Day 4 - Cuttack

We were ready by 9 AM when the Indica having Uncle and Aunty came to pick us up at our hotel. We drove to Cuttack, most commonly called as the Silver City, in the hot sun. We had to cross the long bridge over Mahanadi river. Cuttack city is mainly an island.

Cuttack is also referred to as the millennium city of Orissa. It is also called the Silver City because it is world famous for its silver filigree work. Also, it is referred to as the business capital of the state. It was the previous capital of Orissa until the capital was shifted to Bhubaneshwar. Its perhaps only the second lowest city in the world after Amsterdam which is below sea level. Cuttack is protected from the mighty Mahanadi and Kathjodi by the Baimundi Mark which acts as an embankment to the city.

First we went to the famous Cuttack Chandi Mandir, which is located near the banks of the River Mahanadi. Its a small well maintained temple and the idol of the Goddess was magnificent. It was covered entirely with silver filigree works.

We then had a look at the ruined Barabati Fort but didn't get down as it looked more like a garden. On our way we saw the Cuttack Cricket stadium.

Further, we travelled for around 25 kms to reach the Dhabaleswar Temple, which was on the other side of the river and at an other end. The temple, located in an island on River Mahanadi, is embellished with stone carvings that date back to the early 10th and 11th century. We crossed the river over a suspension bridge and went straight to the temple.

There was a huge rush by the time we entered the temple, and we had to stand in the queue. As it was moving quickly, we had the darshan of God in 20 minutes. We then went to the roof of the temple to have a full view of the surroundings.

The old couple were feeling hungry and so they had small vadas at a local shop. We avoided it. We then crossed the bridge again and left for Cuttack.

Out of the 4 places to be covered in Cuttack, 3 had been over. The fourth one - Netaji's birth place, was not even aware for the driver himself. So we went on asking for directions. En route, we stopped at Naya Sadak, which is a famous street for Silver filigree works. We stepped into some shop, had a look at the filigree works and were impressed by their intricate designs. The cost forbid us from buying them.

We finally reached the Netaji Birth place Museum and entered it by paying fee of Re. 1 per head. This old house where Subhas Chandra Bose was born had been converted into a museum. There were around 10 rooms converted to galleries, each housing events of his childhood, college life, letters to his brothers and dad, his political life and freedom struggle, his great escape to Germany to meet Hitler, the anthem of Azad Hind, among others. The room where he was born also has been displayed. This museum is a great source of information to all things related to SC Bose.

The interesting part which caught my attention was a portrait of his daughter, Anita. She was so cute, along with her mother Emilie. Little in history is known that Subhas was married!

By the time we left the museum, it was already ringing 2:30. We were in desperate search of a hotel, and found one somewhere. The hotel was crowded, but they didn't have all the stuffs printed on their menu. Uncle and aunty left the place as they didn't like anything. We settled with Biryani as only rice items were available. Later, we found out that the old couple had pizza from a nearby shop :)

We then left for Bhubaneswar and we got dropped off at a shopping street nearby our hotel. We exchanged address and telephone numbers and told we would visit them when we come to trip in Maharashtra, and vice versa. We strolled the long market street, but found nothing worthy to buy. We took a rick and came back to our hotel by 5 PM.

As we had to catch the 5:45 train back to Bangalore the next day, we started packing early, and had early dinner and slept soon.

The return journey was a little boring, as usual. The entire coach was in bad shape with dust and tapes. An elderly couple joined us in the same compartment all thru the journey. The lady was telling few facts of Bhubaneswar, Rajamundry, Godawari river, etc. Also the train passed very close to Chilika Lake between nearly 4 stations. Chilika is HUGE! The food on train was better than the onward journey. We reached Bangalore by 12:30 PM, half an hour delay against the expected arrival. We were at home by 1 PM, exactly after a week.

Over all, we had a good time and enjoyed the trip. We were overwhelmed when someone asked - "Oh, you went to Orissa? Rarely someone goes there for a trip" :). Had we planned a little carefully, we could have covered Kolkata as well, we thought. No regrets now.

Post trip, while reading about various articles on places which we visited, I came to know that Puri is part of the Char Dham pilgrimages for Hindus. The Char Dham defined by Adi Shankaracharya consists of two Vaishnavite, one Shaivite, and one mixed site. They are: Badrinath, Dwarka, Jagannath Puri, and Rameshwaram. Among these, except for Badrinath, I've visited the rest three. Time for a North India tour next... fingers crossed.. :)

Day 3 - Puri & Konark

We turned up at the OTDC counter by 8:15 AM and started our Puri-Konark trip in an Innova this time. There were only 5 people for the tour including the old couple. We drove thru Pipli village, which is famous for its applique art. We thought we could shop here on our return journey. First we went to Puri.

