Discovered a Navigator and Long drive companion after 38 years!

 Unlike the last time when she had to get back to work after the weekend, this time Vijayalakshmi was with me throughout the 10 day drive. I planned a drive that was not hectic, and had no night driving. Less than 2000K in 10 days.

1st of Feb 2026

Left home by 1.30pm as I had to meet Amit Roy, son of Sri Tapas Roy ( most of you  know who that is, even if you don't know who that is :))  who was in town and all I needed to do was push our start by a few hours. We reached Chitradurga by 6pm. Vijayalakshmi's classmate Dr Toyajakshi from medical school and her husband drove us around Chitradurga for a quick tour of the lake, Lingayat Mutt, their home with a watch tower and her place of work ( which I hurried out of as it involved a OT etc). Later they hosted us to dinner at a roof top restaurant that offered panoramic views of the town and the new elevated highways all around. As it was a full moon day the dinner outdoors had a special effect. 

207 KMs via Tumkur after Nelamangala change to NH48 

Hotel Myspace JMR 

2nd of Feb

Today we left early to climb the Chitradurga fort. Sweet of Dr T and her husband to accompany us and add their supplements to what the guide was saying and showing us some additional places like the gun powder mill which is really an engineering marvel. For Viju her primary school text book came alive after so many years when she saw the 'Onake Obavva Kindi' and all her hesitation or self doubts if she could climb with her knee pain disappeared in a trice. It is a lovely fort and worth the climb. Much bigger than Golconda which is a fort I have most frequented. It is a easy to moderate trek as the steps are interspersed with level ground.  Later we all went to the nearby and famous Lakshmi Tiffin Room for Khali Dosey and a piece of Gulab Jamun which were very much worth the hype. The filter coffee was also very nice. Having said bye to our wonderful hosts we picked our bags and drove towards Anjanadri hills near Hampi to Kishkinda Resort. We reached Kishkinda resort  just before 1pm By evening we had completed our sightseeing tour of Anegundi by Auto covering the Nava Brindavana which is where Bridavana's of many madhwa saints including the Guru of Sri Raghavendra Swamy, the famous Vysa Rayaru of Vijayanagar kingdom and Padmanabha Thirtha a direct disciple of Sri Madhwa are there. We had to cross the pristine Tungabhadra by a boat. The boat journey was a quiet and peaceful one. Normally the to and fro charges are Rs100/- per person, however since there were no other customers we paid Rs.500 for a 20 seater boat. The island is perfect for meditation even today nestled among hillocks and surrounded by the river. A divine place. The other places we visited in Anegundi were the Ranganatha temple, Gagan Mahal, Chintamani, Vali Gufa and Durga temple, and the beautiful Lakshmi temple at the Pampa Saravor and Shabari Gufa. The legends connected to all these places are interesting and a guide is surely required apart from from doing some internet research to understand the places. Our drive back to Kishkinda resort included the last 2Kms of exclusive village road. The resort itself was nice with a lot of green spaces. 

160 Kms  on NH50 with plenty of large wind mills and the road divider had different colors of   bougainvillea in full bloom and we got to cross the Tungabhadra river and see the dam. It was a lovely drive. 

Viju as Obbava and Dr Tayojakshi as Hyderali's soldier 

Unique Vigraha combining Bhima, Anjanya and Madhwa

3rd Feb

We reached the Anjanadri Hill by 8.30am as it was just 2 Kms from our resort. It is considered the birthplace of Hanuman. Renowned for its stunning, scattered boulder landscapes and 575-step climb, the hill is geologically part of the ancient granite formations of the region, which are believed by some to have been influenced by ancient volcanic activity, forming distinctive, dramatic, and rugged terrain. The climb is of moderate difficulty even if the height of the hill was 1500ft. We took permission to keep our shoes on for the climb. Really sensible shoes which Prithvi had got us made sure sure that with every step landing on solid stone also did not impact the knees. Anjanadri betta was a long time desire to visit as it was the birthplace of Hanuman. Later, local legend has it that Anjana devi moved to another place on the banks of the river to bring up little hanuman. The energy at the top of the hill, the remembrance of all the qualities described in the Chalisa, the great views and the wind blowing hard made this a super experience. We listened to the Hanuman Chalisa, went twice for darshan at the little Hanuman shrine and it felt really nice. A lot of langoors and regular monkeys who did not trouble anyone. From Anjanadri hill we left for Anegundi as the earlier evening we did not see the Rang Mahal which is the palace of the kings before the Vijayanagar kingdom was established. The afternoon was planned rest at the resort. After childhood, it was here that we spent a few minutes swinging on the swings. And while we were on the swings we got a call from Gagan our grandson and that made our day. One vegetarian place we discovered was the  restaurant at the Hampi Delmont Resort and it was clean and finger licking good! 

