Garuda Sevai @ Gunaseelam

Hi All,

Gunaseelam is a small village situated on the banks of River Kaveri , on the road connecting Trichy and Salem,Namakkal districts of Tamil nadu. The Lord  Sri Prasanna Venkatachalapathi is the residing god, who has given darshan to Gunaseela Maharishi being pleased by his devotion and Tapas. This temple is a beautiful one. This is one of the place I had spent my childhood as my grandpa was running a hotel Sankar Cafe.

We had a wonderful darshan of the Garuda sevai Utsav on 25th December, Friday & Full Moon day. The Lord was dressed in Blue silk and velvet and with all his ornaments on, blessed us in the Sahasra Deepa Mandapam & then walked around the Agraharam and also gave us the Kannadi arai sevai ( The room had Mirrors in all direction & we can see his Beauty everywhere in the room).

The event got over with the Artha Jamam of the Lord post which the devotees were sprinkled the holy water and were given Milk and Sakarai Pongal as the Prasadam.

The Money Plant

The Money Plant

Money plant is a creeper grown widely in residential areas/indoors mainly because it looks decorative and it does not require much care. I liked this plant for no reason and I really think it taught me something.. May be just my analysis or thought process after what happened as it grew in my home....

Bought this plant in a pot and started watering it daily. As it grew, I gave a rope & tied it to my window. As it grew longer(as it is a creeper), many people said it will be a disturbance, but I did not feel like it disturbed anyone. After all it is just a creeper.

As it grew much longer I tied its rope to a nail (Actually a  wall paste ) which fell off. Tried it several times  & it fell every time. So, I let it without disturbance for few days.. It started growing towards the floor.

As it now became strong enough, I tied the rope directly to the stem & now tied it back. One lesson I learnt ( or may be you can say I imagine ) out of it is sometimes it is better we give some time, so that we become strong enough and have clarity to handle things..
Our Inner strength is more important. 

To know about Money plant you can refer:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epipremnum_aureum

Navarathri Golu 2014- Decorations

Navarathri Golu 2014- Decorations

Here is my old post stored in draft for almost an year. This year also I had nice time arranging golu.

Trip to Thiruneermalai temple Chennai

Hi All,

Here are pics taken from Thiruneermalai, Chennai

The Beautiful sight from the temple

The Garuda idol on the Walls of the temple

The Majestic Gopuram

The Sun set I enjoyed

North Bay, Andaman

North Bay, Andaman

Andaman is one of the most beautiful place that is worth a journey.

I had never been to an island earlier . Though I have read bed time stories & novels where the characters had been in islands, I had the opportunity to fully walk & see an Island. The Island which I fully covered walking its entire circumference is Ross island of Andaman.Its a tiny island. Here in this post, I am writing about most adventurous experience of Scuba diving in Andaman.

North Bay, Andaman is an island which has nothing on the land, but has a lot of corals on its sea shore. The Boat that takes us there leaves us few kilometers before the island and small boats that can take around 10 people take us to the island.

This island is a place to enjoy the coral reefs. One can enjoy snorkeling, Scuba diving and Sea walking in this island. I was gifted to enjoy Scuba Diving but missed sea walking unfortunately.

Snorkling: 

            This is something you can enjoy seeing the coral reefs from the water surface. The people there use biscuits to attract the fishes and they come closer to you. Especially I touched few zebra fishes.

Scuba Diving: 

               I felt the entire Andaman trip was worth just because I enjoyed this. I went in to another world as explained in the books like a mermaid, still feels like a dream. Please note that I do not know Swimming and the guides were happy knowing it. So, Scuba diving does not  essentially need swimming as a requirement. Dressed with the costume they give you, learning the sign languages they teach you and learning to breath with the mouth with the air cylinder fitted over the dress is sufficient. The Guide will make you float on the water filling air around you and slowly take you deep in to the water. Wow, What a beauty. I have no words to describe the moments I had there. The colors and lighting made me feel I was in to another world. The Guide made me touch few corals which were named finger corals, brain corals etc. The highlight is I saw something very soft and finger like behind which was a Nemo fish.. Lovely sight. Also few reefs closed upon touching them. Also took a star fish - colored copper sulphate blue and took a pic..

