[Imported from Blogdrive]A Ugadi Trip to Tirupathi

A Ugadi Trip to Tirupathi
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Sometime back you would have read my post about trip to US Consulate and trip to TT Devasthanams is getting similar. You can check it out here. As planned, I started out March 26th evening to Chennai Central where I had booked the 4.30 PM Tirupathy Express. It reached Tirupathi around 5 PM after a 15 min halt at Renigunta. This was actually a link train like Chennai -Tirupathy – Mysore Express/Fast Passenger (as the board near the engine read).
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After reaching Tirupathi, I got the accomodation from the Srinivasakam Complex for the night and I started from there to Alipiri the next day. Interestingly, the buses would not allow you to take seats for Alipiri tickets. They put a seal like ‘Standing only’ and the conductor allows you to board the buses only when the bus starts. At Alipiri, I handed over the baggage at the counters and started my walk up-hill. I started around 4.45 PM.
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It was a calm walk through the various hills of the Lord till after Gali gopuram and other small distance was covered. Then it started a steep trek upward for a while. I reached Tirumala around 9 AM. My scheduled appointment slot was 4 PM. I had a quick trip to Srimad Andavan Ashramam where I could keep my luggages in the locker. After having lunch there, I joined the queue (Vaikuntam Queue Complex – I) at 1 PM itself. They allowed me that time itself. I had darshan of the Lord even at 3.45 PM. After coming out of the sanctum sanctorum and getting the laddus, I waited for the evening Sahasra Deepa Alankara Pooja at 5 PM. It was a great divine experience for one hour in the evening.
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I had some cool good calendar of Tirumala – Tirupathi devasthanams with the photographs of various Lords there to buy from the shop there.
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I then started off downhill around 9 PM through APSRTC bus and for the night just stayed in the dormitory of Srinivaskam complex. The next day morning, I took the local tour bus of TT Devasthanams which helps us to worship all temples in Tirupathi. This also included Tiruchanoor. There were some delays in Tiruchanoor because it was Saturday and also some minister was there for a while. I returned back to Srinivasakam complex around 1 PM. I had now booked the ticket to Chennai for 3 PM bus.
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So I had enough time to have get my luggage and come down to bus stand to catch the bus to Chennai. The bus reached Chennai even around 5.45 PM. People never believe that Tirupathi to Chennai can be that faster journey. I alighted at Poonamalee to take a bus to Tambaram and then travel home.<!–
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        Posted at 02:03 pm by Deepak Kumar Vasudevan
 

 

 

 

  Original BlogDrive Post on Sunday, March 29, 2009

[Imported from Blogdrive]Start any of journey with prayers

Start any of journey with prayers
These days though travelling anywhere through any medium is easy and less cumbersome because of advanced technological innovations, there are also widespread perils of different nature. I have observed two occasions of MTC drivers starting their journey by offering a quick prayer before operating the steering wheel.
I just observed a driver in M21 (Velachery – Tambaram) and also in Avadi when I visited the bus stand as part of my pilgrimage to Periayapalayam.With so many perils in the journey, we should always put the first prayer to the Lord to make the journey successful. We have seen in yet another post regarding "Prayer brings Victory" right?<!–
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        Posted at 05:10 pm by Deepak Kumar Vasudevan
 

 

 

 

  Original BlogDrive Post on Tuesday, March 24, 2009

[Imported from Blogdrive]A Sunday Trip to Kumbakonam Oppiliappan Sannidhi for Sravanam

A Sunday Trip to Kumbakonam Oppiliappan Sannidhi for Sravanam
This sunday was a holy&nbsp;pilgrimage to Kumbakonam Oppiliappan Sannidhi for Sravanam. This Sravanam assumes three importance as below:

Sravanam
Ekadasi
Car Festival in the temple
Sunday 🙂 [You need not worry about applying for a leave etc.]
Towards this, I started from Tambaram around 11 PM and reached Kumbakonam around 5 AM. After having quick bath in a relative’s house over there, I headed towards the temple. The Lord’s procession to the temple car was around 9 AM. After briefly participating in the car-pulling, I went back to the temple to worship the Sravana Deepam.
They had the Sravana Deepam performed around 11.45 AM and prasadams distribution at 12.45 AM. The Sravana Deepam used to be carried around the temple to all sanctum sanctorums in circumambulation. After completing the worshipping of Sravana Deepam, I started back to Chennai around 2 PM.
Since this trip was featuring four items (as listed above) besides being a suba muhurtha day (auspicious wedding day), there was significant crowd. I had to manage getting a seat priority token for INR 10 from the SETC&nbsp;and then got the bus. There were two interesting incidents in the bus from Kumbakonam to Chennai:

