KanyaKumari: Where India Starts

If you have ever dreamed of watching Sunrise and Sunset across the seas from the same place or if you wanted to touch the sea and ocean together, then you have to be in Kanyakumari. 
Kanyakumari is the place where India's land mass ends or aptly told by someone where India's Land mass starts. 

The drive from Madurai to Kanyakumari crosses through dry lands on the left and the foothills of Cardamom Hills to the right. And as we start approaching Kanyakumari, the scene shifts to Coconut plantations on either side. 


We were in time to check the beautiful spectacle for what Kanyakumari is known for, The Sunrise and Sunsets. We checked into the hotel, freshened up and moved towards the Sunset point. In few minutes, the beach got piled up with lot of tourists assembling to view the magic of Sunset. The Sun started slowly descending and the skies over Kanyakumari were lit with different shades of bright orange. The sea wasn't rough and we were able to get a little bit into the sea too. Busy photographing the different shades of sunset it was almost dark before we left the sunset beach point. 

Watching a dramatic Sunset at Kanyakumari

Sunset at Beach point in Kanyakumari

Evening Skies at Kanyakumari

Evening in Kanyakumari

As we progressed back to settle in our hotels for the night, we could see a lit up Vivekananda Rock memorial and Thiruvalluvar Statue, places which we would be covering in the morning. On our way we stopped by Gandhi Mandapam, and paid our respects to Father of our Nation. 

Kanyakumari by Night

Lit up Thiruvalluvar Statue at Kanyakumari

We woke up much earlier than usual to witness the sunrise from our Hotel balcony but were greeted by fog as early as 6am. The skies gradually cleared up, and we were able to witness a beautiful sunrise. As i see around most of the Hotel Terraces are filled with people watching the sunrise. We get ready quickly and make way for the boat jetty to take us to the Vivekananda Memorial. 

Watching Sunrise from our Hotel Terrace

The Boat jetty was really crowded owing to a public holiday. After around what seemed like an hour we were able to get the tickets and make it on the boat for a 15 minute ride across the sea towards the Vivekananda Memorial. First impression, Fabulous . It was a dream to be at the Southern tip of the Subcontinent. The boat ticket was for to and fro journey and you do not have a particular time to return back. Only thing is you need to be back by the last ferry boat to the dock by 5pm after which the services are shut down. We walked across the Vivekananda Memorial, the Gandhi Mandapam and the Dhyana mandir. We were amazed by the Solstice Calendar placed in Kanyakumari which predicts the exact direction of the sunrise during a year. We were not able to make to the base of the Thiruvalluvar Statue due to rough currents. 

Vivekananda Rock Memorial

Thiruvalluvar Statue

Kanyakumari Temple
The city of Kanyakumari is derived from the Kanyakumari Amman Temple situated here. It is at the confluence of 3 seas, The Arabian Sea, The Bay of Bengal and the Indian Ocean. Of particular significance is the nose ring of the deity which is made of pure diamond and the sparkle of the diamond is so bright that it is visible to distances out to sea. The sea travelers used to confuse the light coming from the nose ring as a Lighthouse nearby. Such is the brightness of the nose ring. We paid our obeisance to the Devi and moved on to our next destination.


We had a quick breakfast at Saravanas near the boat jetty and it was time to move onto Padmanabhapuram which was famous for its wooded palace.

Madurai

(Part of the Great South Indian Road Trip)

The receptionist at the front desk of our hotel says "The temple will be crowded today". We had traveled to Madurai during the time of Navaratri.

We do not ask for directions to go the Meenakshi Amman Temple. The towering gopurams leads us the path and acts as a giant compass. We enter through the west entrance. We visited this place 3 years back and lot had changed since then. The Paths leading outside the Outer Parakramas were neatly paved and there were electric cars doing the rounds of the temple.

The West entrance gopuram of Madurai Meenakshi Amman Temple

We enter the inner parakram from the south entrance and make way towards the sanctum of Meenakshi Amman Kovil. The large Hallways neatly painted with murals lead us to the sanctum. It was a large queue owing to the festival.

We now patiently wait for the darshan. The crowds move slowly, but we were in no hurry. Looking around this magnificent temple is itself a bonus. We look at each rock cut architecture on the pillars. Finally we make to the inner sanctum of Meenakshi Amman. Blessed and rejuvenated we offer our prayers and move out.

