Travel to Tirupati (Info on accomodation, restaurants and places to visit)

I consider myself fortunate for having got an opportunity to travel to one of the most well known and most sought after places by pilgrims and general tourists alike, not only from India but also from across the world. This is one of the prime abodes of lord Vishnu, who in turn is one of the hindu trinity gods-namely Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. This place is also listed II in the list of 108 divya desams. The first one is Srirangam which is also called Bhooloka Vaikuntham, or the prime abode of lord Vishnu on the earth.

Tirupati is also one of the most crowded pilgrimages. So, all the more it is very difficult to get the darshan of the lord. People stand for hours in the queue to have darshan of the lord.

It was the wedding anniversary of one of our relatives and we had planned to join them on the occasion.

There is more to tirupati than the main temple. The highlight of this trip was that we were able to visit places and temples other than the main one in Tirupati. First we visited the Panchamukha Anjaneyar shrine in Tiruvallur, which was under construction. We had darshan of lord hanuman who had five faces, namely- hanuman, narasimha, hayagriva, varaha and garuda. The deity was so huge that one can have part darshan from outside the temple.

Next we went to the Veeraraghava perumal temple at Tiruvallur which is one amongst the 108 divya desam classified by Ramanuja who was the architect of Vaishnavism or worship of lord Vishnu. We went to the pushkarni (holy lake) called Hrittapanasini, there which is known for its sanctity. There is an old belief that if jaggery is dissolved into this lake then all diseases will be cured. The tank is so holy that evens a sight or a touch or a bath would immediately dispel all anguish of heart. As usual, at the centre of the tank there is a mandapam, where seasonal Festivals are performed. But when we went near the lake, we could see that it was extremely dirty and we found garbage lying on it.

From there, we went to Tirupati during late afternoon as we had to reach there quickly as some persons amongst us were to climb the hill on foot and rest by car. We reached the place in the night.

Good Restaurants in Tirupati: The best we found was Bhimas Deluxe in Tiruchanoor Road near Govindarajaswami temple. The food there was par excellence. Don’t forget to ask for Gonghra chutney (hope I have spelt correctly) there. This chutney can be used as sidedish to Dosas etc and also mixed with rice and taken. But some may find this place expensive.

Other less expensive but good quality restaurants in Upper Tirupati (i.e where the presiding deity is) were Anjanadri (formerly Annapoorna hotel) and Annamayya which is guest house cum hotel. When overcrowded, tokens are issued and people are called when there is place inside in the order of the token number.

We visited temples like that of Sri Kalyana Venkateswarar in Srinivasa Mangapuram. After that we went to Papavinasanam falls, the next morning. Then we took some rest in the afternoon and then went for the darshan. The entire ambiance of the temple was so superb that I felt like relaxing there for a while. The lord is well decoratedas a groom.

We had booked for the special arjitha seva. It was a small prayer (pooja) followed by renditions of few annamayya sankeerthanams. We went for the darshan after the pooja and to my surprise, there were no people behind our crew and we were the last set, for the moment from start to the darshan. I was feeling very uncomfortable as this place is a big crowd puller and there is no body.

But still, the davasthanam people were pushing us out of the chamber where the main lord is. So, whether there’s crowd or not, it seems that the devasthanam people have got habituated to the characteristic pushing with the word jargabndi which means “move”.

It would be more comfortable if people can stay put at Tirupati for more than one day and have darshan। One can cover many places if they also visit places that come on the way while going to Tirupati or places near Tirupati। Few of such places are Tiruvallur, Tiruttani, Nallattoor, Srikalahasti, Veyyanjeri etc.

Travel to Ooty (Info on Ooty and budget hotels and accomodation in Ooty)

This is the place where I have been planning to go since long time, since I have been in Delhi. Yes, I am talking about the queen of hill stations-Ooty. It is also known as Udhagai or Udhagamandalam.

Location: Ooty is located in Nilgiris district in Tamil Nadu, Southern India.

