Akshardham & Kurukshetram

Day 1 :

A very early start to the day with early morning flight to Delhi. Reached Delhi with no issues. Then transfer to hotel.  Checked into the hotel and had lunch at a nearby Gujarati restaurant.

Akshardham

Post lunch, we went to a place called Akshardham in Delhi. It is a cultural cum spiritual complex in Delhi built in remembrance of Swaminarayan. (1781 - 1830). The complex showcases and exhibits various traditional Hindu and Indian culture, spirituality and architecture.  

-  A robotics show portrays the life of Swaminarayan and his message about  the importance of peace, harmony, humility, service to others and God. 

-  The second highlight was a 40 minute film about 7 year pilgrimage (Nilkanth yatra) made by Swaminarayan during his teenage years throughout India. The screen was huge. I have never seen such a big screen. I googled and here are the details 

The theatre houses Delhi's first and only large format screen, measuring 85-foot (26 m) by 65-foot (20 m)

-  The highlight for us was a 15 minute boat ride. The boat ride was fantastically designed and took us through years and years of Indian heritage through all walks of life right from family life to bazaar to medicine, research, science, maths and education. Both the kids and us thoroughly enjoyed the boat ride.

There are other attractions like musical fountain show in the evening, a surrounding lake etc. A very small play area for the  preschoolers too to engage them and a food court to wind up for our dinner :)

Altogether a novel place to visit once.


Unfortunately, mobiles, cameras were prohibited inside the campus and we had to hand over everything in a locker facility. So i dont have any photographs of this place.

Day 2 : Kurukshetram

Kurukshetra, punya kshetram dharma kshetram where Mahabharata war was fought. It is at Haryana at a distance of 150 kms from Delhi. The region got its name from king Kuru, ancestors of Pandavas and Kauravas. It is here that Sri Krishna Bhagvan preached Bhagwad Gita to Arjuna when he was in a dilemma and it was also here that Sri Bishma pithama was laid down in a bed of arrows by Arjuna. 

Once we reached kurukshetra, our first stop was Bhrahma Sarovar.

Brahma Sarovar:

It is an ancient water tank sacred to Hinduism. It is believed that Lord Brahma created the universe from this place. It is one of the largest man made ponds.

Actually, one thing that i was dreading was our trip to Kurukshetra due to the weather conditions as we would be out in the sun most of the day. The month of May in and around Delhi, one can imagine how hot it would be. But we were extremely lucky. The day was very cloudy and pleasant, completely shielding us from the scorching heat and sun of the Delhi summer. 

The place had a wonderful ambience. The atmosphere was calm, peaceful and eternal beauty of the place brought an inner peace. 

A sacred shrine of Lord Shiva stands within the Sarovar. It is believed to be very auspicious to take a dip in the sarovar on solar eclipse day.

Another point of interest is an ancient Draupadi kupa (well)

Jyotisar : 

A travel of a few kms from Bhramasarovar brought us to Jyotisar, holy place where Shrimad Bhagwad Gita was born.

We tried to envisage /visualize the long ago scene of the battlefield with thousands and thousands of sainyams standing on the ground, waiting for the war to start. It gave goosebumps just trying to imagine and to think that we were standing in that very place of such historic importance.

Here, you can witness idols of many characters of the great epic Mahabharatha. Bhishma, Dhuryodhan, Arjun, Guru Dhronaachaariyaar, Naradhar, Dhirudharaashtran, Bheem etc.

Bhishma Kund:


3 kms away from Jyotisar brought us to Bhishma kund. It is here that Arjuna (with the help of an arrow) brought Ganga water to Bhishma Pitahma to quench his thirst. It is also here that Bhishma Pitahma was lying on a bed of arrows wounded in the war and was waiting for Uttarayan (even after the war was over) to depart from this world and attain the lord's lotus feet.

There is a goshaala maintained here. It is so very rare to find goshaala these days. 

We sat down nearby a tree and took the time to recite vishnu sahasranaamam in the Bhishma kund before taking leave.

