It has been very hectic times lately in my life. This month has been full tight. The package I was working in my project was nearing its completion. Had lots of stuff to do to make it ready for the release. I had plans of going to sabarimala on 16^th. For that I had applied for leave on 15^th, 16^th and 19^th. But as days progressed, that seemed to be impossible.

 

    I didn't have my tickets booked from Bangalore to Kannur. My return tickets were booked though. I wasn't sure when I could leave Bangalore. I wanted to leave on 14^th. But even on 13^th there was so much of work pending. I became more and more doubtful about my trip. Was getting nervous too.

 

    I left office at 12 PM on 13th. I was getting frustrated. I called up home. Told parents that the trip was still in a doubtful stage. They got upset too. My mom conveyed this to her mom and my dad's mom. You know what, the very next day there were a lot of prayers and offerings going temples way.

 

    The next day things were tight as well. There were so much of work pending and I wasn't courageous enough to go and ask my PL about my planned absence the day after. But by evening, the unexpected happened. PL himself came to me and said you can have leaves tomorrow and day after. It might be coincidence but still I believe it was Lord Ayyappa and my grand mothers' prayers that helped me when I was standing absolutely helpless.

 

   I rushed to the bus stand, fortunately got tickets to Kannur. There wasn't much rush. Reached Kannur on 15^th morning. Went to Akliyath Siva temple near my mom's sister's house and I wore the maala which is customary before the trip to sabarimala.

 

    The morning next day at 11 AM, I started of the trip to Sabarimala after a prayer at Thalap sundaresha temple, Kannur. I had booked tickets in Vivekananda Travels who organizes package trips to Sabarimala. The duration of the trip was 3 days and the ticket rate was 900 including food and accommodation.

 

    The first temple we visited was Kadampuzha Bhagavathi temple in Malappuram district. The temple is believed to be established by Jagadguru Adi Sankaracharya. It's in a beautiful location in the middle of a forest. Nice calm and quiet place. Then we headed off to Guruvayoor.

 

    Reached Guruvayoor Sreekrishna Temple by around 6. Guruvayyor got its name because it is a temple which is believed to be established by Guru (Deva guru Brihaspathi) and Vayu (Vayu devan). It's a very famous temple with huge rush all around the year. Could spend a lot of time inside the temple. Could manage to get inside too. Normally we have to stand in queue for hours to get inside. But fortunately there wasn't much rush when I was there. When I was living in Ernakulam, I never could go inside though I had visited the temple a number of times. Felt so happy because the trip was giving me good fruits.

 

    The next day we got up early at 2 AM and started off at 3 AM. The first temple to visit was Tripayar Shri Rama Temple. Since we reached there early in the morning at 4, the temple was not open then. So we just circled around the temple and came back. Then we visited Kodungalloor Bhagavathi temple and then Chottanikkara Bhagavathi temple.

 

    Chottanikkara has been my favourite temple. I'm not in a habit of visiting temples. The only temple I was attached to was Chottanikkara. Reason unknown though. Got an hour to spend there. I was extremely happy again. Chottanikkara temple has two Bhagavathi prathishtas. One is the Santhaswaroopam (melkkavu) and the other is Roudraswaroopam(keezhkkavu). I couldn't inside melkkavu since there was so much of rush there.

 

    Then we went to Vaikom, Kaduthuruthy and Ettumanoor temples, all Siva temples. It's believed that these three temples were established by Parasuraman on the same day at the same time. So if we visit these three temples in a single day, its equivalent to visiting Kailasam. So got the good fortune to be at the same place at the same day as well.

 

    Then we headed to Erumeli. Reached there by 1 PM. There we do the ritual called Petta thuttal (dance). It is compulsory for people who are going to sabarimala for the first time (kanni ayyappanmar). Though I was there in Sabarimala, it was as long as 20 years back. I don't remember anything now so I also joined the dance. It was an amazing experience of dancing in sun at mid-noon shirtless on main road. Loved doing that. Kanni ayyappanmar need to collect sharam (arrow) also from there which has to be dropped in Sharamkuthiaal near Sabarimala Temple.

 

    After starting from there we reached Pampa by around 3 PM. It's the closest place to Sabarimala reachable by road. There you have the Pampa river which is a holy river. I took a dip in the water which is believed to wash out our sins. I also gave bali to my dear ones who passed away.

 

    Then we started the climb. It's a 5 kilometer climb. But it's very steep, at least the first couple of kilometers. Fortunately the road is concreted, but still then it's a tough task. It would take hours to reach the top. I took 2-2.5 hours. Then we could see the temple.

 

    By 6.30 after standing long time in the queue, I was able to fulfill my long ambition. To climb the golden 18 steps of Ayyappa temple (Pathinettampadi). Then I saw the Ayyappa idol. It's so beautiful and calm, you would want to see it for a long time. It's a special feeling then. You won't be thinking of anything else but Ayyappa. The only thing that your mind will be speaking would be the mantra "Swamiye saranam Ayyappa".

 

    After that we visited Malikappurathamma, Nagam and navagrahams, and then we went to the room to take rest. There we unpack the irumudikettu, take the coconuts filled with Ghee, break it and collect the ghee in a container. This ghee is then given to the temple for Abhishekham early morning at 4 the very next day and collected back as prasadham. Also the other items in the irumudikettu namely avil, malar, camphor, dry grape, kalkkandam, vellam, rose water, sandals, kalabham, bhasmam, kunkumam , ... I don't know whether I'm forgetting anything. These are collected and mixed up as per use. These are then distributed as prasadham to the devotees who brought them there.

 

    After 4 AM the next day, after we collected the ghee after abhishekam, we start to climb back. The downhill descent is tougher than the uphill climb. The being the router being rough and bad and also the body weight comes in the front foot rather than the back foot when you climb up. We reached the bottom of the bill by around 7 AM and then headed back home.

 

    On the way we also visited Malliyoor temple near Kottayam. It's a Ganapathi temple. We lunch there and then started our journey again. On the way, since we were coming via Kozhikkode, we had the opportunity to buy some good Kozhikkodan halwa which is very famous. Fortunately, nobody was interested in buying liquor at Mahi (Since Mahi is a union territory, liquor is very cheap there).

 

    Reached Kannur by 10. My mom and dad were there to pick me up. It was such a relieving journey. Though I slept for less than 3 hours for 2 days continuously, I was not feeling the tiredness because of the extend of enthusiasm everyone had all the way.  This was a special journey in the sense that this was a journey which I planned around a year ago. This was to thank the mighty Ayyappa for doing something great in my life. Though I had other plans of doing it, he made a better alternative and did that for me. The route is not important, only the destiny is. And I'm very happy and satisfied about it. Thank you Ayyappa.