Guys,
This is an attempt to record my experiences about the longest drive in my life on Wagon-R. I drove along with my family (My Parents, wife and my kutty 7 year old daughter) on Friday (25-Dec-09) morning. We started at about 09:30 hrs from Chennai and decided to take the NH45 route to Trichy and it's adjoining places. At about 13:30 hrs we reached Perambalur, had lunch @ New Vasantha Bhavan. The drive was absolutely refreshing, excellent smooth road (except for those troublesome toll gates). Rudrapriya was at her best jumping on the seats for all the cheer she was having during the drive.
We came to know that there is a small water falls in the vicinity of about 15 kms, decided to venture. It is named "Myil Oothu" (near ladapuram) on the road towards "Thuraiyur". The drive going inroads into the small villages was a splendour. Only one car could be barely on the road at a time and if there is another one, we obviously have to step down on to the muddy adjoining road. We reached the spot and to our surprise there was no water falls to be seen until we heard from the locals that one has to climb about 50 steps (small rocks / big boulders) to have a look at it. My daughter made up her mind and so did we decided to climb up the rocks. One could barely guess the path to the falls as there were only small rocks to step upon amidst the dense forest. We could hear the noise of the water dropping as we climbed up the rock steps. After climbing a few about 25-30 steps, I felt we should return back as the treest and the plants on the hill were becoming denser and things were getting unpredictable about the safety of ours, till we saw a family getting down and gave us the assurance that we just need to climb another 20 steps or so. Having come so far, I mentally was interested to have a glance of the falls. We climbed and saw the falls, it was not great but the climb and the surroundings were really worth it. There was a lot of peace and solace there. Enroute back to the Thuriayur road, we found small onions freshly being packed in gunny bags. The freshness of the onions forced us to buy 5 kgs and load it in the wagon. It was just Rs. 15/- per kg (in Chennai it is Rs. 30/-).
The next milestone was "Perumal Malai" in Thuraiyur. It is a hillock and you can drive to the entrance of the temple. The temple is kept open from 09:00 to 17:00 hours. We reached at about 16:30 hours, had a good darshan of lord Perumal there. The temple is silent and old. On the footsteps of the hill, there is a pancha mukha hanuman temple, worth spending some time as the view is breathtaking after the drive from atop of the hill. This is the first time that I was driving up hill in my car and drove about height of 400 ft. One can find "Govindaraj Perumal" temple opposite to the foot steps of the hill, had darshan there and were ready to drive for the next milestone.
The next milestone in the journey was "Eragudi" (small village) near "Thuraiyur". It was getting dark now and as the roads were narrow, decided to reduce the speed in those calm villages. The roads would pierce amongst the fields, as it was dark, a bit depressive with no or little lighting. We spent time at the "Angalamman Temple" and prayed at her abode.
Resuming our journey, we decided to cover the "Tirupattur Temple of Brahma". The legend is really motivating as Lord Brahma prayed to 12 Jyothirlings to regain his lost strengths. It was late in the evening and came to know that the temple is closed for the day, decided that we plan to cover it the next day or during our return journey to chennai.
It was about 21:30 hours that we reached Trichy. I had made a blunder of not booking an accomodation @ Trichy prior to our visit there. To our unpleasant astonishment, because of continuos holidays for 4 days (on account of half yearly vacation, Christmas, Moharram and Vaikunda Ekadasi), we could not find even one single room. We were ready to pay any price but none was available in Trichy. I tried even at the retiring rooms in Trichy but no luck. The next possible option was to look at a place near Trichy, Tanjore being the natural choice, reached late in the night there but unfortunately there was an "Tamizh Manadu for supporting Sri Lankan Tamils", adding to the non-availability of the accomodation in Tanjore also. One of the lodge manager of "Hotel Karthik", near old bus stand Tanjore told us that there are no rooms available in the vicinity of Tanjore, Kumbakonam, Thiruvarur, Velankanni, Nagore, Nagapattinam and Trichy. It was about 02:30 AM in the morning that we decided to abondon our search for accomodation. We were left with only one only option of spending the balance of night in our beloved Wagon-R. I parked the car opposite to Tanjore railway station and stretched our legs in the car. Woke up at 06:00 AM in the morning and were ready for the next part of our journey. We drove again towards the "Big Temple, Brahdeeswara", had our break fast in the near by hotel, surprisingly found that there were two rooms available in "Hotel Karthik", immediately grabbed them, had a refreshing bath and took some rest in the room before we started exploring Tanjore.
