 - Amma's darsan continues

2009-12-05T04:27:00.000-08:00

The Tuesday session was from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Alex was doing his own things like sleeping late, working out in the Hotel gym etc.

Rao and I got ready, got all our stuff packed to be loaded in the car. Our check out time was before 1 p.m. We weren't sure whether we would be able to finish our darsan by then. So, Rao checked out early and Alex was supposed to leave the key behind in the room. We stood in line for darsan after having a cup of Starbucks coffee. By 10 a.m., there were many ahead of us. But this time, the hugging was the firat event. Surprisingly, we were almost in the first group in line to go close to her. Those that had darsan either the previous day or in the recent past, were supposed to let the first timers go first. Since the crowd was small, we did not have to do that. This batch of volunteers were extra nice and extra cheerful. Now I knew that I am supposed to sit on my knees for her to hug easily. She said the same two words, but a dozen times - I said 'you are the bangaaru thalli'. By now, I was asking her for something that was sitting like a thorn in my heart and I started sobbing. She hugged me tight.
Overall, Tuesday's darsan was blissful.
I was quite amazed to hear all the service activities her organization did. She donated a lot of money to USA organizations and relief funds and I felt that it was great.
I shared my experience with Alex and told him that he should have come again.

We enjoyed our return trip in conversation. Rao and Alex were talking to each other and I was listening. We left around 2 p.m. after lunch and reached home before 6 p.m.

I saw Bob and his wife Maryanne separately in the hallway. I shared my bliss with Bob and he was quite pleased.

Conclusion: We will visit Amma again if an opportunity arises.

Amma Amritanandamayi, Nov 23, 2009 - continued

2009-12-05T04:08:00.000-08:00

Slowly, the darsan line was getting longer. Every few minutes, someone would come and ask me questions about the procedures, as to how long we are going to wait in this line, what happens when we go inside and so on. I could answer all their querries. Three sisters from northern Michigan were behind us in line. One of them asked me "How long have you been involved?" They were surprised when I said that this was the first time that I am seeing her. We came to the conclusion that all others that were approaching me with their questions thought I was one of the volunteers. Immediately I approached a real volunteer (with an official scarf around his neck) and verified my answers with him. He laughed and said that they were correct. The time has come to identify who goes first. One lady came and put a tiny round sticker on us and said this should tell that we should be given the token first. By 5:30 p.m. it was a long line. We were asked to go in and be seated in chairs and wait for the actual tokens. By 6:30 p.m the tokens were given to those that were supposed to be first in line. If we are with the family, we sit in a group one behind the other. If it is a couple, Husband goes first and the wife should follow.
The videos were being played continuously while we waited for Amma's darsan. The hall was full. By 7:30 p.m., I heard the conch being blown. Amma was entering the hall. In graceful steps, she went up the dias. We all stood up in reverence.
Then, the devotional singing in her melodious voice, speeches by the local politicians (one democrat and one republican), two other speakers were her followers and probably they travel with her. She gave a talk in Malayalam and it was translated into English. The essence was the same as any other lecture by a spiritual leader - see good, do good type.
Alex was behind me while we were waiting for the tokens, but now he is sitting on the floor in the front.
The hugging began around 9:30 p.m. Alex was ahead of us for this. When my turn came, Rao got hugged first and then when I leaned forward, the volunteers tried to push me down to bring me to a sitting position. In that process, they scratched my neck with their nails. Due to that instant pain, I lost my focus. Since we were asked what our mother tongue was, she said her two words in Telugu - 'bangaaru thalli' 3 times, but added 'bhajana paadu = sing a bhajan'. The volunteers pushed me away. We had a choice to set on the side for a few minutes or leave the hall by the side door. We sat for 5 minutes or more watching other devotees being hugged.
We had something to eat in the Amma's foof court around 11:15 p.m.
Alex and I were not too impressed. He did not want to go the next day.

Amma Amritanandamayi, Nov 23, 2009

2009-11-30T03:40:00.000-08:00

Many of my friends spoke very highly of Amma Amritanandamayi in the past. But I never felt the 'tingling' to have her darsan. In the recent past, our friend Bob from the Sai group kept on sending e-mail info about her. He adores her and cherises his visits.

At first I was very skeptical going to Dearborn, Michigan to see 'Amma'. Then, I thought that like in every other situation, I will not know until I experience it. Soon, I started reading about her and felt quite impressed. Her organization is doing similar things like the Sathya sai organization. So, I told my husband Rao that I would go. My not going would not have stopped him from going anyway. He likes to visit all 'holy' persons. He happily made hotel reservation for Monday, Nov 23rd night at Hyatt where all the action was. We were told that Monday evening and Tuesday daytime, there were free public programs and Amma hugging and blessing the devotees. Rao's young Tennis friend Alex joined us. We left Cleveland around 10 a.m. The check-in was before 3 p.m. We arrived before 2 p.m. On the way, we had fun learning and using our newly acquired GPS (along with printed directions for Rao's satisfaction)which was a present from my adopted (??) nephew Raj.
The room was quite spacious with two double beds. The men put our overnight bags in the room and then went to tour the activity area. Amma's food service was buzzing with volunteers. Also, there were many booths and tables that were being set up for sale of several types of items like, cds, dvds, incense, clothes, jewelry, pictures, massage, acupuncture, healing and so on. Alex and I commented a bit on the commercial part of the set up.
They were expecting a big crowd inspite of it being a working day. All the volunteers were very cheerful and ready to answer any question you had. After the preliminary tour, we went back to the room to rest. The line for darsan would form at 5 p.m. and tokens would be given to go inside the hall and Amma will arrive at 7:30 p.m. - this we gathered, rested a bit and went downstairs by 4:30 p.m and I stood first in the line, watching the 'Greeters' desk that was being set up.

Yatra 4 is still so far away.....

2009-11-19T04:04:00.000-08:00

A few in my friends' circle offered good advice, some contacts to talk to and I hope to get good tips from them. One person had already made the trip to Amarnath and Vaishno Devi and is willing to help us in anyway she can. When the intention is good and strong, things fall in place, I guess. But, we still need all the feedback we can get. Once Nirmala reads all the material I sent to her via e-mail (which is sitting in her mail for two months now) we can start making reservations etc. Our latest major list includes Amarnath, Vaishnodevi, Amritsar, Kurukshetra, Shakti peetham in Assam and Sabari Malai. After that, time and energy permitting, we would like to cover other Shakti Peethams, Draaksharamam, Bhadrachalam etc.

You must have noticed that we begin and end our yatra by having darsan of Sri Venkateswara in Tirumalai. Also, we always have darsan of Sri Sathya Sai Baba during every visit to India. Without Him, nothing in my life moves!!!

Kolhapur Mahalakshmi

2009-11-14T04:27:00.000-08:00

One friend asked me what I felt about the Idol of Mahalakshmi in Kolhapur. I said she was beautiful. As I said in my post at that time I was disillusioned by the administration of the Temple. I visit a Temple with the same purpose - to feel the divine presence. Anyway, the friend added that she looks very angry. I somehow did not recall that!! Then, come to think of that, it looked a little fierce and added that comment to my old post. Now in this post, I am adding a close-up picture of Kolhapur Mahalakshmi and you decide for yourself.

Madurai Temple

2009-11-07T09:29:00.001-08:00

Some one sent this to me via e-mail. Please have the speakers on and if you click on the pinkish dots on the layout that shows up, you are taken directly to that part of the Temple. Whoever took this have done a super job. If the click doesn't work, copy and paste.

http://www.view360.in/virtualtour/madurai/

Tanjavoor Shiva

2009-11-01T03:00:00.000-08:00

Yestrday was Sani Trayodasi - I felt like beginning this month of November with a new post. Just found this picture sent by a dear friend. Let your Tamil friends read the inscription under the photo for you.

Below, copied and pasted from my old post is about the Temple - to refresh everyone's memory.
The famous Temple here is of Brihadiswara, a Shiva Temple. The inside shrine wasn't that huge. Perhaps the Royal family of ancient times built this just for their family!!!!!

It takes a life time to really see all that is here in these temples. This visit was the first one for the other four in the group. They were extremely happy. Now about this Temple in detail:

The entrance on the east, where we enter, is very imposing. On either side of this are two small shrines of Ganapathi and Subrahmanyam (Murugan). When you walk further, there is aGopuram about 90 feet in height. This way leads into an outer court. A second and more magnificent Gopuram leads us to the main court in which the temple is built. The inner court is is surrounded by something like a court yard about 500 feet long and 250 feet broad and is well paved with brick and stone. The western and northern wings have Sivalingams and there are paintings over these walls depicting sixty-fourNayanars. The outer portion of this temple is about 800 ft X 300 ft (a little less perhaps)
The main shrine is of Brihadeeswara (I am not even attempting the Tamil pronunciation here) which in Samskrit means, the Great God. It is situated on the western end of this court yard.