4th Feb 

This day we drove from Anjanadri betta to Vijaya Pura. It was narrow roads for the first 15kms till we reached NH50 and from thereon it was a smooth drive . We continued to see the lovely flowers in the dividers and the large wind mills. Kushtagi, Ilkal, Hungund were the towns we bypassed. Almatti dam we were quite close by and we crossed the Krishna river this time. We though we passed by Ilkal,  Viju did not want any sarees and the oldest shop in that town  I had called earlier said they don't sell Ilkal dress sets which Viju was considering for our daughter in law, so we just chose the bypass road and reached Vijaya Pura by 1pm. The famous Gol Gumbaz was even before our hotel so we stopped engaged a guide and phew! we climbed up to the whispering gallery. It is an interesting monument with  interesting anecdotes from the Bahamani Kingdom  which was the first Islamic state in South India having been founded around 1347. Thanks to old contact Prof Errana Serigeri who recommended Hotel Madhuvan International, we had a comfortable stay. Did I mention that my travel companion took over other responsibilities throughout the trip beyond being the navigator and that included stuff like checking in and out of hotels, planning the day, tracking expenses, and so many such things that I just enjoyed driving. 

205KM mostly on NH50 with about Rs.250 in tolls. 

5th Feb 

On 5th we started soon after breakfast towards Pandhrapur which is in Maharastra. I chose the route that went past Mangalweda for a reason. Mangalweda is famous for Basundi! Yes it is famous, with a few popular brands. It was worth the detour into the city to the factory and shop of Maali Sweets. They had fresh basundi sweetened and unsweetened and since we didn't want it to be very sweet we bought a cup of mixed basundi, much like I do with coffee at any darshini in Bangalore. Also picked up some fresh ghee that we could carry back home. MangalWeda is also the birthplace of  Jayathirtha (Teekaacharya) the 6th in line from Sri Madhwacharya. We did not make the effort to search for his birth place. I have previously visited Malkhed where is Brindavana is located. Our accommodation was booked at the official Vittala Rukmini Bhakt Nivas where we checked in had some lunch, rested a bit and went to the Tukaram Gate of the temple as we had booked for a Tulasi archana. It was a soulful experience. Doing the tulasi archana and taking the tulasi leaves to offer to Vittala and being able to touch the feet of the Lord with our hands was a once in a life time experience. It was well organized, the purohit who led the Puja was very good and professional and as a bonus we had a Bhajan leader who made sure our 20-30 minute wait was enriching to the soul. Everyone was singing without exception, and in perfect rhythm, just too good! The Prasad was excellent too. After the Puja and Darshan we went to the Ganapati temple, Pundalik temple and for a boat ride. The river Chandra Bhaga ( Bhima) needs a lot of help in maintenance and I wonder why the Government thinks there is only Ganga in India that is crying for help. Sabhudana Khichdi and some Ice cream was dinner. Our room was comfortable. 

115 Kms from Vijayapura to Pandhrapur - Our chosen route took us through some state highways or two lane roads. They were all in good condition save 15-20kms. 

6th Feb 

We started after Poha and Chai towards our next destination Kholapur. We reached our hotel Classic Midtown which was a good choice as it was clean, extremely well located and had space for parking by around 2pm. One critical contribution by the Navigator was to visit the main temple in the afternoon of our arrival. This worked for us at Anegundi, Pandhrapur, Kholapur and later in Gokarna as well. It freed up so much time from waiting in long Queues in the mornings. We had a a great darshan of Mahalakshmi Devi both from afar and up close. It was the Chalukyas of Badami (Vatapi)  who originally built this temple, so many centuries ago. Dilip Icecream outside the temple southern gate drew us to their special cocktail icecream. It was really refreshing. The owner told me that it was a third generation enterprise and a dilip came into their family after the shop was established. The name for the shop came from the legend of King Dilip of the Raghu dynasty who was willing to give up his life for Nandini the cow his wife and he were looking after. Solid Brand name story I think. We walked by the Rankala lake and bought a Mumbai sandwich for dinner. It was a colourful, large and crowded lake. 

