Sunday, July 18, 2010

Tour with family to Tanjore:

It is common in many Hindu families that they promise the God to offer a special pooja if the marriage is fixed for the boy/girl in the family. For my marriage, my Parents & Parents-in-law had (still have) many such promises and have been carrying out one after another.

Priya’s parents had one such due which was to the famous Anjaneya Temple in Thittai (in Tanjore/Thanjavur). It looks, after they visited this temple last year, the marriage got fixed and hence, they wanted to thank the God by a special pooja.

After confirming my availability they booked the tickets in Rockfort Express for the onward journey on 14th July 2010 and for the return on 16th July 2010.

We were supposed to board the train at 10.30 p.m. We scheduled to be at in-law house for dinner at 6.30 p.m. But it was difficult for both me and Priya to get off the busy work schedule. She picked me up at my office at 7 pm. We went home and got the luggage packed in a hurry-burry and headed to in-law house at 8.30.

Had a quick dinner and were waiting for the Fastrack Call Taxi, but found out at the last minute that they don’t have a Van and hence could not serve us. With a little tension, we walked down to the main road and to our surprise, couldn’t find any auto. After waiting for a while, got the auto and reached the railway station at 10:00 p.m.

I never get sleep during night travel and this time it was the case. Reached Tanjore and booked a room in Hotel Oriental Towers near the station road. The rooms are neat and clean, but food was horrible.

Booked a car for local travel there. After bath and breakfast, went to Thittai Anjaneya Temple which is about 15 kilo metres from the city. The age of the temple goes beyond 300 years and it was good to visit such ancient temple. After the pooja, we then visited the famous Guru Temple in the same locality. It was well crowded but fast moving.

Then we proceeded to Garbarakshambigai temple which is located at about 20 Kilometres South-West of Kumbakonam and took about 30 minutes to reach. This temple is also one of the ancient temples.

After having dharshan, we headed back to Tanjore for lunch at Hotel Gnanam. The food was sumptuous. Back to room for rest till evening.

In the evening, we went to the famous Pragadeeswarar Temple. I have been to this temple many times earlier, and every time I see this temple, I fall for its wonderful architectural workmanship. Proud to have such temples in Tamil Nadu.

Return journey, again, was a tension mounting one as our tickets were not confirmed and also the fact that the boarding station was Kumbakonam but we wanted to board at Tanjore as all dharshans were over in the evening itself and we didn’t want to travel about 75 kms just to board the train at Kumbokonam.

We reached the station well in advance, met the TTR when the train arrived and explained our situation. We got birth seats allotted for all of us. You can easily guess how we made it and hence, I leave it to your assumption J

Again a sleepless journey for me. Once I reach home in the morning, I was very much tired and slept for long hours.

In all, it was quite a pleasant journey and the memories will be constant for sure.

Note: We didn’t take any snap during our journey as none of us are interested. Perhaps, from next time onwards, should concentrate on photographing the same.