First long drive on our new car-Ghati

We had our very exciting first long drive in our new car on 12th December to the famous Subrahmanyeswara temple in Ghati. The temple and decoration were awesome and we felt very happy to begin our new series with a great place.

    

                              
                

       

          From there we proceeded to Nandi Hills which is 25 KM from Ghati. This was the most memorable part of the drive since my husband was going up a hill for the first time, that too in a new vehicle with no prior planning or preperation. At the end when we reached the top of the hill, we were as if we reached the top of Everest peak. The ghat to reach the top leaves us with good scenic beauty. We can feel so pleasant the atmosphere on the top. May be the time reached there also was great part of day to be there(Evening time).                       

                                         There were some temples on the top and down the hill there was a temple 1200 years old which was the highlight of the day's tour. The very old type of construction, the spacious surroundings, the calmness that brings peace of mind ....... left us all with feelings far out of reach of description.

                               
                                             By the time we reached down the hill, the Sun god was on the way back to his adobe to take rest for the rest of the day. We were told that there was a statue of big Nandi near by in that village so we proceeded to that spot. This was a place something like a horror film scene with no light at all in the visibility except our car lights. Even the room where the Nandi is present is also disappeared spot with no shade of clues at all to be recognized. But we were lucky to try our luck with cell phone lights an camera flash that presented us the darshan of the gigantic Nandi. So thus the ending was great to a great starting.

Flying on wheels

                     Many a times we had long drive from Bombay to Pune. But the drive that dropped us at SriVardhan Beach was an outstanding bit that presented us a great memory to be treasured for a life time. The inspiration for this was drawn when we first went to visit the Murud-Janjira fort that was in the middle of the sea. This itself was a wonderful place that again on the way shows us the stunning beauty of Kashid beach where we can relax in the hammocks. The view of Janjira fort is too good while you drive towards it.
        When we were at Janjira fort we found that we can opt for a ferry to go to Diveagar from Janjira which carries our bike too. So our next target was to finish the Diveagar-Srivardhan-Harihareshwar on our Rajahamsa "pulsar".

                                           

                                  Next weekend we were on road early in the morning and reached Janjira jetty in around 2 1/2 hours. We were on a challenging drive to catch the ferry in the last moment. (if we miss that ferry we have to again wait for 1 hour for the next trip). The ferry took around 45 minutes to drop us at Dighi jetty. From there we again started our engine to reach Harihareshwar. our actual plan was to finish off the 3 places on the same day. But the MTDC cottage in Harihareshwar tempted us to have a break to enjoy the adjacent beach and peaceful surroundings. Luckily w got a room there despite it being a weekend.              
                                                                     
                                We had some break and fresh up in the cottage and had our lunch. The restaurant here is on the sea shore that makes us enjoy the nature in the waiting time of the food order as well as the hot dishes on the cool shore. In the evening we visited the Harihareshwar temple that was again on another shore.The idol in the temple had Brahma-Vishnu-Maheshwar and Goddess Parvathi incarnated on the same stone. The rest of the day was a peaceful time that was spent in the echo of the roaring waves of the sea.
                                  The next day we completed Srivardhan  and then headed to Diveaghar where the temple of Golden Ganapathy is famous. This was a Swayambhu Ganapathy temple where even the golden ornaments of lord Ganapthy were found along with the idol of the lord. We found the temple constructions here to be just as that of a house which makes us search for them. We spent a little time in the beach and raised the accelerator again to fly to Mumbai. On the way one can capture great beauty of the nature because we drive a long way on the road which has sea on its side. On the way we went on the top of a hill where there was a Datta temple. From there we had an eye-feasting view of Murud-Janjira fort and the coastal area.

                         So, that was our adventurous bike ride to wind up the konkan region in a memorable way.                                              




                                                

Energizing the spiritual angle of life-Datta Kshetras

               A dream come true tour to Datta kshetras took place on a long week end i.e.; 1^st of April 2010, Thursday. We both got tickets in Coimbatore Express till Gangapur in Tatkal in sleeper class. So our yatra started at 10.30 PM at LTT, Mumbai. We got down at Gangapur at around 8.30 AM and booked tickets at this station for return journey from Kolhapur in Tatkal. We reached the temple by auto and the roads were too worse. Still, thinking about the great destination we were about to reach, the condition of the roads couldn’t disturb our inner placidity. We took a lodge at bus stop just to keep our luggage and took a ticket of Rs 1001/- to perform pooja, Abhishekam, Annadanam and Madhukaram (Bhiksha). This is like some package and goes on in a formal procedure. We reached Sangam in Auto and took a dip in the holy water sanctified by the touch of Lord Nrisimha Saraswathi. As such there is no room there for ladies to change the dress after taking bath. You must be prepared to go in the wet clothes only.