Kurukshetra Panorama and Science Centre:

This museum is amazing. You can spend hours here and you wont know how the time flies. There are numerous scientific exhibits that interests both the kids and the adults simultaneously. Unfortunately, we could not spend more than an hour and a half here as we had to head back to Delhi. Please allocate time for this if you are planning to visit kurukshetra. You can spend atleast half a day here. 

There is also a world class panoroma that depicts the war scenes of the kurukshetra war with real effects.


Other places of interest that we could not visit

1. Sannihit Sarovar
2. Sri krishna Museum
3. There are 2 durga mandirs

Badrinath travel Inception

Well, its been a long time since I sat down to write or rather blog :). Its been ages. I think my last post here has been 7 years back. But, thanks to my dear friend SK, i am right now trying to put my mind together and record my very recent trip to Delhi and Badrinath last week. Thanks SK for motivating me.

How did the whole plan start ? Sincerely i dont know. I never thought I will be taking the initiative & planning for a pilgrimage trip to Badri 6 months back. Not even in my dreams. But as they say, you dont decide. It is not in your hands. It is HE who decides to call you and give you dharshan.

My parents have been desiring to dharshan Sri Badri Narayanan for the past 4 years. They have almost completed other kshetrams among the 108 divya desams. They had even booked for theertha yatra for Badri in 2013 with a regular tour operator. But due to the natural calamity (land slide), Badrinath was closed in 2013 and they could not travel. Post that, every year, something or the other was preventing them from going and my mothers health also played a major role in the delay. 

With the dawn of 2017, again the topic of Badrinath started with my parents and suddenly one fine day in Feb 2017, it struck me out of the blue that I might be in a similar state when I get older (health problems preventing me to travel and miss out). This, along with my desire to satisfy my parent's long pending thavam, made me think "why not ? with god' s grace, right now it is possible for us to travel in all aspects - heath , financial, mental peace. So lets plan and go together". There's a saying in Tamizh. "Ore kallu la 2 mangaa. " Here its 3 . I was also slightly hesitant to send them alone with a tour which would mean I would be sitting here worried with no proper communication & signal. Thus the seed was sown.

Next important aspect in the pre planning  stage was getting Sriram's acceptance as well because I just cannot manage alone with elders & kids (leaving them was not an option). It is a big project, hundreds of miles to cover and anything could go wrong. The first time I opened the topic with him, he was not very keen. But once I told him about the 3 mangoes :), he was very generous and sweet and immediately accepted with no further questions. A very big thank you to you, Sriram. This definitely made a big difference and would have been a show stopper otherwise.

The rest, as they say is history. Once the ball started rolling, devotees increased :). My chithi, mom's sis wanted to join. Next my FIL, though technically he cannot be called a devotee but he loves to travel. Last, just before 1 week of commencement of travel, my athai, dad's sis also expressed her desire to join. 

The making of the Itinerary

I should say again, it is his blessings only that has made this happen as the whole thing could have gone wrong with my one single negligence.  Initially, when I started to plan for badri, i enquired and did the basic regular ground work as usual. The general occurrence is that Badrinath opens on the day of Akshaya thrithiyai every year. (Badrinath is closed for 6 months from Deepavali to May during winter). I asked around, made enquiries and planned to start on April 30 (Akshaya thrithiyai was on Apr 29 2017) right after closing of school for the girls.  (Had I gone ahead with my plan, I would have been in a rude shock later.) But my mom wanted to start only on May 2 as May 1st was Ramaujar jayanthi (his 1000 th birthday) and wanted to see the happenings at Sriperumbudur live on the TV. My mind was not open enough to accommodate for this as I had other reasons as well to stick to my dates. But a chance warning from one of Sriram's friends that sometimes they open late in May and the fact that tickets to Delhi were cheaper on May 2nd when compared to April 30 made me go ahead and book tickets for the latter date of May 2nd. (This was the time when I should have double checked the opening date of Badrinath. But it never occurred to me to re check and confirm.) Still a costly mistake which I could have avoided if I had just double confirmed. As it is, bookings were made on May 2nd to travel to Delhi by flight and return a week later.