7th Feb 

Since we already had darshan of Ambabai we hired an Auto cum guide suggested by the hotel to take us around the city. We first visited the Jotiba temple, follwed by the various locations in the Panhala fort including Teen Darwaja, step well, the large granaries etc. It was near the historical granaries we had our early lunch because we were getting Jowar Bhakri's just off the Tawa. It was fresh and wholesome as it gets. The Jowar Roti's in Bangalore always have some Maida and never taste like the original and the temperature of the roti also has something to do with it. After the hill top Panhala fort we visited the new Palace, and the town hall museum. All worth seeing. Our afternoon attempt at buying a saree failed again. We then went to the wholesale market to pick up some organic and chemical free processed famous Kolhapur Jaggery. We walked around the temple, visited the Rankala lake again and retired for the day.

By Auto - Approx 70Kms 

The Jojoba Temple 

Panhala Fort 

New Palace 

Town Hall Museum 

8th Feb

We started after room prepared breakfast of sandwiches. The bread in Kholapur was really good.  We were on our way to the last stop before returning home which was Gokarna. We stopped at Belgavi to meet Dr Naina Joshi who was a class mate and guide to Viju during her stay at Hubli. It was Dr Naina who helped Viju get her first job after graduating, in Mumbai at the Bachoo Ali opthalmic hospital. It was a pleasant meeting with photographs and sharing of life journeys. Dr Naina got us  Idli's and coffee before we bid good bye to continue our journey. After Belgaum the road meanders through large tracts of forest. It was quite an experience and so enjoyable driving on the Mirjan-Ramnagar road. We bypassed Kittur of  Kittur Rani Chennamma fame, we were disappointed that we could not visit the fort or her statue as for practical considerations we had to move on. With the new and efficient highway system one downside is we miss entering and feeling the various cities and towns enroute.  We reached Gokarna after 6pm and after a bath and getting into traditional clothes we reached the Atma Linga temple just in time for a nice sparsha darshan. The baby Ganesha temple had a Murti that was really cute. The legends connected with the Atma Linga were fascinating to say the least. We then walked to the Gokarna beach where we just saw the numerous stalls as the water had receded  far out  due to the low tide and it was quite dark also. We found that despite being so close to Udupi, the restaurant scene for vegetarians was dismal in Gokarna. We visited three restaurants in our two day stay and none of them were decent. Thankfully our hotel Om International had good breakfast and the rooms were also nice. The location of the hotel was also perfect. 

330 Kms via Nipani, Belagavi, and yellapur 

With Dr Naina Joshi 

Watch after 1pm....a lovely drive 

9th Feb 

A day for relaxing after a long drive. Hired an auto to take us to the Kudle beach which involved a lovely trek down to the beach. Definitely the best beach in Gokarna. Clean and peaceful. We should have brought our swimming gear. On the way to this beach we went to the Venkateshwara temple and the town sarovara called Koti Thirtha, both had a unique calming effect for some reason. 

Back to the hotel for some rest and went out for an organized tour by Golden Cruise Gokarna managed by Vijay, his sister and brother in law (8971397515). They were very professional, reasonable and gave us every opportunity to participate in swimming, kayaking and watching the sunset from the sea. A well organized and probably the best way to see all the beaches of Gokarna without having to trek.  

10th of Feb

The return journey to Bangalore started with roads that were not great as a lot of repair was happening. The best part was that we drove through some hills and forests. At Sirsi we bought some Manju Guni rice grown in the area and best for making sweets.  Our lunch stop at Kamat at Davangere was nothing to write home about. Davangere Benne Dosey and Girmit were not available during lunch hours. We reached home by 6.30pm driving mostly on the NH 48 after Sirsi without going into any town. 

Values for life? Nothing is permanent!

 Metamorphosis of individuals from the middle class into those that assume that they have moved up a class can be disastrous to their happiness and to those who were with them when they were firmly entrenched in the middle class. First and most crucial is that values go out of the window! I think the most wonderful thing that most of us in the middle class hang on to, are the values which don't falter with any dose of misery, pride or riches. 

