At home in unknown territory

At home in unknown territory

Today I went to Anubhavi Subramaniar Temple. Took a 10 minute bus ride to Chinna Thadagam. Though I could have taken another bus to go from the main road to the temple, I preferred to walk the 2 km. distance instead of waiting for half an hour for the bus to arrive. It was only 8.30 a.m. and the weather was cool and the scenery green. The road went via small villages with brick making the main activity. Even with my brisk walking, it took me half an hour to cover the distance. Wished and smiled acknowledging people on the way.

Went into the Lalithambikai temple at the foot of the hill and had darshan of the Ambal. The spacious space at the base was so picturesque with huge banyan tress and a single small tea shop. I climbed the steps. I was given different figures by different people (from 100 to 300) as to the number of steps to the temple. So I counted each step. After 300, I knew they were wrong. I counted 440 steps before I reached the shrine. Except for the priest there was nobody else. Had a darshan of Lord Muruga. There was another Shiva shrine 100 steps above this. Went up there too as it looked so inviting. Enjoyed the view all around listening to the gurgling tiny stream.

On the way down a man at the temple told me there will be a bus going to Thadagam by 10.30.

Walked down slowly and was at the base by five minutes past ten. Had a cup of tea and half a packet of Britannia Tiger biscuit at the tea stall. I was surprised that a 45.5 gram packet costs just 5 Rupees. How could it cover the raw material, production, packaging and transport costs and still make profit selling at five Rupees?

Again impatient to wait for the bus I started walking back to the main road. There I had to wait for nearly 20 minutes for the bus to go to Mangarai. The bus was not crowded and I had a seat. Got down at my stop and walked the half a km distance to the Home. I was not tired even though I had walked over 5 km and climbed up and down 540 steps.

I enjoyed the trip - visiting the temple on my own, and walking the distance and climbing the steps. The entire journey I was able to follow my thoughts and it was about 'here and now'.