I was running short of cash. After searching through the bag and gathering bits and pieces of ten rupees, I found out that it was just matching the ticket fare. So when I got down at Tambaram, I had to rush to an ATM to find some cash for the auto.&nbsp;Even in this incident, the cash exactly matching the requirement was a blessing of the Lord.
There was heavy traffic on the way near a bridge. It took about two hours for the bus to cross the stretch. So the expected reach time to Tambaram which was 10 PM now moved to around 00:00 hours
With the blessing of the Lord, the Sravanam pilgrimage was a good one.<!–
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        Posted at 06:00 am by Deepak Kumar Vasudevan
 

 

 

 

  Original BlogDrive Post on Monday, March 23, 2009

[Imported from Blogdrive]A Quick Trip on Saturday (3/21)

A Quick Trip on Saturday (3/21)
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I just shared about my experience with LIC yesterday over here. I just thought let me visit the parent branch itself today to see what is really going on. So today, I just made a quick visit to the parent branch at Adyar. Interestingly one agent was paying out some half a dozen policies in front of me and hence I had to wait till his turn was complete. When my turn came, the teller checked the policy and was telling that payment can be accepted only after April 1. I really wonder, why can’t they configure their systems to adapt a week before and after. Most of the private insurance agents have that flexibility.
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I didn’t want to carry the change and hence thought I would put in my nearest bank branch and later withdraw. So I deposited in the branch and went to Guindy. I had some quick chores which I completed at work. From today morning, I had a little backpain.
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I hence thought visited Sriram Pharmacy, Velachery to get some medicines besides a quick visit to Spencers Retail there. I would also like to share that there is an offer going on in Spencers. If you are planning out to purchase Kissan Squash, select flavors are gifted with a good sipper bottle. I am not sure whether the offer is still going on today but you may like to check it out yourself. I then took a A51 Volvo which dropped me at Rajakilpakkam.
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I am starting to Sravanam festival at Kumbakonam tonight. Perhaps I would share about the same later.<!–
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        Posted at 06:21 pm by Deepak Kumar Vasudevan
 

 

 

 

  Original BlogDrive Post on Saturday, March 21, 2009

[Imported from Blogdrive]A Little Intense Hectic Friday Schedules

A Little Intense Hectic Friday Schedules
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This friday, I had some important bank assignments to complete. My bank branch wrote me to complete certain statutory documents towards recent RBI amendments and due to the current fiscal year coming to a close and a new fiscal year starting up shortly. I hence thought I would allocate a few hours today towards the same.
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When I visited T. Nagar around 10 AM, there were crowded buses to Panagal Park direction. Hence I just thought I would visit Saravana Stores where I had to make some quick small purchases. After completing the purchases at Saravana Stores in less than 30 minutes, I proceeded to the bank. I completed all the assignments and came out around 10.30 PM. The climate was already getting hot like anything.
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I hence thought I would take some quick juice before getting the next bus to Ashok Pillar. By the time, I reached Doraiswamy Road junction, I got a share auto which dropped me in Ashok Pillar bus stand. If you catch a bus from here to Ashok Pillar, it would drop you at a crazy angle and destination and you need to walk a long distance or again hire a costly auto, thanks to the crazy Chennai cops who have put weird ‘Y’ turns everywhere in the city. After reaching Ashok Pillar bus stand, I took another bus to reach Guindy in just another five minutes.
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In the middle, I tried to squeeze another schedule of making out a policy payment towards LIC. But I don’t really understand why people have tall claims like anywhere banking and any branch servicing when 9 out of 10 days the other branch networking does not work. I have verified both in Velachery and T. Nagar and in the latter, they have put a board today reading "Due to telelink failure, we can not service other branch payments. We regret for any inconvenience caused".<!–
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         Posted at 08:12 pm by Deepak Kumar Vasudevan
 

 

 

 

  Original BlogDrive Post on Friday, March 20, 2009

[Imported from Blogdrive]The Weekly Thursday Triplicane Temple Trip

The Weekly Thursday Triplicane Temple Trip
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Today evening around 5.30 PM, I just thought of visiting Triplicane Temple quickly. When I reached Guindy, interestingly I got a 54 Deluxe bus which could drop me near LIC. After having some quick bites in Vasantha Bhavan there, I caught another bus from there to alight at Triplicane bus stop. I reached Triplicane temple around 6.30 PM. There was some Dhavanothsavam going on for the Lordess. Since it was Thursday, there was not much crowd in the temple and I had a complete and peaceful darshan in all the sanctum sanctorums.
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After completing all the shrines, I came out of the temple and when I reached Marina Beach Kannagi Status bus stop, a 21E to Ramapuram was just starting. The driver helped out by stopping for a while and I caught the bus which reached Guindy around 7.30 PM.
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Perhaps this change can be considered as a gentle answer to the restoration of ‘Thursday Triplicane Temple Trips’ following a temporary change which I had written about it here. Again this week, it was a little economical journey since the entire trip costed me just around INR 20.<!–
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         Posted at 11:00 pm by Deepak Kumar Vasudevan
 

