Adore the tree for sheltering birds Admire its flowers that attract bees Relax in the cool shadow it throws Wondering how it does all as it grows.
Think of how the tree fights its way up By drilling roots all the way down Get to know its secret of achieving growth Above the surface and under the soil, both.
Appreciate the tree for its selfless act As it gives much more than it takes, in fact Fathom how much other lives stand to gain Fear, how without trees, we would sustain.
Adaptive, as the tree manages seasons Gritty, as it survives dried up streams Kind, as it cares for all as a mother Gentle, as it exists in peace with others.
Love the tree as your kith and kin Learn its survival amid chaos and din Borrow its patience when facing harm Respect its wisdom of standing firm.
You read it right. Prayang. There is no such word. It's just a caption I coined, to denote our prayan to Prayag. Prayag generally means confluence - of rivers, people, ideas, things that meet or join at a place from different sources. While our yatra, if you can call it so, mainly was intended to cover performing rites at Gaya, Varanasi and the Triveni Sangam, I realised our travel could have also been a result of more than a couple of wishes. For the pious and devout, it was an occasion to fulfil the very purpose of having been born in a punya kshetra as Bharat, being the prime duty of any male to perform the rites for his parents and ancestors at these three revered places. For the traveler, it was an occasion to mingle in a group and visit these and other places covered, circumventing the responsibility of making all the travel, stay and other arrangements. For some others, it was opportunity to escape from the boredom of daily life, forget home for a few days and take on what comes their way without much care for making any effort except to carry their luggage and climb up and down a few stairs. Caption explained, let's begin to recapitulate the wonderful time we had over the last two weeks.
Coincidentally, this trip was a prayag of three groups too - some from Chennai, some through Bengaluru coming from places such as Bengaluru, Dharwad and Hyderabad, and some from Madurai. As I joined from Chennai, my narrative would be from that perspective. Those from other places are free to share this blog, adding their own images and experiences from their perspective on the comment section, which would make it more interesting for all others who are viewing this blog.
Prabhakar had made one thing clear from the start - to arrive at the departing station two hours in advance. With a vast experience gained over several years, he must have had his own reason for this. That also gave us time to assemble and board the coaches in a planned way without any hurry at the last minute. This is one trip in which I can say that we all brought back all the things we had carried, without forgetting or leaving things in a hurry.
Day 1, 21 Feb '25. We had arrived at Chennai Central around 9 am for the train departing at 11. So we had ample time to have breakfast at A2B and coffee at Madras Coffee, and board the train. The travel was comfortable. Delicious lunch was served in the train. Towards sunset, we had quite a few breathtaking views of the Andhra countryside. Again, delicious dinner was served around 8 pm. Well into the night, Sri Kanakadurga temple in Viajayawada was glittering with illumination as we passed through the bridge. We reached our first destination Khurda Road around 8 in the morning.
Day 2, 22 Feb'25. Getting down at Khurda Road, we took autorickshaw to reach Puri. The new laws do not permit petrol-diesel vehicles near the temple, so we had to alight at a certain point and take battery vehicles or hand-pulled rickshaws or walk to reach our hotel, which was another 100-150 m away. Those who were fit managed to pull or carry their luggage. After settling in at the allotted rooms, we had time to relax a little. The huge vegetable and fruit market on the main Car Road is a must-see. I have a one-minute video, but that itself will take a lot of memory space, and so I have decided to put just a photo as sample for the whole place. We were treated to freshly prepared hot delicious lunch at the hotel corridor, after which we were to visit the temple at 4 pm, walkable distance from the hotel.
Due to the weekend, there was quite a crowd at the temple. We had to stand in a long queue for a long time. We were able to witness the flag changing ritual at the temple. Like during my last visit, the crowd management near the sanctum is always poor, allowing all the thronging crowd to crush near the priests in a near stampede. After a tough time there, we did have a good darshan for a few seconds and came out satisfied. Some of us made a second visit later in the night for getting a good view of the temple from outside.