The word Nil (pronounced as Neel) means Blue and Giri means mountain. As the name suggests Ooty is full of mountains, valleys, Tea plantations and gardens.

How to reach:

By Air:

The nearest airport to Ooty is at a distance of about 88kms and is located in Coimbatore. There one can take Indian Airline flights to Coimbatore, Bangalore, Cochin and Chennai.

By Rail:

Ooty railway station is very much near to the main city. One can come upto Mettupalayam and then pick up the world heritage train - The Mettupalayam -Ooty Nilgiris passenger.

This toy train that connects Ooty with Mettupalayam and Coonoor, another famous hill station. The train is not really fast. But tourists can enjoy natural beauty all along the way.

By Road:

Traveling by road is a not a bad idea as Tamil Nadu has a very good road network. The state has many highways that connect distant places and make traveling much easier. But I do have a feeling that you will miss out all the charm and view of nature that you can have in the Narrow gauge Ooty train.

So, that's the best option I would consider.

Accommodation: Sterling Holiday Resorts, Fern Hill.

It was a very short weekend trip with some friends. I couldn't see many places that I really wanted to. It got out of my mind to take my camera. It's criminal not to take it when you are travelling to such a beautiful place.

But I am surely determined to visit them soon and then will be writing and posting photos. Here I am about whatever I could visit.

Botanical Garden:

It was built in the nineteenth century by the Marquis of Tweedale, the Indian civil servant during the british rule. It was full of trees and plants. In fact the most striking thing about it was the "beauties that blossomed". I would describe this garden as a repository of a wide variety of beautiful flowers (that's what I meant). This is indeed very big and a must to visit place for any tourist.

Doddabetta peak:

It is the highest peak in Ooty. The fragrance of Eucalyptus trees left me spell bound so much, that I didn't even bother much about the bumpy road climbing uphill leading to the peak.

There was a telescopic tower used to view the natural sceneries.

You can also find lot of vendors selling hats, caps and various other items there.

Kart racing:

I preferred not to go to Ooty lake as I had done enough boating in Nainital. When one of the group members suggested about going kart, I was really enthused. We went to the kart racing club of Tamil Nadu Tourism. Cant recall its name. It was a circular race course with rubber tyres spread all around to prevent people getting hurt when they hit corners. We had a small race amongst ourselves.

It was only few minutes after it started that I went out of control and hit the kart of one of my fellow group members. Then I saw him pressing the accelerator and turning the steering but to no avail. His kart was entirely above the set of tyres and wheels in the air.

I again hit another person, but this time I also went fully out of control. I think I am amongst the luckier ones. The wheels on the left side of the kart was over the rubber tyres and those on the right side were still on the road. So, I was able to accelerate. Then I turned the steering to the right side to bring my kart back to the road. The earliest to complete seven rounds was the first (not me).

I couldn't gauge the extent to which Ooty has got commercialized, but I believe it has still got the scenic beauty left in it to be called "The queen of Hill stations".

Travel to Nainital Part III. (Info on accomodation, budget hotels and places to visit in Nainital)

The next day's outing spree was to the high altitude Zoo in Nainital also called Govind Ballabh Pant Zoo. There is no proper transport available to the zoo. So we preferred walking. So it was a 15 to 20 minutes climb from near one of the sides of Nainital Lake to the zoo. Don't remember properly........ We just asked one of the locals there.

Well, have a look at some of the "wild" attractions, if you could call it........

Mountain Bear:

Will be posted shortly.

Ghoral:

Leopard:

Owl:

Sambhar:

We were eagerly waiting outside a well fenced cage of snow leopard to catch a glimpse of it, but couldn’t see it. That was the last place we visited in Nainital. We however couldn’t visit other attractions like Snow view point, Dorothy’s seat and Tiffin top. Sure, will post when I get to travel next time.

We found a lot of garbage thrown on the Nainital lake, thereby polluting it. Further the commercialization in the vicinity of the lakes can further pollute it, as we heard from some locals there that sewages are mostly let into the lake. It would be better if man protects nature as it has been protecting him since time immemorial.