Friday, June 10, 2011
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Our Surprise Visit toLord Venkateswara Temple at Pittsburgh in Pennsilvania
My husband L.R.G..K. had a long wish that he should visit and worship Lord Venkateswara Temple in Pittsburgh in Pennsilvania. we missed that opportunity twice or thrice, even though we passed through that place to Nayagara & Canada in 2006 &2010.. We heard more about that temple .so we were very anscious to visit that temple before leaving USA ,in Sep2010.
We had good faith in SV .however he would fulfill our longing wish .His wish to worship SV in Pittsburgh has been fulfilled by a couple named Mr.Karthik& Mrs.Shilpa. who were residing behind our son's Apt .in no.4,412Ridge Road,Greenbelt,Maryland. This couple have a pretty girl baby of 1./1/2 years
called Keerthana.
Surprisingly one day Karthik told my son that he was intending to visit Pittsburgh Temple with his family, further he had added if he was willing he could also joined with them. But our son requested him to take his parents instead of him , as he knew that we were very much interested to see that temple. . Our son came to us and asked us to be ready to go with them the next day that was on 7th Aug.2010 .
" What?A reward for eating sugarcane ? " we were very happy about it. On the next morning that was on Saturday 8th of Aug'10. We joined with Karthik's family in the travel to S.V.Temple in Pittsburgh. We started at 9.30.A.M..
It was a wonderful experience to travel by car with Karthik &his family as he drove the car steadily ,carefully and at safe speed through out the journey. He drove the distance of 600miles to &fro to the Temple with out making us tiresome in any way.while driving, moreover he engaged us telling interesting stories, cracking jokes & sometimes humming recent cine songs in his own style. I was astonished to observe that little three years old daughter was also very happily enjoying the trip.On the way we halted at a restaurant & had some snacks & drinks .Then we continued our journey & reached the temple at 2.30 p.m.
Usually the drive would be only four hrs to the Hills from M.D,but due to heavy traffic jam it took five and half hrs to reach the destination.
Stop! some attention please! An important matter!. I would like to explain the history of how the temple came in to existence in that PennHills.
The Hindus who were settled earlier in Pennsilvania wanted to have a traditional Hindu temple at their place to worship according to their customs &tradition.They wanted to have a big premises to conduct t their cultural& religious functions in a grand manner.So they had formed a mission.
With that aim &interest Sri VenkateswaraTemple Organization was established on 7th Aug 1975. assistance from Thirumala Thirupathi Devasthanam for construction of the temple was requested on Sep.11,1975, and the same was granted on the same day.After that ground breaking was performed on June 1976 & Pratisthabana of the Lord's Idol on November!976. Daily worship Is going on ever since.
Sri Venkateswara Temple is situated in PennHills,an eastern suburb of Pittsburgh,PA, USA. It is one of the earliest traditional Hindu Temple in the United states.
SV. propagates ideals for world peace,spiritual&personal health, harmony through Hindu Faith which is Sanathana Dharma.
Similar to Thirumala Thrupathi Deavasthanam, it is also situated on The PennHills,McCully Dr. PittsBurgh,PA,USA. We cannot not say it is a big one but one of the oldest temple in USA. The road to the temple is also goes round & round and has many bends&curves all along the Hills like Thirumala.
Just while we enter into the temple there is a big dining hall,adjacent to that there is a big vending stall.Different types of prasadams like Pulihorai,Sweet Pongal,curd rice ,Vada ,Muruku etc. are sold.Invariably each item costs 2$ only.On the other side, free prasadams are distributed freely to the devotees.
We were directed to the free distribution Que,and we got variety of prasadms which were very tasty. we were very happy and assumed that we got the great blessings of the Lord SV. After filling our tummies we proceeded for Dharshan.
The large Dining Hall leads to the ground floor of the Shrine.Lord Ganesha gives us a beautiful dharshan there. Few steps up,lead us to the main Sannadhi of Lord Venkateswara.
we came across another surprise. Since that day has been a" Devotees appreciation day" we need not pay any charges for Archana or other Seva.. Our joy knew no bounds. Whole heartedly we prayed to Him and performed Archanas. we sat in front of Him peacefully for nearly 2hrs ,without hearing any shrieking noise like jarugandi.jarugandi like Thirumala..
