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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
