My First Time to Sabarimala

The middle of May when the calendar showed the date 16, a friday. It's that time of the month when the 'Nadai' in Sabari mala was kept open for the devotees. I came to know from a Chinmaya Yuvaveer - Ganesh anna(as we call him) that the Nadai would be open every month for about 5 days. The other info I knew only then was that a devotee can go to Sabari mala and worship the lord even when he hasn't worn the 'mala' or undergone the traditional 48 days Vratham, only that he will not be allowed via the holy 18 padi (steps) but by a side entrance. Though the final destination is HIM, any ardent ayyappa devotee would want to worship him only by climbing up the 18padi. But then, we decided to take the alter route - we wanted to reach him.

Well, the WE here includes Ganesh anna, myself, Sriram - my junior at school. Though we planned to start on 16th - to worship HIM on the 17th, we missed to book tickets in advance. We could only get WL tickets and our upto-the-last-minute efforts to get an EQ failed! It was Anna and me from Chennai and Sriram was to join us at Salem.

The train (Trivandrum mail) was at 8 pm. And as usual [:-(], the train was waiting for me to depart!!! Anna was in the unreserved coach which was crowded to its maximum. I was fortunate to get a place - to stand! As the train started we thought one of us could go to the reserved coach and find if any berth was available. The thought didnt seem silly until Anna went to one coach at Katpadi. There were many people with WL tickets who were occupying the 'lowest berths'. I joined Anna at the Salem junction and we got a nice place to sit comfortably - near the door! Sriram, coming from trichy had got into an Ernakulam express and we decided he would board our train at Ernakulam. It was about 8.15 in the morning when we reached Kottayam, our destination. Coming out of the station we boarded a bus to the Kottayam bus stand. From then on it was 'Bus'y Kerala!!

At Kottayam we didn't have a direct bus to PAMPA. We were suggested an alter route - via Pattanamthitta. But we didnt have a bus to that place either. As we didnt want to wait, we took a bus to TIRUVALLA - we were told this place has many buses plying to Pattanamthitta. It was a 40 minute travel to Tiruvalla and that was the beginning for our ever'green' memories! We had arrived to the God's own country! At Tiruvalla, we're fortunate to get immediately a bus to Pattanamthitta, a place 40 minutes away. We had a nice nap though we didnt miss noticing the greeneries. Soon after getting down at Pattanamthita we saw a fully occupied bus leaving for Pampa. When queried about the next bus, we're told there was no fixed timing and buses would start once they become full. Not wanting to wait longer, we got into that bus. It was a footboard travel for me - with the door closed! 3 hours later we're on the banks of Pampa.

Water was only knee-high but we managed to take bath in the same. Impurities in it didn't matter! Minutes after that we started walking. It was an 'uphill' task! I was brisk for a while but started gasping after that. I was the slowest of the three and I often wondered (and got inspired) how some kids walked. Enthusiasm was written on their face. The weather didn't become my enemy - it was almost pleasant. The path that we took was called the Chinna Paadhai. I was said the Periya Paadhai started at Erimeli and was about 53km to Sannidhanam. Persons taking the Periya Paadhai usually do a dance before the long walk - mainly to relax their muscles and to get ready! It was about 3.30 pm when we reached the temple. The gates were to open at 5 pm. Taking our shirts off as in many other Kerala temples we climbed via the side entrance by 5. The Darshan was superb. I never imagined I would get such a wonderful darshan of the Bhagawan. Though it was not the 'season' the temple was full with the chantings of the lord's names. When we started to descend it was about 5.45 pm. And a good rain followed until we reached Pampa.

There're no buses in the late evenings and at 7 pm we could get only a jeep proceeding to Pattanamthitta (though it took time to find people - something similar to our share autos) where we reached by 10 pm.

Overall it was a nice and memorable experience. Ofcourse, we didn't miss to get the Aravana Prasadam that's reknowned.