Inside the Sundareshwarar Koil

We offer our prayers to lord Ganesha at the end of the hallway and make to the inner Sanctum of Lord Shiva also known as Lord Sundareshwarar here in Madurai. Different hallways lead us to different shrines at the Meenakshi Amman Temple. This temple is so huge it requires atleast 4 hours or more to know each and every part of this renowned place.

The Golden Lotus Pond

Moving around the Temple

It is difficult to grasp the dimensions of this great temple and it requires at least half a day to be spent here. There are not less than 12 gopurams towering over each other. We make ourselves to the 1000 pillared temple. The paintings, the dancing nataraja and other sculptures are a must see here. There is also a musical pillar inside the 1000 pillared mandapam.

Inside Sundareshwarar Koil

 We move out of the mandapam and now face the giant Golden lotus tank. The tank is surrounded by spacious corridors on all sides with paintings and murals depicting the scenes from the puranas. From here we can see the golden vimanas of both Meenakshi Amman as well as Lord Sundareshwarar Shrines.

After a good 2 hours we move out of the temple mesmerized by its beauty and to be blessed by Meenakshi Amman itself.

Moving around Madurai

It was already 7pm and we were getting quite hungry. We had heard of Murugan idly Shop and we wanted to taste their delicious Idlis. We make it the place and find it very crowded and even more difficult to get a place to sit. The idly shop was a very congested place but the very smell of idlis was making me to lose my senses. After waiting patiently for 20 minutes we found it even more difficult to get a place. Such was the popularity of the idlis over here. We then made it to the other popular restaurant here, “The Modern Café”. Even this place was very crowded, but thanks to the owner of the place. He arranged us a place to sit and we were very soon ordering a plate of idlis to satisfy our tummies.

P.S: We did make it to Murugan Idly Shop the next day and I swear their Idlies and Chutnies are next to none, Fabulous.

We continued on to Kanyakumari the next day

GangaikondaCholapuram

(in continuation of East Coast Diaries)

An hour's drive from Kumbakonam, you arrive at the small village of Cholapuram which houses the very famous Brihadeshwara Temple, not to confuse with the Brihadeswara Temple at Thanjavur. This is an exact replica of the main temple at Tanjore but a much smaller in magnitude. Preserved by the UNESCO as a World Heritage site, this village is devoid of any visitors except for the handful of tourists who arrive to see the Navagraha Sthalas nearby.

The main entrance to the Shiva Temple at GangaikondaCholapuram

Stone edicts depicting the coronation of the king.

The tall gopuram of the temple at GangaikondaCholapuram

The World Heritage Site of GangaiKondaCholapuram

Darasuram

(in continuation of East Coast Diaries)

The village of Darasuram lies around a km from Kumbakonam, just off the highway towards Thanjavur. This little village holds a masterpiece of its sorts of Chola Architecture, the magnificent Airavateswara Temple. ASI has put in lot of efforts to maintain this heritage and cultural site and in restoring its lost grandeur.

The magnificent Airavateswara Temple

The main highlights of this temple: is the lofty vimanam, the hall of the main sanctum is designed as a chariot supported by wheels, horses and the elephants. The detailing in the sculptures on the pillars, inside the hall of the sanctum is superb. It has carvings of the puranas as well as lives of the people way back in the 12 century. This temple was built in the 12 century by King Raja Raja 2 of the Chola dynasty.

Intricate carvings in Airavateswara Temple

The entrance to the main hall of the sanctum looks like a chariot

Kumbakonam: The divine town

(in continuation of the East Coast Diaries)

Some History:
Kumbakonam is referred as a Temple town because of a large number of temples surrounding the town. There are temples in every lanes and by-lanes of this town. The name Kumbakonam is derived from the word, kumbam, meaning a broken pot. Legend has it, Lord Shiva, as hunter, chose to shoot an arrow at the pot and break it, so that its contents could spill and life would form again. This was after the great deluge and before the advent of kaliyuga.

Seeing Around:
Adi Kumbeswarar Temple
Is home to the famous Shivalingam , from which the town derived its name. As we entered the main temple, we passed by the temple elephant with painted forehead and necklace laded with bells, nodding its head now and then, swaying around, as if it were welcoming the pilgrims.
The sculptural wealth inside the temple is amazing not to the least. There were no hallways or mandapams, or any pillars and the ceilings which were not ornamented with fine sculptural architecture

Gopuram of Adi Kumbeswarar temple under renovation when we visited

Sarangpani Temple
Is the biggest temple in Kumbakonam. Striking elegance of this temple is the 44m tall, 11-tiered gopuram which rises above kumbakonam.
The idol of Lord Vishnu rests is a half lying, half raised posture. The main sanctum is shaped like a chariot. The statues of the dvarapalas guarding the entrance to the sanctum were enormous.