Puri is about 65 kms from Bhubaneswar and it took us a little more than an hour to reach. The vehicle had to be parked a km away from the temple and we had to board a private bus to reach the temple complex. Cameras and mobiles weren't allowed inside the temple, so had to be deposited in the lockers. As soon as we reached the temple, we were surrounded by local 'Pandas'. Uncle hired one of them as they couldn't stand in queue and thought he would take around the temple easily. We also joined them.

The majestic temple of Lord Shri Jagannatha at Puri is said to have been built by emperor Anangabhimadeva, during the 11th Century. The temple consists of four structures called (a) the Vimana or Bada Deula sanctum sanctorum) (b) the Jagamohan or Mukhasala (the porch), (c) the Natamandir (the audience hall) and (d) the Bhogamandap (the hall for residuary offerings) built in a row in an axial alignment in east-west direction. The temple faces the east. In the vast open area in front of the main eastern gate, there is a monolithic pillar about 10 meters high. This pillar is known locally as the Aruna Stambha. In Hindu mythology Aruna is the the charioteer of the Sun-god. The world famous Konark temple was designed in the form of a stupendous chariot and this monolithic pillar with the beautifully carved Aruna seated on its top was installed right in front of the porch of that temple. When the temple was abandoned and there was no presiding deity in it, this pillar was removed from Konark to Puri and was fixed in front of Jagannatha temple where we see it now. The temple stands on a high pedestal though a major portion of it is buried in the ground. The visible portion shows three mouldings, which are richly carved.

Lord Jagannath, the symbol of universal love and brotherhood is worshipped in the Temple along with Balabhadra, Subhadra, Sudarshan, Madhaba, Sridevi and Bhudevi on the Ratnabedi or the bejewelled platform. The Deities, Lord Jagannath, Balabhadra, Subhadra and Chakra Sudarshan are made of margosa wood. There is a wooden pillar on top of which Lord Garuda is placed, and one has to pay obeisance to the Lord standing behind it. We had a glimpse of the 3 deities over there, as it was at some distance and couldn't be seen with full eyes due to the rush. This temple was also so commercialized that to go a few steps nearer, the Pandas were demanding Rs. 50 per person. And everywhere around the temple, its the money which counted!

There are other smaller shrines around the main temple including Lakshmi, Ganesha, Surya, Sakhi Gopal among others. We visited all of them. Next, our Panda took us to the kitchen hall where food was being prepared as offering to God. The Panda told that daily food would be prepared in fresh earthen pots placed on 12 steps above burning fire. About 100 quintals of rice would be prepared daily and distributed to people in evening after Aarti. We were surprised to hear that daily 56 varieties of dishes will be served to God first! He then showed the southern entrance where a life size statues of Bhima and Dushyasan of Mahabharat fame stood.

After seeing the entire complex, we came out of its premises to the front entrance and paid the Panda. In some website, I had read about a library from which the entire Jagannath temple could be seen. I spotted the Loknath library just opposite the main temple, paid the librarian Rs. 50 as donation and climbed to the top of the building. The view of Jagannath Mandir from this spot was splendid. The Grand Road (Bada Danda), where the Rath Yatra is held also could be seen.

Uncle was also interested in seeing this and photographing it. So I bought them again with me claiming they were her parents. We couldn't take our eyes off from it.

We shopped for a few items on street and proceeded towards car parking by the same bus. We asked the driver to stop at a good restaurant for food and he did it. The lunch at Puri was perhaps the best lunch we had on our trip. Post lunch, we asked the driver to take us to Puri beach. The sun was on top of our head but still we enjoyed getting wet in the sea. Puri sea beach was calm, with hotels by the road. We thought we could see some sand sculptures by the famous artist Sudarshan Patnaik, but we couldn't. As time was running out, we left for Konark by 2:30 PM.

We drove thru the marine drive and reached Konark which is 35 kms from Puri, at about 3:15 PM. On the way, we saw the Chandrabagha beach, but didn't get down as we wanted to spend time at Sun Temple. We had to walk thru a small lane of shops from the main road to get to the Sun Temple. There was an entry fee of Rs.10 as it was maintained by the Archeological Society of India. The first view of the Sun temple stunned us.

The name Konark is derived from the Sanskrit word Kona (meaning corner) and word Arka (meaning sun). The Sun Temple, built in the thirteenth century, was conceived as a gigantic chariot of the Sun God, Surya, with twelve pairs of exquisitely ornamented wheels pulled by seven horses. The temple takes the form of the chariot of Surya (Arka), the Sun God, and is heavily decorated with stone carving. This is built in black granite by King Narasimhadeva-I of the Eastern Ganga Dynasty. At the entrance of the temple is a Nata Mandir (Dancing Hall). This is where the temple dancers used to perform dances in homage to the Sun god. The main sanctum (229 ft. high) which was constructed along with the audience hall (128 ft. high) having elaborate external projections. The main sanctum which enshrined the presiding deity has fallen off. The Audience Hall survives in its entirely but of the other two viz the Dancing Hall(nata Mandir) and the Dining Hall (Bhoga-Mandap), only small portions have survived the vagaries of time. The poet Rabindranath Tagore wrote of Konark: "Here the language of stone surpasses the language of man."