Besides the the Sanctum sactorum (garbhagriham), there are 5 mandapams here. I think this why the actual temple appeared small to me. Several in the same yard!!. Anyway, the five mandapams are:

Araadhana mandapam, Maha mandapam, Narthana mandapam, Sthapana mandapam and Vaadya mandapam.
Sthapana mandapam has a shrine for the great saint Thyagaraja.

The statues of the dwarapalakas (guardians of the gate) were exquisite!! The sivalinga is the grandest!
The tower over the shrine is called Dakshina Meru (at Kailasam, it is the Uttara-Meru).
There is a lot of history about the king Rajaraja Cholan who reigned this part of the country and I don't have much knowledge in that area.

The great Vimana is a little over 200 feet and is of the Dravidian style of architecture, and has fourteen storeys.
The other sub-shrines are of Subrahmanya (northwest corner), Goddess Brihanayaki, Ganapathi, Chandeeswara. Dakshinamurthy and Nataraja on the Northeast corner. Worth mentioning are the great Dhwaja-sthambham and the huge Nandi (the sacred bull) located in the center. The Nandi measures 12ft in height and close 20 ft, in length and width and weighs about 20 tons. There are two versions of where the stone was brought from and I forgot what they were.

Some Temples we visited in the past trips - names at the bottom

2009-10-27T11:28:00.001-07:00

Brihadeeswara in Tanjavur, Nataraja in Chidambaram, Kali in Dakshineswar, Dharmakshetra, Gokarna, Guruvayur Krishna, Kalabhairava in Karnataka, Kalahasti Easwara, Kanchi Kamakshi, Kedarnath, Murudeswara, Padmanabha in Tiruvanantapuram, Sringeri Sarada Devi, Sarangapani, Suchindram, Subrahmanya of Tiruchandur, Thriambakeswar

I listed these names from top to bottom.

I did not take these, a friend of mine sent these to me.

2010 yatra

2009-10-13T06:45:00.000-07:00

We are planning on going to Amarnath, Vaishno Devi and more. I have visited some Travel and tourism sites on line and have some idea. But, if there is someone who had hands-on experience, please write and we will be much grateful. The three of us are over 65, but have energy to travel. I am seriously considering the Helicopter tour. What are the dos and don'ts? Any advice is appreciated.

Hello, I am still here !!!

2009-08-30T04:38:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I needed some information about my travel dates in 2006 and went to check my old posts. To my surprise, I saw a couple of comments on my old posts, dated April 2009. Two were just information type and the third one, someone wanted important information and it was too late, because I saw it on Aug 29, 2009 and their comment was on April 1, 2009. Moreover, I normally don't read my old posts. I set up an e-mail alert long time ago - evidently it is not working.
Anyway, my request is 'Please write the comments under more recent posts which I see almost everyday'.
Currently, I am focusing more on my dreams blog. Here is the address again, for those that are interested. www.padmasdreams.blogspot.com and don't forget to comment.

We attended Srinivasa kalyanam at the Shiva-Vishnu Temple in Cleveland yesterday. Our grand daughter Geethanjali accompanied us. Before leaving she asked me 'what is special today?'. I said Lord Venkateswara and Padmavathi are getting married. She wanted to know why they were marrying again (she must have attended one before). My spontaneous answer was 'some people could not attend before and some want to see the wedding again and again - so God wants the priest to perform it on special days.' She appeared satisfied - but do any of you have a more appropriate explanation? Mind you, she is 4 years old. Pretty soon, my other grand daughter Sharanya will start asking questions. So, I should be prepared !!!

Krishna Ashtami - Aug 13th

2009-08-14T04:04:00.000-07:00

I woke up with a dream. A young family wanted to have a Bhajan session as we were leaving their house. I felt that they were not prepared. No altar, no Swami's photo in the vicinity. I started walking towards the door. Rao lingered a little. Then I said to myself 'well, we can put a chair, cover it with a beautiful saree or cloth and put Swami's picture on it and that should be enough to have a bhajan'. I walked back and woke up.
Later on when I mentioned my dream to him, Rao said he also woke up with a very peaceful feeling.
The day went by, the two of us doing our own things. Rao suddenly suggested, why not we go to the Shiva-Vishnu Temple. We always have bhajans from 7:30 to 8 p.m. on Thursday nights. Even if there is only one person in the house, we allocate that time for the bhajans. This, we have been doing since 1975 October. We don't attend anything else on Thursday evenings. Of course, while traveling, it is an exception. Anyway, I checked the Temple calendar and they had listed Krishna Janmashtami pooja at 9 p.m., Bhajans at 10 p.m. and Arti at 12:05 a.m. We live 45 minutes away from the Temple. I felt lazy to go at that hour. Then, a flash of my dream came - so, I decided to go.
Around 7:20 p.m., the phone rang. It was from a friend in New Jersey. Their daughter was diagnosed with brain tumor just two weeks ago and since then, the family, their relatives and friends have been praying for her health. The doctors, Radiologists, surgeons everyone (some with 25 years of experience in their field) thought it was a large tumor on the right side. Now they called to tell me that she had come home and that there it was never a tumor and what they saw in the MRI was only an infection of some kind. I have to check with the specialist in my family - my son Gopal when he returns from India next week. I got tears of happiness !!! I felt more urge to go the Temple. I thanked Baba for this miracle.
Glad I went. While Rao was driving, I thanked Hanuman and recited Chalesa 12 times. At the Temple, there was not a big crowd. Just a few familiar faces, besides those of the priests and the management. All the five priests participated in the pooja of Sri Balakrishna. There was a curtain behind the Balakrishna and they announced that it will opened after midnight and prasadam will be distributed around 12:15 a.m. I don't know what was behind that curtain.
After the pooja, Bhajans started promptly around 9:30 p.m. Three groups of people sang bhajans. A young man (pre-teen) sang solo, a Purandara Dasa's song. he had divine voice. We left at 10 p.m. There was some sweet prasadam made of sesame seeds in the hall. We were in the car by 10:06. On the way, we sang more Krishna bhajans.
I missed Geethanjali. She would have enjoyed this very much !!! But she was having lot of fun with her cousins in Atlanta !!
We saw the most beautiful sunset while going to the Temple along lake Erie. It reminded me of the Sunrises, Sunsets we enjoyed during our Yatra 3 in India. It was around 8:30 p.m.
On our way back, I looked at the sky to watch Meteor showers mentioned by the Astrology community, perhaps due to clouds, I did not see any. Or perhaps, there weren't any last night.

The grand daughters and some random photos from yatra 3

2009-08-12T04:46:00.000-07:00

Sharanya wants to go with us. Backpack is ready !!!!

Geethanjali, the Princess

Into the future !!!!!!!

2009-08-12T04:22:00.000-07:00

I just could not sit around for the next yatra to commence. It is not in the near future. But it is already in the planning stage. Suddenly, the three of us get this feeling - Oh no, we are getting older by the year. We need to finish visiting the difficult ones first. We have two on the list. Vaishno Devi and Amarnath. The best fit among the three of us is Rao, my husband. And, he is playing Tennis regularly and keeping himself more fit and active. I come next. I am trying - taking regular walks. To motivate me, my son and his family bought me the best pair of sneakers I ever wore. Nirmala is still thinking about the walks. We console ourselves saying 'we still have plenty of time'.

If any of my readers have already visited these places, I would appreciate comments and helpful hints on do's and don'ts.

In the meantime, I would like to diversify my Blog and write about my other personal interests. My daughter Gayatri is the one who came up with this suggestion. Hope you all walk with me there.

All ideas and suggestions are welcome.

As it ends, the finale of our yatra-my 108th post

2009-07-14T11:47:00.000-07:00

As a tradition, we culminate our yatra by going to Tirumalai and having Sri Venkateswra's darsan. We rested a bit at Nirmala's place and on March 2nd, we hired a taxi and went up the hills. the same night, we had booked our tickets to go to Hyderabad. Nirmala also accompanied us. She and Rao talked about the next yatra. I was too exhausted even to think about it, that too an year ahead of time!!!!! The day we reached Hyderabad, we had sad news about the sudden death of Rao's cousin's son - a hit and run accident. We got busy with visiting that family, Rao attending the funeral etc. On the 4th, Nirmala and I visited another friend of ours and Nirmala's sister-in-law and the children, grand children. My departure to the USA was on March 10th morning. Nirmala returned to Tirupathi on the 5th and we visited Rao's elderly uncle and other relatives in his native place Machilipatnam. It was a day trip. We went by bus and returned by an overnight train. It was hectic, but not really tiring.
My son-in-law Srikanth met me at the airport in Boston and I reunited with Gayatri and Sharanya on March 10th night and with my son, daughter-in-law and the other grand daughter Geethanjali in Cleveland on March 15th.

Thus ended the yatra. Rao returned on the 31st and joined me in Cleveland in April. All is well that ends well.