On the right side of the Main Deity lies the Padmavathi Thayar sannadhi and on the left for Andal Nachiyar. we worshiped them also &put some" Kannikai"in the big Hundi.
After taking some rest we prepared ourselves for the return journey.Around 5.30p.m we started our journey towards M.D. Karthik drove the car steadily and we reached our home at 10 o.clock in the night.
we thanked Karthik for having given us a wonderful opportunity to our insatiable desire to visit PIttsburgh Temple at PA. which is one of the famous temple in USA.
We & Karthik family had a very good dinner (Poori&masal) and other items prepared by my daughter in law -Sangeetha . with that our trip to the holy place came to a happy ending.
We had good faith in SV .however he would fulfill our longing wish .His wish to worship SV in Pittsburgh has been fulfilled by a couple named Mr.Karthik& Mrs.Shilpa. who were residing behind our son's Apt .in no.4,412Ridge Road,Greenbelt,Maryland. This couple have a pretty girl baby of 1./1/2 years
called Keerthana.
Surprisingly one day Karthik told my son that he was intending to visit Pittsburgh Temple with his family, further he had added if he was willing he could also joined with them. But our son requested him to take his parents instead of him , as he knew that we were very much interested to see that temple. . Our son came to us and asked us to be ready to go with them the next day that was on 7th Aug.2010 .
" What?A reward for eating sugarcane ? " we were very happy about it. On the next morning that was on Saturday 8th of Aug'10. We joined with Karthik's family in the travel to S.V.Temple in Pittsburgh. We started at 9.30.A.M..
 |
| our friends Shilpa, Karthik With their daughter.Keerthana |
Usually the drive would be only four hrs to the Hills from M.D,but due to heavy traffic jam it took five and half hrs to reach the destination.
Stop! some attention please! An important matter!. I would like to explain the history of how the temple came in to existence in that PennHills.
The Hindus who were settled earlier in Pennsilvania wanted to have a traditional Hindu temple at their place to worship according to their customs &tradition.They wanted to have a big premises to conduct t their cultural& religious functions in a grand manner.So they had formed a mission.
With that aim &interest Sri VenkateswaraTemple Organization was established on 7th Aug 1975. assistance from Thirumala Thirupathi Devasthanam for construction of the temple was requested on Sep.11,1975, and the same was granted on the same day.After that ground breaking was performed on June 1976 & Pratisthabana of the Lord's Idol on November!976. Daily worship Is going on ever since.
Sri Venkateswara Temple is situated in PennHills,an eastern suburb of Pittsburgh,PA, USA. It is one of the earliest traditional Hindu Temple in the United states.
SV. propagates ideals for world peace,spiritual&personal health, harmony through Hindu Faith which is Sanathana Dharma.
Similar to Thirumala Thrupathi Deavasthanam, it is also situated on The PennHills,McCully Dr. PittsBurgh,PA,USA. We cannot not say it is a big one but one of the oldest temple in USA. The road to the temple is also goes round & round and has many bends&curves all along the Hills like Thirumala.
We were directed to the free distribution Que,and we got variety of prasadms which were very tasty. we were very happy and assumed that we got the great blessings of the Lord SV. After filling our tummies we proceeded for Dharshan.
The large Dining Hall leads to the ground floor of the Shrine.Lord Ganesha gives us a beautiful dharshan there. Few steps up,lead us to the main Sannadhi of Lord Venkateswara.
we came across another surprise. Since that day has been a" Devotees appreciation day" we need not pay any charges for Archana or other Seva.. Our joy knew no bounds. Whole heartedly we prayed to Him and performed Archanas. we sat in front of Him peacefully for nearly 2hrs ,without hearing any shrieking noise like jarugandi.jarugandi like Thirumala..
On the right side of the Main Deity lies the Padmavathi Thayar sannadhi and on the left for Andal Nachiyar. we worshiped them also &put some" Kannikai"in the big Hundi.