               The udumbara vriksha on the shore of Sangam is known to be the form of god which is very powerful indeed. We did circumambulations to that tree. There we find many people in saffron dress doing parayana of Gurucharitra so the atmosphere there seems very peaceful and pious. We then returned to the temple and went through the pooja and other sevas available through the ticket.  The very sight of the Nirguna padukas here is a great luck to be counted in ones spiritual journey.

              After finishing darshan, it was the time of Arathi so we find lot of people gathering there in the temple. As soon as the sound of drums starts, the people suffering from evil spirits and other such problems start dancing, jumping and moving in their own ways which seems a bit terrifying.  The people there believe that they will get rid of those evil spirits if they have darshan here in Gangapur. (We can find the promise made by Sripada Srivallabha Swami in this regard in the book Sripada Srivallabha Charitamrutham). Then we came back to the room to collect our luggage and caught an ST bus to move to Akkalkot.

              The Bhakta nivas rooms maintained by the sansthan in Akkalkot are pretty good and they keep you very near to the main temple. We reached there by evening, had room In Bhakta nivas, got fresh up and started for Akkalkot darshan in Auto. This covers the points Sheik Nuruddin Dargah, Cholappa Math, Balappa Math, Gajanan maharaj Math, a museum of armors and some temples. At last we had the darshan of the main temple at 9 PM. Having a glance at the articles used by Swami and padukas gifted by Him left us with great feeling of joy.

                    Next morning, we had darshan of swami once again and started in a bus to Tuljapur which took around 1 ½ hour journey.  We kept our luggage in the cloak room in the bus stop and proceeded for the darshan of Bhavani Devi. You can even take a guide for assisting in darshan @Rs 150/- .  The idol of Bhavani maa is very small but very attractive that fixes your glance on it. Our next destination was Pandarpur, the place that gave the history many saints to make Maharashtra a great state of mahatmas. Luckily, the crowd there was nominal so we finished our darshan within 45 minutes which is highly impossible in general. If you go there at the time of Ashadha Ekadasi, it may take more than 24 hours to have the darshan. The happiest thing here is that everyone can touch the idol of Sri Vitthal and Rukmini.  You can find many small temples in the premises of the main temple.  Then we were pushed to Kolhapur to get the darshan of one of the 18 Shakti peethas in India, that is of Mahalakshmi. It takes 5 hours in bus to reach here. The sansthan rooms here are not at all good that you have to go for the option of hotel out side.  We stayed in Hotel Atithi near railway station which was economical. Next morning we had the darshan of Goddess Mahalaxmi at early hours. We were blessed to have spent around 15 minutes in front of the idol of Goddess very peacefully. That was a fantastic darshan. If you have enough time, you can even go to Bhillavati (Audumbar) from here. 

                        Our next stop was at Narsobawadi which is a very peaceful place to spend time in spiritual sadhana. It was well maintained when compared to Gangapur and the Krishna –Pancha Ganga sangam was also very comfortable to have a dip in. we spent time doing pradaksinas, parayana of Guru charitra which left in our minds very serene impression. Better to go through book Dattavatara mahatmyam written by Sri Ekkirala Bharadwaja master before visiting this place. That gives you information about the ashrams of different mahatmas in the surrounding area.  We returned to Kolhapur and in the evening, we went to see the Kaneri Math which is worth visiting. The sculptures there, are so realistic and informative. 3 ^rd day, we were in Mahalaxmi express to put and end to a heartfelt and spiritually powerful tour.

                   

Floating on the waves of Konkan

               We both started on our beautiful and exiting (of course romantic too) tour to south Konkan on 25^th of September 2009. We booked train tickets of Mandovi express & MTDC Resort in Tarkarli ‘well in advance’. (Must appreciate Sreeram,  my husband , in this regard) We expected our trip to last for a weak so booked return ticket for 3^rd of October.                                   

               We got down in Kudal station at around 6.15 PM which was around 1 hour late. (Generally the train arrives late there.) We took a rikshaw for 250/- and reached Tarkarli MTDC resort . The way was so dark & isolated that we both felt we were a bit lucky enough to reach there at least by that time; otherwise it might had been a bit fearful. The resort of Tarkarli was sea facing with individual cottages for allotment.  Ours was a non-ac booking. It had an attached restaurant Sagar  Darshan where we had our dinner and had a chat with the person at resort reception about the next day’s sight seeing plan. But that person is not so aware of how to enjoy the surroundings. In the resort you can see the power cut problem where you can find absolute darkness and can silently listen to the great roaring  music of the sea waves. But need not worry much about power cut , they’ll start the generator within 5-10 minutes. Even during normal times, the voltage seems fluctuating. The cottages are good enough and even the services are.