I had a big collection of 'English speeched' type and misplaced them. Only few of these, I remember now. I will add when I regain my treasure.

A slogan near a hotel:
Learn for swim
swim for health

Other misspelled:
clasic = classic
Bukhari Hotel = Buhari Hotel
White hourse = white house
The other one I already mentioned in another post:
sliping shits = sleeping seats

Around Puri

2009-07-13T17:05:00.000-07:00

The temple at Konarak is on the shores of the Bay of Bengal, bathed in the rays of the rising sun, is a monumental representation of the Sun God and Surya's chariot. The chariot has 24 wheels which are decorated with symbolic designs and it is led by a team of six horses. It was built in the 13th century and is one of India's most famous Brahman sanctuaries.

Konark is very famous for the Sun Temple and other attractions. The ride was beautiful. The nature was captivating. As we reached the Sun Temple area, I felt very tired and sat in one place. Rao and Nirmala walked around to see all the sculptures. My memory of all this from 1974 was poor. Still, I did not strain myself too much. Instead, I offered and took photos of other tourists who wanted a family or group pictures of themselves.

We did purchase something there, but I forgot what. I know we looked at some bangles. We bought fresh fruits.
By the way, when I think of jewelry, One of my nieces Susmita has a website, a must see click here. It is beautiful.

While returning, the deal with the auto was to take us to 3 more temples on the way. But looks like they were all closed either that day or at that hour. I am sure the driver knew about this and did not mention it to us. So, we were at the hotel early. Walked out after resting a little and had dinner.

The final train journey and the longest of them all was on the 28th. We bought some food at the same restaurant that we ate our meals and they neatly packed it for us. Nirmala wasn't too hungry after seeing the food when we opened it on the train.

Again, we met some nice people on the train. With two, we exchanged addreses. One was an IT professional Rajagopalan who still communicates via e-mail with me occasionally and the other was a saree vendor A. Suryanarayana Murthy from Venkatagiri, Nellore District. They got off at their destinations and we reached Tirupathi in the early hours of Feb 28th. Glad to be home!!!!!

Varanasi to Puri

2009-07-13T16:39:00.001-07:00

I had visited Puri in 1974 when my sister was working as a professor in Cuttack. It was with my mother, younger sister and my son who was two years old then. The memories were very pleasant.

On the train, as usual, we had delays, fellow travelers of all ages. There was a delay of more than an hour departing. The way we booked, we had to go to Howrah and board the next train to Puri. By the time we reached Howrah, the connecting train had left. We walked all over that station, trying to find a solution. We received lot of advice on the train to Howrah. One person was actually a railway employee. The alternatives were, we could go to Bhuvaneswar and take a bus from there. We could take a train to Cuttack and go to Puri from there. It was total confusion for us. To add to this, we found out that our ticket could not be used on other trains, even though it was not our fault. Now the negotiator inside of me said 'don't give up'. I found a railway porter who helped us in contacting the right person of the railway department and Rao got our tickets validated and we were able to board a train to Puri after a long wait and talk and explanation. We got the paper work in our hand and hence reached Puri with no problem. Anything is possible in spite of the red tape.Sri Jagannath must have loved us!!!! I don't think we paid much attention to our food and sleep with bigger challenges leading our lives.

We got accommodation for two days at Nilachal Yatri Nivas on Grand Avenue and is a unit of Shri Jagannath Temple Administration.. The room had one double bed for 250 rupees per night and the extra bed cot us 100 rupees. The hot water was available. Actually, there are two buildings there. The first one was very fancy and expensive. But the one in the interior was decent enough for us and the cost us reasonable. The young men at the reception desk were very helpful The Temple was not too far. Good food was available in nearby restaurants.
The first darsan was on the 26th. There was a lot of crowd and less discipline. We could not see much of the idol. The next dy, we were met by a guide who disappointed us again with the quality of his services. This time we spent only 90 rupees. I don't think we will ever learn a lesson!!! The next day, we decided to visit the other places like Sun Temple, Konark sculptures etc. I talked to an Auto rickshaw driver whom our hotel employees approved and made the arrangements.

The Jagannath Rath yatra (Jatra) is very famous. It is celebrated all over the world, but the one in Puri should be witnessed.
Ratha Yatra, the Festival of Chariots of Lord Jagannatha is celebrated every year at Puri, per vedic lunar calendar, it is celebrated on the 2nd day of the waxing moon in the month of Aashadha. The presiding deities of the main temple, Lord Jagannatha, Lord Balabhadra and Goddess Subhadra, with the celestial wheel Sudarshana are taken out from the temple in an elaborate ritual procession to their respective chariots. The huge, colorfully decorated chariots, are drawn by hundreds and thousands of devotees on the The Grand Street, the grand avenue to the Gundicha temple, some two miles away. After a stay for seven days, the deities return to their abode. We just visited the location where all this would happen. This year the festival was on June 25th, I think.
Also, I vaguely remember we climbing up a steep set of stairs to see Narasimha Statue at the back of the Jagannath Temple. The website gives details of this temple.

The next day

2009-07-13T16:34:00.001-07:00

We were fast asleep and we did not know when Rao returned after the Rudram chanting. What we gathered later on was that there were 12 people who were supposed to recite. Some of them chewed on some 'bhang'

Is it like Marijuana? IT IS THAT.

"The traditional harvest and preparation of bhang occurs during the celebrations of Holi in March and Vaisakhi in April, hence associated with Lord Shiva. It has now become synonymous with Holi, to the point where consuming bhang at that time is standard practice".

This was first time to my shock, I heard this. It is legal!!! Anyway, since the priests were whacky, Rao lead the whole program - he was really blessed, I thought. What a custom? Two of the brahmin priest still looked dopey all day the next day. I lost all respect. Am I wrong?
We visited local Temples, had fresh milk and yogurt in the roadside stalls, did some shopping (no sarees this time). Over all we enjoyed two extra days relaxing and sometimes doing nothing. We had a long journey to Puri (Jagannath) ahead of us.

We departed Varanasi station on 25th to arrive at Puri on 26th. More adventures on this train journey. We were glad that our yatra was coming to a culmination soon.

Varanasi and the Manikarnika Ghat

2009-07-13T13:03:00.002-07:00

It is a city which liberates soul from human body to ultimate. Death in Kashi is Liberation. In fact the extension of this belief could be visualised in the early concept of ‘ Pancha Trirtha’ symbolically identified with the human body - it is explicitly equated with the fire elements (Panch Tattva) of which body is composed of.

Ghats of Varanasi are natural supplement to the concept of divinity.

Someone told me that our yatra would be complete with the Abhishekam at Rameswaram with Ganga water from Varanasi and bringing the sands from Rameswaram and mix it in Ganga. I wrote about that Abhishekam in my older posts. I carefully brought the sands in a small bag. Mentioned this to the priest Sivakumar and he said that it should be done only in Manikarnika ghat.
There was a young man who was trying to get some business from us since our arrival trying to talk us into hiring him for a local tour of the Temples etc. We had met him and used his services in our previous visit. So, this time, we did not want to yield to that. Now he was appointed by the priest to take us to the specified location to take a dip and mix the sand. He came with us in the auto rickshaw and then we walked through the narrow and very dirty streets. Took a boat to go near the bathing area. You can see open sewer flowing into the river. I started feeling very uncomfortable about my dip in that ghat. In addition, this is where (near by) the cremation etc is done. Anyway, we had a dip. The waters were clean and there were others enjoying the dip. I had to hold Nirmala firmly and push her into the waters, for her to be completely wet. Rao and I together took the 3 immersions. All this was done fully clothed. We returned to the boat, wiped ourselves with the towels and returned to the banks.
It was Sivarathri day. After our return to the choultry, Rao spoke with the priest about the evening darsan, pooja etc. Well, they were are going to meet in a certain part of a certain temple and recite Rudram all night. Here it goes again. Women are not allowed. Nirmala and I were tired anyway. We decided to stay in the room. I sang bhajans and Nirmala listened. In the afternoon, there was a street parade sponsored by local businesses. It can be compared to a Halloween costume parade. There was an old man (beggar? homeless?) sitting on the one side of that road and people were throwing lots of food on him. He was evidently high with something. I have never seen anything like that anywhere in my life.
Nirmala and I went to bed after our devotional sessions. I will write about Rao's all night Rudram experience in my next post.

P.S. I was soooo worried about infections and contaminations after the dip in the ghat. Believe it or not, that ganga water must be so medicinal, none of us got even cold. No wonder it is called a sacred river.

