Visiting Navagraha Temples-Part III

On my way to Poompukar in a state transport bus.

Packing our bags, we started for Kumbakonam from Thirunallar. I love bus journeys too, especially through Indian villages. We got down at Kumbakonam bus stand. I could see GOWRI SANKAR HOTELS-quite famous in Kumbakonam. I remembered our dear friend Gowri Sankar-WAP-4#22550. We had South Indian meals. It was fantastic! Better than the ones available in Chennai. I am not a great fan of meals, I like Chappati's than rice, but today was different. We booked an A/C room at Kumbakonam KMU. My cousin brother wanted to see the temples in order. As a result, we didn't take a room at KMU after arriving at the station. Sani temple was seen on Saturday, Thiru Nageshwaram on Sunday and Chevvai on Tuesday.

Hotel ARK-quite famous in KMU. The cost was high. Very high. Rs. 1300 per day. The room was good though. We were to visit Thiru Nageswaram on a Sunday. We went for a movie in the evening. "Ayutham Seivom". This could surprise everyone. Generally, I don't see movies or cinemas as I believe the entire film industry is pornographic and lacks culture and a precursor to evil. Most of them projects women as sexual objectss-something which I am against since my childhood. Most human rights violations, rapes, crime happening in India is due to cinema and the content shown on TV which has polluted the younger generation of India. The worst thing is that the present day modern girls encourage such things by buying tickets and watching cinema. I don't visit cinema theaters as I would funding evil and creating an evil empire. But I was with my cousins-so I needed to get along with people and there is nothing wrong provided it doesn't becomes an habit.

Kumbakonam is a town in the Thanjavur district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is regarded as a temple town because of the large number of temples within the town and the nearby areas. It is a very peaceful city and the festival of Mahamaham is celebrated every 12 years. The town is known for its temples, panchaloha idols and exquisite brass wares especially lamps, silk and betel leaves. It is primarily a market town for the predominantly agriculture based villages surrounding it. Betel leaves are cultivated more in Kumbakonam and popularly known as 'Kumbakonam Vetrilai'.

Story of Kumbakonam:-

When it was time for the destruction of this world a huge Pralaya came up. In order to save the world, vedas, amirthams need to be saved. Lord Brahma collected all these things and put them in a mud pot and kept the pot safety on the top of the Mount Meru.

Pralaya kalam-the period of non stop heavy rain came and the pot of Brahma was washed away by the flood. In due course, moving in the south direction it came to a halt at a particular place which is the present day Kumbakonam Railway station. Lord Shiva broke the pot with an arrow. Immediately, Amudham or Divine Nectar flowed from the pot and formed two tanks. One is known as Mahamaha kulam and the other is Potramarai kulam. The remains of the pot and Amudham joined together to form Lord Kumbeswarar in the Adi Kumbeswarar Temple. In the name of the broken pot, Kumbam-the place came to be called as Kumbakonam.

We visited Thiru Nageswaram temple on Sunday. The drawings in the walls, sthala puranams were interesting. I couldn't understand much. It gave a sort of relief to my heart. Felt refreshed. Life could be so complex. But when I read these inscriptions, I felt different. Today the world is suffering a lot. But those sufferings could be erased if we all could get along. Every religion has got some truth! Be it Christianity or Islam. People don't write anything for the sake of it.

The drawings of deities, sages and animals were fantastic. No words to measure my enjoyment. We had lunch at Kumbakonam and returned to the lodge. We packed our things and proceeded towards Sirkazhi in a bus. Sirkazhi was near to Vaitheeswaran Temple and we had a thought of staying there rather than commuting from Kumbakonam. The bus ride was a bit tiring for my cousins-but I was certainly enjoying. We were to stay two days at that place. We stayed at Hotel Sampoorna. My cousin brother Ramanan booked an A/C room again. Rs. 590 per day. See the difference in the cost of living at Sirkazhi and Kumbakonam.


