I was hoping to start a useful blog and finally after hours of boredom I have decided to give it a go.please forgive me if my narration is boring but i just wanted this to be a info blog and i have taken maximum effort to provide all the details and hope it will be useful.
Travel
We boarded from Salem in Vivek express a weekly train (Monday) which usually arrives at around 7.25am according to IRCTC but always arrives late according to frequent travellers and on that day it was late by 2 1/2 hours I.e at 10.00 am.so the arriving time at destination was 09.00 pm.from mantralayam road station it's a 17 km trip and 20 rs per head in either Force Toofan ,sumo or auto.there is a apsrtc bus service but none waited for it.the road from mantralayam station to the town was newly laid at the time of our visit so the ride was smooth.
But you cant expect the same in a trip from mantralayam to Panchamukhi & Bichali which is almost 40km to&fro (http://www.bichali.org) .the roads are worse may be because of the flood or whatever but i got a back sore because of this. so my suggestion to you is not to take an auto if you will be able to afford for a cab.a bumpy auto ride will spoil the next day for sure.
we also heard that a trip to Nava Brindavana is important but the trip takes at least 8 - 10 hours so decided to try next time.(http://shanthiraju.wordpress.com/2008/10/26/nava-brindhavan/)
If u find time take a stroll to the nearby venkateshwara swami temple which is almost 500 meter from the temple main gate.its a small temple and the priest guided us to visit a house which had raghavendra swami's padaraksha's.it was a 100 meter walk from the temple to a house where the padaraksha's were kept
Accommodation
so we reached the town and enquired for accommodation in the mutt's Central Reservation office.the tariff starts from INR 200 & a refundable deposit of 200 for a non a/c room with attached bathroom.the room was quiet clean and roomy with enough ventilation facing thungabadra.the only disadvantage is that we have to extend the room everyday by visiting & providing receipt in CRO .
Food
We only took breakfast and dinner from hotels and took lunch in Mutt's free lunch which is from 12.00pm to 02.00 pm.we tried Hotel pannaga and the service was ok but the sambar was a colored water.other than sambar everything was average and quiet pricey for the quality they provide.so the same evening we tried another hotel sri srinivasa nearby and it was worse than pannaga but the North Indian dishes were too oily but taste was ok.so finally we decided to try from a street vendor and it turned out to be the best among all.the dosa was 5 Rs each and was clean&tasty too.he only served breakfast there and he served dinner in a hotel left to the gate opposite to M.T.R .so my suggestion is to try M.T.R that is right opposite to the temple entrance which is easy to find and manageable.
on the way back from venkateshwara swami temple we saw a road shop with brinjal bajji's.Foodies take a note of this and do try the brinjal bajji's which were tasty and spicy too.
Costs
The train ticket = 180 approx
Share Auto (frm station to mantralayam town) = 20 (150 for private ride)
Share Auto (frm mantralayam to panchamukhi anjaneya temple only)= 50 (300 for private ride)
Travel
We boarded from Salem in Vivek express a weekly train (Monday) which usually arrives at around 7.25am according to IRCTC but always arrives late according to frequent travellers and on that day it was late by 2 1/2 hours I.e at 10.00 am.so the arriving time at destination was 09.00 pm.from mantralayam road station it's a 17 km trip and 20 rs per head in either Force Toofan ,sumo or auto.there is a apsrtc bus service but none waited for it.the road from mantralayam station to the town was newly laid at the time of our visit so the ride was smooth.
But you cant expect the same in a trip from mantralayam to Panchamukhi & Bichali which is almost 40km to&fro (http://www.bichali.org) .the roads are worse may be because of the flood or whatever but i got a back sore because of this. so my suggestion to you is not to take an auto if you will be able to afford for a cab.a bumpy auto ride will spoil the next day for sure.
we also heard that a trip to Nava Brindavana is important but the trip takes at least 8 - 10 hours so decided to try next time.(http://shanthiraju.wordpress.com/2008/10/26/nava-brindhavan/)
If u find time take a stroll to the nearby venkateshwara swami temple which is almost 500 meter from the temple main gate.its a small temple and the priest guided us to visit a house which had raghavendra swami's padaraksha's.it was a 100 meter walk from the temple to a house where the padaraksha's were kept
Accommodation
so we reached the town and enquired for accommodation in the mutt's Central Reservation office.the tariff starts from INR 200 & a refundable deposit of 200 for a non a/c room with attached bathroom.the room was quiet clean and roomy with enough ventilation facing thungabadra.the only disadvantage is that we have to extend the room everyday by visiting & providing receipt in CRO .
Food
We only took breakfast and dinner from hotels and took lunch in Mutt's free lunch which is from 12.00pm to 02.00 pm.we tried Hotel pannaga and the service was ok but the sambar was a colored water.other than sambar everything was average and quiet pricey for the quality they provide.so the same evening we tried another hotel sri srinivasa nearby and it was worse than pannaga but the North Indian dishes were too oily but taste was ok.so finally we decided to try from a street vendor and it turned out to be the best among all.the dosa was 5 Rs each and was clean&tasty too.he only served breakfast there and he served dinner in a hotel left to the gate opposite to M.T.R .so my suggestion is to try M.T.R that is right opposite to the temple entrance which is easy to find and manageable.
on the way back from venkateshwara swami temple we saw a road shop with brinjal bajji's.Foodies take a note of this and do try the brinjal bajji's which were tasty and spicy too.
Costs
The train ticket = 180 approx
Share Auto (frm station to mantralayam town) = 20 (150 for private ride)
Share Auto (frm mantralayam to panchamukhi anjaneya temple only)= 50 (300 for private ride)
Share Auto (frm mantralayam to panchamukhi anjaneya temple & Bichali ) = 80 ( 450 for private ride)
Private Indica cab for a ride to nava brindavanam = 3200
private Force Toofan to nava brindavanam = 3800
Private Indica cab for a ride to nava brindavanam = 3200
private Force Toofan to nava brindavanam = 3800
Idly (hotel)= 10 each
Idly (street)=5 each
Dosa=5 each
Dosa (hotel)= 35 each
Pulka= 10each
Gobi masala=50
I have also uploaded the seva list and the cost for that.
I have also uploaded the seva list and the cost for that.
We went to pratika padapooja seva which was at 9.45 am and it took 30 min max.we were asked to do sankalpa first and then the main priest came in to perform the pada pooja for the lord.after the pooja was over we were offered vastra and parimala prasadam.
