MEMORABLE VISIT TO T' MALAI 472

THIRUVANNAMALAI VISIT AND THE 

 TRAFFIC JAM BECAUSE OF THE REPAIR WORK ON THE    

          PALAR RIVER 

The need to reschedule my return to Agasthiarpatty due to unavoidable reasons had me extend my stay at Chennai at my Brother in Law's place .

With the free time at our disposal and  after considering various options we finally hit upon the idea to visit Thiruvannamalai to seek the Blessings of Annamalaiyar and Unnamulai Amman .

As planned we started at 6.00 AM sharp from Vadapalani and were at Madurai Idly Kadai Joint near Dindivanam around 8.00 for a hearty Breakfast .

The travel from there onwards was uneventful except for the slow ride across the Palar River Bridge which took some heavy beating during the recent heavy rains , gave us no hint of what was to follow during our  return journey .

 The visit to the PRATYINKARA DEVI TEMPLE at Chemmedu was remarkable for the fact that barring the four of us and the dozen or so stray dogs , there were hardly any visitor to the well laid out Temple .

We made our way to Thiruvannamalai by around 11.30 AM . We freshened up ourselves at our close relative's place who had also made up our arrangements for the Visit and for the Darshan as close to the deities as was allowed at the Main Temple .

The GIRIVALAM of the 8 Sacred Lingams and Prayers offered at 

INDRA AGNI SURYA CHANDRA VAYU VARUNA YAMA AND KUBERA 

Lingams brought about a special feel of being one with a Spiritual outlook .

The entry in to the main Temple left us in a daze as it being a Sunday and almost the First one  after the Covid restrictions were relaxed, the crowd which thronged the temple  complex was in its thousands .

We were surprised by the influence our relative had in the Temple. Our Darshan of the Deities from almost the very entrance of the Sanctum Sanctorum without the long wait of  atleast 4 hours or so at the very least was a pleasant surprise .

After the visit to RAMANA ASHRAM and the lunch at the Ramakrishna , we commenced our return journey to Chennai at 3.30 PM which we  expected to reach  by 8 PM . This  included a visit to the Angalaparameswari Temple at Melmalayanur . 

The crowd at this place was so high that our vehicle was not allowed beyond a certain  point and we had to take an Auto to proceed to the Temple .

Our luck did not last at this Temple as the crowd here was almost equal if not more to what we had witnessed at Thiruvannamalai.  For want of any other alternative , We offered our prayers to the UTSAVAR MOORTHY for want of time .

All this meant a delayed start and it was already starting to  become dark. At around Mamandur and at a makeshift barricade a few policemen asked us to take a diversion on a narrow road which already had a huge number of Cars Autos Buses and Two Wheelers lined up one behind the other for miles and moving at almost a snail's pace .

The newspaper report  about the repair work on the HIGHWAY across the PALAR on the Tiruchy Chennai Section and the diversion which caused a delay of almost 4 hours came to mind , but alas it was too late . 

After a stressful and a  tiring few hours we reached home after a visit to the Melmaravattur ADIPARASAKTHI Temple . One good thing here  was that , being very sparsely crowded we had a very good Darshan of the Amman. 

We managed to reach home at close to 10.30 PM . 

All in all a very memorable visit .