Girivalam June 2009

I visit Tiruvannamalai every full moon day night for girivalam (pradakshinam around the hill). I started from Bangalore where I live on the Saturday (6/June/09) at around 4:00 pm. I do this every month on my Bike (A Royal Enfield).

The weather was pleasant and slight drizzle to keep the heat of summer off. Traveled for about an hour and thirty minutes to reach A2B (near Krishnagiri) pit stop for re-fueling my bike and myself with a strong coffee. The travel was awesome with very soothing climate, excellent wind, mild drizzle and some wonderful carnatic music of Maharajapuram Shri. Santhanam from my iPod cursing at around 70 Kms per hour on my thumping Bull the ride was very good.

After about 1 1/2 hours I stopped just before Oothangarai (It is famous for its jagery/vellam/gud you can plan to buy from here it is worth and excellent in quality and cost effective too. The other thing that I found cost effective in this town is the small onion / sambar vengayam) to eat and buy some mangoes that were sold by villagers on the roadside. Had a chat with the family that was selling the mangoes for short wile, eat couple to good mangoes some local favorite variety resembling close to malgova.

At about 8:15 pm reached Tiruvannamalai directly went to the Sheshadri Swamigal Madam where I normally stay. Got to my room quickly refreshed myself. Ate my dinner at the food joint that is inside the madam itself, the Coffee here is very good do not miss it.

I started the girivalam at around 10:30 pm. I do few things every time during the girivalam, Offer short prayers while I pass the temple of every lingam. Eat some seasonal fruits available on the way this time it was jackfruit (I had 4 of them, not 6 whole fruits tough...), offer some eatable/cash to all the sages/sadhus/others who seek alms, I drink a sukukapi near the Yama Lingam temple, I drink a soup (Brand: Aruna Soup, that is the best brand there, do not miss the plantain plinth soup, ask for disposable cup and spoon), Then the last in my eatable list is Bovonto 200 ml. (A product of Kalimark, this is available with the wholesale dealer just before the bus stand on to your RHS) not available in Bangalore. This is slightly aerated drink; it tastes very sweet and has a distinct flavor as well. After eating all this I also try and remember the lord few times in the middle as well :-).

After walking for about 3 hrs I had another cold bottle of water and completed the girivalam at around 2 am. Went to my room and crashed for the night.

Read this section if you are planning to do girivalam:

It is 14 kms walk, bare foot, lots of small pebbles and gravel on the way would act as acupressure specialist to your feet. For people who are planning to do this for the first time make sure your feet is dry at the start and also every time you stop for rest in the middle wipe your feet. It there is dampness in your fee you will get blisters even before you finish your girivalam and it will become very tough to do the last few miles. Hydrate yourself with required quantity of water; do not over do this, as you might not find any place to download it.

Things that I carry for this trip are:

1) All required riding gear.
2) A small 500 ml water bottle.
3) Mosquito repellent (I prefer odomos)
4) A small led torchlight
5) A small hand towel.
6) A pain relief ointment.
7) A small music player some devotional music (this can add a great deal to your experience)
8) Some coins offer sadhus on the way.
9) A waist pouch to carry all these.
10) Wear a vesthi/dhoti/cotton trousers and a loose shirt/t-shirt, as it is hot in most of the months.
11) An air pillow and a blanket.

In case you are interested in joining me for the subsequent travel write to me at Sriram[dot]gopalswamy@gmail[dot]com