That's me. Getting blessed again!

The next day was even more interesting. Ramanan preferred to stay indoors and my cousin Jai Karthik and I preferred to bus fan. Since he had come for an important pooja, he would be concentrating only on that and would be visiting temples only related to it. But we were free birds. We boarded the Poompukar bus to Tiruvengadu to see a temple. The bus was very crowded! Trust me. I was sitting on top of the engine near the driver all the way for around one hour. It was hot seat! As I updated this in an SMS to Chennai Gang, I did get some funny replies from my friends. Replies which were much more like a 'A' joke. I don't want to mention them here.

The bus slowly moved out of Sirkazhi and then when it was reaching Thiru Nagiri(a wayside stop), people climbed even on rooftops. The scenario around was full of small mountains, rice fields with tractors all around. Awesome! Awesome! Fantastic. This is what I wanted. I took my camera mobile and started taking pics even amidst the crowd. I was taking pics only of the lonely road ahead towards which my bus was going. Meanwhile myself and my cousin were quite far now. He was being crushed heavily on the other side of the bus. I connected my mobile to headset and started listening to music. Blue-one love, Boney-M, MJ.

After one hour, we reached our destination. I couldn't even shout out to my cousin who was on the other side to ask him to get down. It was too crowdy and noisy. I called him up to get down. Atlast, we got down at bus stop and walked towards Tiruvengadu Buthan Temple. I noticed that his well ironed shirt and pants were in complete shambles. The Buthan temple was fantastic. But no crowd at all. Wonder why? Maybe it gets crowded only on Wednesdays as that's the day people worship the Lord. Some marriage was taking place. I wondered whether the girl was above 18-she looked a bit young. I could make out that she wasn't even 18. But still I am not sure. Trangression of law and human rights! I remembered Michael Jackson's-Heal the world song. Anyway, nothing can be done. I am not a reporter to report all these. I am not a big politician to exercise power. I am a lay man. My cousin brother went around the temple while I stood there and watched the function. A sum of Rs.30,000/- was handed over as dowry. The bridegroom accepted it without any shame. Shame on Indian men who accept dowry. Women have always been a piece of good joke in the Indian society. The girl's father was a bit old. I wondered what he would do for his last days?


My cousin getting blessed by elephant.

After visting the Buthan Temple, we immediately boarded a bus towards 'Ketu sthalam' which was near Keezha Perum Pallam. It was around 5km away from Tiruvengadu. We took a lot of photos in our camera mobiles. Then my cousin suggested that we should proceed towards Poompukar and board the bus there rather than boarding it in the intermediate stops as it could be crowded.

Poompukar is a town in Nagapattinam district in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It was once a flourishing ancient port city known as Kaveripattinam, which served as the capital of the Chola Kingdom of ancient Tamilnadu. It is located near the mouth of the Kaveri. Much of the town was washed away by what is now speculated to be a tsunami around 500 A.D. Ancient pottery dating back to the 4th or 5th century A.D. have been discovered off shore around this town.

We went to Poompukar from Tiruvalangadu by bus. We entered into the nearest hotel. Some Ajith movie was running in the TV. We ordered two onion roast dosas with chutney and sambar. It was nice. My cousin gave tips of Rs.15. The strange thing happenned only here. We boarded the bus and the bus was about to start. At that time, the server came running towards our bus. He said, "Sir, you paid extra money for the bill. You paid us Rs. 15 extra". My cousin was amazed. Was he innocent? Or he didn't like receiving tips? The people down South India were extremely kind and more humane than the ones in Chennai.

I was standing and travelling for a few minutes as I didn't feel comfortable sitting. The driver applied the brakes suddenly. I dashed against a iron rod slightly. The conductor came running and kept his hands on my forehead and rubbed it gently. "Romba valikkudha sir(Is it paining too much??)" These things happen only in India. If a person in Tamilnadu is having headache, another person from Maharashtra would come running with a Saridon. That's India-"Unity in Diversity".

