Sai Ram. At the request of a friend, I am sharing with the readers my experiences of a recent pilgrimage to Bhadrachalam. If you feel it is rather long, my apologies but I want you to get a feel of the whole tour. Sai Ram.
15th November 2008
We (myself, my wife Sarala, my friend Arjun, his wife Shobha Rani and his brother Nageshwara Rao) set off in my friend’s Ford Fiesta. We left his house in Old Bowenpally area of Secunderabad around 8:30 AM. My friend, who is 62, was driving. Though I used to drive a car earlier, I gave up driving around 6 or 7 years ago. Though I took the wheel of his car for a few minutes a couple of years ago, in general we were either going by his car with himself or his son or a driver at the wheel and if there were more people, we were borrowing a bigger vehicle or hiring or traveling by train. Thus, though he is about 2 years elder to me, he had to drive the total distance in this case too.
Bhadrachalam is about 325 kilometers (200+ miles) from Hyderabad/Secunderabad. One can go by road as we did or take a train and get down at Bhadrachalam Road railway station and travel by road about 35 km (22 miles). The best route to take by road is this:
We took the NH9 (
While we carried some eatables and water with us, we still had to stop for a belated breakfast and also to give my friend some rest. So, we were looking for a decent place. We did not find any decent looking restaurant till a little before Suryapet, which is 140 km (90 miles) from
After having dosa (a batter of rice and lentils sprit was late and nothing else was available) and tea/coffee, we set off again. We stopped again after passing Khammam around 1:30 PM. Oh, yes, we need to take a left turn at Suryapet to go to Khammam and since the road signs are less than perfect and the car is not equipped with a navigation system, we had to ask at a few places by slowing down and or stopping. All these affect your time to reach your destination. That is
We stopped by the roadside, put the parking lights (flashers) on and we went into a small field adjacent. We spread out mats (earlier the mats were being made out of reeds, but now plastic is being used) and spread out the fare of rice, puris (wheat pancakes fried in oil). I took only curd rice (rice mixed with curd / yoghurt) since the other rice preparation was spicy and hence not suited for me (I have GERD and cannot take spicy food).
We left after a break of half an hour or so at 2:15 PM. We reached Bhadrachalam around 5 PM. We asked my friend’s cousin, who works and stays there to book two rooms for us. So, we phoned him when we reached and he gave us directions to a place (Ravisai Hotel), which is very near the temple. However, we found that the two decent rooms are upstairs and the staircase was not all that friendly. The rooms at the ground floor were not good at all. When we asked him (all over phone, we did not meet him as it turns out) to try some other place, he was expressing some difficulty and asked us to wait. We waited a few minutes and then my friend and his brother set out to find some place on their own. They were successful and hence we went there, which was a big room with a divider wall in between. The room had only one double bed and so others had to sleep on floor! However, on weekends (Saturday and Sunday), the hotels are heavily booked and thus one has to settle for what one can get, unless the rooms are booked in advance.
Well, we settled into the room, got freshened up and went to the temple for darshan. It was raining at that time and hence we had to use an autorickshaw (a three wheeled motorized contraption with a top but the sides are open. And we had to adjust three in the rear and three in the front, including the driver, which is illegal, but these things are common in many places. We got somewhat drenched, which was good but because we did not take bath, which is the normal custom when we visit a temple (purification of the body is the first step in the long and arduous journey for purification of the mind and in a hot country like
We also visited the other Gods and Goddesses and Alwars (Sri Vaishnava Saints) in the temple complex and returned to the hotel room. We finished dinner and went to sleep.
16th November 2008
We left early in the morning by the car to Kunavaram and from there to Ramagiri, where a
From that place, the launch took us a few more miles and then stopped at a place, where lunch was served. Rice, a few curries etc. and a sweet (pasta) were the main items and I had to stick to that sweet, plain rice and curd. Since all the travelers were Indians and that too mostly from Andhra Pradesh, there was no problem with that sort of food. North Indians and foreigners would find it difficult to eat that sort of food, unless they are habituated. It is better to carry your own food and water for the day with you and enjoy the scenic beauty of the river and the hills between which the river flows.
After lunch, the launch started back the return journey and reached the starting spot by about 5 PM. It was already getting dark and hence we left back for Bhadrachalam without a visit to the temple there. If we had a younger professional driver, we would have spent a few more hours and visited the temple. Night driving is difficult for my friend because of the glare from the oncoming vehicles and the absence of a road divider.
17th November:
As per our original plan, we were scheduled to return to
We then saw another temple for Shri Ganesha and Shri Anjaneya (this particular temple is for Abhaya Anjaneya, Abhaya meaning without fear and He is fearless and He also makes us fearless when we worship Him. This temple is about a kilometer or a mile at the most. From there we went to Parnashala, about 35 km (22 miles) from Bhadrachalam. That place is supposed to be where Sri Rama, Sita and Sri Lakshmana stayed during their Vanavas (stay in forest) and from where Ravana abducted Sri Sita. The whole place was a thick forest in Ramayan time but sadly it is all inhabited now and even that particular place is not afforested. Though I did get some good vibrations there because of my deep faith, at the ego level, that place is disappointing.
We returned to Bhadrachalam and had our lunch at a fairly decent restaurant (Bhavani Hotel on the main road near the Bus Station. The hotel has a few rooms also and it may be worthwhile to check it out next time.
After lunch we went back to our place of stay and took rest for a while. In the evening, we went to a Siva temple near the
From Siva temple, we again went to Sri Rama’s temple and had a darshan again.
We left Bhadrachalam on the morning of 18th November and returned to
All in all it was a spiritually uplifting pilgrimage. Sri Rama willing, we will go again.
Swamy
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