Saturday Morning
I woke up at 6:02 am, made aloo paranthas, chole dry sabji, rotlis and mango pickle and missed the bus by 3 minutes. We boarded an auto at 8:40 am and missed the train which was just moving in platform 4, when we reached platform 1. So we took a bus to central busstand and found a thiruvannamalai bus waiting, we boarded it. So a total sunk cost of train fare 280 + auto fare 250.
This was the first time, we were reaching thiruvannamalai in day light. After sporadic drizzle spells, it was neither sunny, nor rainy, and a pleasant breezy weather prevailed. After Thirukoyilur, we could see all the temple gopurams and the hillock. It was a divine sight.
Thiruvannamalai
It started pouring, once we reached Thiruvannamalai. We alighted at the turning near the statue around 3:00 pm and walked one km towards the temple amidst a heavy downpour. There were uniformed police everywhere and announcements were blaring in loudspeakers. We took bath by a place near the north gopuram. Had a special darshan.
Awesome floral decorations
This was the first time, I went inside the temple during bharani deepam celebrations. Believe, there must have been thousands of kilos of marigolds and chrysanthemums. The inner arunchaleshwarar sannithi was bedecked with deep orange, chrome yellow, ivory white and scarlet red marigolds and crimson pink, violet chrysanthemums, arranged so artfully, that would have put a Mittal family wedding decoration to shame. They had tied silver coloured balls at the end of each string of flowers. It made a special feast for eyes. I wish, these flowers had a fitting fragrance, it would made the whole place spellbinding. In satya yuga all flowers had fragrances it seems.
It must have been around 5 pm, for we saw milk abhishekam. All around the sanctum sanctorum, helpers were up on mobile ladders, handling the large garlands of flowers and arranging them to such perfection. Never realized one could create such graceful artistic patterns with these simple marigolds.
Around 5:30 pm, we had a darshan of Unnamullaiamman and we sat opposite chithragupta sannidhi, next to the sarabeshwarar pillar. Just behind us, a big drums guy, placed his drum. Floral decorations were going on. Meanwhile a high court judge and some dignitary came. The poojari got 2 huge garlands and honored the couple with garlands, did some perfunctory pooja and presented them with pictures of the deities. I sat there for almost 3 hours and decided to savour the decorations once again.
It was raining intermittently. The whole place was light with colourful lights and flowers. We went to the thirumana mandapam by the southwest corner and found 5 ustav moorthis, decorated. We were just in time for the simultaneous aarthi to these 5 dieties. There were media personnel, taking videos of the whole proceedings. A inner pradakshina outside the main sannithi, was so delightful for the eyes. I wished, what if I had arranged for a bharani deepam pass. It was 500 for a bharani deepam pass and 600 for a mahadeepam pass. I wished, I had not booked the train tickets in the morning itself.
Girivalam
Since the pournami night was split, crowd was lesser. Contrary to my fasting plans, I felt hungry around 9 pm and we finished off the aloo paranthas. We started our girivalam around 10 pm. I used most of the drinking water to wash my feet and sandals before starting girivalam. Man, it was such a slush and slurry till ramana ashram. One could have bent down and planted rice saplings. It was a nightmare walking those 1.3 kms. My footwear got stuck in the swampy mud with every step and I had to painfully drag my feet to take the next step. I washed my feet and sandals again in Ramana ashram and roads were ok after that. It did not rain mercifully. But it was soooooo cold. Mom got a terrible cold.
All around, they were offering tamarind bath, sambar sadham, biryani raithas, ellaichi milk, badam milk, 2 types of sundal, sukku malli coffee and so many other stuff. I had sukku malli coffee, since they were offering right on the road without Qs and badam milk. I had no time pressure of sunrise and scorching sun thereafter, so I took elaborate rests on the way and we reached the main raja gopuram around 4 am.
If I were incharge, I would have ensured that the girivalam path was clean and litter free with only sattvic prasad, water and resting facilities at period intervals, a little away from the main path. There would have only been om namashivaya chanting all along the way and the devotees would have to walk either with shiva namam or silently without all those incessant boisterous talks.
Way back home
We reached villupuram station around 7 am. We had a sneek preview of guru payerchi pooja being done at the temple outside the station. We waited, read papers and boarded the Cholan express. Even the newspaper guy was laughing at the choice of train. It took the Seergali, Mayavaram, Mayiladuthurai, thanjavur route to reach trichy junction. When we alighted in busstand, all the ladies were on the road, making such beautiful kolams.
But I was glad, we were at home before 6 pm and had darshan of maha deepam being lit at 6 pm through Sun news. 3000 litres of ghee! I wish, I had planned the girivalam after the maha deepam was lit. Only recently I discovered the pranic benefits of ghee jyotis. All around, rows of lamps were lit in every house. It made such a radiant sight. We lit a couple of mud lamps by the windows. We finally dozed off by 8:30 pm itself due to nice exhaustion.