When one acquires a great job, rich wife, or some office, some catapult themselves into the rich class! What that also means is  that winging it is fine, there is pride in escaping a metro ticket or a traffic offence ticket, or having a laugh at someone's condition, all of which become really minor things to be ignored because I am paying lots of taxes or some such convoluted logic! 

Company transforms us, or does it? Can one not hold on to their values even if others around us have different values? That is the real test. And those who fail, not only fail, those who taught them also fail! 

People do change and so fast. Some feel that they have left something poorer like the middle class and reached some heights, which by itself, is a wonderful thing, however, there is a need to have values even after you have "arrived" ( whatever that means!). Swami Swaroop Ananda  of the Chinmaya Mission has this to say about values " Values are the expression of the creative power of universal life. Our shastra's aver that on the practice of values will help us attain those things for which we are striving- wealth, honour, pleasure, power.

Values are the manifestations, ingredients or expression of the inherent urge to attain a higher state, whether it be success, satisfaction, contentment, or consciousness-existence. It is only through values that we can reach these higher levels.

Values give the mind the possession of its own powers, that is, they awaken the power and potentiality of the mind"   Middle class values generally include such qualities as hard work, self-discipline, thrift, honesty, respect, aspiration and ambition. I think these come in handy even if you have broken what you think is the  the 'middle class' ceiling. After all, adding value is more important than having wealth....or that is my premise right or wrong

Have I been consistent and faithful to my values and conscious? Surely, have slipped and been off track on many occasions, which has provided me the proof and experience to know the value of values! What do you think? Have seen people who dumped their middle class values when things changed? Or those who stuck to them despite major life changes? Is this worth thinking about at all? 

A really long drive ! Moving towards being footloose and fancy free?

 To be really footloose needs one to renounce the world and I am still far away from that. Initially thought about doing a three month road trip across India, however having lost the winter months and some lack of confidence to do a solo road trip for 3 months led me to choose a more approachable target of a ten day road trip. Initially, Vijayalakshmi was to accompany me for the first two days, however she was with me four out of the 9 days thanks to the weekend. I had planned it to be a solo trip, however, it was far from it as you will understand as you read on. From 31st of January to Feb 9th 2024 ( actually 8th...reached after 12 midnight so...) 

Day 1

We started at 2pm for Tiruvannamalai. We reached Ramana Towers our stay for 2 nights by about 8.30pm. It was a smooth drive with the usual traffic at Hosur, which was not bad compared to wait times at toll booths before the advent of  FasTag. We stopped for a cup of Chai at a roadside tea kiosk and were happy to meet a multilingual tea brewstress, comfortably chatting in Tamil, Kannada and Telugu. 

Ramana Towers has a Andhra Restaurant which made it easy for us. Two, not one bell boys came to drop us off at the room and were never seen again during our stay! Yes, It was for some tips. 

https://www.ramanatowers.com/

Bangalore to Tiruvannamalai, Tamil Nadu  - 232 Kms

Day 2

I went out early morning in my car to bring some tea in a flask as the restaurant in the hotel opens by 7.30 am which is a little late for senior citizens if they have to get ready and moving out. By 8.30 am we walked into the Ramana Ashram to go through the small gate at the rear of the Ashram to start our climb to Skandashrama, a place Ramana Maharishi spent many years meditating and meeting his followers. 

Skandashrama is a small home where Ramana lived from 1915 to 1922. This is where it all began. His mother also joined him at this place. A calm energy fills this place. 

From Skandashram we need to walk down hill towards the main temple to visit the Virupaksha cave, so named as sage Virupaksha was the earlier occupant of the cave. This is a interesting cave where Ramana meditated between 1899 to 1916 and spent a long part of his life. Even today, many sadaks spend some time meditating in this cave.  Vijayalkshmi chose to walk barefoot the entire trek, yours truly however did that for about 30% of the trek and went back to Keds for comfort. Walking barefoot is not very difficult as one can find rounded stones all along the path to set foot on. The 'earthing' benefits of barefoot walking is good topic for another blog. 

I think the route we chose was a good one as climbing from the temple side would have been a rather steep climb compared to starting from the Ramana Ashram side. 