To Varanasi

2009-07-11T17:02:00.000-07:00

Our goal while planning this yatra was to be in Varanasi on the 23rd, which was Sivarathri. Also, this year, in 2009, as it was a Monday, a special day for Shiva, it was even more auspicious. This train trip was very trying. It was several hours late. No food, no sleep, very tired and not in good moods. The only comfort was that our accommodation, darsan timings etc. were all pre-planned. Also, if you remember, this was our second visit to Varanasi. We vaguely remembered the small lanes and we had no problem reaching the choultry near Hanuman Ghat owned by our priest's family. After freshening up, we went to the Temple for darsan. The next day being Shivarathri, we were concerned about the crowds. The priest Shivakumar agreed. We had darsan of Annapoorna and Visalakshi also. We had meals at the same facility, very simple ones and rested. They provided two beds and a mattress which Rao used on the floor. We paid extra money for that.

Naimish to Ayodhya

2009-07-11T15:44:00.000-07:00

Just to let you know that I have added some photos to my previous post. Please go back to see them, if interested.

Now we are ready to leave for Ayodhya to see Rama Janmabhoomi, Hanuman Temple and Kanak Mahal. We did not make any reservations for accommodations. But we called our priest contact in Varanasi and he suggested we try Birla Yatra place after we got down in Ayodhya.
Pradeep dropped us off at the railway station. We took an auto rickshaw and without any problem reached the Yatra place. As a certified Hindi speaker, i was allowed by my companions to go to the reception desk and find a room. The first person I met in the corridor told me that there was a wedding party there and hence no room is available. But, I did not give up. Tried using my negotiating skills and the manager gladly provided a wonderful room with two double beds and excellent amenities for 320 rupees per night. There was maid service. Paid extra money for an extra blanket. We took an auto to visit the important places. The Babri Masjid that was demolished, the new site for Rama janmabhoomi, the blue print of the site, a small museum etc were seen

We saw a cow doing pradakshinams with her head bent and she was circling around a square area. The security was very heavy. One of the officers told us that that cow goes round and round that area 108 times twice a day. There was lot of dust around due to construction. We had to walk a lot and went through security twice. By now, we were expert walkers.

While walking through that area, I had a vision of Hanuman in his pure white fur. It was like a photo of Hanuman. Finally, I found that photo in one of the shops and the vision stopped. Now I have it framed.

Naimisharanyam and some photos

2009-07-08T04:53:00.000-07:00

Naimishararanya is about 90 km from Lucknow, on the banks of the river Gomathi.
I remember this name from the stories that we hear in Hindu poojas and vratas. This was where many Rishis lived in vedic times. The great sage Vedavyasa included. Rohit made sure, I carried my camera. The road was not very smooth. The 90 km felt longer. The Naimish area was very peaceful. Not a forest anymore. We walked around a lot. Rohit remembered the camera, took lots of candid pictures of that trip. There was no restriction for photo taking. There were many small huts, temples and small ponds. We saw Chakra kund, Vyasa Peetham, Seetha kund, and Dadheechi kund and more. Please click here to see more details.
Nirmala was looking for a particular Vaishnava kshetram., could not remember the exact name for a while. Finally, the most common name of Balaji mandir, took us there.
Naimisharanya was the place where Veda Vyasa taught the Vedas and Puranas to his disciples. Lomaharshana, the disciple of Veda Vyasa narrated the Puranas to the sages here. Shaunaka where Suta Goswami narrated the Bhagavata Purana. Adi Shankaracharya spent time in Naimisharanya and the famous blind bhakti poet Surdas lived here. This place is chrged with spiritual energy. I wish we could spend a night in that area to receive the vibes. Just a car tour is not enough.
A friend of ours Dwarakanath from Tirupathi mentioned that it is of great punyam to recite Bhagavadgeetha in Naimish. Rao and I could read very fast. Nirmala said that she would just listen to us. I read all the 18 chapters while traveling in the Taxi as soon as we entered the forest, I started reading. I looked at Rao and he was snoring. Nirmala said that he dozed off a few minutes ago. But lucky for him, he was able to sit under a huge tree in Naimish and finish the missed chapters.
No money was collected at any place in that area. It was voluntary donation on our part. There was lot of road construction pending.
Rohit decided to take a different route for our return trip hoping it to be more comfortable and short. But, what he did not know was the tons of road repairs that were going on and being a high way, we had to pay some tolls also. It took us longer and experienced lots of bumps on the road. But it was fun.
Rohit was very pleased with the amount that I paid him. Remeber, he was our photographer too.!!!!!
By the way, Naimisharanya is also a Shakti Peetha and has a famous ancient Lalita (Devi) Temple. Rao was thrilled with this.

Lucknow - Feb 20,2009

2009-07-07T17:06:00.000-07:00

See Pradeep, our host and Rajeev's house in the above photos.

Our dear friend Rajeev in Cleveland introduced us to his family friends Pradeep Gade, his wife Lata and their two young sons in this trip via phone.
I was in touch with them over the phone starting from Tirupathi. Pradeep said he would have a Taxi and a reliable driver ready for us at the railway station and we could book a hotel accommodation after arrival. We arrived at 8:40 a.m. To our surprise, he himself came to the station to receive us. Helped us in carrying our luggage. We were overwhelmed with his kindness. Rajeev already told us that with Pradeep and family, we would be very comfortable as if we were with Rajeev and family. He was 100 percent correct.
His home was 11 km from the train station and after checking us into a hotel, he had to go to his office. He stopped at a hotel and found out that there was no vacancy. He walked over to another and came back saying it was not fit for us. Immediately, he called his wife and told her that he was bringing us home. We really felt sorry for her. Lata and I spoke in Tamil. She welcomed us with open arms. She also had to rush to work. She prepared Upma and set the table ready. The house key was left with the family that lived on the ground floor. They both left home for their respective work. We got ready, the Taxi with driver Rohit Singh. a young and charming fellow was waiting for us on the street in front of the house. Our tour to Naimisharanyam began.

Indore to Omkareswar

2009-07-07T05:50:00.000-07:00

Please click on the highlighted ones to see the photos( not taken by me).
Omkareshwar is a place where the actual jyotirlingam is located. The other real Temples are of Mamleshwara, and of Omkareswara. Both are very famous. In addition there are other ashrams like Anadamai ashram which attract many Western tourists. On the banks of the river, I met several French and Germans who were bathing and some were meditating on the banks.

Omkareshwar Road is about 77 km (48 mi) from Indore on the Indore–Khandwa highway. It is about 12 km (7 mi) from the Omkareshwar road station. There are steamboats across the Narmada river and also two connecting bridges.

As we reached the outskirts of the town, we were greeted by the pandas (those self appointed guides) and started quoting prices for their services. Our taxi moved on. As we arrived at the small Choultry, Kshatriya choultry it was 5 p.m. For 175 rupees, we got a room with 3 beds, lot of dust, no hot water. We needed rest and hence went to bed early.
Woke up early in the morning, had cold shower, washed some clothes and hung them in the room on the portable ropes that we carried in our bags. As soon as we stepped out, the aggressive pandas were waiting for us. They promised personal and special pooja, rudram etc. included. They wanted 700 rupees for their services and in spite of my resistance, when they said that we can decide on the amount after the services, Rao assumed that he could pay 300 rupees and agreed to follow them. He had a dip in the river Narmada and we all met at the Temple.
Now it got interesting. One priest became three priests. They agreed to all of Rao's conditions. One being that Rao should be allowed to recite Rudram with them. We could sit close to the Lingam etc. The agreed fee was between 250 rupees and 500 rupees. It was too good to be true. So, I added that I would be happy to pay the agreed upon fee only if I am fully satisfied with their services. Now we face the realty. We sat outside the actual shrine and the pooja items we were asked to purchase from their chosen store was not even opened, did not even lit the incense, they did not even recite the Rudram. They had the guts to ask me (very respectfully, of course) for a donation of 3000 rupees!!! Anyway we got frustrated with the whole issue and got rid of them by paying 735 (600 for the pooja+10 Rs each as dakshina for the 3 priests+105 for the pooja items)rupees. I hope Rao learned his lesson about the Pandas.
We went inside the Temple on our own and had great darsan. With the ill feeling that I carried about the guides, I don't recall much about the inside of the Temple. The outside is very picturesque, with a huge 'OM' written in Samskrit in the top of the hill.
The walk and the climb of the elevation made me a little bit breathless. Nirmala's knee joints bothered her.
We may have to visit this place again to really get some benefit out of the visit.
We arrived at Khandwa by 2 p.m and let the Taxi go and waitindgin the Railway waiting room till our train Pushpak arrived at 5:15 p.m. I felt bad that I hurried him and vetoed his request and Rao could not do the parikrama around the hill and visit the Anandamai ashram.
Now we are headed to Lucknow.

Mahakaleswar and other Temples in Indore

2009-06-15T07:53:00.000-07:00

It is very scenic here. People from all over the world visited the ashrams here. Our interest was mainly in the Jyothir lingam of Mahabaleswar.

Please click here to see more on Mahabaleswar.
The other Temples here are of Gokul, Annapoorna, Chintamani Ganesh, Krishna Balaram and Sudama's Vidya peetham and Mahakali Guha (this Guha was closed - we did not see).