The tall gopuram of Sarangpani Temple

Other temples Of Kumbakonam:
There are many other temples in kumbakonam town. The Nageswarar and the Chakrapani temples being the prominent.
Other things not to miss are the Mahamaham Tank, where the pot broken by Lord Shiva and the nectar which spilled from the pot filled the tank.

Other things not to be missed in Kumbakonam:

• Kumbakonam's fine degree filter coffee, almost all eateries in Kumbakonam will serve them in two containers, one tumbler and the other shallower so you can sip in when it is light hot
• The temples of Darasuram and GangaikondaCholapuram, both UNESCO World heritage sites and both unique on its own.
• The brass vessels which are famous here.
  

East Coast Diaries: Tranquebar

(Continuation Of the East Coast Diaries)

The travel from Chidambaram to Kumbakonam was a complete road maze. We were traversing the same set of roads to and fro in search of the Navagraha temples( read in the later part of the blog). En-route we heard about this coastal Sea-side town from a local and decided to make it, hoping it will be wonderful outing on a beach side.

Tranquebar or Tharangambadi as it is locally known lies 50 km South East of Chidambaram. Found by the Dutch East India Company, it was a thriving port during the 1600s under the Dutch rule. The main tourist attractions in Tranquebar are the Dutch Fort, Fort Dansborg built during the Dutch rule in India and Masilamani Temple on the coast of Tharangambadi. Tranquebar also boasts of a very beautiful and pristine coastline devoid of lot of tourists. Fort Dansborg is now converted into a museum housing the personal collections of few Dutch Travelers who made it to this port town during the 1600s. The entry fee into this dutch fort was a bit expensive, but, i guess it was for the renovation effort underway to restore the fort. You may as well find lot of Dutch Travelers rather than Indian tourists . Dutch backpackers trying to find the roots of their ancestors. After a customary exchange of a few "Hello's" and "namasthe" with few Dutch Tourists, it was time to bid farewell to this port town and leave for our final Destination, Kumbakonam.

Fort Dansborg on Tranquebar beach

Coast of Tranquebar

Staying options in Tranquebar is limited only to a high end resort. Neemrana groups runs a Bungalow on the Beach resort with prices starting from Rs4000/-. Other than that there are no options of staying back in Tranquebar.

Pichavaram: A quiet getaway tucked away from Town

(In Continuation of the East Coast Diaries Trip)

This was an accidental visit, Outlook Traveler weekend getaways recommended this place but with very less info on the place and the whereabouts. We asked a local person the route to this place. He defined it as good and we were out moving towards the destination. Almost making through the villages and the backdrop of the countryside with paddy plantations, we made it finally to Pichavaram entrance after a 15 km drive. This place looked very similar to a huge lake but in fact was a mangrove swamp filled up by the rising tides. This place was one of its kind in India very rich in bird life. Was able to recognize few birds after we set out for boating. A must visit place if we are visting Chidambaram.

Mangrove Forests Of Pichavaram

Boat house at Pichavaram

Chidambaram

(In Continuation of the East Coast Diaries Trip)

Chidambaram is one holiest shrines in South India. The temple town of Chidambaram is just around 350 kms from Bangalore. Chidambaram is famous for the Lord Nataraja Temple ( shiva performing the ananda thandava dance) . The temple of chidambaram is believed to be around 1200 years old and is very huge. The legend is the "ananda thandava " cosmic dance was a duel between lord shiva and Kaali (Godess Durga) , Shiva had lifted his left foot towards the sky in the Urdhuva Tandava posture, a definite male gesture, and Kaali could not reciprocate, thereby causing Shiva to emerge victorious.