We came back in time for the complimentary breakfast which ends at 10.30am and rested for a while before we set out to the Arunachaleshwarar temple ( of Shiva). A grand temple build by the Cholas in 9th Century with additions by the Hoyasala, Naikar and Vijaynagar rulers across centuries. Our Darshan of the Shiva Linga and Amman was quick and soulful. I really enjoyed the Pepper Vada, Pongal, and Adhirasam prasadam, it was truly divine. Lunch at Sri Annapurna was typical tamilnadu meals. 

After a short nap, we reached Ramana Asharama by 4.30pm and spent time there till about 5.30pm. It was a really pleasant experience. We witnessed a group chanting in the meditation hall, Puja at the temple, friendly and knowledgeable escort at the book shop, and a serene atmosphere throughout the campus that also houses Maharishi's living areas, Samadhi of the various pets, a cute meditation room where Ramana spent time and other facilities of the Ashram.  

After some Idlis at the Ananda Ramana restaurant opposite to the Ramana Ashram, we set out for Girivalem, no not by walk, in an Auto! I had done the girivalem before barefoot on a newly laid tar road and I was out of action for a few days, also we had had our physical for the day in the climb to Skandagiri. Auto was a good decision because of the number of times one needs to get in and off apart from the difficulties of finding parking space all along the 14 km circumambulation of the Arunachala hill. 

After some shopping for retail therapy rather than to fulfil any real need or even want, we retired for the day. 

Day 3

This day was dedicated to my saviour and kalpavriksha Guru Raghavendra Swamy. While I have been visiting Mantralayam at least once every year from every since I remember as my dad would usually take us on Jan 1 every year from Hyderabad. Sadly, while I have read the story of his life, have not really dipped into his teachings especially his interpretation of Mahabharata and other works. Some consolation is that some people say that his last speech before he entered live into samadhi at Mantralayam is a simple essence of his teaching, this is widely available and is a 5-6 minute read. 

Our first stop was Sri Raghottama Thirtha Brindavan, another Madhwa saint who chose sajeeva samadhi. This is at Tirukoilur which is about 40 minutes drive from Tiruvanamalai. First we visited the Uttaradhi Mutt where the Brindavana of Raghottama Thirtha and a Hanuman temple are well maintained. 

Tirukoilur is also a famous shrivaishnava destination with the Ulagalantha Perumal Temple or Trivikrama and Vamana temples. This is the third tallest Gopuram in Tamilnadu. We had good filter coffee at the aavin shop you see behind the motorcycles. The main idol of Trivikrama is magnificent made in wood standing tall with Mahalakshmi, Prahlada and others. This temple also has a Durga and a Vamana sanctum.

Our next stop was 2 hours away, Srimushanam which is about 115km from Tiruvanamalai. We reached Srimushanam by 1.30pm and were disappointed that everything was closed. I was hoping to see the house where Sri Raghavendra Swamy had spent 12 years. It is a lovely house next to the temple tank of the famous BhuVaraha swamy temple. The Nanjangud Raghavendra Swamy mutt is managing the house where Sri Raghavendra Swamy lived and have build a second roof of steel sheets to protect the 500 yr old house. The senior purohit had just returned after doing puja and was resting so we could not get into the house even as we got a glimpse. The Purohit lives right next door so one can try their luck if they reach at an odd time. 

We then went to the Bhu Varahaswamy temple on the other side of the water tank and as can be expected, it was closed. We admired the Gopuram that had many Gopuram murals/statues depicting Bhu Varahaswamy. It is possible that my darshan was limited to an outside view or does god have plans for one more visit for me? Only he knows! 

It was lunch time, however our next stop was just an hour away and we decided to go to Bhuvanagiri and have lunch there. Bhuvanagiri was what I had always wanted to visit and the other places were subsequent discoveries. It is official birth place of Sri Raghavendra Swamy. Now the house has been converted to a Mutt and occupies a prominent place in Bhuvanagiri close to the bus stand. We had a good two hours before the mutt opened so we looked a place for lunch. We got a small eatery and it was like Sri Raghavendra swamy had arranged a lovely Mutt meal for us. Maybe it was our hunger or divine intervention, whatever it was, we got excellent banana leaf meals at the Krishna cafe/ Krishna vilas. We still had some time and discovered that Bhuvanagiri is home to many silk weavers who make the distinct Bhuvanagiri handloom silk sarees. 

The Sri Raghavendra Swamy mutt is like any other anywhere in the world, except for a plaque that mentions that it is the birth place of Sri Raghavendra Swamy.  A quiet darshan and a sense of having seen and experienced the places connected with the energy that has provided so much succour throughout my life. 

