Category: General

I left India yesterday . I checked out from the hotel at 1130am, arrived at Thiruchy airport by 140pm. Waited for my mother and we both checked in.

In many respects, Thiruchy airport is so much better than Madurai airport. The staff are nicer. There is hardly any queue at either immigration or security. And they have a lounge which you can pay to use. That was nice. And it cost us only 1500Rp for the 2 of us. Very comfortable, new, good food and very clean toilets.

I will use this airport again. The problem is the distance to my mother’s home town from Thiruchy. It takes her 3 hours to go either way. Pity.

Flight departed early and we arrived in Singapore on time.

Another good India trip.

The last temple I visited yesterday was the Pandi temple. I have visited this temple on my way to the airport the last time I was in Madurai.

This time I went there at about 10am with more time on my hands.

Everyone in Madurai knows this temple and they tell me that it is an important temple. But it is a temple very different from all the other temples I have visited.

It is a relatively newer temple. It isn’t a huge complex with magnificent sculptures. It is in the middle of what appears to be a market place and it’s a low rise building. It attracts a lot of people but all local folks and primarily rural people.

When I told my mother on Sunday that I was visiting this temple I was surprised that she even knew this place. She said that the deity is a fierce one and she thought women did not in the past go to the temple.

Anyway I was met at the entrance and I was brought to stand right in front of the main deity of the temple, Pandi Muneeswarar, to receive blessings. There was a queue of people behind me and while I was standing in front of the deity, a young girl behind me started screaming or wailing very loudly. I turned back and she must have been about 8 to 10 years old and she was with her mother.

I was then brought to the other parts of the temple which I didn’t visit the last time.

There was a shrine manned by an old lady who blesses people. I believe the shrine is dedicated to Ganesha.

Then I was shown another section where a lot of small cots where hanging. I was told that people who wanted babies would come to this temple and pray and tie a small cot here. There were so many cots on that structure and I was told that the temple authorities remove them regularly.

Then there was the middle part of the complex where they were sacrifing goats. I actually saw a small black goat which was having it’s legs tied up and a man was standing next to it with huge knife getting ready to behead it. I didn’t want to see the actual beheading and so I looked away and walked. There was quite a bit of blood on the floor in that area and I saw the heads of 8 goats lined up on the floor. I was told that people who prayed for something and had their wish granted would come here to give thanks by sacrificing animals.

Right at the other end of the temple complex was another shrine. This deity, Samaya Karuppar, had all its parts cut up. There was a half torso in the middle and the head and other parts of the body were placed alongside it.

A very different type of a temple from all the others I have visited. But that explains the diversity of people and their beliefs in this country.

Immediately after the visit to Palamuthir Solai and drinking the water from Noopuragangai, I went to Thirupuramkundram. A name I am familiar with because it used in so many Tamil movie devotional songs in the 60s and early 70s.

I have never been here and a good friend had suggested that I visit this.

Although it was still before 8 am, traffic started to build up and the road there was a single lane one, narrow and bumpy. The town buses would stop every few metres and everyone has to wait behind the buses, unless you can overtake… until you are behind the next bus. But I did notice many schools nearby. Each with their own building compound and a small playground. I think these are some of the many private schools now in Tamil Nadu. I also saw many private colleges in that area. Perhaps another reason to explain the traffic congestion.

Pity about India and Tamil Nadu. So much history and monuments and temples which are centuries old, but in a state of disrepair or so difficult to get to because no one bothers to improve the transport system.

Anyway after a long journey, the driver had to park some distance away and I walked up to the temple barefoot for a few hundred metres.

This temple is dedicated to Lord Murugan and is supposed to be his first abode. It is at the foot of a stone hill and the temple and sculptures are carved into the stone. The crowd to visit the temple was slowly building up. I paid to get the express lane but it was just to walk past the deity. Also I noticed so many newly just wedded couples with their families in entourage visiting the temple.

Spent about 10 minutes there and left. Glad I visited this place once but not a place I will come again.

Immediately after the Vishvaroopa dharshan at Alagar temple, my minder took me up to Palamuthir Solai temple which is up the Alagar Hills. This is supposed to be one of the 6 abodes of Lord Murugan.

As it was only 610am then, it was still cool when I was driving up the hill to the temple. The drive was a good 5 to 7 minutes. Again I just cannot imagine how arduous the journey must be for the many people who visit this temple by walking up the hill. I think it must take them about 45 minutes to an hour walking uphill to reach this temple without a car. And most people do not have a car or transport. Such devotion and dedication.

I did a dharshan here and again I was blessed to see the unveiling of the deity, which took place at 615am.

After this visit, my minder took me to another temple which was even further up the hill, called the Kallalagar Temple.

On my last visit I came to Palamuthir Solai but I didn’t go any higher. The climb to reach this temple was a rather steep one. No lifts or any other forms of assistance. You have to climb those steep and uneven steps. As I was climbing up, I was wondering how my parents walked up here.