The huge wheels carved at the base of the temple are one of the major attractions. The spokes of the wheels serve as sundials and the shadows cast by these can give the precise time of the day. Each wheel has 8 spokes and in between these spokes, there is a line of 24 beads representing 24 hours of the day.

The temple is famous for its erotic sculptures similar to the temple in Khajuraho, which can be found primarily on the second level of the porch structure.

Legends describe a lodestone on the top of the Sun temple. Due to its magnetic effects, vessels passing through the Konark sea were drawn to it, resulting in heavy damage. Hence, this temple was also called as "Black Pagoda". According to the legend, the image of the deity or the statue of the Sun God was built of a material with iron content with 1 large magnet on top of the temple, 1 in the basement and 4 large magnets in the interiors to make the statue hang / float /suspend in air.

Now as per the locals, both the magnet and the idol of Sun God rests in the British Museum in London.

After having a look at the ruined temple complex, we bought souvenirs of a few miniature stone models of Puri Jagannath temple and the Sun dial of Konark. It started getting dark by 5:30 PM and so we left back to Bhubaneswar. On the way, uncle asked us if we had any plans for the next day tour. We told we were planning to go to Ghatgaon trip which was specially conducted only on Tuesdays by OTDC, as we had a day to spare. He suggested we could join them for a tour of Cuttack which was only 35 kms from Bhubaneswar and see places around it and be back by 6 PM, as they had a train to Kolkata to catch at 8. We instantly agreed to this tour.

We reached Bhubaneswar by 7 PM and got a taxi booked for the next days' Cuttack trip in the same OTDC counter. We then came back to the hotel, had early dinner and slept.

Day 2 - Chilika Lake & Narayani

We arrived promptly at 8:45 AM as said, but had to wait for other passengers till the tour kicked off. For the day, a Tavera had been organized as the number of people were less. Finally, one by one came and we started from Railway station only by 9:30. To our surprise, the old couple from previous day tour joined us along with 2 other ladies.

It took about 1.5 hours (100 kms) to reach Barakul, the starting point of the boat ride on Chilika. There were a few people waiting already and as soon as we joined, got tickets for a 3 hour boat ride at Chilika covering Kalijai island and the bird sanctuary. The 20 seater boat costed Rs. 850 per hour, and we were around 15 people by then. We started the ride by 11:30.

Chilika Lake is Asia's largest brackish water lagoon, spread over the Puri, Khurda and Ganjam districts of Orissa state, at the mouth of the Daya River, flowing into the Bay of Bengal. It is the largest coastal lagoon in India and the second largest lagoon in the World. The lake is home to a number of threatened species of plants and animals and provides largest wintering ground for migratory birds. The best season to visit Chilika was October to December and we were at the right time :) It’s so huge that you feel you are in the middle of a sea, with no visibility of the shores.

After about half an hour into the lake, we reached the Kalijai island where a small temple of Goddess Kali is located. We went to the temple and then later adored the beauty of Chilika Lake.

After that, the ride continued for an hour before we reached the bird sanctuary. Its a mind boggling sight at the sanctuary with water covered everywhere and birds flying all over at a distance. Sigh, I'm not a bird watcher ;)

We could make out 5-6 different species of birds, but not their IDs.

After being there for about half an hour, we drove back to Barakul and it took a little more than an hour to reach the boarding point. This was the longest boat ride I've ever had earlier. Thoroughly enjoyed each and every minute of the boat ride both sides.

We thought lunch would be arranged by the time we got back at Panthanivas, but we were disappointed on hearing that the lunch timings were already over as it was 3:30 PM. They gave some kind of pulav rice which we managed to eat somehow as it tasted bad and we were really hungry.

After food, we went further down Chilika to a small temple located on the hills - Narayani temple. It is about 6 kms from Barakul. Goddess Durga is worshipped here. We quickly had darshan of the temple and proceeded back to Bhubaneswar as it started getting dark by 5 PM itself.

We reached Bhubaneswar at around 7 PM and did the bookings for next day’s Puri-Konark trip which costed Rs. 350 per head. He asked us to be by 8 AM the next day, but we knew what he meant!

Day 1 - Bhubaneswar Local Sightseeing

After a hurried breakfast, we rushed to Panthanivas, the office of OTDC on Lewis road, which is about 4kms from Priya Hotel. We enquired about the trips available and as had been decided booked the local sightseeing tour for 29th. An AC tempo traveller had been arranged and it had pick up point at Railway station also. There were only 8 people on board - a family of 3, an elderly couple, and we both. The cost was Rs. 250 per head.