                                  The next day morning, we started at around 7 in the room with a plan to go for boating in Tarkarli Jetty. We started walking as per the directions of the reception guy and some others and were at last on a wrong route. Though on wrong route, were lucky to meet a nice person Gajanan Kubal who is a popular personality there. He even had a taxi. He directed us to the boating spot. Most of those village people speak only Marathi. During the boating, we visited Deobagh beach, a small temple, sangam where the river meets the sea and an island which was the best of all. We were served with gavan-chutney (local name for dosa and coconut chutney) on the island. We spent around 45 minutes roaming on the island and the total boating trip lasted for 2 hours. Then we had our lunch and headed to Malvan Jetty to visit Sindhudurg fort which was in the middle of the sea. With the help of the guide, we completed darshan of fort which reflected the great architechtural skills of the engineers of the past and the great Shivaji.

                             If we had an extra set of dress with us, we would have directly gone for the best part of our trip and a life time experience- Snorekeling. So we had our lunch in a hotel in Malvan and purchased a pair of shorts and T-shirts to change into for snorkeling. We again reached  the Malvan jetty. Here, if there are 2 couples, they’ll charge you 250/- per head. Since we were the only 2 daring persons at that time,  we’d  to pay one ticket extra for that adventure, which we found very less once we finished the task. As such there are no changing rooms available there but we used the bathrooms available there and headed forward for the exiting feat. We were 2 and were accompanied by 6 others in the boat (to assure our safety). Again we reached the surrounding of sindhudurg fort but this time landed into the sea. At the moment I hugged the life belt and left the boat to float on the sea water, My god! It was a breath holding moment. But slowly it seemed very exciting  and by the time we finished the event, we didn’t feel like leaving the water surface & stepping into the boat. Hats off to the person who was with us in the sea, for his patience in making us feel free in the water and enjoy the great view of corals of 1000’s of years of age, variety of fishes & life under the sea which you can watch comfortably in discovery channel at home. But here you explore everything live. Really-a great experience to be treasured for a life time. Even after reaching the resort, I could still feel the glance of the under water world for a considerable time.

                                We then went to Jai Ganesh temple before we reached the rock garden in the evening to catch the fantastic view of the sun setting into the sea. Then we reached he resort to end the day.

                   On day 2 in the early hours, we visited Kunkeshwar mandir located on the sea shore, Vijayaghad fort, Rameshwar temple in Achara and Bharadi devi temple in Angnewadi. The total distance summed up to 195 KM which we travelled in maruti van driven by Mr.Gajanan Kubal and it costed Rs 8/- per KM

                 Next morning we bade good bye to Tarkarli and reached Sawanthwadi in ST bus in 2 hours which runs via Kudal. There we checked in in  Konkan Crown resort which was near to Sawanthwadi railway station. The hotel person picked us up at the ST bus stop of Sawanthwadi.  After breakfast, we arranged an auto for Rs 500/- (Mr Sanjay Tarawade, a local person) and completed the visit of Lotus resort in Aronda on the banks of Kiran Pani. The special feature of this resort is, it has got 10 floating cottages which go up during high tide and come down during low tide. They don’t even have the foundation on the earth. We felt that to be suitable for a relaxation of 2-3 days to escape from the hectic scheduled life. Then we continued our safar to visit Redi Ganapathy  mandir, Velaghar beach in Shiroda. After lunch we proceeded to Vetoba Mandir in Aravali, Vengurla Bandar and Deep stambh(light pole). Then we returned to Konkan Crown. During night we just roamed in Sawanthwadi market which has got no significant speicallity. Again the rout to resort at late night will be a bit fearful as you find nothing other than thick darkness all around.

                           The next day too we booked the same Sanjay Tarawade to visit Amboli, the hill station known as Mahabaleshwar of Konkan. The points would have left us with more pleasure if the roads to reach the points were good.  Still it’s worth visiting due to it water falls (Dab Daba the biggest of all) and ghat road journey on fog filled road. We were back at Sawanthwadi ST bus stop to catch a bus to Panjim. It took around 1 ½ hour to reach Panjim and then we headed to Calangute to stay in hotel Mira near the market which was economical (Rs 800/- per day) due to off season.

We booked a tour bus to south Goa the next day through the hotel manager which started at 9 o’clock in the morning. It was a 17 seater. We thus visited Mangeshi and Shanta Durga temples, wax museum, Goa Heritage, Colva beach and 2 churches out of which one has preserved the dead body of St.Xavier from many years without the use of any preservatives. We also came across Dona paula and Miramar beach. At last we boarded in a Cruise which was again good time to spend late in the evening. 