Day 3, 23 Feb'25. We were scheduled to leave for sight-seeing at 10, so some of us took the opportunity to go to the beach for an early morning sunrise view, and to the temple again. The beach was good and offered enough scope for photography. The temple, being Sunday, was again crowded. So, we decided to skip the sanctum crowd and instead made a relaxed visit to all the smaller shrines within the temple complex. After an early lunch, we started for the sight-seeing trip that included the Chandrabaugh beach (not the confluence where the river joins the sea), the Sun Temple at Konark, Shanti Stupa and Dhaulagiri and the Lingaraja temple in Bhubaneshwar. Returned to the hotel for a superb dinner and quiet rest.
Day 4, 24 Feb'25. After an early morning visit (by some of us) to the beach again, the day was marked for train travel to our next destination, Gaya. What an unforgettable experience it was! After a comfortable morning and evening, the train was filled with passengers to the brim from around 10 pm onwards, with influx of travelers towards Prayagraj for Mahakumbh. They occupied every nook and corner, making it difficult for the sleeping passengers to even get up and go to the toilet. With great difficulty, we managed to get down at Gaya early in the morning around 2.30.
Day 5, 25 Feb '25. Arrived at Gaya, jostling our way out of the overcrowded compartments with great difficulty, despite the proactive arrangements made by Prabhakar to place porters and police personnel at the entrance. Got into auto-rickshaws and made our way to the Pundit's Ashram where we were to perform our rites, the first of the three scheduled in this trip. After the rites, we went to the Phalgu(ni) river ghat, then to the Vishnupad up the bank and then to the Vata for visarjan. Back for lunch, we were taken on a short trip to the Bodh Gaya where Gautama Buddha attained Nirvana under the Bodhi Tree. This place has its vibes, as could be seen from the thronging visitors from Asian countries sitting quietly and meditating, offering their prayers in a low base voice with floral and incense offerings to Lord Buddha.
Our train from here to Varanasi was at 9pm, so we were given packed food for dinner which we had all the time to relish as we had reached the station by 7pm. Fortunately, there was no rush on this train for Varanasi, but that doesn't mean Varanasi was not crowded.
Day 6, 26 Feb'25. We reached Varanasi on Shivaratri day, with a program to stay for three nights. Those of us who had already visited Varanasi were glad to see the improvements that have happened in the city. However, for first timers, the narrow streets, litter heaps at every nook and corner, wandering docile animals, and the horrible riverbank in between bathing ghats still present only a poor picture of the place. Less said about the pollution getting into the river, the better. Fortunately, the mighty Ganges is broad and flowing, presenting a permissible cleanliness a few feet deeper from the banks.
Yogiji, and Modiji - this, more than anything, is your constituency - we really appreciate the efforts your government is putting - we could see corporation workers sweeping the litter away on a continuous basis, but something should be done to prevent the disgusting practice of people from lower strata using the riverbank as public toilet. Please install Sulabh facilities every 50 or 100 meters across the banks and find ways of safely removing the waste away from mixing in the river.
After the rejuvenating dip in the holy Ganga, we returned to our rooms for yet another tasty lunch. In the afternoon, we were taken on sight-seeing trip to the smaller temples in the city. We also had time to do a little shopping at the popular Chettiar Kadai and witness the various colorful religious processions taking place in different parts of the city, with full fervor of both participants and local public and required support from the police for helping traffic flow without much hindrance.
Day 7, 27 Feb'25. Those of us who had the duty to perform rites for the departed were asked to assemble at the pundit's house in the morning, after a dip in Ganga. I had the time to get up early and go for walk on the riverbank looking for good photo opportunities. I was not disappointed.