First we went to Nandankanan Zoological Park, which is about 10 kms from the city. The main attraction of this zoo is the white tiger. Other common animals and reptiles were also there as in other zoos and includes the Kanjia lake aswell.

Next, we came to the caves on the twin hills - Khandagiri and Udayagiri. These caves belongs to Jain munis of ancient times which dates back to 2nd Century BC. The main caves at Udayagiri are the double storied Rani Gumpha (Queen's Cave), the Hathi Gumpha (Elephant Cave) and Ganesha Gumpha. All the 3 caves have artistic carvings.

On the opposite Khandagiri hill, a Jain temple is present atop the hill. We rock climbed the hill and from the top the city of Bhubaneswar could be seen as well as the entire Udayagiri caves.

For info on Khandagiri & Udayagiri caves: click here.

Next, we proceeded towards Dhauligiri which is towards the south of Bhubaneswar. Legend has it that King Asoka renounced his bloodthirsty campaign and turned to Buddhism after the Kalinga war at this place. The rock edicts of Dhauli stands looking down on the plains where the gruesome war was waged on Kalinga. The river was then filled with blood and Asoka felt so bad at the sight, so named the river as Daya. The edicts here are as old as 3rd Century BC, and well preserved! The Shanti Stupa or the peace pagoda, is built here through the Indo-Japanese collaboration. For more info, click here.

At Dhauli, we had lunch at an OTDC restaurant which was not good for the price we paid. Later, we proceeded towards the old town of Bhubaneswar where some of the old famous temples are located. First we went to Lingaraj temple, which is undoubtedly the biggest among the temples and the oldest one. There are numerous Lingas all over the complex around the main temple. And, majority of them were located underground. The temple tower (Gopura) is full of beautiful carvings. It has, in fact, been described as 'time quintessence of Orissan architecture'. Unfortunately, photography is prohibited inside the temple. More info here.

From there, we went to the 3 temple site which are very close to each other - Mukteshwar, Siddeswar and Kedar Gowri.

The small and elegant Mukteswara temple (c. AD 950) is often referred to as the "miniature gem of Orissan architecture". The 'torana' (arched gateway) of the Mukteswara is an extraordinarily beautiful sculpture including elaborate scrolls, graceful female figures, monkeys, peacocks, and a wealth of delicate and lovely decorative detail. Several small shrines are noticed within the compound, many with lingam inside. Details here.

Finally we concluded our day trip by visiting the Orissa state museum where ancient edicts, coins, scripts and writings and other stuffs are preserved. Its worth a watch for historians.

We were back at the Railway station by 5:15 PM and our first day was almost over. We enquired about the next day tour & the OTDC guy told that there was a special tour to Chilika Lake and Narayani temple only on Sundays, lunch inclusive. We booked the tour and were the first to book it. The cost of this tour was Rs. 400 per person.

Thinking of what to do for the rest of the evening, we decided to check out for any theatre for any hindi movie. To our luck, there was a theatre very close by to our hotel called Kesari (I'd googled it before). We went there by a rick and were surprised to see that RA.One was playing there and the 3D version of the movie was about to start at 5:45 PM. We were lucky enough to get the tickets for only Rs. 60 per head and went on to watch the movie. For a SRK movie, this was the best price ;). Movie was all bakwaas as expected, but some time pass for us. After the movie, we walked to our hotel, had dinner and slept.

Orissa Trip

I'm back to blogging after a brief break, more so as I'm back in Bangalore (already been 3 months) and excited about blogging about my first trip after my return - Orissa trip. With hardly a month to spare and researching about where to go during Diwali holidays, upon the availability of train tickets, we decided to tour Orissa as the train to Bhubaneswar (Prasanthi Express) still had a few seats available. Without wasting time, we booked return tickets to Bhubaneswar starting from Bangalore on 27th Oct & returning back from Bbsr on 2nd Nov. We had 4 days to spend in Orissa and after considering all options, decided to stay at Bhubaneswar and cover all the places during day by Orissa Tourism day-tours. We booked a hotel room also with the help of Soumya's colleagues friend who was at Bhubaneswar branch of Karnataka bank.

 

It was a 30 hr journey from Bangalore in Prasanthi Express which ended at 9:15 PM on 28th Oct. 70% of our journey, we were in Andhra Pradesh. The train passed thru Satya Sai Nilayam, Guntakal, Guntur, Vijayawada, Rajamundry, Vishakapatnam, Vizianagaram, Srikakulam Road, Brahmapur and all the way to Bhubaneswar. Close to Rajamundry, we crossed the gigantic Godavari river where on the other side was the highway on top of a railway bridge. Superb engineering. We crossed Prasanthi express coming from Bhubaneswar near Vishakapatnam. The journey didn't seem boring :)

 

At Bhubaneswar, we quickly found out that auto meters dont work and price had to be fixed before boarding. We took an auto to Priya Hotel and paid him Rs. 30. Google maps is the best to know how far the hotel is from station & also its route, so the drivers couldn't cheat us :) The first look of the city was good - broad and partially clean roads with no traffic signal till the hotel. We had dinner at the restaurant below and slept quick as the tour was about to begin!