Amazingly kind people. We got down at Sirkazhi and went to the lodge. Had a nice afternoon nap. Then we went for a movie "Dasavataram" in the evening. I was seeing it for the second time. I liked the way Kamal takes films. No, I didn't mean the kissing ones but the ones like Anbe Sivam, Indian, Dasavataram.


Superb! Handsome!

We checked out of the lodge and proceeded towards Vaideeswaran Temple to offer prayers to Chevvai. Vaitheeswaran Koil is 24 km (15 miles) from Chidambaram(my mothers native). The place is famous for the Siva temple dedicated to Lord Vaidyanatheeswarar and his consort Thaiyalnayaki. It is believed that a bath in the holy waters of the Siddhamirtham tank within the temple complex will cure all diseases. Naadi Jothidam a popular form of astrology is practised here. I should admit the fact that I have been superstituos sometimes. Sometimes I do follow astrology. It might be amusing for someone to know that the person who listens to MJ or the Backstreet Boys would explore into astrology and metaphysics. But still I have felt during my life that few events are beyond human control and that's the reason why I have decided to humble myself.

After visiting Vaitheeswaran Koil, we boarded the bus to Chidambaram. Then from Chidambaram we boarded a bus to Pondicherry. My cousin brother suggested that returning by train would be a better option. My cousins preferred the train journey as it had toilets, berths and in a train like 104SR we can sleep atleast till Chengalpet. My cousins weren't interested in long bus journeys at all. As I neared Kollidam, I took snaps of the bridge. I could observe that the bridges and girders were similar to the ones near Ottivakkam. My bus then crossed Bhuvanagiri, Cuddalore and reached Pondicherry at 14:10hrs. I could see that GOC 17544 Electricity Bill Counter WDM-2 was pulling in with TPTY-PDY slow passenger.

We waited for the train to start. Surprisingly, the slow passenger(PDY-TPTY) was given preference and it started first. Our 104SR started only at 15:15hrs. The power was AJJ WAM-4#20613, which was in Sapthagiri livery. We stopped at Viliannur, Chinnababu Samudram(PDY-TN border) and then Valavanur. We reached Villupuram at 4PM. The run from VM till Mailam was good and we overtook the slow passenger somewhere before Tindivanam.


Buthan Temple at Tiruvalangadu.


Keezha Perumpallam-Ketu Temple area looks virtually empty.

After Mailam, the train was a bit slow in my opinion. We were put in loop at Olakur. I knew 2605 MS-TPJ Pallavan Super Fast Express was on the way. We waited for more than 15 minutes for Pallavan. It came with a Barbie Doll WAM-4#21320. Both the LP and the ALP were having the green flag. I took a video in my camera mobile. I waved at the Loco Pilots(as usual) but this time they showed no reactions. Our train halted at Tindivanam, Melmaruvathur, Madurantakam. At Karunguzhi, we were put on loop. We waited for atleast 15 mins. Silence! It was already dusk. The gangman was sitting near the tracks to show the green lamp. A couple of dogs were running near the tracks. An atmosphere of suspicion and eerie silence. People inside the coaches were snoring.

Praang!!! Praang!! Everyone woke up. Durrr! Durrr! Durr!! Praang!!GOC WDM-2#18687 blasted through the station with 6713 MS-RMM Sethu Express. We were put in loop again at Ottivakkam. ED WDM-3D#11109 with 2633 MS-CAPE Kanya Kumari Super Fast Express crossed us at around 60kmph. We reached Chengalpet very late at around 1910hrs.I got down with my cousins at GDY. Time was 2015hrs.


Kollidam train bridge near Chidambaram on my way back to Chennai.

When I reached my house it was 2040hrs, my adopted dog Damien greeted me by licking my pants and jumping wildly. The trip was over!

-Krishna Kumar.S