Bhuvanagiri was  before Chidamabaram and we still had time. My desire was to see the bay of Bengal and the Arabian sea in one trip, however that was not to be, as I chose the eastern part of Kerala and avoided the crowded seaside highways. We visited one of the many beaches close to Chidambaram called  C.Puthupettai beach and enjoyed the sunset and ambling in the sands and seawater.

We stayed the night at Chidambaram in a city centre hotel Saradharam which was a old world hotel with rooms that had a antechamber ( Peshi in Hyderabadi!)  Dinner was another Sri Krishna Vilas which is a good restaurant in Chidambaram.

https://www.hotelsaradharam.com/

Tiruvannamalai - Thirukoilure - Raghottama Thirtha Mutt  - 33 kms then to Ulaganatha Perumal Temple - 2kms 

Thirukoilure  - Srimushanam 90kms

Srimushanam - Bhuvanagiri 31kms 

Bhuvanagiri -  Beach            20 km  

Beach to Chidambaram        23 km    Total of 199 or 200Kms 

  

Day 4 

Driving on beautiful highways was the highlight of this day. We drove from Chidambaram to Madurai via Atangudi and Pilliarpatti ( temple was closed and I had not planned it well) . The small tile factory visit was interesting stop. Lunch at Pilliarpatti was fine but nothing to write home about. I packed 2 medhu vada's for teatime  at Rs.6/- each ...super value! 

We reached Madurai by early evening at Hotel Sabrees Grand was a really good hotel with comfortable rooms. This was recommended by my childhood friend Shantaram. As we had time, went out to explore the street food of Madurai. Tried the bun Maska...it was good but the Mumbai Irani one is better! We also had Paniyaram ( Paddu) which was also good. 

https://grandsabarees.com/

Chidambaram to Madurai via Athangudi - 320 Kms - on butter smooth high way! 

Day 5 

This was a really interesting day. First we went to Shantaram's house which is a heritage home in the agraharam. Mrs and Mr Venkatesh also from my school joined us there. We had a short walk to the temple where Shantaram had arranged the best possible guide for our Meenakshi Amman temple visit - One of the hereditary priests who was also a very knowledgeable person about symbolism in temple architecture, the unique statues etc. It was a super energy filling temple visit which was followed by great breakfast at the well established 40 + years, Sri Durga Bhavan opp to the temple east gate. 

It was time for Vijayalakshmi's flight back to Bangalore. We would have loved to spend more time with my childhood friends. Shantaram and me are happy to talk about school education an area he is a renowned authority in and I am an interested novice. We had already packed and dumped our luggage in the car so it was easy to pick up the car and another childhood friend Sivasamy who retired a few years ago as Executive Engineer in the Government. 

Sivasamy and myself dropped Vijayalakshmi  at the airport to catch her flight back to Bangalore as the next day was Monday  when she needed to report to work! After the airport drop, we drove to Tirunelveli. A lovely highway with abundant green paddy as we crossed Kovilpatti and Virudunagar, two places I would have loved to visit, having heard of them from my childhood. The new highway by passes make it difficult to have a quick dekko at any town 'enroute' ! 

 After reaching AAriyas the vegetarian chain of hotels we called Sundervel our senior in school. He took us to the Nelliappar temple. A shiva temple as grand as the Meenakshi temple in Madurai with many similarities too. The erotic statues which are common as we enter a temple are wood carvings at this temple. Is it because 'kama' one of the purusharthas to attain before we move towards moksha, or simply a symbol of fertility which is important in our cyclical view of time which has regeneration as one component or to remind visitors to lust at these representations outside the temple and leave all such thoughts outside, I am really not sure why our ancestors placed these erotic statues at the entrance of temples. Based on all the other things I have seen, they would have had a damn good reason, even if we are not clear about it now. 

After a wonderful Darshan of Shiva and Parvathy, we visited the famous Iruttu Kadai halwa shop to pick up some halwa. This is just outside the temple and as the name implies its products are sold out by late evening every day. 

The evening was spent at Sundervel's home with each one downing their favourite drink. 

https://www.google.com/travel/hotels/s/jYPUEtjng5A9MMFK8

Madurai to Tirunalvelli ( 8kms additional for Airport) - 168 Kms

Day 6 

Early morning accompanied Sundervel and his son to their tennis club. While I enjoyed a quiet walk around the club, for sharing in our school groups took a few pics of our exchange of volleys on the tennis court. 

