Happy Birthday Appa!

Wherever you are, I hope you know that I've loved you so much dear APPA. Right from the time when you held me in your arms to the day when you saw me off for my first day in school, I am holding on the beautiful memories that have made me the person I am today. I miss you dad. Happy birthday Appa. 

How God is favoring what I've always wanted to do. We visited Nageshwari temple today and prayed, I really hope dad , you are peaceful and happy wherever you are. Be with us , I need your blessings and love, always. 

I wish I can see you just once to let you know that I loved you....more than mom 
😄😍😘. Alright, I love you both equally. Whether it is the empty spot in a chair next to mom’s or the eerily silent living room, you are missed in every way dad. I love you. I love you. I love you.

Vennamuddu Krishna

The kondaveedu fort

Temple planned by ISKCON



Venna muddukrishna

 

 

After all these years growing up in a metro city of  Kuala Lumpur, life seems to be very fast and stressful. I never knew that there is a complete silent life existing in India. Today we decided to visit the family village, our origins and our family temple given by the King of Kondaveedu centuries ago! I was all so excited and my imagination was totally different than what I saw throughout my journey starting from Guntur. The family temple is not taken care as of now though we're having few priest in the village to conduct the daily puja. Our temple is called Vennamuddu Krishna and Baby Krishna holding butter is the main deity. He is an absolute beauty and has beautiful eyes.

We've given the temple to ISKCON to develop and conduct pujas so that everyone can benefit. Here are some pics and I saw this 2 cute kids near the temple who was so curious to know who am I. They were so polite and refused to take my 10 rupee note , how adorable are they. Certainly a trip to remember through my life as I saw the reality of farming and huge farms producing jasmines!

Amaravati's Amaralingeshwara temple.



Watched these cuties so nearby :)

The bungalow/hotel.

Now that we must sleep one night out , i.e. since we have to travel to Malaysia  to my parents home , we had an alternative way of staying a day out at any Shiva temple. Therefore , we chose the Amaravati temple for a day out.  It was like an hour drive from Guntur to Amaravati and we took a van to get there. 

This is my ever first experience on seeing a village , silent and dark night. The rain season started and thank god it wasn't that bad. By 7.30 pm we reached the hotel which is 5 minutes walking distance to the temple. Truly it was more like horror movie scene, B and I never expected such scary hotel room ! :) Nothing much to blame as the people who maintain ( I mean the employees appear very poor ). It's called AndhraPradheshTourism something.... we didn't get to see any restaurant and there was not electricity in the hotel. It was really scary and lots of mosquitoes! Finally we ended up sending the working boy to get us some chapatti and curry. Now....we've been counting minutes to pass by so that next morning we could visit the temple and go home.





Beautiful village scene , so peaceful.

 

 

 

 

 

The next morning,  Monday July 8 2013 , we had good darshan of Amaralingeshwara , a unique shivalinga which kept growing so tall ! We then proceeded to the local nearby Hanuman and Shirdi baba temple before visiting the Museum and Buddha stupa which was visited by Dalai Lama. The Buddha statue is still under construction and finally after getting burnt under the scorching hot sun , we returned home at 2.30 pm. Such tiring day!

Thai Sukravaram , mangalya pooja.

I cant believe we're the first ones to reach Mariamman temple at Jalan Bandar. Thank god I wasn't falling asleep whilst driving :P

5.50 am and we're eveready for Ambaal abhisekam and I'm just so excited about the entire process of the mangalya pooja done (definitely with ambaal's blessings!). My modern Iyer was all set running around temple to purchase garland and milk for abishekam.


I must say, it was one of the most beautiful abishekam and we're just overjoyed! It was almost 8 am when we had good hot ponggal and as usual Bee did not eat as he planned to visit Ramalinga temple. Okay , I'm privilleged now, Parvathavarthini ambaal's blessings came along as it was almost 9 am when we reached Bangsar.

It's wedding season and what can I say about the parking space in KL. Another wedding and guess what, the muhurtham was just came as a surprise or I call magical, right after we completed the archana.

Thank you Mom and Bee!!! Oh...the comedy of the day, mom lost her new pair branded shoes, I had to make another round back to Jln Bandar and discovered Changkat Stadium Road which took me back to Jalan Sultan. Mom and Bee took the mag's prize and it was 10 am by the time we reached home.

Phew.......what a beautiful day and I just zzzzz........mid day , I'm just so tired! Uh........Boy's birthday!

The completed Sashti abisheka.

Finally , completed what I wanted to do (did not expect this) but overall a good day despite not being well. Blame it on the season, everyone around me is down with fever, sore throat and viral fevers!

Maha Mariamman Temple

Okay, finally got the opportunity of  driving up mom to Chinatown, KL. Surprisingly one car park space available right behind ex Uda Ocean building. We walked up around the Petaling Street and thank god, this time I had the chance of  taking the temple pictures right at the entrance. Freaking hot day though!

Arudra Darshan 2012

This year I'm just going to make it no matter what ! Woke up by 3 am and was in Sri Ramalingeshwara temple, Bangsar by 4.30 am.


We're truly blessed to watch Arudra darshan ( Arudra means Tiruvathirai nakshatra = a star in tamil ). This is where Lord Nataraja ( Shiva ) performed his cosmic dance in fire. So, we watched Nataraja swamy abisheka and read Tiruvempa verses. It was almost 2 pm we returned home after having lunch in the temple. My only disappointment was Bee's not around.

Beautiful decoration.

Bangsar , early morning!

Nevertheless, I thank god, I've completed this task for 2012.

Tirukarthikai deepam 2012

Deepas in my balcony....