Chidambaram East Gopuram Entrance

The Nataraja Temple is dotted by four large gopurams on each directions of the town. We had settled ourselves to a hotel room nearby to the main West Gopuram entrance and we had a nice balcony from where we had a bird's eye view of the West Gopuram entrance of the temple. As time slowly ticked by, sharp around 7pm we made to the temple. We had a glimpse of Lord Shiva dancing in his divine form. people had gathered around the base to have a glimpse of Lord Shiva. Lord Shiva resides in Chith-sabhai , an elevated platform where the lord Shiva, nobody accept the priests(or the guardians) of the temple are allowed in chith -sabhai, however one is allowed to enter the kanaka-sabhai. Final pooja was being performed, Lord was getting decorated as he would be carried in a palanquin to the sleeping quarters where the Lord would rest for the night. This pooja is very special and cannot be missed.

Early morning we woke up around 6 and we left to have the final darshan of the Lord. Again a special pooja is performed to bring the Lord from his sleeping quarters. The Lord is carried around the inner most sanctum and a special pooja is performed. We were later allowed to enter the kanaka-sabhai and have the darshan of the Lord and also allowed to witness the the "Chidambaram rahasyam" . What was this Chidambaram rahasyam? As far as we came to know from the priest, worshiping Shiva in the divine form of space is the Chidambaram rahasyam. We were shown where Shiva will be worshiped in the form of space, curtains were pulled, and before the lights fade out in the background with the priest holding a aarthi, the curtains are pulled back again and the rahasyam is never revealed.

We slowly moved out from the inner sanctum, took the blessings of Lord Shiva and moved out slowly gazing at the temple architecture. So marvelous was the design of the temple that it is simply too astounding to describe. We moved at almost tortoise pace around the temple and we moved out of the inner sanctum.

Outer Parakramas of Chidambaram

Once we were outside the temple of Chidambaram, we visited the large Ganesha statue near the west entrance. We moved on towards the North entrance and was fascinated by a nandi statue nearby the tank and I stood there gazing at the gopuram of the temple. It was just incredible. This temple was indeed very huge. Slowly we moved out of the temple thinking of the lord and made our way to the next destination, Pichavaram.

Outer Parakramas Of Chidambaram

Nandi statue near Chidambaram Tank

Pondicherry: A little bit Of French In India

Day: Nov 14 2008, Time 1100am

I do not have to explain the Geography or the history behind the city of Pondicherry. Pondicherry is a union territory comprising of territories pondicherry, mahe, karaikal and yanam. pondicherry had been a french establishment until it was merged with the Indian union in 1956 after a special treaty with the French. Pondicherry still enjoys many special status, like it has its own legislative assembly, it has accorded french as an official language.

Pondicherry might look like an average Tamil city once you enter it, but in contrast there are lot of changes within the city. Roads look better, pavements are cleaner, the police over here sport a cap which dates to the french colonial era, everything almost looks something different.

Entrance to Pondicherry(or Puducherry as it is known)

We arrived in pondicherry around 11am, since we did not have any plans to stay back in Pondicherry(we had to make up to chidambaram the same day), there was no effort done on searching any rooms in this city, but i would almost suggest a day stay in pondicherry to catch the sunrise across the beach and also to laze around the city when everything around you moves at a snail's pace.

Pondicherry is divided into two divisions, mind its not the people who are divided,only the city. The north part of the city is the French quarter, with its wide pavements and cemented roads, neatly maintained plush bungalows or villas used by the erstwhile french commanders and officers during their establishments in the 19 century. The other, south part of Pondicherry consisting of the Tamil quarter, which is like any other city in Tamil Nadu or the rest of the country( but i guess much better than an average Indian city).

Most of the tourist concentration is across the Beach Road or the Goubert Avenue and the Aurobindo Ashram.

Pondy police lazing it out on the beach after a hard days work

We started to laze around the beach road for a few hours moving up and down over a km of the Beach road, this was enough for my parents and they stopped by Bharathis park. I left them there and started hanging over the pretty French quarters to check out the villas. Almost every street is named in french here. you can see tourists moving around the french quarters in their bicycles. I even had the chance to glimpse an electric bike. It took me almost around 2 hours to completely roam around the French quarters. I was almost tired by this time and the clock was almost ticking 3. I reached back to the park and we had our lunch at a chettinadu restaurant called "Appachhi", i do not know what the name meant, but the food was absolutely delicious, could savour some chettinadu cuisines like biriyani and karaikudi chilly chicken.

A signboard in French

French quarter pavements

French villas

We started towards chidambaram at around 430 after some shopping in the Tamil quarters.