Sea walking: 

                Although I did not experience it, a friend of mine of my similar liking/taste told me she literally had tears of joy in her eyes when she walking in the sea beds with lots of fishes around her. The Guide gives you a glass helmet to cover your head which gets oxygen supply from the top. She walked in the sea bed and enjoyed the corals and fishes.

All these closes by 4PM. So  enjoy them as soon as possible.
I missed sea walking just because of time constraint.

There is yet another thing called Glass boat- which  has a magnifying glass in the base of the boat shows you the reefs which are 10 feet deep.

Hope this post have an idea of what to expect & plan your fun activities when you visit!

Ross Island, Andaman

Ross Island, Andaman

Peacock at Ross Island

 

At the beach behind the Ross Island

Ross Island is one of the beautiful island in Andaman. The Jetty that takes to Ross Island takes a trip to Northbay Island as well. This Island is a  small one and hardly takes an hour or two to walk its circumstance. With beauty all around it, this Island is pictured in 20 Rupee Indian currency. The Guide in the Boat explained us the same showing the Currency.

Ruins of Church @ Ross island

At the security gate they give you a Swipe in card which must be held safe, without which or if you lose it, you will have to pay a fine of Rs.200 (One of our team mates paid as she lost the swipe card). After you pay for the entrance, you have to swipe the card to enter the island. There are boards explaining the details of the island. This island has been the capital during the British periods and all you can see are the ruins of their cantonment, Church, Distilleries. There are Deers, squirrels and peacocks roaming around. The Light house painted black and white seen from the distillery is an exquisite sight. A good place for photo shoot. Climb up the hilly region to see the ruins of a church and behind is a steep drop leading to terror beach which looks awesome with huge rocks and coconut trees and uprooted trees. The beach is also sandy at places. The islands are under surveillance and quite often you can hear helicopters get down and start off from the helipad in Ross island. the entrance of Ross island has good number of  coconut trees.

Munda Pahar Beach, Andaman

Munda Pahar Beach, Andaman

Munda Pahar is a serene beach with cool breeze and the sound of the waves buzzing in your ears as a melody. Something about this beach really made my mind calm. Looking at the mountain opposite and enjoying the beauty made me speechless. I just enjoyed walking on the shore with the waves touching my feet with its to and fro movements.

Singing my favorite numbers in my melody play list added to the enjoyment. The climate when I went there was very cool with little drizzle. The uprooted trees lying on the shore added to its beauty. There are tall trees in the shore with seats and swings beneath it. There were not much people around other than few of us. We also played the game Mafia and had fun. I enjoyed the tiny creature which comes out of the shell and walks.. Took it in my had and felt its movement on my fingers. Lots of very tiny pebbles and shells in the shore, had a good time in the beach.

Tamaraipakkam Chinmaya Mission

Tamaraipakkam Chinmaya Mission

Set on a travel to Tamaraipakkam with plans to visit Ramar temple in Paagalmedu. Went on a ride with my friends, taking Tulasi & lotus flowers for the lotus feet of Shri Ramar. We started by 4 PM from Madipakkam and reached Paagalmedu around 5:30 PM. The ride was enjoyable listening to the Bhajans of Mr. Hari.

We had plans of singing Bhajan in the temple. Unfortunately the temple was closed and so we went to Tamaraipakkam Chinmaya Mission Just 1.5 Kms from Paagalmedu. Learnt that our Chinmaya Gurudev brought the Spatikalinga from Abroad and placed it here.The temple structure is like the Linga and hence called the Linga temple.

The temple has a  big meditation hall. You need to climb up the stairs to reach the Shiva shirne. The moment you reach the shrine you can feel the positive atmosphere ,enjoy the breeze as the temple is located in a green and shady atmosphere. By the time we reached the sun set and couldn't enjoy the surroundings. We were right on time to enjoy the Aarathi. We sang songs in praise of the Lord. Also chanted Slokas and few bhajans in praise of the lord.Happily gave the lotus & Tulasi to Lord Shiva and enjoyed him wear them around him.

We started by 7 PM from there & reached back home by 8:30. A wonderful evening to remember & a nice place to be visited again.