After taking some rest we prepared ourselves for the return journey.Around 5.30p.m we started our journey towards M.D. Karthik drove the car steadily and we reached our home at 10 o.clock in the night.
we thanked Karthik for having given us a wonderful opportunity to our insatiable desire to visit PIttsburgh Temple at PA. which is one of the famous temple in USA.
We & Karthik family had a very good dinner (Poori&masal) and other items prepared by my daughter in law -Sangeetha . with that our trip to the holy place came to a happy ending.
Thursday, March 17, 2011
A SHORT&jOYFUL TRIP TO KERALA
Recently I had a chance to visit Kerala - A place of Nature,s Paradise. I always like to travel &explore new places. Like me my Son Sarathi also has the same interest in travelling.so during his visit to India In January2011,he had included a short tour to Kerala as one of the programme in his agenda.He planned for a package tour through" Spice Holiday Tourism company" in Cochin.My Son Invited us to join with him for the tour. I & my husband , joined with my son Sarathi,my daughter-in-law Sangeetha with my grand son Madhav Ojas started our journey on 25th of Jan"2011 by Cochin Express&reached Ernakulam on the next day that wason 26th morning.There came The Spice holidays Tourism Company driver with Mahindra-Zylo car that was big enough to room 7 persons,to pick up us. we went to GeePalace Restaurant in Angamoly to pick up another couple Vasudha &Neeraj,friends of Sangeetha. we senior joined with the young couples and enjoyed ,the pleasures of the tour.
To arrange for a package Tour is not only convenient but also useful in many aspects.Besides being economical,no need to search for accommodation, transportation, the tourist spots,food courts,rest rooms& other conveniences as the tourist company arranges every thing to comply to our budget. Experienced driver knows each &every corner of the place we should visit and acts as a skilled guide also.So he halts at specific places to pacify our needs.So we could enjoy the entire tour without any problem.
we started our Package tour on wednesday 26th of Jan.from Angomoly city in Kerala,at 9o'clock to Adhirapilly Falls which forms in the high forest ranges in the Chalakudi river.we trekked down nearly one and of hours in the natural rocky path in the mountains to reach the Falls.Adhirampilly orAdhirampally Falls is located78 km from Kochin;locatedat the entrance to Sholayar ranges. It is about 80 ft.high&located in the forest area. Athirampally Falls join the Chalakudi river after plummeting a drop of80 ft..
The charm & beauty of the Falls cannot be described in words. It is just wild and natural.The falls divide &falls from three places while it falls from the height of 80 ft.We can hear the roar,smoky force of the falls from far away distance. The foot of the falls cannot be reached easily as the big boulders are scattered on the way,hindering the easy approach.It,s appearance simply bewitching us. the young ones hopped & jumped ,reached near the falls &enjoyed its wild beauty in closure. Though i reached trekking down the foot of the Falls i could not go near to it as i told before, i could not climb over the big rocks.My husband was very safely sitting on a bench at the top station saying" You all go,i can watch the beauty of the Falls from here it self."we all laughed at him .. but one way it was good.if not he would have screamed in his leg &knee pain if he had followed us.
Soon after reaching the ground ,the Adhirampally Falls flows smoothly as a wide river ,in the shallow surface.it' beauty catches our eyes. If we want to feel , touch & enjoy the chillness of the water we have to walk Half -a - mile from the top. So we went there & spend some time &freshen ourselves returned to the Uphills by 12.30 pm. There we filled our stomach with some barottas ,ice creams& cool drinks in a small restaurant started our journey towards Guruvayur at 1.20 pm.
We reached Sopanam Heritage Hotel(resort) in Guruvayur at 3.30 pm. we freshen ourselves & went to Guruvayurappan Deavasthanam to worship the Lord. There was a big que & we waited nearly one hr.to reach the sanctom & we got a wonderful dharshan of the Lord.. We stayed there for that night.