 

 

 

  Original BlogDrive Post on Thursday, March 19, 2009

[Imported from Blogdrive]A Quick Trip to Periyapalayam Bhavani Amman Temple

A Quick Trip to Periyapalayam Bhavani Amman Temple
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I had been planning out to visit Periayapalayam Bhavani Amman temple for sometime and it had been kept postponing. Today afternoon, I was little free and just thought I would take a few hours off to visit Periyapalayam. Around 4 PM, I started to CMBT and reached the bus stand at 4.15 PM. After waiting for a few minutes, I got the bus to Periayapalayam. Now even, MTC is operating straight buses from multiple places to Periayapalayam. Periayapalayam is located in the route between Chennai and Tirupathi and lies a few kilometers before Tada.
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The bus started around 4.45 PM and it took about an hour and&nbsp;a quarter to reach Periyapalayam. The bus was going through the following places like Karanodai, Aarani, Red Hills to reach Periyapalayam. This Aarani is different from the one near Arcot (Vellore district). After reaching Periyapalayam, we need to walk a few meters to cross a small river bridge to reach the temple. In a shop just near the temple, the shopkeeper was shouting that rose garland is just ten rupees. I was surprised since other shops were selling at 20 rupees. Since I smelled something fishy with that, I just thought I would just purchase a camphor and enter the temple.
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After worshipping Lord Ganesh near the entrance, I had to figure the route to enter the sanctum sanctorum of Bhavani Amman. I had to take a little circuitous route to enter the queue. Since it is en route Tirupathi, I believe, the effects of long long queues are felt here too. Whilst entering the queue, I found one more shop selling rose flowers at ten rupees. Suddenly, he told me fifteen rupees and he brought it down to ten rupees again. Now I really wanted to investigate on this front. I asked another camphor&nbsp;shopkeeper here on what is the deal there? She replied that those flowers were used in the temple during morning hours and they bring it and re-sell it again for a cheap price. It is actually&nbsp;a sin to reuse such flowers to the Goddess.
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After entering the long queues, I managed to enter the sanctum sanctorum. There are actually three&nbsp;queue systems which are being followed now in the temple:
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Free Queue: It enters the shrine, takes a small bridge and then comes out at a distance similar to the Maha Laghu Darshan of Tirupathi.
INR 5 Queue: It enters the shrine, reaches the barricades near the Goddess similar to the Laghu Darshan of Tirupathi.
INR 25 Queue: It enters the shrine and reaches near the door of sanctum sanctorum.
After worshipping the Lordess, I came out of the shrine in 30 minutes. It was about 5.25 PM now and I had a quick darshan in the other sanctum sanctorums like Lord Perumal, Lord Parasurama, Lord Muruga. After exiting from the temple, I had to re-negotiate the bridge to reach the bus stand. There is one good restaurant near the bus stand where I had some quick snacks. Interestingly, right on top of the chair I was sitting, there was a photo of Lord Ayyappa too.
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After completing a light refreshment, when I entered the bus stand, there was a little confusion since there were no buses to CMBT. I hence chose to take Avadi route. The bus reached Avadi around 8 PM. Again from Avadi, I took another bus to Guindy which reached around 9.15 PM.
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I also wanted to share another information about the temple which I got from a quick Internet Search. Now you can visit Periyapalayam website on the Internet from here&nbsp;and get more details about the temple.<!–
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         Posted at 10:50 pm by Deepak Kumar Vasudevan
 

 

 

 

  Original BlogDrive Post on Wednesday, March 18, 2009

[Imported from Blogdrive]A High-Productive and Highly-Tiring Monday

A High-Productive and Highly-Tiring Monday&nbsp;Yesterday (the start of a new business week) seemed to be highly productive besides also being highly tiring in more ways than one. A quick update of the events are as follows:&nbsp;