After the srardha and lunch, after a brief rest, we were taken on a boat ride along the various ghats, and then by walk to the temples on the riverbank - the Bindu Madhava temple and Sri Vishwanath temple being the most important among them. As a precaution, we were not allowed to take our mobile phones, so there are no pictures of these places in this blog. The crowd on the riverbank was nothing compared to the crowd on the streets of Varanasi. The darshan at Sri Vishwanath and Sri Visalakshi temples took a long time, and to cross over from one temple to the other in the mad crowd was a nightmare. Our guide had a real tough task keeping watch over our group and safely escorting us through that kind of crowd. We did miss Sri Annapoorna temple, but we really didn't mind, as we were all exhausted beyond limit by the time we had completed seeing these temples. We retired to our rooms for a good night's sleep.
Day 8, 28 Feb'25. This was the day for Ganga Pooja for ladies. Those who did not perform had the option to make their own plans for the morning. On the way, I could see a scooter being shared by a dog while not in use by its owner, who did not mind, rather kindly allowed, the dog to sleep on the seat. After the Ganga pooja and visarjan at the river, the ladies were given a special treat - shopping for Banaras sarees!
While the main roads of Varanasi have been properly laid, the interior roads are left as they were, except for removal of hundreds of shops along the way as recounted by people who had visited Varanasi earlier. For us first-timers, it did not matter much. The lanes were congested - spacious for two people to walk, cramped for three. Within that, two wheelers are plying just brushing people along. Shops are operating in this unimaginable confine. Animals are happily wandering. And, construction activities are going on! People too sensitive about hygiene would think several times before stepping foot on the roads of Varanasi.
After shopping, we had to travel by bus to Ayodhya. We had dinner on the way at a petrol station with water and toilet facilities. Proceeding further, we reached Ayodhya a little before midnight. Bigger vehicles are stopped well ahead. Only electric autos are allowed to ply into the town. As the spillover from Mahakumbh was not over yet, the town was still barricaded all the way. Shaking through the narrow roads, we somehow made it to our rooms.
Day 9, 1 March '25. Kumbh fever still on, there was heavy crowd on the streets of Ayodhya. Though the temple entrance was right in front of our accommodation, we had to walk two kilometers to the Sarayu River to take a dip. To prevent any untoward incident, float barricades were run across the riverbank a few feet into the water. Due to the crowd, the water was muddy at the bank but a little clearer as one waded in. After a quick dip, we changed clothes and walked all the same way back to the newly built Ram Mandir, with a slight detour to the Hanuman temple on the way.
Very heavy security arrangements were on. Separate stands for footwear and other luggage including mobile phones, have been put up, manned by smiling volunteers. A further long walk ensued as we joined the queue and proceeded toward the sanctum. All along, we could see construction activity still going on, and in my estimate, it would take another couple of years to fully complete the building. We can take reasonable pride in the grandeur of the mandir - that building such a mammoth temple with the same style and level of intricate architecture and sculpture as we see in old temples of say, Dwaraka or Somnath, is very much possible by our generation sculptors and builders. One can easily imagine that a few hundred years from now, this temple to Ram Lalla would majestically and proudly stand as a testimony to the wishes of the crores of people and the will of thousands of kar sevaks, hundreds of lawyers and a handful of leaders who persisted and survived all objections and actually saw to it that this temple finally and rightfully came up at a place that was the centre of litigation for a very long time.
A few shots to capture the mood of Ayodhya:
With Ram's blessings, we left Ayodhya by road to our last destination, Prayagraj. As a temple, Ayodhya is grand, but as a town, it scores very low. The roads are not paved well. There is litter everywhere. Many dilapidated buildings and overflowing drains are an eyesore all through the way. To top it, the auto rickshaws, having got used to the excess demand and income during the Kumbh period, continue to just fleece the people even after the main event is over. Over a week into the trip, we were already conditioned to take these in our stride.
We arrived in Prayagraj around dinner time.
Day 10, 2 March '25. Thanks to the Kumbh getting over two days back, the city was not crowded. As we made our way through the temporary bridge across the river Ganges the previous night, we could see the mammoth scale of the now deserted riverbed with all its tents and illumination still on to enable the workers to dismantle these in a phased manner.