Next morning that was on 27th of feb. we vacated the lodge & again we went to Angamoly ,from there we took the road to Munnar. we were very hungry at the time we reached the base of munnar ghats. Stoped at a hotel & had our lunch &proceeded to Munnar Hill top by ghat roads. It was a thrilling experience to travel on the hill path. we travelled over ups &downs, One way path that is one vehicle can pass at a time ,if any vehicle come in the opposite direction, definitely it will end in a chaos. We all prayed the God for the safety reach to the top station. It was pitch dark &there was no road light also ,but that experienced driver drove the carefully along the deep curves &pinpoint bends of hilly roads. On the way the driver stoped the car by a natural spice&herbal farm to view hundreds of spice&herbs plants &to know about those usages . They charge 100rs per head to enter in . A guide accompanied us introduced each plant & medicinal values, how it grows ,which part of it is used &for what purpose. . two of them attracted me. one is cardomom -it isa root node.the well grown nodes of the cardomom plants are plucked processed in steam &dried up in sun to become a good spice. Another one is black & white pepper. Before it become black ,at a stage the black peppers are plucked & rubbed inside thebig sacks to peel of their black covers &are dried in the machines to make them white . Then these are named as white peppers. Like these we got very useful &unknown informations about the spices& herbs. I saw natural sugarplant which can be useful &an alternate for sugar for the sugar patients. There is a shopping centre also ,selling pure products of the Farms. If we want we can buy but I felt it was expensive.After spending 2 hrs, we continued our journey to the up hills of Munnar & arrived at Munnar" Gateway Hotel"at 9.15. in the night. We had our dinner & hadgood sleep& rest till next morning.
Next morning that was on 28th 0f Jan. as usual we had our breakfast &left the Gateway Munnar at 11A.M.,got down the hills. On the way we had visited many interesting places first we went to Mettupatti dam, on the next curve we had visited a place called View point from there we could see the beautiful scenic views of Munnar Kannan Devan Tea estate valley, &after some distance we enjoyed the Echo Point,Binacular view point of the valleies. Elephant riding is very famous next to boating in the lakes. They all including the little kid Ojas went for elephant riding. Ojas enjoyed &screamed at seeing that big tusker. In the evening we returned to Hotel Green Ridge. Sarathi, Sangeetha,Vasudha&Neeraj went to Massage centre to have oil massage while we relaxed in the hotel.
We vacated Hotel Green Ridge &. . proceeded to Allepy on 29 thof Jan 2011 to stayin the boat house &to have fun of boat riding .There are many ,long&big lakes in kerala like Kashmir where big & luxury boats are involved for transportation &tourists enjoyment. There are single family boats to 4 bedroom boats with AC with all facilities are available according to our needs&means. Food veg or non veg . are also available. The people who like sea foods can enjoy by getting the fresh ones &to have cooked them in front of them instantly. We hired a three bedroom luxury boat &rode on the Vembanad Lake. At one side backwaters of the sea,&two small rivers come & join in this lake & making it a big river. we had good vegitarian food in the afternoon& went to the first floor of the Boathouse to enjoy the beautiful views of that big lake&greeneries on the both sides of the lake extended with a vast Paddy cultivated land &Coconuts,mangoes&goua trees on the other side. Here the Paddy fields are below the see level & so this place is called Kutta nadu. It is said this is the only place in Asia where paddy is grown in the fields .below the sea level.
We enjoyed the nature at its best there,had our dinner & stayed &took rest in the Boat House
in the night.Isaw market boats, garbage clearing boats like that they use these boats for multipurpose functions of the daily routines. I liked this Boat house trip very much on the whole.
We woke up in the next morning&prepared ourselves to check out the boat sharply at 9.30 A.M. we departed Allepy ,travelled allthe way to Ernakulam city. There are many tou rist attractions& like Dutch palace. Shopping centres etc. Dutch palace is a museum ,housing many life size photos of Rajas of travandrum. and their cultural &historical values &displays. We had purchased some Kerala style mementos&Sarees
Then we proceeded to kochin.Airport &dropped Vasudha& Neeraj from there they took leave of us to Delhi. Then we returned back to Ernakulam to visit Chottanikara Bhaghavathi Temple. We went in to the temple & got a good dharshan and reached Ernakulam railway station at 7 p.m ..Caught the Chennai Express Train at 9.45p.m of 30-1-'11 & arrived chennai central at 10 o'clock in the morning of31st of Jan'11,Kerala trip with my son &others was a wonderful trip that i will never forget in my life.
 |
| gorgeous Athirampilly Falls |
we started our Package tour on wednesday 26th of Jan.from Angomoly city in Kerala,at 9o'clock to Adhirapilly Falls which forms in the high forest ranges in the Chalakudi river.we trekked down nearly one and of hours in the natural rocky path in the mountains to reach the Falls.Adhirampilly orAdhirampally Falls is located78 km from Kochin;locatedat the entrance to Sholayar ranges. It is about 80 ft.high&located in the forest area. Athirampally Falls join the Chalakudi river after plummeting a drop of80 ft..