                            After having the sight of great beaches in Konkan, we found the beaches in Goa not so interesting. Comoparitively, there, the beaches are clean, may be due to less population and popularity. The next day was a tour to North Goa which we felt a bit boring. It comprised of 3 beaches- Baga, Anjana & Calangute, a temple of Bodageshwar, a church famous for its architecture, a fort (which was again low rated when compared to Shivaji forts of Maharastra). In the evening we roamed on the roads to do a little shopping.

                                 Our tour came to an end  on the 8^th day as we reached Bombay in Mandovi express on the 2^nd of October. Being the time of monsoon , the day time journey on this route is fantastic with lot of water falls on the way, say, a feast to eyes. Thus we had a long break of this busy life of Metropolitan.

Arunachalam-The place of great peace

Our series of tours took a beginning in Karnataka state with the very holy place-Thiruvannamalai-the name which blessed our nation with the greatest saint Bhagavan Ramana Maharishi. Its definitely a memorable occasion since we were there on the eve of our 3rd marriage anniversary. Thanks to my husband for giving me such wonderful gifts treasured for a life time.
                         We took the train Lalbaugh express from Bangalore at 7 o'clock in the morning and got down at Khatpadi Junction. From there we continued in a bus to Tiruvannamalai which took around 3 hours journey. By that afternoon we were there at the destination and had our lunch and relaxed for some time. Then we proceeded to Arunachaleshwarar (Annamalaiar) temple which was a bit crowded. But we went for a special darshan which took us to god's presence in around 45 minutes. We then had darshan of Ammavaru-Unnamalai amman(Apithakuchalamba) too and completed visiting the other temples in the premises. The gopuram of the Temple was too big to be captured in the camera lens. That was wonderful.
                            Then we headed forward for the most awaited Ramanashram-the ultimate destination for many spiritual aspirants. The samadhi of Bhagavan Ramana Maharishi, a temple of Lord Shiva, a book stall of the sansthan, some rooms allotted for the visitors, a dining hall, a meditation hall, great photos of Bhagavan- all these left me spell bound......
          We saw a woman weeping there at the room where Bhagavan attained mahanirvana- she was as if she lost one of her close family members. I felt jealous of her. As Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa says, I always remain in the list of people weeping for family, friends,and other material issues. Where is the end for our worldly craving?????God only knows.
                 The Photograph of Bhagavan-what a pose!!His face reflects His mind state, great pride that shows-I conquered over everything including death. We spent some time there visiting the surroundings. Then we went to Seshadri Swami Ashram which was very near by to Ramanashram.
                                      The next day, early in the morning at 4.30, we started the very powerful Girivalam (giripradakshina) which I feel is a great way for karma kshyam(reducing the evil karma). It was 14 KM long and the way is partly in the village and partly out, surrounding the Arunachala hill which is believed to be Lord Shiva Himself. It is advised that one must do Girivalm bear footed. One may find it a bit tough in the beginning, but I'm sure, god will drop you at the destination if you strongly determine in mind to complete that. Many people-some carrying kids, some aged ones, some small children-they set an inspiration for us to carry on the task. At the end it leaves us with perfect bliss to finish it with holy chanting, discussing gods' miraculous powers etc. That was an experience treasured for a lifetime.
                            In the afternoon we again went to Ramanashram to get some books. This time we found many foreigners who seem to be setting an example in their ways. They, despite their luxurious life styles at their native places, lead a very simple life here in search of peace and true saints. They sit for hours together in meditation who earlier didn't have the habit of sitting down at all. They sleep on mats in the ashram. They get used to eating the food served here. They never seem to care for their habits,and their sophisticated life styles-all for the sake of finding out the ultimate goal of human life. We need to learn a lot from them,since we have got the treasure of spirituality lying with us, not completely utilized in a proper way.
        We took prasadam in the Ashram and left for Bangalore in bus which took around 6 hours to drop us at home.
                                  During the Girivalam, we find boards displaying the distance covered till that time and yet to be covered. After about 6KM walk, My husband seemed suffering due to the small stones on the path. But God's grace, we reached the end successfully.

SOME TIPS TO GO ON GIRIVALAM:
    Carry a small bag with water bottle, biscuits/snacks as you hardly find any shops on the way.
    The earlier you start, the better.
    Follow the boards of the lingas carefully since some are not written in English(varuna lingam, kubera lingam..)
    No need to carry a camera since you can't catch very great view on the way and it even kills your time.
    Better to do girivalam in the morning since Eeshanya Linga temple may be missed in the evening.

                        Expecting to visit another great place on next marriage day too.