It was a total, last minute unplanned visit  to Ganesha  temple......... I never knew the surprise awaiting for us :) Astro vanavil recording on Tirukarthikai Deepam. Mom was asked to explain the reason behind tirukarthikai and yes, we will be featured in the tv. I'm so proud of  my mom. All I ask God is to bless her with great health , happiness and peace. I felt happy to be in KL this year, for a change after all that routine US style. Can't wait to visit Tiruvannamalai again!! Bala Murugan looked beautiful. I will certainly miss my Malaysian life terribly when I return back to US!

Vijayadasami Oonjal Ubhayam 2012

Mom's effort to make the pooja was appreciated by many. So proud of  you Amma, I wish I can be half  of  your strength, I can say I'm accomplished then.



Beautiful ambal decorated.



The fun thing to have all the girls doing Kummi for ambaal.

Certainly the happiest occassion for us as we get to meet a lot of  friends after a long time.

Ganesh Chathurthi Sep 19th, 2012

I got up so early , last night I slept off  when the clock  ticked off 3 am. I was exhausted after the shopping @ Little India. Speak about the crowd, I truly miss my childhood place , the people and the decent environment. Cissy helped me to carry the stuffs and by 10 pm we've reached home. Somehow I had the energy to clean up the altar and sort things out.

My second Ganesha

Today morning was quite challenging as cooking naivedhyams took all my time. By 10.35 am I started Ganesha and completed my 2nd Mangala Gauri vratham. I was just tired by noon.

The day's gonna be super hectic later as mom , boy , Sheg mams and myself  went to Masjid India :) Within half and hour boy dropped us off home and rushed for an interview By the time I came home, my first Ganesha wasn't in the right shape :(  No, I'm going to make another one. The white Ganesha , everyone at home just loved him as he looked more of  Bala Ganapathi.

Our head priest Ganesh on chariot, he missed Bee as he wanted Bee to sit on this chariot, Bee you've missed your golden chance! Hope we fulfill this another time soon.

My astonishingly beautiful Pillaiyar.

The evening scenario was - yes, he was offered job in Astro and then Neelacca came, I successfully gave the planned tamboolams and everyone including mom went to Ganesha temple.The final one, okay I am going to temple ( 9 ish then )....... I gave  Sarada's mom! Temple was so crowded and I received a cute yellow garland. Karpaga Pillayar looked astonishingly beautiful, grand. I cant stop admiring his beauty. Since the chariot left at 7.30 pm, I walked all by myself to meet mom at MGS school junction. To my surprise I met my schoolmate Kumoo family, Moorthy aunty and the whole bunch of known faces. We were too tired then. By 11.30 we came home and gosh...........I could feel my bones. End of the day, I'm happy that my vratham completed successfully....the joy of seeing Ganesha in KL, that's like after 5 years....the last chathurthi in 2006 , the day I stepped out of home recovering the viral fever, only to see Ganesha:)


The day is over, here I am writing up reminiscing good old memories of growing pains in Kuala Lumpur , the bitter sweet memories and the glorious days. I first danced at Pillaiyar temple when I was 5 ! We still have the right of first kids of  the temple! Bee just passed on a good news from Phoenix, Az.....:)) Well, lot more good things I'm awaiting for, the recent one is the farewell party of a green monster and yes, I will be bidding her a safe good bye! Thank you Pillaiyar, you've printed a bag of memories this year. Bless us for successful years ahead. Happy Birthday Ganapathi!!!

Mookambiga Temple @ Midvalley

This is another awesome, divine temple of  Ambaa Mookambiga. I've always wanted to take Bee to this temple and today is the day after 5 years of  wait. It was a last minute decision to just visit the temple and do some shopping in Carrefour.

I could only remember the day I made abishegam for ambaal on October 31 , 2003 and the day I spent at Kollur Mookambiga temple. The land of Adi Shankaracharya and the power felt within, I still get goosebumps!

Batu Caves !!!!

 

Batu Caves revisited after a decade.It was an amazing experience to see how things have changed over the last 10 years. I remembered how we used to keep awake and walk along the chariot procession and the pain of the heat in February. The new temples and the golden Murugan statue is a total brilliant idea on enhancing the beauty of the caves and the divine temple.

We had a great walking trip as the KTM komuter costed only RM1 to go to Batu Caves from KL Sentral and another RM2 to return back home. Bee was amazed looking at the trains in Malaysia and the super clean seats. Of course , I enjoyed my McD's sundae cup on our way to the temple.

We first saw the Hanuman statue. Figured this way that way out to get photographed :P , the Venkatachalapathi temple was BEAUTIFULLY built and the weather was just kind enough to let us walk around without disturbances.

Seeing Murugan on tophill is no easy task as we had to climb the stairs and encounter little monkeys who were super human friendly. We minute I completed the stairs on tophill , I was speechless to see Murugan again. It was my dream of 5 years to show Bee the magical temple.

We had good darshan and kind blessings from the priest. We returned back home by 10pm. Zzzz....totally got strained but the happiness - PRICELESS!

Buddhist Maha Vihara

I grew up in this place. I've gained my very first education here , only if  I could turn the clock as I carry many beautiful and funny memories as a child. Buddhist Maha Vihara is a special place as I ended up teaching in the school where I studied :)

I've always wanted to show Bee this place, we never found the right time and I must say this that April 30, 2012...........we had an awesome night walking inside this temple. Of course, the structure and facilities have changed over the time but I could clearly remember the lotus fountain and the chikku tree spot (it's no longer there,the tree was removed almost 20 years ago I guess).

The main temple.

The main entrance lotus fountain....we made a wish and threw coins in it!!  

Inside temple.

The lamp lighting!

We'd received blessings from the  Reverend (Buddhist monk) and I'm happy that Bee felt the place is divine.