I Amsterdam

Its been over a month I have been in Amsterdam! Cant beleive it.!

Netherlands, not even the size of Karnataka, is such a tiny country, but very beautiful. Though you cant count the number of places to visit, you can cover the entire country in about a week (if you have all the time in the world). Its clean, well maintained & no traffic chaos. Almost everyone know English, so language is not a problem. Cycles are the most preferred way to travel. Weather is most unpredictable.

Amsterdam is the city of canals. You find more house boats than any other means of transport. All the important places are within 3 kms radius from the centre. Keukenhof is where the tulip gardens are located (open only between Apr - May).

Till now I've covered Amsterdam, Keukenhof & Zaanse Schaans (age old mills). The rest are yet to be explored.

Honestly, I don't have the time to blog about Amsterdam & other places I've visited. I can go on & on..  I've uploaded all the snaps in my webshots page. Have a look!

Waiting for Soumya to join..

Chandigarh trip

I don't know how to start this blog with. Well briefly, I came to Chandigarh on 27th March for taking knowledge transition for my new project which runs out from Infosys Chandigarh. Initially, my stay at Chandigarh was for 2 weeks and could have been extended if needed. I arrived in the evening and straight went to Infosys guest house by cab at around 8:30. Thanks to the semi-final match between India and Pakistan, my Delhi-Chandigarh flight was delayed by 2 hours due to air traffic congestion.

Infosys Chandigarh is located in a village and its quite far from the city centre. The campus has only 3 buildings, and there is a DT mall nearby to hang out. The area - Rajiv Gandhi IT Park is still developing and Airtel have just opened their office closeby. There are other companies like Tech Mahindra and IBM call centre, but the whole IT Park is secluded from the city.

The first week kicked off with meeting project team members, getting to know about the application, studying Unix and Oracle after 7 years, meetings and discussions. The food here consisted of one Dal and one item of potato compulsarily. In the evenings in between, I saw 'Tanu weds Manu' at the DT mall and went to Sector 17 shopping complex area (courtesy Bhumika). As we drove, I could make out that what everyone told about Chandigarh - 'the best planned city in India', is partially true. For the fact that roads are wide and areas are divided into sectors, but the sector numbers are not in proper order I felt. And the best thing is, every main road has a service road. Also heard that Chandigarh traffic rules are very strict, and a slight mistake could make you pay fine. But I've seen many instances of breaking the rule and not getting caught :)

As the weekend came, I was wondering if I take a tour of Chandigarh or go to Amritsar. But as the bus facilities for Amristar was very poor (busses only at 6 AM and 3 PM, takes 4.5 hours), I decided to go around Chandigarh itself. I enquired and found out that CITCO conducts daily half-day sight seeing tours of Chandigarh starting at 10 AM and 1:30 PM.

On Saturday, I managed to reach the starting point of the tour - Hotel Shivalik View, located in Sector 17, by 9:45 AM. The ticket was just Rs. 50 and there were hardly 10 members in the bus. I found a lonely lad, just like me, and he became my company.

The tour started first by going to the museum. This museum had nothing interesting - just some ancient Phulkari's (Phulkari, an embroidery technique from the Punjab in India literally means flower working, which was at one time used as the word for embroidery), century old idols, old coins and paintings.

Next, we came to Bougainvillea Garden where the Chandigarh War Memorial is located. Chandigarh War Memorial perhaps the largest War Memorial of the country, with nearly 8459 names of the Deceased Soldiers since 1947 from Army Air Force and Navy stands and was inaugurated by H’ble President of India Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam.

After that, he took us to Rock garden, which is the most famous attraction of Chandigarh. He gave us an hours time to go thru the garden. This garden was started by Nek Chand in 1957 and is completely built of industrial and home waste and thrown-away items. What an idea Sir ji !!

The Rock Garden is made out of recycled materials. It consists of man-made interlinked waterfalls and many other sculptures that have been made of scrap & other kinds of wastes (bottles, glasses, bangles, tiles, ceramic pots, sinks, electrical waste, etc) which are placed in walled paths.

Later, we proceeded to Sukhna lake which is very close to the Rock garden. This is an artificial lake at the foothills of the Himalayas, the Shivalik hills.

Finally, after seeing all these, he dropped us at Rose Garden which is close to Sector 17 and told that it was the last point of the tour. By this time, it was already 12:30 PM. Zakir Rose Garden in Chandiarh is Asia's largest Rose garden with a splendid variety of species of roses. I couldn't cover the entire garden though, but managed to click some macro shots.

