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| Our vehicles |
It was a cool Sunday morning on 22nd July 2012.Around 25 people visited Golden Temple @ Vellore ,Tamil Nadu.It was my second visit to the temple.We had booked two Tempo travellers for 14 members each.My neighbour Mr. & Mrs.Phatak's family of around 20, me , Saroja aunty and family all started at 7 AM in a Tempo Traveller.Another TT with 15 people who accompanied us was from a different route.We went to Deepti's house at Peenya to pick her family.On the way, in Mathikere, we packed breakfast and started the journey.I enjoyed talking to Parineeta(Deepti's 3 yr old daughter).We played antyakshari until we stopped for breakfast at roadside at 11 AM. We had idlis,vada +chutney and kesribath.It was super yummy.
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| Breakfast |
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| Jalakanteshwara temple |
Later on the way we watched Arundhati movie in our tempo traveller and also sang songs and enjoyed.Few people went asleep but i was enjoying the movie.We reached Vellore @ 2:30 PM and halted in Mr.Phatak's relative's house.We had also packed bisibelebath,curd rice,obattu(sweet dish),cucumber,rice+rasam for lunch.All 25 members had lunch there along with kheer prepared buy the house owner.Then, we got freshed up and left that place at 4:00 PM to Jalakanteshwara temple which is located in Vellore city.After visiting the temple, we left to Golden temple and reached temple at 5:00 PM.We drank coffee/tea and entered temple at 5:30 PM. There was no much waiting for our luck.We had to walk around 5-6 kms to reach the main temple (part of darshana or queue ).I enjoyed thoroughly and was guiding few people(who accompanied me) about the temple and surroundings.Alankara of Goddess Narayani was mesmerizing.We finished darshana at 8:00 PM, had temple prasadam which was really tasty and left by 9:00. PM .I wanted to do some purchasing but could not since i left my purse in my Tempo traveller.
On the way we stopped for dinner at a hotel and I had masala dosa . We reached our home around 2:00 AM the next day.I thoroughly enjoyed the one day trip since I was with all new people around me.As said earlier it was my second visit to Vellore and this time i saw the temple in evening light which was marvelous when compared to morning darshana during my first visit.
Some important information :
Distance - around 5-5 1/2 hours from Bangalore.On the way you can also visit Krishnagiri dam but takes lot of time there since the dam and park is huge.Adjust time acccordingly before starting.
Places of interest in Vellore apart from Golden temple : Jalakanteshwara temple,Vellore fort.
Timings for Golden temple : 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM(camera, mobile,food and electronic devices strictly not allowed.There are separate counters to keep them.). Special darshana with much less queue will cost 250 or 300 Rs per head.Entire darshana will take 2-3 hrs.