After performing a dharshan, the highlight of the visit to this temple is the Noopuragangai Holy water.

Apparently there is a stream from up the hill which supplies water to this temple and it is considered holy and medicinal water. People come here to to wash themselves in this water and cleanse themselves and also to drink it. Some of them collect the water in containers to drink it later or to give to others. I drank some of this water. I know my mother and my father have been here to wash and drink this water.

Another new experience.

This morning I visited this famous temple in Madurai, which is at the foothills of the Alagar Hills.

The last time I was in Madurai, I passed by this temple on the way to Palamuthir Solai but didn’t stop here.

This time a close friend suggested that I visit this temple and asked me to attend their early morning dharshan, the Vishvaroopa dharshan. And he was kind enough to make all the arrangements for me as well, for which I am grateful. India is a country where you do need connections to help with things like temple visits etc.

I was told to be there by 530am. I left my hotel at 430am and I was at the temple by 5 am. The dharshan only starts at 6am and so I had to be outside the shrine waiting for the priests to arrive and start their preparations. My minder was nice and found me a chair to sit whilst waiting and a hot lemon tea.

In the wedding hall nearby, a wedding was taking place at 515am. I wonder what time the couple and all their families had to be here to have the ceremony start at that time. And getting here is not easy. I think there are weddings here every 15 minutes. The next one started at 530am.

The priests started arriving from about 545am. It started getting brighter outside and I started hearing Tamil songs from the shops outside which had started to open about then.

At about 545am, the priests started singing the suprabathams. I was asked to stand right in front of the shrine which was then still covered with a curtain. Soon a white cow was brought to stand right in front of the shrine and thereafter came an elephant.

At 6am sharp they opened the curtain and unveiled the deity with lots of chanting and bells. After receiving the blessings from the priests I left.

I was told the deity is only unveiled for 10 minutes after which they will close the curtain till the next dharshan at 8 am.

Grateful for the blessings so early in the morning. We were done at the temple by 615m.

Tonight I organized dinner at the hotel I am staying for my mother, my sister in law and my 2 nieces.

They came by to the hotel at 630pm and we had a good dinner. It was a buffet and I am glad that they ate well. The food was good with a wide variety of both Indian and western dishes. I heard the western desserts were alright but unfortunately the Indian desserts I tried were just too sweet.

The price per pax was Rp1,700 which works out to about $25.

As the journey from Thiruchy airport to my hotel in Madurai takes about 2.5 hours, I decided to have some food before reaching the hotel so that I can just take a shower and rest once back at the hotel.

So the driver suggested this restaurant which is just before the turn off to the hotel.

Amazing vegetarian food! For a set meal, they had 5 vegetables, biryani, white rice, chapati, sambar, rasam, pulli kari, dhal curry and 2 desserts with a banana thrown in. And all for Rp200, which is about $3.

And good service with free refills of everything.

So glad I ate here. I must see if I can make another visit here on this trip.

Now sitting on board an Air India Express to Thiruchy with my mother.

My sister had planned a trip to India with my mother during Deepavali and at the very last minute she couldn’t travel. Since my mother had set her mind on the fact that she was going to India, I now have to bring her there.

Earlier this year when I brought her there, I was lucky. They still had direct flights to Madurai then. Now they have stopped that flight. I need to fly to Thiruchy and then take a 3 hour car journey to Madurai. It is a budget airline and a full flight.

Well anyway I am just glad that my mother is looking forward to this trip.

As an update, Thiruchy airport is very nice. Appears new and is modern and well staffed. Both the immigration and customs were well handled.

A good friend from Sri Lanka, who helps me with so many things in SL was here with his newly wedded wife for a 3 day visit to Singapore.

I took them out for dinner last night, together with another couple who had come here with them.

I wanted to bring them to MBS and they suggested Lavo on the 57th floor.

A good experience with decent food and great views. And the service was really good with about 90% of their service staff being foreigners. So that explains the good service.

I could tell that they really enjoyed their visit there and so that was good.

Their chocolate cake is one of their specialities.

This morning I read that the Palace was taking steps to strip Prince Andrew of all his royal titles and that he would henceforth be called just Andrew. He will also be asked to leave his current property, which is part of the Crown Properties.

I guess after the book Entitled by Andrew Lownie came out, it was inevitable. When I read the book, I was shocked that such behavior had gone on for so long and tolerated by so many people. And that book was so well publicised and the author spoke on so many talk shows that it was just getting impossible to ignore the book’s contents and to what had happened.

I suspect that his mother, the late Queen, has to take a large part of the responsibility for how he turned out and for protecting him all these years.

Plus the recent book by his accuser, the late Virginia Guiffee, which has just been released, hasn’t helped. Am contemplating whether to read that book.

A massive fall for one who was once second in line to the British throne.

If his mother was still alive, I wonder if would still this have happened.