Annapoorna's Temple compound was huge with many small shrines of Shankara, Vinayaka, Hanuman, kalabhairava, Visweswara and so on. Same form with different names.

Dedicated to the goddess Annapoorna, this temple is one among the famous pilgrimage centers in Indore. Not only devotees, but also tourists come to see this majestic shrine. This temple resembles that of Meenakshi Temple of Madurai.

The Pravachan Hall of the temple is also very famous. Four full sized elephants embrace this temple’s gate. Sculptures around are of great artistic value. There are gigantic sculptures of Dasaavatarams.
There is a large kund associated with this Temple, but it was dry and filled with garbage.
After darsans, we proceeded to Omkareswar.

Vereval to Ujjain

2009-06-15T07:30:00.000-07:00

We had train reservation from Vereval to Ujjain. But our expert Auto driver said that very recently, they have added Somnath station and that we could board the train in Somnath itself by showing our existing ticket and paying a small extra charge per ticket. he was right. We paid extra 30 ruppes and boarded the train. Rightaway, Nirmala and Rao dozed off and I started writing my diary.

Sofar, we have spent 30000 rupees for the 3 of us and had wonderful darsans, which happened due to Rao's research, friends' help and mainly some divine force was travelling with us all the way.

We had a meal at Jethalsar junction, we ordered 3 meals and shared it.
Arrived at Ujjain at 3 a.m. It is Feb 17th now. The driver Mukesh met us and no hotel reservation was made. This portion of the trip was organised by Nirmala's niece's husband Sudarsan who had been of great help to us in making domestic train reservations. We wanted to have a bath before having darsan of Mahakaleswar. The driver took us to a type of house where for us two ladies to have a bath, we paid 100 rupees. he wanted extra for providing hot water. I refused to pay since it was not originally agreed upon.
I will write about Mahakaleswar Temple in my next post.

At this point, I have to mention this:

I was looking at the receipt given by the CHANDNI travels in Dwarak (Tinbatti chowk) on one side of which it was written in Hindi and on the other in English. In one small block, they wrote

Dwarka to Amdabad:
Eve. 8:30 (Sliping Shits) Do you know what is in paranthesis? I decoded it to be Sleeping Seats.
Any other answers from any reader of this blog?

More on Dwaraka - in and around

2009-06-05T04:36:00.000-07:00

Dwaraka is mentioned in the Mahabharata and in the puranas like Harivamsa, Bhagavatha, Skanda and the Vishnu puranam. The story goes that this Krishna's Dwaraka was situated near the current Dwaraka, but in time had submerged into the sea - probably a Tsunami?
I don't want to go into the details of the Purana stories, but just want to mention that for the safety of the people, Krishna and the yadavas moved the capital from Mathura to Dwaraka. The people were protected from the attacks of Jarasandha (father in law of Kamsa) who attacked them 17 times.

Dwarakanath Temple

The temple of Shri Krishna consists of a shrine that is supported by 60 pillars made of granite and sandstone. Devotees lined up very quietly and there was no pushing or shoving, no distractions. The darsan and Aarathi were beautiful.

Rukmini Temple:
The Rukmini Temple has beautiful carvings dating back to the 12th-13th century, especially on the pillars of the 'Sabha Mandapa'. The temple was built in honour of Rukmini, the princess of Vidarbha, who later married Krishna.
There is another temple to Rukmini, believed to be the site of Krishna's marriage with her. Archeological excavations have revealed five earlier cities here, all submerged now.

Nageshwar Mandir:
Nageshwar Mandir is a temple dedicated to Lord Shiva and houses one of the 12 Jyotirlingas in an underground chamber.

Beyt/Bet Dwarka:
Beyt Dwarka, is an island at a distance of 30 Kms. Off the coast of Okha port. The island is separated by a strip of sea about 4 Kms wide. It takes about half-an hour to this island in a boat operated by the Port Authority. At Bet, there are temples of Vishnu (in the form of Matsya, the fish), of Devaki, Radha, Lakshmi, Satyabhama, Jambavati.

Porbandar:
South of Dwarka, on the western coast, Porbandar is a picturesque old sea port and Gandhi's birth place. We just drove by - did not even stop.

The Tamil Alwars have sung of Dwarka in a total of 13 verses, in which Nammalwar refers to Krishna as the Lord of Dwaraka.

More on the tours

2009-06-03T14:54:00.000-07:00

Remember the mini van that we took for the tour? Since the space was limited, our 4 pieces of luggage were put on the roof of the van. I was very nervous about the luggage flying away. Checked with the conductor frequently. The bus stopped at a small Temple on the highway. The driver etc. must have stopped for a cup of tea. Nirmala and I checked out for rest rooms. One can release behind a wall (that was the maximum privacy that could be provided there), but due to the scarcity of water, we could not do the job. For men, in India, it is easy. The bus did not stop for lunch and hence made it to Somnath on time. Again, the stop was a little away from the station. Rao had to crossed the main road to fetch an Auto.
The Auto as well as the driver looked old. But the service was wonderful.We paid him only 150 rupees. he gave us lot of good advice and dropped us off at Krishna Hotel who charged only 450 rupees and it was excellent. Early in the morning by 5:30, we finished bath and went to have darsan at the Old Shiva Temple. Rao, with his navigational expertise, took us to the Temples. We had abhishekam done at the old Temple. here also, as usual we saw beautiful moon rise and sun set. By 7 a.m. we were at the new Somanath Temple.
Somanath Temple is awe inspiring. Not only it was huge, but also the cleanest Shiva Temple I have seen. It brought back the information we got from high school days about how this Temple was invaded by Muslims many times.We witnessed the 7 a.m. to 7:30 a.m. aarati. The auto driver being very punctual, we went on our mini tour and visited Krishna Niryanam place(where Krishna left the mortal body), Shankara Matham, Triveni(I forgot the names of the 3 rivers that met here) and the Laksminarayana Temple, which was huge, quiet and very peaceful.
I just have to mention that this part of Gujarat was very dirty. Flies everywhere including on the food being sold. No good toilet fecilities, foul smell everywhere. Being the sea coast and with fisheries industry, added smell was there.
But, with devotees of all ages around you, these little things were not annoyances at all. We had wonderful time.

The two bus tours in and around Dwaraka

2009-06-03T14:13:00.000-07:00

The places we covered were Nageshwar, Gopi Talao, Bet Dwarka and Rukmanimata temple. The first bus was around 8 a.m. in the morning. We took an auto to the tour bus area and waited. The bus commences and terminates journey near vegetable market at Dwarka. The booking is done at offices near vegetable market as well as on Bhadrakali road. Around 8:30 a.m. a bus belonging to Chandni Travels arrived and we boarded and sat in our allocated seats. A few minutes later, we were told that it was a wrong bus and we were asked to get on a different one parked a little further. This one was like a Town or city bus with not much leg space between rows. Was very uncomfortable. It was nearing 9 a.m. and the tour duration being about 5 hours, we were concerned about catching our afternoon tour around 3 p.m. The bus has capacity of 55 seats. The guide spoke some dialect of Hindi. At the end he came near our seat and told us in a quiet voice about what we were visiting. He asked everyone for a tip. We gave, but others did not - for whatever reason. The bus companions were very polite and friendly with each other.
What did we see on this 60 rupees tour? Plenty.

Dwarkadhish, Devaki, Durvasamuni, Lakshminarayan, Madhavraiji and Trivikramji Temples. In addition, some of the following were covered.

Shankaracharya’s Math, Siddheshwar and Indreshwar temples Gomati ghaat, Sangam Narayan and Chakranarayan temples, Kashivishvanath temple,Rukmini's temple, Baldev’s temple, Vasudev’s and Siddheshvar Mahadev Temple.

One of the Jyothirlingams in Dwaraka that we saw was of Nageswara.
The trip to Rukmini Temple on the boat was a memorable one. Will write about it in my next post.

Dwaraka

2009-04-30T10:06:00.000-07:00

While in High school, the beauty of Dwaraka that was described in Bhagavatham by the great Telugu poet Pothana was repeatedly sung by my Telugu teacher and I really enjoyed it. In addition, we were able to add one Jyothirlingam visit and one of Adi Shankara's Sharada peetham which we wanted to cover in this trip.

Nageshwara Jyotirlingam, one of the 12 holy shrines of Lord Shiva, is located near Dwaraka. We covered that. And then, the famous Somanath Temple. I will detail it in a different post.

Dwarka is one of the four Shankara peethams and this one is also called Dwaraka Peetham. We already visited Sringeri in our yatra 2. We went to Chardham on our first yatra, but since it was a package tour, they did not take us to the Shankara Math there. We will be covering Puri Peetham at the end of this yatra.

Sri Krishna and his community migrated to Dwaraka from Mathura area where He was born and raised.