I was very tired and hungry and I walked all the way back to Sector 17 shopping area to find some restaurant, but in vain. Then I walked to Sector 17 bus stand, and found some restaurant. I had a full punjabi thali and my energy bounced. As it was the World Cup Finals on that day, I thought I would see the second innings of the match and make use of the afternoon to see some other places. I ran thru the places to visit near Chandigarh and found out that Pinjore gardens was just 20 kms away from the place. I went back to the bus stand, enquired about the busses to Pinjore and the folks told that I could go to Housing Board near Manimajra by bus and take an auto from there. I did as they told me and finally reached Pinjore gardens by around 3 PM.

Pinjore Gardens or Yadavindra Gardens is a Mughal Garden, which looks more like KRS near Mysore, There were some renovations happening around and so water was only in few places. It is said that Pandavas rested here during their exile.

Having seen the gardens, I thought I would go to Bhimadevi temple also, but the route was not clear and so I had to drop the idea. I took an auto back to Housing Board and from there took a bus to IT park. I reached my guest house at around 6 PM and the Srilankan innings was still going on. Rest of the day I sat watching the match and what a match it was! India lifted the World Cup & a proud moment for all of us. I enjoyed alone, calling home.

On Sunday, as there was nothing much to do, I went to the DT mall and saw FALTU in morning show. Later in the afternoon till night I saw 3 movies back to back - Golmaal 3, Band Baja Baarat and No one killed Jessica.

The second week also went off with more trainings and other stuffs. On the day of Ugadi, after office, I went to Mansa Devi temple which is quite near to office. This temple is located near the foothills of Shivalik range. As I didn't know that the Navratra starts from that day in North, I had to wait for long in a queue to have Darshan of the Godess. Nearby, there is a Patiala Mandir, dedicated to Lord Durga. A 'Langar' was also arranged in the premises and I had the dinner in temple. Coming back to Infy guest house was a nightmare, as no ricks were available and I walked around 4 kms in the dark at around 9:30 PM!

I was supposed to go to Mumbai on way to Bangalore, but somehow things didn't work out and so I returned back to Bangalore on 9th April.

Overall, Chandigarh trip was a packed and good one. Although my wish still remains - visiting Amritsar and Wagah Border. Lets see when time comes...

Day 3 - Kanyakumari

We had a short sleep and woke up at 5 AM and were ready to leave by 6. The sunrise point was hardly 500 mts from our hotel and we reached there by around 6:20 AM. From the point, we could see the silhouettes of Vivekananda Rock Memorial and Thirvalluvar statue at a distance. At the time of sunrise, a sound came and a flag was hoisted at the memorial at 6:40 AM.

After watching the sunrise, he took us to Baywatch wax museum, which is India's first wax museum. The entry ticket was Rs. 50 per head and for camera was Rs. 10. There were wax statues of Shah Rukh Khan, Amitabh Bachan, Mohan Lal, Rajnikant, Pope John Paul, Michael Jackson, Jayalalitha, Karunakaran, Manmohan Singh and others. Some were really good, some were awful.

We were back near the sunset point and the guide gathered us all together and told the routes to the tourist places. All were within 300 mts. He let us free to go around the places, have lunch and come back to hotel by 1 PM. All the groups dispersed and we first went to a hotel nearby and had breakfast. First we decided to go to Vivekananda Rock memorial and so came to buy the ferry ticket. But there was a huge queue for the ticket and we had to wait for nearly 45 mins in the line. The ticket costed only Rs. 20 per head for ferry to cover both memorial and statue. Finally when our turn arrived, we were given life guards for safety in the ferry. There were only 3 ferries operating, so the long waiting time. Each ferry could take 80-90 people only.

We disembarked on the Rock Memorial and it too had an entry fee of Rs. 10 per head. The area was so calm and peaceful. First we went to the Sri Pada Mandapam, which has the footsteps of Goddess Parvati in the form of rock. This is situated right opposite the memorial.

In between the Sri Pada Mandapam and memorial, a direction identifier was built.

We then came to the Vivekananda Rock Memorial, which was very calm inside. A statue of Swami Vivekananda stood upfront on the rock on which he did meditation for 3 days.

Outside the memorial, we could clearly see the Bay of Bengal, Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean. 
 

We then stood back in the queue for catching a ferry to Thiruvalluvar statue and waited for around 20 mins. On arrival at the statue, we climbed around 3 floors to get to the base of the statue. This statue of the Tamil saint poet is 133 ft long and is one of the biggest statues in Asia. The city of Kanyakumari also could be seen at a distance.

 

Again we waited for a ferry to bring us back to the shores and finally we were at the mainland by around 11:45 AM. We had to rush to the temple as we were told it would close by 12 PM. On the streets, there were numerous stores of beach items and we ordered a guy to etch names of our homes on 2 shells and that we would collect it after visiting the temple.