At about 11:00 AM, we reached the big temple, exotic is the view of the "World Heritage Monument". An elephant was there to probably greet all the visitors. Had an excellent darshan of the temple and while coming out, Rudra showed her inclination to board the elephant, I took a few snaps of her on the giant animal and drove back to have lunch @ "Vasantha Bhavan". The program was to leave for Kumbakonam in the afternoon.
We left @ about 15:00 hours to Kumbakonam, payed out tributes to Lord Kumbheswara. Having heard a lot about the Kumbakonam "Degree kaapi", decided to have a sip but it was really not worth, may be Chennai coffee would have been far better :-(. There is a beautiful temple called "Nachiar Koil" about 15 kms from Kumbakonam. The temple is again peaceful and the priest narrated the sthala puranam. From there we drove towards "Tirucheri" (5 Kms from Nachiar Koil) again a small village having two small temples of Lord Vishnu and Shiva. We heard that the shiva is famous for helping the devotees to repay debts called as "Kadan Nivrathi Rhineswaran".
The next point was to reach Swamimalai on our way back to Tanjore from Kumbakonam. The only deterrant in my mind was if my parents would climb those 64 steep steps one way. My dad was very much excited for having the lord's darshan and my mom followed him actively. My daughter as usual was on her best to play over those steps. I and my wife followed all of them. The glance of the lord muruga was absolutely scintilating. We were back on our journey to Tanjore and had dinner.
The next day morning (27-12-09) was a bright one after a sound sleep. We started at about 08:30 AM in the morning towards Trichy, reached Trichy @ 09:45 AM. My parents and my wife wanted to do some shopping there, did and we moved towards "Thiruvanaikaval". The darshan of Lord Jambukeswara was excellent and the view seemed mesmerising. It was about 13:00 hrs and went towards Samayapuram. We payed out tributes to Mariyamman temple and then all set to move back home.
It was about 15:00 hrs, we caught up on NH45 again and started driving at regular speeds of more than 80-90 Kms per hour. With in a few minutes, we were near Siraganur and decided to check if the "Tirupattur" temple missed earlier in our journey could be covered. We took the diversion and found that the temple would open at 17:00 hrs only for darshan. We had less options than to continue towards our journey to chennai.
The bye-pass roads are really a blessings in terms of the speed it offers to the commuters. The bane is about the fact that you are deprived of having coffee too, if you desire to have so. We took a trip inside Perambalur again for a hot cup of coffee.
All was set and we were off to Chennai with great desirable speeds of 110 kms per hour (only at times) but consistenly above 80 kms per hour. We reached chennai about 20:30 hrs culminating our three days journey of the temples in the proximity of chennai.
It has been an exhilarating experience of all of us, specifically for me as the odometer showed close to 1000 Kms traversed. A great achievement for me, a thousand km journey travelled................:-).
Regards,
S.Laxminarayanan
This is an attempt to record my experiences about the longest drive in my life on Wagon-R. I drove along with my family (My Parents, wife and my kutty 7 year old daughter) on Friday (25-Dec-09) morning. We started at about 09:30 hrs from Chennai and decided to take the NH45 route to Trichy and it's adjoining places. At about 13:30 hrs we reached Perambalur, had lunch @ New Vasantha Bhavan. The drive was absolutely refreshing, excellent smooth road (except for those troublesome toll gates). Rudrapriya was at her best jumping on the seats for all the cheer she was having during the drive.