When we got off the train in Dwaraka, there was a Railway Police employee by name I think, Raghuvir, was standing outside the station. One of our helper passengers suggested that we talk to him. He assured us that the Auto rickshaw people are very honest and have a fixed fee to take us to the hotel that is to our liking. We hired one for 20 rupees (this would never happen in Andhra Pradesh, where all of them appear to be so greedy). The first one we checked was Shivam. We made sure, there was hot water for bathing and western style toilet attached to the room. Both were there. The rate was only 375 rupees per night.Also, there was a free shuttle van to take us to the Temple premises. We didn't want to check any more hotels. We liked the name shivam, even though modest, the amenities were there and for Nirmala's sake, coffee was available from 6 a.m. with room service. WOW!!! What a luxury, finally!!
The receptionist gave us a flyer about other tours and explained to us how the tours worked. Our knowledge of spoken Hindi was ok. Chandni travels was recommended for the next day's bus tour. We freshened up in the room and were at the Temple for the 7:30 p.m. Aarathi. The inside shrine was packed with people - but no shouting, pushing, cursing. We had a very peaceful darsan.
As suggested by our Auto driver, we went to a family owned place called Ammami's place to eat. The meals were simple with lot of personal attention and the cost was nominal. It was pure vegetarian (suddha saakhahari) with hot rotis. It felt like we were at home with our family. We purchased our tickets for the other tours - one was 60 rupees each. The second one was 140 rupees.
The night was very peaceful, hottest water for bath and a good night's sleep.
We were ready in the morning for our bus tours.
Perhaps I should write about those tours in my next post.

Valsad to Dwaraka

2009-04-30T06:45:00.000-07:00

The driver was very happy to see us. Got us good seats. The 'boys' of the hotel helped us carry our luggage to the Bus station becuse we had to cross the busy road to take a short cut to the station. The bus left Shirdi at 2 p.m.
Now, it was Friday the 13th, right? Suddenly, there was a traffic jam. Mostly, there were buses and pick-up(lorry) types. We could see a huge truck stuck at the intersection.It was a narrow (high way??) road and there was a ditch to our right. There were already two stranded buses full of passengers on the road. All passengers were concerned - fortunately, there were no panicky ones. Our bus driver was excellent. He was able to turn right on to the only(narrow) street available avoiding the huge ditch and we were on the road, going through unknown villages and streets. he consulted some local residents on the way and suddenly, we saw civilization again. We all applauded!!!!
As we had brought some sandwiches from our hotel restaurant, we ate that on the bus, bought some Limca (lime soda) at one of the halts and I had my first soda in a long time. In spite of all these adventures, we arrived in Valsad on time!! Amazing drivers!!!
WE happily got on the train, the Sourashtra Mail from Mumbai. Witnessed our usual treats of sunset, sunrise, went past Thana, Ahmadabad(remembered some of my friends from this city living in the USA) and Rajkot. The fellow passengers were very helpful giving advice about dos and don'ts and some guarateed good times for us in Dwaraka.
Next post is about Dwaraka.

In and around Shirdi Feb 12th and 13th

2009-04-30T05:25:00.000-07:00

The next day, the 12th was a Thursday. We went for the morning darsan. The wait was long, about 2 hours because of some special abhishekam going on. Nirmala wasn't too pleased with the wait. But for us, it was much less than the Tirumala wait.
We spent extra day in Shirdi to have more darsans and relax after the first hectic week of travel. Nirmala stayed back in the hotel on Friday. Rao and I went for the darsan again. The security was pushing and shoving and were very rude. That happened on Thurday also and that was what turned Nirmala off. She was happy with the attached restaurant to the hotel and the meals that were served there.
We visited Baba's samadhi and the book store etc. Rao made a separate trip to visit the Wada and the Temple store to buy some diaries and have them mailed to his brother in Hyderabad.
On Friday, the 13th, We went to the bus station, could not get accurate information about the buses to Valsad for the next day. We already made train reservation from Valsad to Dwaraka in Gujarat. So, we did not want to miss that. Well, after a few hours, we met with the future driver of the bus who was able to get us reservations on his bus.

The one person at the front desk of the hotel spoke both Telugu and Tamil. He and the others gave Rao a lot of information about the afternoon trip that we were thinking to visit that afternoon. I called Sanjay, the owner of our Taxi and thanked him for arranging such a great driver and to tell him that Shakeel was paid in full and he was on his way back to Poona.
The afternoon trip on Friday included Sakuri and Panchavinayaka.
Sakuri is a small village and the Temple was about 5km. from our hotel. The road was rough. We travelled by an Auto (cheapest) and hence the road felt rougher!!
Ekamukha Ganapathi (but I read somewhere that it is called Ekamukhi because the Dattatreya idol has only one face instead of the usual three faces) was the main deity here. This was supposedly swayambhoo in a tree. But Kanyakumari was there too. Hanuman had a place and I was happily surprised to see Sri Sathya Sai baba's picture there.
Now the panchamukha (five faced) was in the opposite direction from our hotel and we passed our hotel in the Auto rickshaw. We were again fortunate to see the wheat fields, the rural life and the magnificient sunset. This, the priest said was the only Vinayaka with Vishnu and Lakshmi included in the idol. The priest spoke Telugu and said that he was from Proddutoor of Cuddapah district and performed a very elaborate pooja for us and gave some akshathas(sacred rice coated with turmeric) to be used for any auspecious occasion in the family in the future. We paid 51 rupees per Gothram.
Now, those who know about vinayaka, also know that his vahanam (vehicle) is the mouse. We were each asked to whisper our wish into the ear of the mouse there and never tell anyone what the wish was about!! I haven't told any and my wish is still pending!! But I do have hopes!!!
We returned to the hotel happy. Nirmala and I ate at the attached restaurant and Rao went to check out the Andhra Guntur hotel.

Shani Temple in Shinganapur and Shirdi

2009-04-27T14:56:00.000-07:00

Before we left Aurangabad,Shakeel suggested we see Bibi Ka Mukhbara (Muqbara). This visit broke the monotony and none of us had any objection to visit a tomb.

Bibi ka Mukbara resembled Taj Mahal, but lacked the richness and the crowd. It is a tourist attraction in Aurangabad. It was built by Prince Azam Shah, son of Emperor Aurangzeb, in the late 17th century. But this one was a tribute to his mother, Dilras Bano Begam. Both the Taj Mahal in Agra(built in 1629 by a husband) and Bibi Ka Mukhbara (built in 1679 by a son)are monuments of love.
We were able to take photos in and around the structures. There was a small fee for entrance - do not remember how much.

Now we are driving towards Shirdi. Shinganapur is famous for the Shani Temple. It is half way from Aurangabad to Shirdi. This was my second visit to this place. The first one was in 1997 by bus from Hyderabad with my friends. We visited both Shirdi and Shinganapur.
From Ellora, it was a long drive to get a meal. Shakeel probably wasn't that hungry and kept on driving. Finally found a place on the highway and the meals were great. The drive was beautiful and pleasant with lots of fruit trees, cotton fields, sugar cane, wheat etc.
First about the pooja at the Shani Temple. It was an abhishekam with sesame oil. Only men are allowed to do it. This I knew even before. But this time, we fell for the agent who approached us, did not give even time to breathe and we paid 250 rupees each for each pooja sponsorship. Rao was supposed to wrap a special cloth around and go to the Shani statue with the items given by the shop owner and was not to look back. When Shakeel found out that we paid 250 rupees, he was much concerned and went to the shop and brought back 100 rupees refund for each sponsorship!!! He proudly handed over the 200 rupees to me which when we settled the taxi account with him on the final day, I gave it to him as a gift. He refused at first, but took the money.
We reached Shirdi by 7 p.m. The first hotel we saw was Saichatra and we checked in. It was 2 km from the Sai Temple and the bus stand was just accross from the hotel. We said 'good bye' to Shakeel at this point and made reservations to go to Valsad by bus for Feb 13th. I will write about that later.
By the way, that hotel was solar powered excepting the elevator which was powered by electricity and naturally with power cut etc. the elevators were not functioning most of the time. By now, we were able to climb three levels easily.

Indian art etc.

2009-04-16T06:44:00.000-07:00

This site gives a lot of informationon on Indian art and sculptures.

All religions included.

The map again

2009-04-13T17:40:00.000-07:00

I should have posted one like this long time ago when I started writing my 2008 - 2009 blog

Better late than never. I will highlight the places we visited.

View Larger Map

The Ellora caves on Feb 11th, 2009

2009-04-03T05:49:00.000-07:00

From Aurangabad, we drove to Ellora caves. It was about 30 km. drive. By now, we have gotten used to waking up very early in the morning. Most of the times, we would wait for the driver. It is the 'Indian puncuality' for the others. Always later than the time that was fixed.

The parking fee for Indians was 10 rupees per person. Rao paid thirty rupees for the 3 of us. For non-Indians the fee is 100 rupees. We parked the car and then we were asked to hire an auto-rickshaw to take us from one group of caves to the other.