The Kumari Amman or the Kanyakumari Temple, located on the shore, is a Shakti Peetha dedicated to a manifestation of Parvati, the virgin goddess who did penance to obtain Lord Shiva's hand in marriage. According to Hindu legend, Kanya Devi, an avatar of Parvati, was to marry Siva, but as he failed to show up on his wedding day, the rice and other grains meant for the wedding feast remained uncooked and remain unused thereafter. As the legend goes, the uncooked grains turned into stones as time went by. Some believe that the small stones which look like rice on the shore today, are indeed grains of the wedding that was never solemnized. Kanya Devi is now considered a virgin goddess who blesses pilgrims and tourists who flock the town. We had a very close Darshan of the Goddess. The doors of the temple is small and one has to bend while entering.

By the side of the temple, a small lane goes which leads to the sunset point and Gandhi Mandapam. We first went to the Gandhi Memorial which has been built on the spot where the urn containing the Mahatma's ashes was kept for public viewing before immersion. Resembling central Indian Hindu temples in form, the memorial was designed in such a way that on Mahatma Gandhi's birthday, 2 October, the first rays of the sun fall on the exact place where his ashes were kept.

We then took a stroll at the back where there was the Triveni Sangama, which is the confluence of Arabian Sea, Bay of Bengal and the Indian Ocean. This the southernmost tip of Indian continent.

There is also a temple of Adi Sankaracharya of Kanchi Kamakoti Peetha on its shores.

We didn't have time to go to the Tsunami Park, so hurried towards the shop where we placed orders for shells, bought some small shells for playing, and went to the same hotel we had been for lunch. After having lunch, we walked up in the scorching sun to the hotel and by that time it was already 1:30 PM. The driver told that everyone were waiting only for us! We didn't care as we also had waited for everyone the day before.

We hurriedly packed our stuffs and left back for Madurai at 2 PM. On the way, just as we left Kanyakumari, we saw the western ghats and a farm of windmills.

We reached Madurai at around 6:30 PM and waited for long to collect our return tickets to Bangalore at some office in private bus stand. Having waited for more than 1.5 hours, we finally got our boarding pass in a semi-sleeper bus. By this time, our group had been split and some got seats for 8:15 PM bus and others got in 9:30 one. We opted for 9:30 PM as we wanted to have dinner before leaving. At a nearby restaurant, we had our food and finally took off to Bangalore at around 9:45 PM. We both had a good sleep in the bus, thanks to all the strain over the last 3 days!

We finally reached Bangalore at 6:45 AM and came home by bus. Upon shifting things from our luggage to wardrobe, we found that my camera had been stolen somewhere :( We thing mostly somebody has taken it from our lodge at Madurai when we were not in our room, as everywhere else we had locked our baggages. We contacted STC Tourism guys and the lodge guys, but in vain. Fully disappointed at the end!

Overall, this trip was stressful and OK, but main thing is that we covered all the places. Hadn't the camera not be stolen, it would have been a good trip.

A word of caution to whoever plan to go by package thru STC Tourism - DON'T TRAVEL BY STC TOURISM. Although they charge cheaply, the facilities, timings and everything is hopeless. Better to opt for other tourists.

I'm researching on my new camera...

Day 2 - Rameshwaram

We were ready by 7:30 AM sharp after packing our stuffs according to the itinerary given by Syeed, but we forgot that IST rules everywhere. The mini tempo was an hour late as there were some problem with its clutches in the vehicle sent day before, and so a different vehicle was sent. In the meantime while waiting, we went to Madana Gopala temple which was right opposite our hotel. It’s also a very old temple, and calm - no rush. We could clearly see the deities. Its temple tower was also colorful.

When our vehicle finally arrived, it was around 8:40 AM. We were again the first to get into it, and later he picked up other tourists from different hotels. Among the ones who joined us for the whole trip were 3 uncles from Lucknow who had come to Bangalore for Air Show, one couple from Bangalore, a Muslim family of 5 from Tripura, and a family of 4. We all finally set for Rameshwaram at 9 AM. Midway, we had our breakfast at some roadside hotel at around 10 AM. It took us around 3.5 hours to reach Rameshwaram, which is about 170 kms from Madurai.

On the way, we saw the famous Pamban bridge which connects the main land with the island. It’s a beautiful scene with sea on both sides, a railway track by the underside, and the bridge stretches for a good 5 kms long. We stopped in the middle to capture a few snaps.

By the time we reached Rameshwaram town, it was already 12:30 PM. The guide told us that the temple would close by 1 PM and so he will take to the temple at 3 PM when it reopens. Till then we would see the nearby places.

First we saw Sita Kund.

Opposite to it is the Panch-Mukhi Hanuman temple. There is also the Samadhi of Tulsi Baba. The floating stones, used to build the SethuBandanamor, the bridge between India and Lanka can be found in this temple.