First V T Shanmuganathan arrived from Tenkasi, followed by Kalyanaraman from Thanjavur and Kathiresh Ramsait from outskirts of Tirunalveli. One real regret of this trip was not having a picture of  of all six of us who joined from different towns for breakfast at Tirunalveli.

The plan for today  was initiated by VTS sharing a class photo of Std 5 - 1969.  We planned to recreate this photo 

Only four of us could actually make it to this meeting with the teacher Mrs.Jesudian in Nagacoil after just 54 years. The others were contacted and were either abroad or not keeping well so couldn't join us.  Sujay is now sadly deceased. I had promised Rajashekar that I would do a video call to Australia, and promptly forgot in the excitement of a proper high tea our teacher and her lovely husband had arranged for us. We exchanged our life journeys felt energised after the visit. 

We then went to meet another important teacher couple Mrs and Mr Chandrapaul who have also retired in Nagarkoil. Here I reminded Mrs Chandrapaul how I spent many hours in her quarters when she had the responsibility of preparing the Shivaji house students for a fancy dress competition ( It was actually Mr Chandrapaul's responsibility as House master!) ....And I was dressed up as a candle long before we heard 'candle in the wind..' of course, she did not remember! One cannot be anything but respectful and bow down to this teacher couple. 

Sivasami got us some banana chips to take home from Ramalakshmi sweets, a brand he was aware of and it was the best I've ever had. Super thick and crisp, wonder how they do that! 

As we were so close to Kanyakmari and I needed to touch the waters of the Indian ocean requested everyone to indulge me with this detour. We spent half an hour at the most, however, it was another box ticked for me. 

From Kanyakumari we returned to Tirunalveli. Kalyanraman and Sivaswamy went home to Thanjavur and Madurai respectively. Shanmuganathan and me drove to courtrallam with a brief stop at his palace in Tenkasi where I got to meet his brother and sister. Dinner at Raj Mess Tenkasi was wholesome and tasty even as the place was simple and crowded. 

Dalavoi Lodge near Main Falls - Phone: 04633 283 027

Tirunalvelli to Nagarkoil - 87 Kms

Nagarcoil to Kanyakumari - 22km

Kanyakumai to Tirunalvelli - 81 Km

Tirunalvelli to Courtrallam -  69 Km 

Day 7

After a good nights rest at the heritage hotel, we went to the main falls at courtrallam for a liril advertisement, type invigorating bath. No pictures; as we left the phones at the hotel, and, in any case my pictures are no patch on the lovely lady in the liril advt. Ghee Roast at Akshaya hotel Courtrallam was needed after bathing under a water fall. 

We visited the five falls and avoided the main falls and other falls as I wanted to move towards Kerala before noon. Only for the second half of this day, hired a driver even as I allowed him to drive only for less than an hour or so. 

From Tenkasi the drive to Jatayu is a ghat road and less than 80kms. It was a really pleasant drive even as it became warm by the time we reached the Jatayu. The statue is 75 feet in length ( Only one wing as the other was cut off by Ravana). There was no wait time to get on to the rope way, however I had to wait for 30 minutes when returning as there was a crowd. The Dhall Vada on the hillock was good value and tasty. The Ram idol at the temple is really beautiful. There are idols of Ram, Lakshman, Sita, Hanuman and ofcourse Jatayu. 

From Jatayu statue which is near Kollam, drove straight to Kottayam for a  good nights rest at AAriya Residency which is a very nice new hotel that also has a great vegetarian restaurant. It is also close to the railway station. Dropping off the driver at the bus stand for his journey back took a long time in Kottayam traffic. Tried Kotthu Paratha for dinner as I had missed lunch, and it was interesting. Most boards for restaurants in Kerala seem to highlight 'Beef Roast' and being vegetarian that was a put off. 

https://maps.app.goo.gl/doFhQpYw3V64GVHd9

Courtrallam to Jatayu Centre 85 km  ( via Tenkasi as I had to drop my friend and pick the driver) 

Jatayu centre to Kottayam     103 km 

Day 8

Truly a day with no one in the car but me! Till now, even as I drove all the time, there used to be someone or the other in the car with me. Morning was a visit to the Thirunakkara Mahadevar Temple in the heart of town. This 500 year temple built by the local Maharaja exudes a divine energy and soothes your soul in a few minutes. 

