Travel reduces stress, gives happiness, provides great energy levels, heals our mind related diseases, gives refreshment, motivates us and in total, travel makes a good change in our life. There are many books written by the authors about their travel experiences, like visit to various temples, hilly regions, water-falls and many more. Though I have not undergone extensive travels, but, however, I am interested to share at least some of my personal travel experiences to the readers, and I really hope, that, they would enjoy by reading this article!
The photo attached with this article was taken at an exhibition held at Chennai during late 1970’s, in the famous Taj Mahal background. When I was just 6, myself, my elder sister, my mother and my father were on the way to Trichy, and from Chennai, we boarded the train, in order to visit the famous Malai Kottai Vinayagar Temple. During that time, due to the influence of Lord Shani Bhagavan for 7 ½ Years (Elarai Nattu Shani), I had suffered from severe fever, and due to that, in the train itself, my mother fed me Idly with Chilly, and also told me stories from Ramayana, and, due to that, my temperature got slightly reduced and after taking a hot coffee with some pills, I felt better.
We got down from the train, stayed in a lodge, after that we had the wonderful darshan of Lord Vinayaka. During those days, a famous Soda was popular in Trichy, which was called as “MAPPILAI VINAYAKAR SODA”. In spite of my fever, I drank few bottles of that wonderful soda and quenched my thirst! After that travel, we have visited various places, like Kuladevta Temple, Erode, Nellaiyappar Temple, Tirunelveli, Mayavaram Temples, Bangalore Temples, and Mysore Chamundeswari Temple. Every year, during Pongal season, my father used to take us to Tirumala Tirupati, and that practice was continued till the time of his death.
I have studied in Hindu Higher Secondary School, Triplicane, and while I was in my seventh standard (1984), a five day trip was arranged by the school management, and we have gone to Ooty and its nearby places. That time the total cost of the trip comes to Rs.150/-(Exclusive of food expenses). During the year 1987, after the completion of my tenth standard examinations, my father took us to Mantralayam, and there we have stayed for four days. Since we have visited the holy place only for the first time, we didn’t visit the nearby places like Venkateswara Temple, Panchamukhi and Bikshalaya, and hence we spent most of our time only in the Mantralayam Temple.
During the noon, hot food was served in Manthara Ilai, small leaves would be tied together using soft needles. Before visiting Mantralayam, I had suffered from some digestion problem, but, after consuming the holy food at Mantralayam, my various health issues ran away from my body. At that time, the cost of one small tumbler of coffee was Re.1/- and the food served at Kamadhenu cottage cost Rs.5/- only.
Apart from these family journeys, during my teenage, I used to frequently visit Amman temples Like Mangadu, Thiruverkadu and Kalikambal, and also for several times I have visited the Besant Nagar Sri Ashta Lakshmi Temple. After completing my Degree, I used to daily visit the Kasi Viswanathar, Parasuma and Parasurama Lingeswarar Temples at Ayanavaram. The Padala Ponniamman Temple, Srinivasa Perumal Temple and The Gangadeeswarar Temple at Purasawakkam are famous ones, and before few years, I used to visit those temples during Sundays, and after finishing my darshan, I used to have my breakfast at the Rajbhavan Hotel, Purasawakkam.
During the year 2012, while I was doing my auditing work at KSDC Hospital at Thanjavur, I stayed there for 41 days, and hence, during my leisure time, I have visited lot of temples situated in Kumbakonam, Trichy, Thanjavur and Chidambaram. Last year, I have visited the Navagraha Temples situated nearby Kumbakonam, Thyagarajar Temple, Thiruvarur, Pateeswaram Durgai Amman Temple, Thirubuvanam Sarabeswarar Temple, Swamimalai Murugan Temple, Garbavrikshambigai Amman Temple, Tirupamburanathar Temple, Vanjinathar Temple, Vaitheeswaran Temple, and Muthu Sattainathar Temple. Presently, I am planning to visit the Thanjavur Big Temple and its nearby temples. Still there are lot of things available for writing, but, for the convenience of the readers, I have limited this article only with few of my personal travel experiences!
Life is too short, and hence instead of keep on getting worried about our problems, let us happily put our burdens on the shoulders of the almighty, and, let us visit, as many temples as possible during our life time itself!
“OM NAMAH SHIVAYA”
WRITTEN BY
R.HARISHANKAR