The total number of caves were 35 all structures excavated out of the vertical face of the Charanandri hills. They consist of Buddhist, Hindu and Jain cave temples and monasteries dating back to the 5th century and 10th century. The 12 Buddhist caves were 1-12, 17 Hindu caves 13-29 and 5 Jain caves 30-34 - you can see the religious harmony that was prevalent then.

I walked the least in these caves. Rao walked the most. But this gave me an opportunity to take some photos and also observe other tourists, talk to some and also, to contemplate more on my life in general. Shakeel kept company with me.
Most of the sculptures were ruined by the Muslim fanatics.

I was impressed by the fact that all those temples, balconies and sculptures have been carved out of one piece of rock.

The Kailasa Temple is the masterpiece of all. It is the Shiva Temple and is the world’s largest monolithic sculpture, supposedly built by 7000 laborers over a 150-year period. Over 200.000 tons of rock has been removed to create the temple. I wondered how someone even could think of destroying and defiguring those sculptures!

It is awe inspiring and a must see for all. I am still trying to upload some photos that I have taken in this trip.

Feb 10th - Thriyambakam, Ghrishneswar, Ellora caves

2009-04-01T05:03:00.000-07:00

We covered two Jyotirlingams and Panchavati and Seetha guha on this day. As Rao was on his own somewhere around, only we, the two ladies went to see Seetha guha. It was really in an underground cave. We entered just with curiosity and it was an adventure. We had to crawl a small distance before we got out. I wonder how they even built a shrine inside and how they carry pooja items inside the temple!!!
I was thrilled when I heard that Hanuman's birth place was in the vicinity. But, as it was 2 km. walk, I backed off. Recently, I read somewhere that if Mars is in the fifth house of your birth chart, you worship God in the form of Hanuman. Now, I have to check my horoscope!!!. I seem to call on Him a lot!!

Thriyambakeswar is not only the abode of the jyothir lingam,(the 8th one in the order),but also, the origin of river Godavari. The Goddess in this temple is called Trimbakeshwari. Papaharini Theertam is located here and this is where Rao took bath before visiting the temple (which is considered as a holy bath). This Theertham is formed by Godavari waters after falling from Brahmagiri. (If you see my previous yatra's Karnataka post,I mentioned Tala Kaveri,which is the beginning of the Kaveri river).The region of these hills is called Sahya giri. The belief being that the Sun, Moon and Agni form the 3 eyes of Shiva and by worshipping to this lingam, one has worshipped the Trinity Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva.

Rao had a dip in river Godavari, his long cherished wish - by taking a bath in the Paapaharini Theertham. Nirmala and I did not venture the public bath.
The links above show the map of Rama's travel path in those forests.
The Thrayambakam lingam was really huge (wide base). We were able to touch most of the lingams. The spelling of the names may vary. I spelled the way I pronounced the word.

By the time we finished our darsans, it was 5;30 p.m. and we were told that the Ellora caves were closed. Well, what can you see in the dark, anyway. Moreover, we were exhausted too!! We decided to drive upto Aurangabad for night stay.
Called my son to tell him about the Hanuman's birthplace etc. He was in a conference in Montreal and could not talk. Tried calling my sister in Nellore, could not get connected. We had a 'half-plate' meal in an adjacent hotel.
Our next visit was to the Ellora caves, whose hours were from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

Visit to Narayanapur Balaji Temple - Feb 7th

2009-04-01T04:29:00.000-07:00

Narayanapur is about 50 km. from Pune. There are buses also from Swargate bus station about 3 km. from Pune and it would be 3 to 4 hour journey by bus. Nirmala knew the priest's family and his parents who lived there. We very much wanted to get the blessings of that elderly and very pious couple. It appeared as though Shakeel knew every corner of Maharashtra. He drove us there which was a tiny and remote village. The parking lot was a good long walk from the temple.
The Temple looked like a replica to the Tirumalai Temple - but less crowded. The security was not rude (unlike Tirupathi where they push you, sqeeze your arm and so on unless you have a TTD badge hanging on your body). Laddu prasadam was given to each devotee after the darsan, which, we could finish in half an hour. Rao, gave his share of laddu to Shakeel as usual and Shakeel finished the whole laddu!!!. They were very systematic here with separate lines for men and women. No cameras or cell phones were allowed inside the temple, but you could leave them at the counter with security people.

The other temples inside the compound were of Padmavathi, Mahalakshmi, Goda devi and SriKrishna. There was one for Kubera outside the compound. The pooja pattern is similat to the one at Tirumalai.

One word of caution. If you ever travel to this place try to reach before dusk for your safety on the winding ghat roads.

After the wonderful darsan, we visited our friends who gave two more laddus. We were fortunate that we got the blessings of that elderly couple also.

As this was part of my previous post, I need to comment here that after re-visiting Chintamani Vinayaka and Bheema Shankar Jyothir lingam, we drove to Nasik. Rao spent hours before our departure planning the most efficient and economical way to cover all these places. That saved us lot of money and stress.

Ashta Vinayak - Feb 7th, 8th and 9th

2009-03-30T14:26:00.000-07:00

The driver suggested that we cover four Temples the first day and the other four the next day. In addition to these 8 Vinayaka Temples, we wanted to visit a Venkateswara Temple in Narayana puram. I will write about it separately. We were excited about this ashtavinayak trip more as we sat in the taxi early in the morning. The first four were Chinthamani in Theur, Sri Moreswar in Morgoan, Siddhivinayak in Siddhatek and Mahaganapathi in Ranjangaon. Being a muslim, Shakeel did not enter any of the temples, but the respect and reverence he showed was superb. Rao offeredhim prasad from each of the temples and he took it with great devotion. I teased him by asking whether he took it as prasad or it was just that he had a sweet tooth. He smiled and replied 'both'.
Again, Shakeel advised that we stay near Mahaganapathi temple vicinity and also gathered the information that to complete our 8 vinayak tour, we were supposed to visit Chintamani again. Nirmala and I thought it was too much timewise and moneywise. But we had no choice. We obeyed with some reluctance. The hotel was simple with hot water etc. to bathe and cost was only 400 rupees. Meals were available in a restaurant, only few feet away.
On the 8th we continued on our journey at 7 a.m. to go back to Chintamani. The western ghats were a beautiful sight. We felt very safe with Shakeel's driving. The hills and valleys were never ending. We had lunch at a highway Dhaba and it was excellent (even for Nirmala) and including the tip, we spent only 190Rs. for the four of us.
This time, we crossed four rivers and I remember the names only of two. Bheema and Velu. Two large towns I noticed were Narayangaon and Khandala.
The other four Vinayakas were Girijaatmaja in Lenyadri, Vighneswar in Ozur, Ballaleswar in Pali and Varadvinayak in Mahad.
On the 9th, we re-visited theC hintamani Vinayak and the Bheema Shankara, one of the Jyothir lingams. It was a very long walk to reach the temple - but was well worth the walk. Along the path vendors were selling fresh sugarcane juice with a touch of lemon juice.
Please click on the links to learn more about those temples.

To Pune............Feb 6th

2009-03-30T14:01:00.000-07:00

Here, I have to first mention the name of a young friend Raj who lives in Cleveland. He introduced us to his family friend (Bharti) in Pune, over the phone and they were extremely helpful in the local travel arrangements. By which I mean, the taxi, the wonderful owner (Sanjay) of the taxi and the efficient taxi driver (Shakeel). I owe them a million thanks for making our stay in Maharashtra so comfortable. Raj played a key role!!!

We had a busy schedule ahead of us. We took a bus from Kolhapur to Pune. The hotel reception desk told us that it would be easier carrying the luggage to the bus station ourselves rather than hiring an Autorickshaw. The luggage pieces looked innocently small, but were heavy. It was a very busy road to cross, even though we could see the station. Rao carried all the luggage in two trips. We offered to help, but he would not let us carry that heavy luggage.
We bought the tickets to Pune on the bus. It was a Govt. bus and we paid only 200 Rs. per person. The ride to Pune was very comfortable and was about 6 hours long. Shakeel was supposed to meet us at a certain spot. But, with a lot of confusion from both ends, we had to wait for more than an hour before we met him. He introduced us to a hotel and we decided to stay there. The place is called 'Silvermoon'. We felt it was expensive for the amenities that were provided. But overall, it was comfortable. The service was good. Later on we found out that the management was Telugu speaking. Since they grew up in Pune, their Telugu was different. I was glad that Rao was just happy and did not start correcting their Telugu.

It was Gayatri's birthday and we called her and left a message. We rested that night well.

P.S. to my post Kolhapur and Mahalaksmi Mandir

2009-03-26T08:23:00.000-07:00

I forgot to mention that after the big pooja, after visiting the other deities inside the Temple, when we came out from the main building, the first thing I noticed was a shop/booth where the vendors were selling Maharashtra lottery tickets. I mused - the devotees must have so much faith in their 'Goddess of fortune!!'. Believe me, people were buying!!!

Beware friends!!!!