Since I started around the peak hour 9 AM, the buses were little overflowing (:) or rather overflowing to the brim) with crowd. I had a skip a few buses to get one that was comfortable. This skip time which ran to 30 minutes and exposed to the morning hut sun started its contribution to the strain.
I had a quick visit to TT Devasthanams office for a booking around 4 PM. Towards this, when I started around 2.30 to Guindy, again a little wait for 15&nbsp;minutes for the T. Nagar bound bus in the peak afternoon sun, provided its own share or contribution to the strain.
I reached T. Nagar around 3.15. After some quick (late) lunch and visit to the TT Devasthanam office to confirm the bookings, I had to again have a little long stroll on the Burkit Road to T. Nagar (as this was one-way, because of some stupid crazy brainless traffic managers in Chennai)
I needed to meet somebody around 7 PM at Guindy Industrial Estate.
Once I completed all the efforts impeccably, the strain did remind me of a brewing headache. I started around 2000 hours to work. The headache blurred the vision a little, which was even visible right now boarding the bus. Instead of boarding M70 to Thiruvanmiyur, I had to board M70V (bound to Guindy).
But there was another salient benefit of this. Whilst I alighted at Guindy and boarded the D70 Volvo to Vijayanagar, I had an opportunity to meet Jayanthi Varadarajan (my colleague in one of my previous organization) after a long time. We were chatting a bit on the bus and we called even Varada (aka) Varadarajan in his cell for a while.
After reaching Vijayanagar around 2015 hours, I took a quick bus to Tambaram. Though I went to sleep fast around 2130 hours, the fast-developing headache struck tremors around 0030 hours. I had a little vomiting forcing to take Anacin&nbsp;to get quick relief from the headache. <!–
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         Posted at 01:41 pm by Deepak Kumar Vasudevan
 

 

 

 

  Original BlogDrive Post on Tuesday, March 17, 2009

[Imported from Blogdrive]The most-effective Saturday

The most-effective SaturdayToday’s Saturday trip was
most-effective. When analyzed from the economic point of view, there
was a little tweak in that since the route was not defined. However,
when compared against the standard metrics, it scored a good economical
trip too.

Though I started a little late, I had some quick money orders to remit
in the neighborhood post office and after that some routine chores were
completed. I had the weekly Triplicane trip complete and there was
interesting observation too which is discussed here.
The deity was in procession in the temple. Hence could quickly have
darshan of the deity in procession too. In Azhagiya Singer sannidhi,
the priest also gave a lot of Tulasi as blessing.

I chose the Tiruvanmiyur route as the return trip to avoid entering the traffic-laden city again.
 
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        Posted at 11:21 pm by Deepak Kumar Vasudevan
 

 

 

 

  Original BlogDrive Post on Saturday, March 14, 2009

[Imported from Blogdrive]The Choice of Transit Center — T. Nagar or Guindy

The Choice of Transit Center — T. Nagar or Guindy

A few days back we had an interesting discussion on Guindy or Velachery.
This one is quite similar topic and I was thinking of this topic from
yesterday’s weekly trip to Triplicane. After waiting for a while in
Guindy to get the bus to Triplicane, I thought, I would rather go to T.
Nagar and get a bus from there. The reasons were simple:

Abnormal crowd in the buses towards Mount RoadLow frequency of buses towards Mount Road. Most of them were either terminating at Saidapet or going to T. Nagar.

After I reached T. Nagar and having some quick bites in a local
restaurant there, when I was travelling to Triplicane, there was one
co-passenger who told me that he started from Tambaram at 4.30 PM and
reached T. Nagar around 5.20 PM. But from 5.20 he had to wait for a bus
to Triplicane since there were either paucity of buses or traffic that
prevented buses from smoothly moving. After a long struggle, he got the
bus at 6.15 (about an hour wait at T. Nagar) and in the same bus, I
also boarded.

Hence the choice of transit center is also very important, as we
emphasized in our previous discussion. The other routes to explore for
Guindy to Triplicane are (might be circuitous):

Travel back to Meenambakkam and get a train to Triplicane. You
may need to change trains at Fort. I wouldn’t recommend boarding at
Guindy Railway Station since we already discussed about serpentine crowds at Guindy Railway Station.Travel to Ashok Pillar and then catch 12G. You may need to
negotiate a ‘Y’ turn near it from the point of alighting till the place
you need to board the next bus. We already discussed about this ‘Y-turn-comedy’ here.Travel to Ashok Pillar. Catch 17 D to reach Egmore. Catch another bus to Triplicane. This would be really long and might take more time too.

 
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        Posted at 10:14 pm by Deepak Kumar Vasudevan
 

 

 

 

  Original BlogDrive Post on Saturday, March 14, 2009