We came to know that there is a small water falls in the vicinity of about 15 kms, decided to venture. It is named "Myil Oothu" (near ladapuram) on the road towards "Thuraiyur". The drive going inroads into the small villages was a splendour. Only one car could be barely on the road at a time and if there is another one, we obviously have to step down on to the muddy adjoining road. We reached the spot and to our surprise there was no water falls to be seen until we heard from the locals that one has to climb about 50 steps (small rocks / big boulders) to have a look at it. My daughter made up her mind and so did we decided to climb up the rocks. One could barely guess the path to the falls as there were only small rocks to step upon amidst the dense forest. We could hear the noise of the water dropping as we climbed up the rock steps. After climbing a few about 25-30 steps, I felt we should return back as the treest and the plants on the hill were becoming denser and things were getting unpredictable about the safety of ours, till we saw a family getting down and gave us the assurance that we just need to climb another 20 steps or so. Having come so far, I mentally was interested to have a glance of the falls. We climbed and saw the falls, it was not great but the climb and the surroundings were really worth it. There was a lot of peace and solace there. Enroute back to the Thuriayur road, we found small onions freshly being packed in gunny bags. The freshness of the onions forced us to buy 5 kgs and load it in the wagon. It was just Rs. 15/- per kg (in Chennai it is Rs. 30/-).
The next milestone was "Perumal Malai" in Thuraiyur. It is a hillock and you can drive to the entrance of the temple. The temple is kept open from 09:00 to 17:00 hours. We reached at about 16:30 hours, had a good darshan of lord Perumal there. The temple is silent and old. On the footsteps of the hill, there is a pancha mukha hanuman temple, worth spending some time as the view is breathtaking after the drive from atop of the hill. This is the first time that I was driving up hill in my car and drove about height of 400 ft. One can find "Govindaraj Perumal" temple opposite to the foot steps of the hill, had darshan there and were ready to drive for the next milestone.
The next milestone in the journey was "Eragudi" (small village) near "Thuraiyur". It was getting dark now and as the roads were narrow, decided to reduce the speed in those calm villages. The roads would pierce amongst the fields, as it was dark, a bit depressive with no or little lighting. We spent time at the "Angalamman Temple" and prayed at her abode.
Resuming our journey, we decided to cover the "Tirupattur Temple of Brahma". The legend is really motivating as Lord Brahma prayed to 12 Jyothirlings to regain his lost strengths. It was late in the evening and came to know that the temple is closed for the day, decided that we plan to cover it the next day or during our return journey to chennai.
It was about 21:30 hours that we reached Trichy. I had made a blunder of not booking an accomodation @ Trichy prior to our visit there. To our unpleasant astonishment, because of continuos holidays for 4 days (on account of half yearly vacation, Christmas, Moharram and Vaikunda Ekadasi), we could not find even one single room. We were ready to pay any price but none was available in Trichy. I tried even at the retiring rooms in Trichy but no luck. The next possible option was to look at a place near Trichy, Tanjore being the natural choice, reached late in the night there but unfortunately there was an "Tamizh Manadu for supporting Sri Lankan Tamils", adding to the non-availability of the accomodation in Tanjore also. One of the lodge manager of "Hotel Karthik", near old bus stand Tanjore told us that there are no rooms available in the vicinity of Tanjore, Kumbakonam, Thiruvarur, Velankanni, Nagore, Nagapattinam and Trichy. It was about 02:30 AM in the morning that we decided to abondon our search for accomodation. We were left with only one only option of spending the balance of night in our beloved Wagon-R. I parked the car opposite to Tanjore railway station and stretched our legs in the car. Woke up at 06:00 AM in the morning and were ready for the next part of our journey. We drove again towards the "Big Temple, Brahdeeswara", had our break fast in the near by hotel, surprisingly found that there were two rooms available in "Hotel Karthik", immediately grabbed them, had a refreshing bath and took some rest in the room before we started exploring Tanjore.