Next to it, we went to Lakshman Theerth. All these Theerths are considered to be holy water sources. All these places were within 100 mts distance.

Having seen these, the guide took us to some Marwadi restaurant for lunch. We had a home-like food and it tasted good as we were hungry and tired. After lunch, he took us to a shopping store claimed to be that of the brother of Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam. The shop was big and a majority of items were of sea shells and conches. We bought shells with 'Rameswaram' etched on it to mark it as a memory of our trip.

By then it was 2:45 PM and the guide took us near Agni Theertham. He introduced us to a local Panda (priest) and told us to follow his instructions. The Panda told that whoever is interested can have bath at Agni Theertham, and come to main temple. There were 22 'kunds' or Theertham's inside the main temple and he will pour water on persons for bathing there. He charged Rs. 3 per 'kund' and Rs. 25 for entry ticket, making it Rs. 90 per head. At first we hesitated, but eventually paid him off.

The beach at Agni Theertham was calm and pleasant. We didn't want to have bath, so just touched it and sprinkled on ourselves. The uncles and the couple were full interested in having bath & fun. Agni Theertham is just about 100 mts from the main eastern entrance of the temple.

The Panda then took us inside the main temple. At the entrance to the right, there was a Hanuman temple, with 5 ft above & 5 ft below the ground. It is said that whoever visits this temple has to go to this Hanuman temple first and then go to see Lord Ramanatha Swamy.

According to the legend, upon the advice of Rishis (sages), Lord Rama along with Sita and Lakshmana, installed and worshipped the Sivalinga here to expiate the sin of Brahmahatya (killing of a Brahmin)(Ravana) while returning to Ayodhya. Rama fixed an auspicious time for the installation and sent Hanuman to Mount Kailas to bring a lingam. As Hanuman could not return in time, Sita herself made a linga of sand. When Hanuman returned with a Linga from Mount Kailas the rituals had been over. To comfort the disappointed Anjaneya, Rama had Anjaneya’s Lingam (Visvalingam) also installed by the side of Ramalinga, and ordained that rituals be performed first to the Visvalingam. This Visvalingam is just around the Prakara of Hanuman temple.

We then moved towards the huge door. On the top, a picture idol of the Rameshwaram shrine was built.

Inside the temple, there are 22 Theertham's and he told that water in each Theertham tasted different. And it was! We had a sip of water from all the 22 Theertham's - some were plain, some sweet, some salty & some very salty. The names of the Theerthams are:

Mahalakshmi Theertham, Savitri Theertham, Gayatri Theertham, Saraswathi Theertham, Sethu Madhava Theertham, Gandha Madhana Theertham, Kavacha Theertham, Gavaya Theertham, Nala Theertham, Neela Theertham, Sanku Theertham, Sakkara Theertham, Brahma Hatya Vimochana Theertham, Surya Theertham, Chandra Theertham, Ganga Theertham, Yamuna Theertham, Gaya Theertham, Siva Theertham, Sadhyamirtha Theertham, Sarva Theertham and Kodi Theertham. The last Theertham directly comes from the 'Abhisheka' of Lord Ramanatha Swamy.

Finally we entered the main shrine and had the Darshan of the Linga. With this, I saw the 7th Jyotirlinga of my life and I was very happy. Still there are 5 more to be covered and I hope to see them all in my lifetime. I gave the Gangajal I bought from Kashi to the priest and asked him to do 'Abhisheka' to the diety. With this, as the legend goes, I successfully completed the trip to Kashi. At Varanasi, I was a bachelor and over here, I came as a married man :)

Beside the main temple, there was a temple of Goddess Parvati too. After having seen both, we came out and saw the biggest temple corridor in India. All along the side of the corridor, there were 108 Linga's established.

We exited the temple and returned to the vehicle. Upon coming, we got to know that we need to come back to Madurai and then go to Kanyakumari from Madurai in a different vehicle. All along, we had thought that directly after leaving Rameshwaram, we would go to Kanyakumari for night halt. But it seemed that there was no route direct from Rameshwaram to Kanyakumari. With no option left, we travelled another 4 hours back to Madurai and reached at around 8:30 PM. There, at the railway station parking, another vehicle stood and we transferred our luggage to the new mini tempo. We had food at a nearby restaurant and finally started our journey to Kanyakumari at around 9:45 PM. We never knew that we would be doing a night journey in this trip and nothing had been communicated to us. It was a gruesome 4.5 hr journey to Kanyakumari and finally we reached at 2:30 AM. The driver took us to some under-construction hotel and dumped everyone there. The room was horrible, with dust everywhere, no curtains to the window and no proper washroom too. With great regret, we had to sleep there, only for 3 hours as we had to be ready by 6 in the morning for sunrise.

For more info on Rameshwaram, click here and here.