A Sunday afternoon trip to Srimushnam in our RED

[KPR]

Hi all, My family of 5 - my parents, wife and daughter (3 year old) have been asking me for a ride in our Punto 90 HP a.k.a RED to some new place which must be short but also sweet. My mother was saying for long that we need to visit Kolanjiappar temple located at Vridhachalam in Tamil Nadu. In the back of my mind, I had heard about Srimushnam Bhuvaraha Swamy temple and was thinking to go there one day. Then I thought why not club both these temple visits together! Hurray! Approval came from all. So I made a plan to start by 3:30 PM on a Sunday afternoon and return before 9:00 PM. I had the comfort of taking a Sunday afternoon nap by 1:00 PM and woke up by 3:00 PM for a cup of filter coffee. I was happy to take my recently serviced RED (ODO 15,158kms). Since 12,500+ kms on ODO I had been evading taking my RED for long drives quoting 15K service due and taking the car only to my office and back home. So now the temptation of going for a long drive was evident. Plugged my COIDO. Checked air pressure in all 4 tyres. Diesel already filled tank full. Having done several long drives earlier, I as usual insisted for packed food for dinner. I always love the packed food for the following reasons: 1. Saving precious minutes. 2. Saving mood swings and desperation that may arise to any person in the car due to hunger/delay in getting into a decent restaurant on time. 3. Saves a lot of money (The charges in a renowned road side restaurants in TN have gone up for nothing) So food and coffee were packed. All set and we started by 3:40 PM. Route Taken: Trichy - Veppur- Vridhachalam bypass -Karuveppalankurichi- Srimushnam Bhuvarahaswamy Temple-Karuveppalankurichi-Kolanji Appar temple-Veppur-Trichy. Total Kms: 269KMs Veppur-Vridhachalam Road was newly laid and was a breeze to drive. When I last did this route a few months back, the entire stretch was totally pot holed. The route from Vridhachalam to Srimushnam was totally scenic with green fields on either side. It had rained in this stretch half an hour before. The roads were wet. One word to describe the climate and the drive: Beautiful! Reached Srimushnam temple sharp at 5:40 PM. About Srimushnam (wiki) : Srimushnam's presiding deity is 'Lord Bhuvaraha', which gives the town its alternative name, 'Varaha Kshetram'. Lord Bhuvaraha's consort is Ambujavalli Thayar while the temple icon is formed naturally from a saligarama (black smooth round stone). Other data: Brahma found Lord Vishnu resting on Adisesha, and was informed that He had come as Swayamvyakta - on his own as an idol. He would also appear likewise in seven other places on earth -- Srimushnam, Venkatadri, Saligram, Naimisaranya, Thotadri, Pushkar and Badri. Here are some photos of the elegant Gopuram:

RED in front of the temple tower

We had a good darshan of Bhuvaraha Swamy and Thayar. Post the temple visit, we had our coffee. Then we started to Kolanji Appar temple which is en-route to Trichy (located very close to Vridhachalam Bypass) as desired by my mother and had good darshan of Lord Murugan there too. We had our delicious packed food then. We started the return journey at sharp 8:20PM. Reached Vveppur at 8:40 PM. And reached home at 9:40 PM. The trip details are:

At the end of the trip, all of us were happy and felt good about such a pleasant trip! Thanks to RED for taking us to places. Thanks to readers for reading my first kind of travelogue.

[Roshun]

KPR
Very interesting travelogue, and your Punto (Red) looks really sweet. Look forward to more travel stories from you. I've been planning a trip to Danushkodi, actually. Have you been there? It's going to be a very long drive for me though.

[KPR]

[QUOTE_NODE]"Originally posted by Roshun" KPRVery interesting travelogue, and your Punto (Red) looks really sweet. Look forward to more travel stories from you. I've been planning a trip to Danushkodi, actually. Have you been there? It's going to be a very long drive for me though. [/QUOTE_NODE] Thanks Roshun I've never been to Dhanushkodi. It is in my to do list. The roads will be smooth throughout in TN if you intend to do. Just a few words on safety at Dhanushkodi. Beyond a certain point, the locals jam pack one inside a van (atleast a decade old) and take you to the last tip of land meeting sea. But one need to be careful as it is a safety threat. Last week sea water just flooded into the road leading to the tip point and many vans got stranded in water. Tourists needed to be rescued. Just a tip of safety I wanted to share fellow members who intend to travel to Dhanushkodi.

[NikilSJ]

The minute I read you took your Sunday nap and then filter coffee afterwards made me miss Chennai very badly. It's been a year since I moved to Delhi and I have had filter coffee only twice. Reading your post made me crave for some. I like your Punto's name - RED. Is it the Multijet version that you have? Also, this is the first time I'm hearing of these temples. Must have been a lovely drive especially after the rains and everything. That's another thing I miss about Tamil Nadu and neighbouring Karnataka as a whole - the beautiful roads. Since coming to Delhi, I've been to many states on many long rides, but I've never come across more beautiful roads than in TN. Some say Rajasthan has better roads, but I've never covered that state extensively.

[KPR]

[QUOTE_NODE]"Originally posted by NikilSJ" The minute I read you took your Sunday nap and then filter coffee afterwards made me miss Chennai very badly. It's been a year since I moved to Delhi and I have had filter coffee only twice. Reading your post made me crave for some. I like your Punto's name - RED. Is it the Multijet version that you have? Also, this is the first time I'm hearing of these temples. Must have been a lovely drive especially after the rains and everything. That's another thing I miss about Tamil Nadu and neighbouring Karnataka as a whole - the beautiful roads. Since coming to Delhi, I've been to many states on many long rides, but I've never come across more beautiful roads than in TN. Some say Rajasthan has better roads, but I've never covered that state extensively. [/QUOTE_NODE] Ha ha NikilSJ Sunday Nap and Filter Coffee gels well ! Yes there are many places/ village temples in and around TN and Trichy in particular. Along the cauvery delta region there are many places of historical importance which normally goes unnoticed unless one is a local. Let me try to cover as many as possible in the form of such small travelogues. Yes mine is a MJD 90 HP, the highway cheetah. The car is like that one fit/favourite jean in the closet !