East Coast Diaries: Making it to Pondicherry

Day: November 14 2008, Time: 630am

We had early morning darshan at Thiruvannamalai. You can also read my other blog about my earlier visit to Thiruvannamalai here. You will be able to recognize Thiruvannamalai temple by the large gopurams on each direction of the temple. The gopurams over here are the tallest next only to the main Gopuram in Srirangam temple. The majestic Arunachala hills at a distance adds glory to this wonderful pilgrimage center. The annual Karthika festival attracts lots of devotees here who go barefoot to the top of the arunachala hills and light the lamps ending the 10 day festival.

Giant Corridors inside Thiruvannamalai Temple

We had breakfast at Hotel Ramakrishna, which is one of the popular vegetarian restaurants around here. At around 830 am we started towards Pondicherry with a small pit-stop in Gingee Fort. Gingee town is about 30kms from Thiruvannamalai. It was the bastion of Tippu Sultan, and the fort built is spread across 3 hills. The fort is absolutely very large and it would almost take a day to hike it.

Gingee Fort spread across 3 hills

Gingee Fort

It was a comfortable 2 hours drive from here to the coastal town of Pondicherry.

East Coast Diaries: Travelling Back to Thiruvannamalai

Day: November 13 2008, Time 730 am.
I was picked up from Bangalore because I had been working late the previous day, my parents with a driver drove all the way from Mysore to pick me up here. And as it would may be, Bangalore traffic made us to move to our destination much slower than intended. Our initial plans was to visit the Golden Temple at Sripuram near Vellore and the Vellore Fort and wind up our journey at Thiruvannamalai.
By the time we had crossed into Tamil Nadu it was already 1030 am, now it was around a 3 hr drive from Hosur to Vellore, but the fantastic roads made us to forget the distance. We were travelling through NH7 from Hosur to Krishnagiri, here we have to take a deviation towards left to Vellore.
Vellore is about a 3 hours drive from Krishnagiri. Once we reached Vellore, we made our way to the Sripuram Golden Temple. The main goddess over here is the Lakshmi. Once we had taken the special tickets for the Darshan, we were asked to proceed along a star-shaped pathway leading to the temple, everyone visiting the golden temple have to proceed in a star shaped pathway before reaching the main sanctum. The main sanctum is almost covered in gold, which reflect back with the crystal clear waters surrounding the temple. In the waters you can find devotees who have strewn with bangles and money. Photography is not allowed inside the premises of the Golden temple and all your camera equipment is confiscated before we enter the shrine itself.
After finishing our darshan here, we had lunch in Vellore town and then we proceeded towards Vellore Fort. Vellore Fort forms the center of attraction of the main Vellore Town. The Fort is covered on 3 sides with water. This fort was the bastion of the Vijayanagara Kings and eventually fell to the Adil shahis of Bijapur.

Intricately Carved Sculptures Inside Jalakanteshwara Temple

Inside Jalakanteshwara Temple

Jalakanteshwara Temple

Inside Vellore Fort is a beautiful temple dedicated to Lord Shiva, Jalakanteshwara Temple, its intricate architecture similar to the temples as in Madurai. Legend has it the Vijayanagara kings fearing the Adil Shahis victory hid the main idol of the deity, but he hid too well and it has not been recovered till now. Its a nice place to move around for an hour or two and understand the significance of this place.

Vellore Fort

At around 5pm we started from Vellore towards Thiruvannamalai, a good 76 kms away from Vellore. We reached Thiruvannamalai around 630 pm, booked our rooms and went to have darshan, thus ending our first day of our journey.

Destination Rameswaram: SouthIndianRoadTrip2

Well, i had promised I would be back with my second post as soon as possible and I am just doing that. This Incredible journey was also done way south in Tamil Nadu. My Dad and my mom were accompanying me on this journey. We didn't plan much for this journey, Only knew we wanted to visit Rameswaram and Dhanushkodi, the rest of the places would be just what we can visit on our journey onwards.

