Thiruvannamalai

Ahobilam was not happening due to non-availability of some members. So, the religious group decided to visit Thiruvannamalai on the dates fixed for Ahobilam -8/9 December. Even this religious tour happened after a pretty long break of 3 months from the last trip to Thirutani and Thiruvalangadu.
Nine of us started in two cars on Saturday, leaving behind the students Sujatha and Rajini to complete their special B.Ed. exam with Jagan to bring them later in his car. Our aspiring IAS officer Sowmya also was to join them.
The first batch left post lunch and reached Thiruvannamalai by 4.30 pm after a short break for live coffee at Only Coffee!

This time for convenience the ladies changed their "kaaval deivam" from Ranga to Satish as the latter's car could accommodate more people and the guys travelled in Ranga's car.
As we were reaching the hotel, Murthy who was our contact for darshan called and we hurried to the temple after dropping the luggage at the hotel.
 We entered the temple through North gopuram (Ammani Ammal Gopuram). Here is the link to information about Ammani Ammal who was instrumental in building the gopuram which was named after her:
http://arunachalagrace.blogspot.com/2015/02/life-of-ammani-amman-arunachaleswarar.html?m=1

The size of this temple never ceases to awe me and this time also I felt I have not seen the temple in full!
We as usual proceeded straight to the sannidhi of Lord Arunachaleswara, having a glimpse of various sannidhis right from Sambandi Vinayakar, Arumugam, Natarajar, Svarna Bhairavar.
After a relaxed darshan, deeparathanai and vilva prasadam, we proceeded to Goddess Unnamulaiamman sannidhi.
Here again we prayed to Lord Ganesha before entering the sanctum to have a very good darshan of the Goddess. We came out to circumambulate around the Navagrahas and have darshan of Chitragupta before prostrating in front of the Dwajasthambam.

Once we came out of the temple, we all realised how hungry we were and marched towards the restaurant attached to the hotel we were staying in. After snacking, we took three autos to visit Ramanashramam and Seshadriswamigal Ashramam. We had missed the Aksharamanimalai by a few minutes, but the session of meditation was very satisfying.
We had decided to start girivalam after Jagan & co reach the hotel, so it was relaxing time in the hotel room post dinner with lot of gossip.
As soon as Jagan, Suja, Rajini and Sowmya reached, we got ready to go for girivalam. It was 11.30 pm and the weather was mildly chilly, perfect for walking. This time we started the walk right from the hotel, from Ammani Ammal Gopuram.

Even when we reached the girivalam paadhai beyond Ramanashramam, we could not find anybody else walking. The walk was initially brisk as we were intent on taking less number of breaks. It so happened that there were no shops open for us to have a tea break. After some time, we came across a small group chanting slokas with a swamiji in their midst. Going further, we found a tea shop with the owner lady awake and decided to take a tea break.

Kalyan, our swamiji,

as usual walked on without any break and prayed at all the Lingams on the way on behalf of our group as always! More than two and half hours later, we could all feel the strain and were in two minds whether to take another break. We took another small break eating bananas bought from a vendor who was awake. The moment we reached the turning towards the bus stop, we ladies said, we will complete the girivalam as usual near Hotel Ramakrishna and take an auto to the hotel from there. Rajini was bent on completing the girivalam only in front of the temple and the men also motivated us with a gentle teaching that girivalam would be incomplete unless we reach the dwajasthambam.
All of us finally managed to reach the temple entrance and prostrated in front of the dwajasthambam, satisfied that we completed the girivalam successfully.
After having some chukku coffee, tea, etc. from a road side vendor we proceeded in the direction of the hotel and crashed into our beds.
Wake up alarm was by Kalyan at 700 am to go to Ramanashramam but we were too sleepy. The late comers who hadn't had darshan the earlier day, got ready first to go to the temple and Jayashree accompanied them. The others got ready slowly and followed them to the temple.

Only Guruji Kalyan went to Ramanashramam and joined us later at the temple.

After darshan all of us met for the customary photo session at the same point where we usually take snaps.

With the mission of girivalam and darshan accomplished, our tummies started grumbling and all got ready for breakfast. The restaurant attached to our hotel was quite crowded but when we sat, they did not have anything proper to offer us. Not even idly!
Frustrated, we caught a few autos and headed to Hotel Ramakrishna to have solid breakfast with a variety of idly, dosa, puri, pongal and of course vadai!
After a tiny siesta at the hotel, it was time to head back home.
Lunch break happened after 2pm with a very interesting idea for the religious trips in 2019. Hope it works out well!!