visits ot the divya desams.

[Guest guest]

Hello:

 

I had written an earlier mail that I am not sure where it went. I was reading Shri. Raju's wonderful travelogue on his visit to the Nava Brindhavan in Karnataka and was reminded of a trip my daughter did to Kumbakonm two years ago. She had come over to Chennai for a visit and wanted to see some divya desams and so decided on a road trip to Kumbakonam from Chennai and to see all the temples on the way. Now the trouble arose when I couldn't go with them. Having been brought up in the interiors, I knew most of the ways and the routes. However since my two daughters went along with the son-in-laws and the children, there was no room for me in the car.

 

Now they had to depend on the driver, and a limited idea of the temple whereabouts to visit all the places. I still feel they could have had a more efficient trip if they had charted their course better. With this in mind, I would like to refer you to a website called www.tripsagain.com. This website is just for people to write about their trip routes, experiences and number of days spent in each location, and of course what they saw. Most importantly people can honestly write if the time they spent at each temple/location was enough or they need more or less. Did they reach just in time, or did they miss the morning pooja? Should they have started the day earlier? later? Maybe not stopped at eh small temple they could have done later?

 

This is what stood out about Sri. Raju's travelogue. Not only did he talk about his trip, but he also talks about what all he could have done , (for example take the boat instead of the car ride, in order to reach the temple sooner) if he had just known. If you search the internet, much information can be found about the individual temples or towns, but limited information on an actual route, times it takes on the roads, car vs other means of transportation. There is also no information about trips involving many destinations, and if there are any places of interest on the way. Lastly there is hardly any information about temple timings and when they are closed, for thereis a big chunk of time in the middle of the day, when no temples are open and what can be done during that time.

 

I would invite all of you who have travelled to the temples and holy towns, to please write about your expereinces in this site (www.tripsagain.com), so there is one place where someone can refer to to find out how to plan their trip. This would lead to more efficiency and a more satisfied trip overall with better dharshan too. (You can also chart your course on a map, and also add pictures if possible.) Lastly, this would also help people like my daughter, who wants to visit Badrinath within a time frame, plan her trip. Instead of asking around, it would be more authentic if the people who have actually gone on these trips write about them including price/travel agents/trains/airlines used, so she can look it up at any time before planning her trip. (Beauty of the internet is being able to access the information at any time.)