I had in my mind for about a month or so a desire to visit Srikalahasti Temple. Suddenly on the 29th July morning after I had my bath, suddenly something said 'I have to go today'. I had my breakfast and quickly left for the house. Reached Poonamalee at 9.35 am and then waited till 10.10 am to get a Thirupathy Bus. As I approached poonamalee, I noticed a very big crowd coming out of the mosque after offering prayers and realized that it was Ramadan. I was wondering whether I chose a wrong day because being a holiday there could be a lot of crowd. Anyway, I thought there is nothing to turn back because it was an impulsive decision and usually such an occurrence is extremely rare with me.
The conductor advised me to change bus at Renigunta and I alighted at Renigunta by-pass at 1.15 pm. One more co-passenger, a Malayali, was going for the first time to Kalahasti. My last visit was in 1984 with a friend of mine, Chandra. From there got another bus after waiting for about 10 minutes. It took nearly an hour to reach Kalahasti from there. The temple was quite crowded. The new friend was planning to do Rahu-Ketu Pooja and so stood in the very long queue for Rs 300 ticket. It was then 2.30 pm. Though I didn't plan for it, I too decided to do Rahu-Ketu pooja. By the time we entered the hall for pooja, it was 3.45 pm and the pooja was over by 4.55 pm. The instructions for doing the pooja was announced through mike in Telugu and Tamil! That was a good experience, felt as if Rahu-Ketu were pleased and decided to spare from any ill effects ( I had made a general request to take care of 'all those who are to have any negative influence' to be benefited from my pooja). The metallic Rahu and Ketu to which pooja had been performed had to be carried along for dropping in a hundi in the main temple (Kalahasteeswarar).
Then we proceed to the main temple and finally had darshan at 7 pm, dropped Rahu & Ketu into the hundi and then came out of the temple by 7.20 pm. The oil lamps in the Srikalahasteeswarar Sannidhi keeps all the time moving as if there is airflow while you will not be able to feel any flow of air at all there. It seems the flickering continues even after the door is closed! The speciality is this is Vayu (Air) Statlam. I didn't visit any other deity due to lack of time. While the other gentleman had decided to stay for the night as he had plans to visit Thirupathi the next morning,
I had my dinner just outside near the temple in a duplicate Saravana bhavan (named "Chennai Hotel Saravana Bhavan" - preparation was no good) and proceeded to the bus stand. I learnt that the next bus to Chennai starting from Kalahasti was only on the next morning at 4 am. Just then a Tamil Nadu government bus came into the bus stand and the passengers alighted. The conductor told that the bus was scheduled to leave only next morning. However the number of passengers waiting were about a bus full. So we requested him to consult his superior and see whether a trip can be made. To our relief it was successful and the bus left at 8.30 pm and reached Chennai Koyambedu bus stand at 11.30 pm.
The conductor advised me to change bus at Renigunta and I alighted at Renigunta by-pass at 1.15 pm. One more co-passenger, a Malayali, was going for the first time to Kalahasti. My last visit was in 1984 with a friend of mine, Chandra. From there got another bus after waiting for about 10 minutes. It took nearly an hour to reach Kalahasti from there. The temple was quite crowded. The new friend was planning to do Rahu-Ketu Pooja and so stood in the very long queue for Rs 300 ticket. It was then 2.30 pm. Though I didn't plan for it, I too decided to do Rahu-Ketu pooja. By the time we entered the hall for pooja, it was 3.45 pm and the pooja was over by 4.55 pm. The instructions for doing the pooja was announced through mike in Telugu and Tamil! That was a good experience, felt as if Rahu-Ketu were pleased and decided to spare from any ill effects ( I had made a general request to take care of 'all those who are to have any negative influence' to be benefited from my pooja). The metallic Rahu and Ketu to which pooja had been performed had to be carried along for dropping in a hundi in the main temple (Kalahasteeswarar).
Then we proceed to the main temple and finally had darshan at 7 pm, dropped Rahu & Ketu into the hundi and then came out of the temple by 7.20 pm. The oil lamps in the Srikalahasteeswarar Sannidhi keeps all the time moving as if there is airflow while you will not be able to feel any flow of air at all there. It seems the flickering continues even after the door is closed! The speciality is this is Vayu (Air) Statlam. I didn't visit any other deity due to lack of time. While the other gentleman had decided to stay for the night as he had plans to visit Thirupathi the next morning,
I had my dinner just outside near the temple in a duplicate Saravana bhavan (named "Chennai Hotel Saravana Bhavan" - preparation was no good) and proceeded to the bus stand. I learnt that the next bus to Chennai starting from Kalahasti was only on the next morning at 4 am. Just then a Tamil Nadu government bus came into the bus stand and the passengers alighted. The conductor told that the bus was scheduled to leave only next morning. However the number of passengers waiting were about a bus full. So we requested him to consult his superior and see whether a trip can be made. To our relief it was successful and the bus left at 8.30 pm and reached Chennai Koyambedu bus stand at 11.30 pm.
