Trip to Kumbakonam July 2014

This trip was planned initially to transfer some goods but later dropped off. We again planned for the trip over the first weekend of July 2014. Our initial plan was to see all the Navagraha Temples kinda of little holy trip:P

Travellers- Myself,Ko, Dinesh and Manoj Mode-Road by Maruti Swift

As part of the initial planning I researched on the routes for the temples from Kumbakonam. The first search result provided some good map route which seems to cover the whole Kumbakonam district.This link was what we had as base for our trip.

Trip Day 1- July 5, 2014 I packed myself for the trip took my Mac also along with since had few assignments that need to be completed thought would finish over the travel in car. We started around 6:30 AM as usual we delayed by half an hour leading us to drop in total plan. Our first stop was near MEPZ for breakfast. We had our breakfast in GK hotel which is famous in GST road. After the breakfast it time to burn the tyres. Dinesh was driving at consistent speed. We had a confusion on whether to reach Kumbakonam via Koliyanur Road or via Pondy–> Chidambaram… Later we confirmed that we will proceed with Pondy Route. But near Tindivanam we missed a left which made us to roam for another 1 hr. Later we took Mailam road and reached Kallanai. In the meantime our mobile charges went down and the charger connected with the car does not charge the mobile phone. So we were lost. Later we tethered the internet from another mobile used by Mac to find the map route and proceeded. It was around 1:30 by the time when we reached Kumbakonam. We refreshed ourselves at Ko’s brother Palesh anna’s residence and proceeded with our plan. But now our plan changed due to timings.

So we headed towards Tanjore Big Temple which is around 40kms from Kumbakonam. We reached there before the sunset and we were able to view the temple towers in sunlight. Later we headed towards Thingalur Moon Temple which was 14 km in North from the Big temple. By the time we reached there it was almost 6-7. Later we moved towards Swamimalai . It started to rain heavily when we came out after offering our prayers. We halted for a while and started and headed towards Kumbakonam. It was raining heavily in Kumbakonam. Also the streets of Kumbakonam were flooded. Whatever routes we took to reach the residence for sure car would start to float. Water level were so high. We were roaming for all routes like this for an hour. After which we somehow found a street and drove fast to our street. In the street there was no flood it was little elevated compared to other streets. We escaped:P

After we reached home all started to sleep since we have to start early next day. But I have not completed my code assignments hence was awake until aroun 1:00 AM and slept afterwards. It was raining till that time.

Trip Day 2- July 6 ,2014 We still have 8 more temples to see due to the change in plan and we have almost half a day since we have to head towards Chennai by atleast 3:00 PM. So we started early around 6:00 AM. We headed towards Rahu Temple. We finished there and visited the nearby Uppulipian Temple.The temple was closed until 9:00 AM due to some rituals. Hence we came out and had our breakfast to check whether as said by facts “all food outside the temple will not have salt!!” Later when the temple is opened for darshan we prayed and started from there to Jupiter Temple. From there we visited the Sun Temple and later the Venus Temple. It was almost lunch time. From there we headed towards Vaiteeswaran Temple. On our way we had tugs with a local for hitting our car. It took us some time. By the time we reached the temple, they were about to close the premises for lunch time.We quickly prayed and came out before they close the temple. The place was famous for Nadi Astrology and few of them were seeing it after we had our lunch. It was around 2 when we started back to Kumbakonam and within few minutes we started back to Chennai. This time we came via Koliyanur route which was pretty simple and clear. Throughout our journey towards Chennai we were being accompanied by heavy rain.

Atlast it was very holy trip but missed three temples according to our plan….

Another weekend spent seeking the blessing of lords:)