Getting up luxuriously a little late, we got ready for the day. After the last of the three srardh rites ritual was over, we went to the riverbed for visarjan. What a pleasant sight it was to see that the river, despite accommodating up to almost half the population of the country in the last 45 days, was running crystal clear so soon! We went for a local sightseeing trip in the afternoon to the other temples, including the popular Veni Madhav temple and the Bade Hanuman temple and returned to our rooms for rest for the last night on the tour.
Day 11, 3 March '25. This day was marked for 'Veni Dhaan' ritual, an offering of (a bit of) hair by ladies in prayer for long life and good health of their respective spouses. As the purohit asked the women (mostly in their fifties and above) to literally do namaste to their husbands and touch their feet, one could witness the palpable glee in the faces of those husbands that were part of this ritual, something they vaguely remember as seeing only at the time of their wedding! Fun apart, the ritual was done with utmost sincerity, and the couples were taken on a boat ride to the Triveni Sangam, confluence of Ganga, Yamuna and the underground Saraswati, by which the place takes the name Prayagraj, where they offered the hair to the great rivers, and took a holy dip.
The boat ride was a visual treat as well, with hundreds of gulls flying in close proximity to the boats.
After the final, as usual delicious, lunch on land, we left the rooms at 2.30pm in order to be at the station by 3 pm for the train at 5 pm, for the ride back home via Itarsi. Those who took the flight to Bangalore left a little earlier. The curd rice served in the train was just beyond compare. Alighting at Itarsi at 2.30 in the morning, we boarded the respective trains to Bangalore or Chennai in the morning, spending most of Day 12, 4 March '25 on the train to reach our respective hometown by the morning of Day 13, 5 March '25.
I normally write my travelogues in Tamil, the language in which I think I am more proficient, adding spice and humour at appropriate places. This being a longer trip and with a view to keep the content short and readable, and more importantly, reachable to all who travelled with me, I have written it in English and to the barest minimum. I hope you still find it interesting.
There were several instances of fun and camaraderie along the way. For instance, on the photo of the camel, someone commented, carrying the sun is easy for the camel, as it is only light! Similarly, my relative Sri Ramesh took a photo of the sunrise at Prayag, in which a crocodile is shown as swallowing the sun. Coincidentally, I happened to click the crescent moon hiding among the branches of a tree, and I took the opportunity to comment, "see the scared moon hiding behind a tree after it saw your photo of what happened to the sun!"
You could also enjoy this clip, if you know which song the background music is for:
If you happen to have such incidents or anecdotes, please feel free to share in the comments.
Summing up, my main takeaway from this trip is to always be fit enough to climb up and down three flights of stairs with luggage at any time. If you can do that, you can undertake any trip of any duration with ease and confidence. Work towards that from today onwards.
It is not proper to conclude this travelogue without words of appreciation for Prabhakar and his team. Prabhakar has done an excellent job coordinating travels of so many passengers from different places, fixing support transport at various destinations, arranging accommodation as near to the centre place of visit, and to generally see to the comfort of the group members. He did this without a blemish. There might have been a few disturbances here and there, but considering the length of travel and the Mahakumbh period it clashed with, one must say he has done a wonderful job. Our kudos to him first.
Food. Without a doubt, A+ distinction marks for food. Jayatheerth a.k.a. Karna Paramatma (God knows where he got this name from) had worked wonders with providing different varieties of delicious food, with almost no repetition throughout the trip, including dosa, unimaginable during such trips! The coffee he prepared was rejuvenating in the mornings and relaxing in the evenings. Hats off to him. Our appreciation also goes to the other members Mahalingam (his get-ready calls are still ringing in my ears), Vishnu who helped in lifting heavy luggage of elderly people and generally ran around for required errands, and also to Gururajan who quietly supported Paramatma in preparing food and serving.
In all, though I feel a little exhausted at the end of this 12-day trip mainly due to my age and fitness condition, I thoroughly enjoyed the trip, and I hope everyone else also did. I wish Saraswathi Tours all success in all their future trips, in which I will hopefully join wherever possible.