The charm & beauty of the Falls cannot be described in words. It is just wild and natural.The falls divide &falls from three places while it falls from the height of 80 ft.We can hear the roar,smoky force of the falls from far away distance. The foot of the falls cannot be reached easily as the big boulders are scattered on the way,hindering the easy approach.It,s appearance simply bewitching us. the young ones hopped & jumped ,reached near the falls &enjoyed its wild beauty in closure. Though i reached trekking down the foot of the Falls i could not go near to it as i told before, i could not climb over the big rocks.My husband was very safely sitting on a bench at the top station saying" You all go,i can watch the beauty of the Falls from here it self."we all laughed at him .. but one way it was good.if not he would have screamed in his leg &knee pain if he had followed us.
Soon after reaching the ground ,the Adhirampally Falls flows smoothly as a wide river ,in the shallow surface.it' beauty catches our eyes. If we want to feel , touch & enjoy the chillness of the water we have to walk Half -a - mile from the top. So we went there & spend some time &freshen ourselves returned to the Uphills by 12.30 pm. There we filled our stomach with some barottas ,ice creams& cool drinks in a small restaurant started our journey towards Guruvayur at 1.20 pm.
We reached Sopanam Heritage Hotel(resort) in Guruvayur at 3.30 pm. we freshen ourselves & went to Guruvayurappan Deavasthanam to worship the Lord. There was a big que & we waited nearly one hr.to reach the sanctom & we got a wonderful dharshan of the Lord.. We stayed there for that night.
Next morning that was on 27th of feb. we vacated the lodge & again we went to Angamoly ,from there we took the road to Munnar. we were very hungry at the time we reached the base of munnar ghats. Stoped at a hotel & had our lunch &proceeded to Munnar Hill top by ghat roads. It was a thrilling experience to travel on the hill path. we travelled over ups &downs, One way path that is one vehicle can pass at a time ,if any vehicle come in the opposite direction, definitely it will end in a chaos. We all prayed the God for the safety reach to the top station. It was pitch dark &there was no road light also ,but that experienced driver drove the carefully along the deep curves &pinpoint bends of hilly roads. On the way the driver stoped the car by a natural spice&herbal farm to view hundreds of spice&herbs plants &to know about those usages . They charge 100rs per head to enter in . A guide accompanied us introduced each plant & medicinal values, how it grows ,which part of it is used &for what purpose. . two of them attracted me. one is cardomom -it isa root node.the well grown nodes of the cardomom plants are plucked processed in steam &dried up in sun to become a good spice. Another one is black & white pepper. Before it become black ,at a stage the black peppers are plucked & rubbed inside thebig sacks to peel of their black covers &are dried in the machines to make them white . Then these are named as white peppers. Like these we got very useful &unknown informations about the spices& herbs. I saw natural sugarplant which can be useful &an alternate for sugar for the sugar patients. There is a shopping centre also ,selling pure products of the Farms. If we want we can buy but I felt it was expensive.After spending 2 hrs, we continued our journey to the up hills of Munnar & arrived at Munnar" Gateway Hotel"at 9.15. in the night. We had our dinner & hadgood sleep& rest till next morning.
 |
| In front of the Hotel GateWay-Munnar |
 |
| Sangeetha in the middle of the TeaGarden |
 |
| Ojas with his parents on the elephant |
 |
| beautiful view of Vembanadu lake |
We enjoyed the nature at its best there,had our dinner & stayed &took rest in the Boat House
in the night.Isaw market boats, garbage clearing boats like that they use these boats for multipurpose functions of the daily routines. I liked this Boat house trip very much on the whole.
 |
| relaxing inside the boat |
 |
| wonderful view of Sunrise from the boat in the lake in Allepy |
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