The plan was to travel to Badrinath first, then 2 nights halt at delhi. We had booked Panicker travels to take us from Delhi to Badrinath and drop us back at Delhi.  My parents wanted to visit kurukshethra from Delhi. So, the moment I mailed the dates to Panicker for Badrinath travel as May 2nd, I got a highly panicky call from Panicker. The lady on the other end was all jitters as she said that Badrinath opening date was only May 6 th  and no way we could travel on 2nd. I got a few scoldings from her as I had not asked her the opening date during my initial talks. My heart stopped for a moment and then started racing. Then my mind cleared and I instructed her to pick us up on May 4 th from Delhi for Badrinath instead of May 2 nd as our return date to Chennai was only May 9th and we had the buffer to take in the change. (It takes 2 days to reach Badri from Delhi through Haridwar Rishikesh by road). Man proposes, God disposes. I had to change my plan to first stay 2 nights in Delhi ,visit kurukshetra and then move on to Badri. Although altered, the trip was still on with his blessings.  

If I had booked as per my earlier date of April 30, I would have been left with no buffer and would have had to either cancel the tickets or just visit Delhi with no Badrinath. But why still a costly mistake ? Because with these dates, we were left with no option but to dharshan the lord on the opening day and the crowd was unimaginable along with the added hindrance of the honorable President Of India Shri Pranab Mukherjee choosing to visit the shrine on the opening day, it took us 8 long hours to dharshan the lord in the crowd. It is our misfortune that Badri did not open as per norm on the Akshaya thrithhiyai this year. But, it is his wish that we should dharshan him this way. 

Once the bookings were made and everything was set and paid, Sriram dropped a bombshell that he might have to be in the United Sates on May 10 and had to start from Chennai on May 8th for the same.  I did not panic this time. I understood this was a wait and watch game. I entirely left it to the lord for the next 2 months. "If it had to happen, it will happen ". Just 1 week before our departure we came to know that he need not travel.

We were all set. My chithi came down from Bangalore 2 days before. Appa gave for yatra dhaanam in Sathya narayana kovil on May 1st.  8 of us started from chennai to Delhi on May 2nd early morning.  My athai was to join us in Delhi the next day on her own before starting for Badri.


On to Delhi with me in the next post....

Kerala Trip Part 7 - Rajamalai, Munnar & then back home

Day 6 (contd)

Links to Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 ,Part5 and Part6

The first (and the last) stop was Rajamalai wild life sanctuary. The mountain covered with green grasslands is a sight to behold. A spectacular sight !

This park was established to protect the endangered Tahr (rare mountain goat). And also  famous for the unique species of flower, Neelakurinji, that blooms once in 12 years.

Kerala Trip Part 6 - Munnar

Day 5 (contd)

Links to Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 and Part5

The travel from Thekkady to Munnar was a great scenic route in the hilly region. The mountains look as though a beautiful green carpet has been laid meticulously on it :) However, it was the worst part of the tour for me as I was car/travel sick (in spite of the slow driving among the hair pin bends by the expert driver). It was a wonder that I had managed for so many days and it had to happen some time! But the good thing about was that the travel was slow with various small stops and hence we got some more time to enjoy the view as well. Here are some shots along the way

Kerala Trip Part 5 - Thekkady

Day 4 (contnd)

Links to Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4

From the houseboat, we headed for Thekkady. The journey was uphill and the scenery was beautiful with mountains, tress and tea estates as went along. The 3 1/2 journey was peaceful and non-eventful

Kerala Trip Part 4 - The Sunset and the Rise

Day 3 (contd)

Links to Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3

After the relaxing cruise, when the dusk dawned, we were all set to enjoy the view of the setting sun.  The boat was anchored for the night and we got down to roam on a similar  tiny stretch of land ( with a couple of houses) that we had been witnessing all day long (thats called a village by the way :) ) to enjoy an interrupted view from the trees. When the crew told us, we would stop in a village for the night, I was imagining at least a very very small town with a few or a couple of acres of land at least:). My mistake :). We didn't think of it much when the crew men didn't know the name of the village we would be stopping by for the night :) when we questioned them. Again, our slip :) But we were not at all disappointed, more amused and  got an entirely different perspective :).