At about 11:00 AM, we reached the big temple, exotic is the view of the "World Heritage Monument". An elephant was there to probably greet all the visitors. Had an excellent darshan of the temple and while coming out, Rudra showed her inclination to board the elephant, I took a few snaps of her on the giant animal and drove back to have lunch @ "Vasantha Bhavan". The program was to leave for Kumbakonam in the afternoon.
We left @ about 15:00 hours to Kumbakonam, payed out tributes to Lord Kumbheswara. Having heard a lot about the Kumbakonam "Degree kaapi", decided to have a sip but it was really not worth, may be Chennai coffee would have been far better :-(. There is a beautiful temple called "Nachiar Koil" about 15 kms from Kumbakonam. The temple is again peaceful and the priest narrated the sthala puranam. From there we drove towards "Tirucheri" (5 Kms from Nachiar Koil) again a small village having two small temples of Lord Vishnu and Shiva. We heard that the shiva is famous for helping the devotees to repay debts called as "Kadan Nivrathi Rhineswaran".
The next point was to reach Swamimalai on our way back to Tanjore from Kumbakonam. The only deterrant in my mind was if my parents would climb those 64 steep steps one way. My dad was very much excited for having the lord's darshan and my mom followed him actively. My daughter as usual was on her best to play over those steps. I and my wife followed all of them. The glance of the lord muruga was absolutely scintilating. We were back on our journey to Tanjore and had dinner.
The next day morning (27-12-09) was a bright one after a sound sleep. We started at about 08:30 AM in the morning towards Trichy, reached Trichy @ 09:45 AM. My parents and my wife wanted to do some shopping there, did and we moved towards "Thiruvanaikaval". The darshan of Lord Jambukeswara was excellent and the view seemed mesmerising. It was about 13:00 hrs and went towards Samayapuram. We payed out tributes to Mariyamman temple and then all set to move back home.
It was about 15:00 hrs, we caught up on NH45 again and started driving at regular speeds of more than 80-90 Kms per hour. With in a few minutes, we were near Siraganur and decided to check if the "Tirupattur" temple missed earlier in our journey could be covered. We took the diversion and found that the temple would open at 17:00 hrs only for darshan. We had less options than to continue towards our journey to chennai.
The bye-pass roads are really a blessings in terms of the speed it offers to the commuters. The bane is about the fact that you are deprived of having coffee too, if you desire to have so. We took a trip inside Perambalur again for a hot cup of coffee.
All was set and we were off to Chennai with great desirable speeds of 110 kms per hour (only at times) but consistenly above 80 kms per hour. We reached chennai about 20:30 hrs culminating our three days journey of the temples in the proximity of chennai.
It has been an exhilarating experience of all of us, specifically for me as the odometer showed close to 1000 Kms traversed. A great achievement for me, a thousand km journey travelled................:-).
Regards,
S.Laxminarayanan
Hi there, awesome site. I thought the topics you posted on were very interesting. I tried to add your RSS to my feed reader and it a few. take a look at it, hopefully I can add you and follow.
ReplyDeleteHotel Reservation in Trichy
Jacob - I am extremely sorry and feeling guilty of not replying any sooner. Pls add the RSS feed.
DeleteA real temple fan you are Laxmi..it requires tremendous patience to travel this much....I am sure your parents would be delighted to visit all those temples.
ReplyDeleteI liked the falls part..:) must have been fun!!!
I was wondering why you did not step down at my home town, chidambaram but your previous post answered it.
Vignesh - See the irony, this blog is dated 2009, you commented on 2011 (2 years later) and I am responding in 2013 (2 years later) :-)
ReplyDeleteNext time for sure I will drop by your house. How is life out there?