Next stop was Kalady, a place I have always wanted to visit. Only 2 years ago I got a chance to visit Pakaja, where Jagat Guru Madhwacharya was born. Kalady has a nice memorial for Jagat Guru Adi Shankara , Sharadha temple, Krishna temple and paintings  series depicting the short and most eventful life of Adi Shankaracharya that influenced every corner of India. I also got a chance to see the river in which Shankara was caught by a crocodile, to leave him only when his mother agreed for his taking up sannyasa. Interesting thing about such places is how the normally noisy and boisterous tourists that come in bus loads suddenly become silent and disciplined. Such is the power of these Kshetras. 

It was mid afternoon and the drive through a government owned palm oil plantation was cool and comfortable, however, after reaching the ticket booth at Athirapally falls I began to feel the warmth of the day. The trek to the falls was about 1 km or less. It was a steep gradients both climbing up and climbing down. The Bhahubali falls were well worth the trek. Nature has no equal and rather than trying to live by her rules, how stupid to consider conquering nature! 

 As promised, I reached Thrissur by 4pm and called John Chakkola. I met John first in 1969 and have known each other since then. Spent some time with John and was able to meet Mrs. John and his energetic son and daughter in law. Again for the second time during this trip missed capturing a pic with John :(  Later visited his shop which was close to my hotel, Pathans residential hotel in central Thrissur. For a vegetarian traveling through Kerala this hotel is an oasis. 

https://www.pathansresidentialhotel.in/index.html

Kottayam to Kalady 82 km 

Kalady to Athirapally water falls 36km ( takes a long time!) 

Athirapally to Thrissur 59 km 

Day 9 

This was the longest day of the trip and was the last one. While driving listening to the same songs became difficult and the both the audio books had accents that were difficult for me. So it was a long silent drive. Breakfast at Pathans was superb. Should have taken a pic of the masala dosa from the previous night, which was in a class of its own and quite different from contemporary Bengaluru dosey and similar to what we would enjoy 20-30 years ago. 

My first stop was not the most popular temple in Thrissur Vadakkunnathan Temple which was right opposite my hotel because I had visited it during my previous visit on my return journey from Sabrimala many years ago. Was this a mistake? Dont know. I went to Paramekkavu Bhagavathi Temple which was also close by. It was a lovely temple however having planned the rest of my day forgot that Dhoti was essential and removing my shirt would not cut the ice. Returned without entering the sanctum sanctorum, having had darshan like many shirt walla's ...from a distance.

 Decided not to try visit any other temple in Thrissur and move towards Coimbatore with a brief stop enroute at Pattikad to visit Dr Prabha Nambison another class fellow in school 1975 

Reached Coimbatore by lunch time to meet four old friends from school at the lovely Annalakshmi Restaurant. Thanks to Gayathri and CA Prakash for the venue and Radhakrishna for hosting the lunch. Lakshmanan cam despite a real short notice and I am so grateful to all of them. I learnt so much from each of them over lunch as has been every meeting during this trip.

The drive from Coimbatore to Bangalore was nothing to write home about as it was a smooth highway all along except that I was driving alone in the dark for the first time in a long time. Reached home half past midnight and asked for something to eat. Yes I had eaten in Krisnagiri, but then.... 

So many human tales shared with me that makes want to bow down to each of the people I met for their life experiences and how they handled it, their friendship and affection, and of course taking so much effort to give me their time. Even Vijayalakshmi had first agreed to be with me till Tiruvanamalai and later spent 4 days on this tour. Nature always reminds us about how abysmally small we are and I saw the grandeur of nature a lot. An interesting experience and actually quite a comfortable one thanks to the new roads we have in India. Thanks for reading such a long post, am immensely grateful to every reader and it is with a hope that they enjoy this as an arm chair vacation that I wrote this. I am happy to respond to any queries on all the places that I visited. Namasthe ! 

This day I covered Thrissur to Bangalore ( extra kilometers for missing the route twice once to reach Pattikad from the highway ( thanks bumbling google) and again within Coimbatore to reach the highway total distance for me was 520 km ( what should have been 485) 

 Total distance covered was 2064 km ....my meter reading from start to finish however shows another 70km which is probably the within the town rides!