Initially, the sun was obscured by the clouds and I was hoping and praying that it would clear away !

Kerala Trip Part 3 - The Backwater cruise!

Day 3 (contd) :

Links to Part 1 and Part 2

To say the backwater cruising was amazing would be a major understatement. We completely enjoyed the very novel experience (to us). We also had a very pleasing and attentive crew on board.

We were first welcomed with fresh tender coconut water. It was so gratifying after the heat :)

Kerala Trip Part 2 - Introducing the HouseBoat

Day 3 :

We planned to set out at 7:30 AM as we planned to reach Allepey (by car) by around 11:30 at the max, bearing in mind the delays and a stop for refreshments. Day 3's itinerary was to reach Allepey and take the house boat from Allepey and travel to Kumarakom. But, as is always the case, we were late and could start only by 8:00 AM.

My aunt, again pitched in, and in spite of my denials and the early hours packed "Fried Idlis", fresh curd and "Panagam" (a thirst quenching drink made out of Jaggery, lemon, cardamom and dry ginger).

The drive to Allepey was uneventful and Jillu happily napped for an hour on the way till we took a break. The poor girl was very co-operative throughout the trip, sleeping when she could in the car and nodding off early at nights due to tiredness. This suited us very well indeed :)

Kerala Trip Part I - Trivandrum

 The Planning :

The whole trip was planned in a jiffy, a matter of 2 days. The initial plan was to have been in the last week of April or first week of May, but then we had to attend a couple of important functions (engagement/weddings) which could not be skipped. (Hey, newly engaged buddy, I hope you are reading this! If so, please make note :) ) And later part of May was not feasible for various reasons as well. So the trip was advanced and we just had a weekend to make all the arrangements and the bookings. Thankfully, my aunt (Athai) is in Kovalam and hence we could take her help as well. She was a great help :). She took care of booking the car for the whole tour, arranged a wonderful driver and also took care of charting the route for us :) Thank you, Athai, so much for all your help, in spite of your very busy and hectic schedule! But I wonder if you will ever have time to read this ! And then, it was left to us booking airline tickets to and fro and hotels online. I would have loved to travel by train, that would have been a wonderful experience for Jillu as well ! But that has to got to wait for the next time, as we cannot imagine getting train tickets in 2 days, that too in summer holidays, even in dreams.

Vacation Time..

Jillu & Co are at last off to a vacation for a week. This is the first official vacation for Jillu and the first one for the family as well after Jillu 's birth.

So we are all off this afternoon. Its a vacation planned in a jiffy, so hopefully everything should go well and Jillu should enjoy herself !

See you all after a week and take care till then! :)

will come back and meet you all with updates and photos to share :)

The Madurai trip - Part II

For Part-I, please click here.

The day of the wedding, Monday, saw less of activity when compared to Sunday.

We got ready for the wedding and reached just in time for the Muhurtham (delayed becoz we had decided to give Jillu her b'fast in the hotel itself).

About the wedding

It was a Saurashtrian wedding and I was surprised to learn their way of doing things. The bride and the groom apparently arrange for their own halls and the rituals happen in their own respective halls. When the ritual involves both the bride and groom to be to-gether, then it happens based on the significance of the ritual. For eg, the engagement and the actual wedding of tying Thali happened in the bride's hall, whereas the reception happened in the groom's hall. And each party arranges for their own food for their guests/invitees. Bride's relations and friends will be catered to by the bride's family and the groom's guests by the groom's side. On the day of the wedding, only the groom is allowed to eat along with the bride in the bride's hall after the wedding ceremony is over. So each party takes care of their own guests, food, hall, gift etc.
I found this interesting and a nice idea, as this gives each their own flexibility related to cost, lavishness etc and also a major plus as there is no serious scope for politics (between the 2 sides) as is seen in so many of our weddings.

Sa-Re-Ga-Ma

Jillu was in a jolly mood and she was singing aloud all kinds of songs (rhymes, songs) that she knew, much to the amusement of various passersby on the road (we were shuttling betwen the 2 halls. Fortunately both were within walking distance of each other). However, she surprised me by singing even "Sa-ri-ga-ma-pa-dha-ni-sa" :), though the "Sa-ni-dha-pa" did not come out correctly :).