Day1: Mysore --> Chamrajanagar --> Erode --> Madurai --> Rameswaram

Total Distance Covered: 577 kms

Mist Covered Sathy Ghat Road

This would be one long journey, a journey where we may encounter very good roads, marginally good roads, worse roads or absolutely no roads. Thankfully the stretch which we would be covering were almost on NH, so not a lot to worry i hoped. We started of at 6 am early morning sprinting our vehicle towards chamarajanagar. Stopped for breakfast on the highway restaurant. Started off towards Satyamangalam Ghats. These ghats are famous for their hair-pin bends, and these are not very normal hair pin bends but very sharp and steep bends. It was the time of Northwest monsoon, I guess!! because all along the route it was almost Cloudy and raining and the ghats were covered by a thick fog, and I could understand the frustration of our driver, driving these sharp hair pin bends on a foggy day and you cannot see the vehicle coming in front of you. We sprinted towards Madurai via Erode and Dindigul cruising at speeds above 90km/hr. Had Lunch at a wayside restaurant in Dindigul. (P.S: We were traveling on a Sunday and I don't know the Strange things happening over here in TN, almost all restaurants are closed on a Sunday). We reached Madurai at 4pm, just passed by the outer edges of the temple as we had already visited Madurai long back, and we proceeded towards Rameswaram. The drive towards Rameswaram on NH49 through the country side is an exhilarating experience. The paddy fields on both banks of the road stretch upto your eyes can view.

Fields across the green belt of Cauvery Delta near Erode

Once we started reaching the coastlines of TN, we could smell the fragrance of the Sea, though at night we couldn't actually see the sea altogether. Rameswaram is located on an island off the coast of TN, and the only connecting point to this island is the Pamban Bridge which is the Rail bridge, and the Indira Gandhi Setu which is about 2 kms long. We passed by this bridge during the night, reached rameswaram around 8pm in the night, booked our lodges and set out on a town roaming spree. Rameswaram is a very small town and there aren't any good food joints and almost all the food joints you visit will be infested with house flys(Infact the town being next to the sea attracts lots of these visitors, so you will find them everywhere, in hotels, in lodges almost everywhere, they even dont spare your car if it is kept uncleaned)


Day2: Rameswaram --> Dhanushkodi --> Rameswaram --> Trichy --> Srirangam

Total Distance Covered: 282 kms






Early morning we started off to the temple, spent lot of time around the huge corridors of the Rameswaram Temple. There are 3 huge corridors which span a length of around 200m. Had lots of photosessions over here. It almost took us 3 hours to entirely navigate the length and breadth of the temple complex, admiring the beauty of the architecture and the skills of the artisans involved in it. If u do visit this place, do not forget your camera. Photography is not allowed inside the sanctum sanctorum, but is allowed outside the sanctum sanctorum. Our next stop would be Dhanushkodi, the tip of Rameswaram island. Dhanushkodi is around 18kms from the town of Rameswaram. Only 9 kms upto the IndianNavy checkpost over here is motorable, after which u need to hitch a ride on the Matadors which carry upto 20 passengers.The Indian Navy Checkpost has been setup to check illegal immigrants from across Srilanka and to check any human trafficking across the border. The final 9kms ride upto Dhanushkodi was a very rough one, pushing our adrenaline upto a max.

Dhanushkodi: This is a small fishing hamlet at the tip of Rameswaram Island. Can be called a ghost town as most of the people have left the place after it was devastated during the 1964 cyclone. what remains here are the remnants of an old church and abandoned railway station. I find it difficult and sad to say in this forum that some people whose main livelihood is fishing have stayed back in this village braving everything. This fishing hamlet does not have any access to proper medical healthcare. People have to either walk across the sand beaches to Rameswaram town or wait for the matadors. And during monsoons or high tides, I believe the entire village would be cut off from the outside world. I salute the spirit of the people staying over here.




Had only half an hour to spend on Dhanushkodi Beach, I was standing at the tip of Rameswaram Island or better known as Adam's Bridge( Ram Sethu Bridge). The weather was perfect and I was in a mood to have a dip but was forced back by my mom! Ok Can I go till my waist deep! "Yes" is what I heard thou I wasn't sure and just jumped into the water. I dont know how much I was enjoying and engrossed in photographing the beach, I heard a voice calling us for the trip back! Oh they dint even let me enjoy the place in peace. Without much enthu I trail back to our matadors ready to ferry us back to our origin, The Indian Navy Checkpost.

And after that we started back to our final Intended destination for the day, Srirangam. We had missed the darshan of Lord Ranganatha the earlier time we had visited Srirangam and since we are on the same destination back to mysore, we decided to visit Srirangam.

Final Day: Srirangam



I do not have to explain much about this place as I had already mentioned about Srirangam in my earlier post. Had darshan at Srirangam at early sun break.

Final Journey: Srirangam--> Karur --> Erode --> Sathy --> Chamarajanagar --> Mysore

Total Distance Covered: 349 Kms

Were back at around 5pm, just with the glimpses of the journey we had been.