Chennai to Thiruttani A Travel guide...

            Thiruthani is one of the Murugan's Arupadaiveedu. It is near to Arakonam (23 kms) and Chennai (98 kms).  I have been planning to visit this for place to worship Lord Murga for a long time and finally planned to travel on 07-july-2012 (Saturday).

Travel

            I heard there are passenger  trains available in the morning hours and reached Central station around 7 am. Got a second class ticket from Central station to Thiruthani and it costs 14 rupees, enquired about first class ticket and heard it was around 175 rupees which was around 10 times and hence satisfied with second class.

            Heard that Thiruthani passenger might come around 7.15 am and it did came at the right time . If at all you missed this train, you can always catch a passenger train moving to Tirupathi around 7.35 am.  It is better to board this Thiruthani passenger, since in Tirupathi passenger crowd would be more.

            Fortunately there wasn't much crowd on train and we could able to get seated comfortably and able to take a couple of clicks from my camera also.

            Train started by 7.25 am (on time) and as the train passes by Basin bridge , vysarpadi the train did become little crowded but still manageable though.  Train reached Thiruninravur around 8.15 am and most of crowd was gone. So even if you feel the passenger train is crowded, you can still get in, so in an hour you would have a best chance of seating.

            You could able to see lot of local vendors with gova and jackfruit whom will make your travel interesting and your stomach smile. My kid had a nice sleep in my lap and had nice team to read a book which I was longing to read for a long time.

            Train reached a major station Arakonam around 9.10 am and most of coach was free.  we heard Thiruthani is just 20 mins away.  So if at all we miss Thiruthani passenger, we can always get a train while goes through Arakonam and catch a local bus to Thiruthani.

            Train reached Thiruthani on time (9.30 am) and the station is not too big nor too small. Had a chance to meet lot of ancestors (Monkeys) after a long time. Beware though when you move with your snacks, it might jump at you at no time.

 

          Enquired about the return train and got info like from 1.10 pm we have train from Thiruthani to Chennai central in an hour interval like (2.20 pm, 3.20 pm etc.,). Got out of station and we need to move the bus station which is not too far but not walkable though.

Local Transport

            Seems like auto fare to bus stand is 50 rupees (from their you need to catch a bus to claim the small hill) and fare to drop on top of the hill is Rs. 100, hence thought of hiring an auto to reach the hill itself.

Travel is less than 10 mins, from adivaram to the hill there is 365 steps and if one wishes he / she can climb though.  Seems the fare I spent is more with respect to the km traveled (less than 8 kms) enquired the driver about why they are charging this much. He explained his inability, like he need to buy a token to enter the hill for Rs.20 for a trip and since the auto is mostly used for claiming the hills he can't use other than 1st  or 2nd gear which makes the auto engine wear and tear too much and got to get the engine worked out every year, which from my point of view seems valid though.

Top of Hill

            Had a prathana and devoted my hair (didn't had much though..) for my god. Token for it is Rs.10 and you may wish to pay the barber as you like, which is not mandate though.  There were Temple trust maintained bathrooms to take a bath but not much convinced with the cleanliness and had it from outside for a charge of 10 rupees (but found the spending justified due to the cleanliness).

Prathana

            You can get Archana thattu for Rs. 30 or Rs. 40. 40 rupees one will have a small lemon and vibuthi packet. Hence bought  a 40 rupees Archana thattu (which I found  was a mistake which I will explain later) and entered in the line. Thanked god!!!  Temple is not much crowded. 

            The silver rod used for the line was laid very narrow and I was astonished how people can live upto this if it is crowded. Heard during Tuesdays , Sundays and pusum, devotees count would be too much and only Murugan should guard them all who enter through this small line during big days.

            You can get special dharshan ticket for Rs. 50 which is not needed for me due to less crowd.

 

           First there was a person sitting and I thought he was selling archana ticket and paid him 10 bugs and later found that he is selling only vilva leaves (non mandatory though) and not archana ticket.

            After moving couple of steps we found a counter for Archana ticket,  ticket costs around 5 rupees and buying that we are marching along the moolavar. One person was distributing kungumam (more than kungumam he had lot of 10 rupees notes though, which means don't  drop anything less than this, later I could able to see this in all other sannithanams).

 

              If you devote 10 rupees you will get a small kungumam packet or else just pinch of kungumam. Then after couple of steps near the entrance another person standing with Thiruneeru (vibhuti) and I was giving him to make the archana which he rejected politely mentioning archana has been stopped performing here before long time and at the rear you can perform though. But I was still wondering why there were two persons to distribute kungumam and Thiruneeru (nothing but double profit what else..).

            Then prayed the lord and got Thiruneeru pocket (as you rightly guessed devoting 10 rupees though, later I found the reason why we are called as devotees???.. ). Then you can have a small walk round through the parakaram.

Then near to the exit they did the Archana, the distance from the lord statue to archagar is around 15 to 20 feets, and murmured some mantra and executed the Archana. Now you can recall why I mentioned as I was not convinced on this Archana.

            Due to less devotees strength had a nice dharshan and able get down hassle free. My large intestine slowly started eating mine smaller and hence planned to feed something for my stomach (even Thiruvallur has recommended to feed stomach with something if you had enough for your eyes and ears).

Snacks break 

Devasthanam had their stalls with snacks. I had sweet pongal and puliyatharai. oh god.. puliyotharai was too hot but tasty though.

          So all this got complete before 12 pm and hence planned to catch the 1.10 pm train to central. Auto fare to railway station is 80 rupees (since the 20 rupees token is for two and fro) and I negotiated it for 60 and finally it was 70 rupees.

  

Hotel

            while coming down enquired driver about the better hotels (for sure we know tourist places we can't find a good one) and he recommended three hotels and not in any order though.

            Hotel Vasantha bhavan (not a branch of chennai restaurant)

            Hotel Saravana bhavan (not a branch of chennai restaurant)

            Swathi mess near bus stand.

            Requested driver to wait for sometime to have lunch and he charged me of Rs. 20 addl. so agreed for that and had Spl meals at Vasantha bhavan (normal meals 45 rupees and A/c Spl meals 90 rupees), due to the summer hot, opted for Spl meals.

            Found the food taste to be better not great though. later remembered my dad's quote "The food  which tastes great is not a great food, the food which doesn't disturb your stomach should be termed as a great one", so in that sense it is a great one.

            Reached Thiruthani station around 12.55 pm and found the train was waiting on the platform. Found a nice and convenient window seat and got settled. one tip though, always before you choose your seat in train or bus, think twice about in which direction sun will raise or set so you don't want to beat with the heat.

            Train started around 1.15 pm and reached Chennai central around 3.45 pm. I should feel lucky to get Murugan Dharshan hassle less. 

End

            So to conclude in the end, plan you trip on weekday or Saturday and avoid Sundays, since I heard from auto driver that Sundays and Tuesdays will be really crowded.

            Thanks for reading my blog ... 

If interested.. Please watch my attached Thiruthani Youtube video.