Friends of all ages

She had made friends with a lot of her dad's friends. She started calling them by names and also, as is her habit came up with her own shortened versions of their names. Prem somehow became Priyammadha and then when we corrected her, it became PM :). Along with coming up with new names, she was also running behind every kid that she came across in the marriage hall and it became very difficult to keep track of her :). All kids were branded as either "Annaa" or "Akkaa" even if they were younger to her :) (we have not yet taught her "Thangai/Thambi"). Though, she called very small babies "Paapaa".

Sun evening

In the evening, we went to the "Thirumalai Nayakar" palace. Jillu was being troublesome before we started in the evening, So I told her we were going to see "The Maharaja" and just so that she could relate, I stupidly added "Kamsa Maharaja" paaka porom. (on the naive assumption/hope that there atleast will be 1 painting of some Maharaja there in the palace and any Maharaja could be called as "Kamsa" , Krishna's uncle). So she got that very well and my prayers were not answered as there was no painting miraculously hanging from the walls, though the palace itself was breathtaking and beautiful. I repeatedly had to divert her every time she asked me "Kamsa Maharaja yenga?" (vera yenna panna? as i said before, "Kai mel palan"). I felt very sad when I came to know that what has been preserved till date is only 1/4 of the original palace and the rest has vanished and become a part of the Madurai city :(.

We finished the tour of the palace and then we headed to "Koodalazhagar" temple. The temple was huge and awesome with separate prahaarams for Perumal, Thaayar and Andaal. In the Thaayaar sannidhi, Jillu again had the darshan of another elephant and this time she was watching the elephant with no fear but did not wish to go near it. After enjoying the peaceful serenity of the temple, it was time to head back to the hotel, for dinner and taking the train back to chennai.

Rayil Snegam -II

Yet again this time, one of our neighbors in the train was a kid and Jillu referred to him as "paapaa" even though he must have been nearer to Jillu's age. :). However, this time there was not much time for socializing as Jillu was very tired and the "paapaa" also looked to be worn out and was ready to sleep. However, still Jillu wanted to play with him, but the boy had already slept and I made Jillu sleep telling her that "paapaa" has already slept. (This did not change from the previous Rayil Snegam :) )

The 2 days just passed by in a blur too fast and was a welcome change of routine for me as well. 

I hope 2010 continues to offer me more opportunities to travel :)

The Madurai trip - Part I

The Madurai trip was lovely and a refreshing change for Jillu and me. For Jillu, it was a big taataa, lots of new people to meet and new experiences.

Rayil Snegam
We started on Sat night by train and as luck would have it, there was a boy, couple of years elder to her, in the adjacent seat. She immediately started "Anna, Annaa" and proceeded to sit next to him. We had to really restrain her as the family were having their dinner. The moment they finished, she immediately started chanting "Anna, Anna" and she went and sat next to him much to the amusement of all. The boy's shyness and reluctance to indulger her was no barrier to her and she kept asking him to wear his "kullaa" (the monkey cap that protects the ears from the chill) which he did not want to do at all. The boy fell asleep soon after and I put an excited Jillu to sleep quoting the "Annaa" as an example :). In the morning, the first thing that Jillu looked for was for her new found "Annaa" friend. Jillu's attempts continued from last night and the "Anna" chose to overcome his shyness and really start playing with her just when it was time to bid good bye and alight from the train

Rickshaw ride
Sun morning, after breakfast, we headed out to the Meenakshi Amman Temple. Our hotel was pretty close to the temple, so we started walking through the streets. Half way through, one of the rickshaw-wallas came to us and bargained for a ride to the rest of the distance to the temple. I think he saw us a fair chance as we had a toddler walking along with us. We were not really keen, but found it very hard to say No to the guy. So Jillu and me got in to the rickshaw with Jillu's dad walking along with the rickshaw fellow (Jillu's dad generally feels real bad about the rickshaw wallas pulling our weight, so didn't get in. I felt the same, but had no option as we could not leave Jillu alone).I forget the last time I ever was in a rickshaw. Must be those days when I was studying in 2nd or 3rd std, when I used to accompany my grand ma for the matinee show. This brings back a lot of lovely memories :)