Also, as I was going through my travel receipts, I just (March 30, 2009) noticed that for that Panchaamrit abhishek, we paid Rs.401 each, in cash and the receipt shows that we paid only Rs.250 each.

We stayed at Subra hotel which was perfectly fine for our needs. And it was walking distance from the central Bus station. We were to take a bus to Pune from there.

But here is more info. for those interested in going there.

Mahalakshmi dharma saala
Shanthi Prakasa dharma saala
Mangala karyalayam
Mangalaram Karyalayam and so on
The first one is just 100 meters from the Temple.

In addition, there are some western style tourist hotels like Maharaj, Meghna etc.
Transportation buses are very comfortable and good.
To tour the city, M.T. Dev board has special buses. Ask them for 'karaveer darsan bus'. There are private tour buses also.

The Temple hours were 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. with some exceptions which varied.

12 Jyothirlingams that we covered.

2009-03-26T06:00:00.000-07:00

But for Kedarnath and Rameswaram, we covered the rest of the ten in this trip alone.
We visited those in our two previous yatras.

click here
This link should give all the important facts about these sacred places. I will detail my comments soon. I need to finish the Ashta Vinayakas first having visited them first after leaving Kolhapur.

Now to Srisailam

2009-03-21T09:09:00.000-07:00

On Dec 14th, the three of us started for Srisailam by Taxi and again saw the most beautiful sunrise. This time the road was good. Srisailam is located on black hills (Nalla mala) about 1200 ft above sea level. The total area is about 30 square miles. East west is about 4 miles and North south is about 7 miles. The important Shiva kshethrams around this area are as follows:

East Thripuranthakam
South Siddhavatam
West Alampuram
North Umamaheswaram

NE Eleswaram
SE Somasila
NW Pushpagiri
SW Sangameswaram

I gathered more information on this because it is one of the Jyothir lingams (Mallikarjuna)as well as (Bhramaraamba)Sakthi Peetham. Probably this is the only place where they are in the same compound.

We planned to reach Srisailam around 6 p.m. since we were to meet with Rao's bother and sister-in-law (remember ? they were in our party in the previous trip?)at the bus station. They promptly arrived from Hyderabad as we approached. Now, weneeded accommodation. We had two choices. One was the karivela choultry and the other was Srividya peetham. The first one, as Nirmala and I previously experienced, was very inexpensive with minimal fecilities. The second was new to us. Rao preferred the second. I assumed that it would either free or low cost since Rao had donated a very large amount to them a few years ago. We connected with our contact person and found out from their office that there were only two rooms available and we had to go two floors up. Meals are served at designated hours, would be along walk to the Temple area or should go by car and that the room rent was 300 rupees plus. I was upset and disappointed. Rao did not mind, but, we, the others minded bercause of the fact that they received one lakh rupees from Rao, their was no name of Rao on the donors list and on top of it they were charging us this much money for the room where the plumbing was very bad, toilets won't flush and so on. Also, when we finally met our contact in person, he sold Rao a book written by his nephew(?) for 200 rupees. I bet Rao would never even read that book. We gullible Americans!!!
One good news. The kitchen crew were excellent. Originally from the Northern part of India, but spoke good Telugu, great cooking and great service.

Now the spiritual, ritual stories:

We checked into the room and immediately went for darsan.At the Temple, met with a young man by name Chalapathi, who was our guide(not a hired one, but Nirmala's acquaintance). He suggested that we do the milk abhishekam to the Vriddha(old) Mallikarjuna then and return to the Temple for the early a.m. aarathi and to meet him outside the temple in a certain spot around 4 a.m. We were very pleased that we were able to have such personal service, touching the lingam etc.
The next morning, we woke up at 2 a.m. with Nirmala's cell phone alarm which sounds like a rooster's'kokkorokko' The three women were in one room and the two brothers in the other. We were ready and reached the Temple by 4 a.m. promptly. But we had to wait till 6 a.m. for that morning aarathi. [By the way, in India, if someone says' will see you, will be back in 5 minutes, it is never 5 minutes - it could go upto 5 hours also. Same goes to the phrase 'it is not too far, it is right there' - it can be 2 to 3 kilometers!!!].
We had wonderful darsans and now Rao decided to go to Alampur(the next day) with me and Nirmala. So, we dropped off his brother and s-i-l, (who had already bought their return tickets to Hyderabad) at the bus station after breakfast, around 11 a.m. and continued on our return to Nandikotkur. We just could not find a place to eat. Wer very hungry.Around 2 p.m.. we spotted a small hut type area in Atmakur, where they were serving Idli, Dosa type which wasacceptable to Nirmala also. The place was filthy. We had hot heat-hot)dosa and Rao added Idli also. We did not even drink the water that was served. On the way back, saw the spectacular sunset again.
Within few hours after reaching home, I started vomitting and had to go to the bathroom a few times. Rao was up all night with more severity of similar problem.
Moral: Don't eat anywhere you like just because you are hungry !!!
Nirmala's sister was very sorry for us. She even commented 'you Americans have very sensitive stomachs!!'.

I must add that we went to Thripuranthakam Temple which is close to a town called Dornaala first. The female consort Balathripurasundari is Thripurasundari (which many Telugu families named their daughters after in olden days). There are temples and worshippers of this form all over the world. We had lunch there after darsan and then proceeded to Srisailam.
If we saw the Srisaila sikharam(the roof top of a temple), you would get moksham (no rebirth). So far, I have seen it twice (now they are charging money to see it from that particular spot). If I am wrong in giving any of this information, please feel free to correct me. Comment freely.

P.S. Previously, we visited Srisailam Temple several times, separately and now I see it has grown a lot in riches and businesses and devoties. We did not see the pathala ganga

In the 50s and 60s, my father used to go a place called Markapuram which is more than 40 miles from Srisailam and from their walk to Srisailam.
I could not take any photos. Also, since legally I cannot use others' personal blogs, I just want to mention one blog that is superb. You can visit it away from my blog. The name is shanthirajudotwordpressdotcom. Lots of information there. I loved it!!!

Passport and more....

2009-03-19T06:21:00.000-07:00

I just had to add this information before I forgot the details.
While in Tirupathi, we went to the TTD choultry Srinivasam to book a room for Srikanth and Gayatri's family. It was hard to get rooms and so Nirmala had to use her influence as a retired employee to get a room for her guests. My purse was too tiny and so I asked her to carry it in her purse. She obliged and carried it with her inside the office room. My purse contained my American passport which I always carried for identification purposes and I also had Rs.7300, a small picture of Saibaba in the purse. She got one large room, paid the deposit and the other fees. When we reached home, I wanted to pay her back and asked for my purse. She did not have it! She dropped it some where (it could have been only in that office room). We made a few phone calls and no one had good news. Being a Friday, we were at Tiruchanur also. So, we called the office there and no one found it. I was worried about my passport and my return to the USA. Nirmala and I were on the Auto many times going from one Police station to the other and finally on Saturday evening, filed a written complaint at the crime police station.
I could not contact the US consulate. Went to the Cyber cafe, got on the internet and gathered all the info I could about the procedures and policies on getting a new passport. I will post that below. In the meantime,I promised Hanuman that I will recite Chalisa 11 times a day for 40 days (ending on Feb 21st) and somehow to get me the passport. Started reciting the same day. Called the US consulate on Monday morning and they told me that it was no problem since I carried my old passport also - all I needed was $100.00 in cash or pay by a credit card and two photos. I was ready with all that. I then called Srikanth's family in Chennai and told them thatI would be there to get my new passport. They expressed their happiness to see me again!!! My train to Chennai was around 5 p.m and I get a phone call from the Police station at 4 p.m. saying that someone had mailed my passport to their address from Chittoor (a neighboring city) and to come and pick it up!! The circle Inspector was extra polite, I was asked to withdraw the complaint. Neither my small purse nor my other contents were returned. Perhaps it was because I forgot to mention to Hanuman about my other stuff!!!:). Nirmala questioned the fact that there was no postal stamp on the so called envelop that was sitting on the CI's table. Also, we filed the complaint on Saturday around 6 p.m. and they got it in the mail on Monday???? We did not think that the Indian Postal dept. had improved that much!!! As long asmy passport was intact, nothing else mattered to me at that point.

Anyway, here is the information that may be useful for any in such situation:

Passpot lost???:
No appointment neccessary - just walk in. Make sure they are open. Because they are closed on Indian holidays also.

You NEED
Police report (the consulate told me that this report is for you be able to leave the country not to obtain a new passport. We need the passport to enter our country).

Forms DS - 11 and DS - 64

Two 2X2 photos

Old (expired) passport, if any.

US Consulate in Chennai:

American Citizen Services(ACS)
220 Anna Salai,Chennai 600006

Phone# 44-28574000
Fax# 44 2857 4344
E-mail address: chennaics@state.gov

HOPE YOU NEVER LOSE YOUR VALUABLES!!!!