The Elephant tale
Inside the temple, there was a surprise waiting for us ! Yes, none other than the elephant :). All of us were equally thrilled to see the big and gigantic elephant. Jillu's dad took her near to the elephant, and as is the custom, kept the change in the elephant's trunk to get his blessings. The elephant then placed his trunk gently on top of Jillu's head and blessed her. Jillu got scared by the encounter and started saying "Yanai venaam". The entire time that we were inside the temple, she kept saying "Yanai venaam" and then suddenly when we returned to the same spot, she wanted to see the elephant again. And that's when she noticed that there were a few drops of water (tears???) near to the elephant's eyes.

I hadn't noticed it. We then proceeded to the "Aayiram kaal mandapam" and were walking inside when
she told her dad "Yannai azhardhu" (The elephant is crying)

Jillu's dad : Yanai yen azhardhu ? (why is the elephant crying?)

Jillu : Jillu adichitaa (Jillu beat the elephant)
Jillu's dad  : ???

Jillu : Sorry, Yanai sollanum. Yanai Paakanum (I have to say sorry to the elephant. Take me to the elephant) and this request went on and on and on till we again went inside the temple to show her the elephant.

And in front of the elephant, I told her (going along with her story :) ) , "Ok Jillu, ippo sorry sollu" (Ok, Now say sorry)

Jillu :"Sorry, Yanai" (Sorry, elephant)

Silence...
Me : "Yanai yenna sollithu? Its OK sollithaa?" (What did the elephant say? did it say Ok?)

Jillu : Its ok yanai sollalaama ? (Shall we say "Its okay" to the elephant)
Me : Yanai should say that, not you :)

And then back at the hotel, she was so excited that she actually spoke to both her grand mas over the phone (the current phone phase is aversion). With bright sparkling eyes wide open, she excitedly shouted over the phone "Yanai Jillu thalai mela 'dop' pannithu"

Me : Yedhaala 'dop' pannithu?

Jillu : thumbikkaiyaala

Dum Dum Dum - Kalyaanam
In the evening, it was time for the reception. We reached there well ahead of time for the engagement function that generally happens the day before the wedding. And she had a lovely time here as well. She was generally running behind any of the "kuttis" that she could spot and I in turn was running behind her to make sure that she was safe.

And then the "Nadhaswaram" started. From previous visits to the temple, I knew that Jillu was entralled by the "Molam" and "Pepe" (Nadhaswaram). The first time that she heard (and watched them playing) the music in a temple, she just froze then and there in front of them and after a couple of minutes, just simply sat down at the exact spot that she was standing on and refused to leave from the place. I was expecting the same thing to happen again and I was right. The only difference was that this time, after watching them from a distance for a while, she went and sat near to the guy playing the "molam". I almost called her back, but restrained  myslef just to see what would happen. She sat there watching them play and they in turn watched her indulgently as they had been doing all along right from the beginning. And, much to my surprise and her delight, When there was a brief lull in the proceedings and there was no need for the music, the drummer actually gave Jillu the stick so that she could do "Dum Dum Dum". It was no nice of him to indulge the small girl. And she took it from him with no hesitation and drummed on..."Dum, DOOM, DOM, DUNG"..

And so, it came as no surprise that she would go back to them every now and then to see if she could get a chance to go at it again :). And she got the chance twice :)
And then it was time to head back to the hotel.

To be continued...

Travel, Atlast !!!

I am so excited :) because we are off to Madurai tonight to attend the wedding of my husband's friend. The excitement is not entirely due to the wedding but, this is Jillu's first ever trip (long distance travel) after Thirupathi (which was when she was 7 months old) and I am so looking forward to it. :).

It will be fun to see how she reacts to the travel. I am also aware of the challenges, but I think its high time that we start moving around now that she is 2 years old.

I think the last time even I traveled (excepting Thirupathi of course) was way back before my pregnancy days, some 3 years back, I guess and it will be a welcome change for me as well.

So, really looking forward to the trip :). Will meet you all once we are back.