My Kashi Yathra 2015
– Akumalla Family
Disclaimer: My expressed views on this blog will be more focused on logistics, what
to expect, do’s and don’t’s etc. rather than the logical reasoning behind every
spiritual activity in the yathra. I am taking it all for granted and truly
believe and convinced fully that “Holy trip is a Holy trip” and enjoyed every
bit of it. Besides 1 letter to my parents, I am not a professional writer added
to the fact that I am an engineer, So please expect some immaturity and
grammatical errors in my writings. Again, These writings are purely my views
and thoughts and I don’t mean to hurt anyone or any organizations. If you are still
hurt, I apologize.
Akumalla Background:
Although we hail from Cuddapah – Andhra Pradesh, I was born
and brought up at Arakkonam a small town from south india which is about 30 to
60km from Chennai (depending on what chennai’s new geography is..). We are a
joint family presided by my senior paternal uncle Mr. A. Rajagopal whom is my
inspiration and a role model for the whole family. I had 4 brothers but have 3
now and 1 sister whom settled in both cuddapah and chennai with their sons and
daughters whom are either married or beyond college level kids. I came to USA
when I hit quarter century and staying here since then. After 5 more years of
bachelor life, Suddenly I changed my facebook relationship status to “Married”
working as a lovely husband for Ms. Ramya Krishna whom is also an engineer and an
MBA graduate originally from Coimbatore but settled with me in USA for the past
6 years. We are blessed with twins Sresht Venkata Ramachandra Akumalla (Boy)
and Srishti Akumalla (Girl). Twins were 3.6 years old when we performed this
yathra in 2015. With all this said, if you know basic quantitative aptitude,
You may figure out my age.
With this said, I thank GOD to give me the opportunity to
step up as the first person in the Akumalla family to perform the holy theertha
Yathra and more importantly perform Pithru karma and shradhdham in the holiest
place of the earth. In 1996, I lost my brother Mr. Maruthi Shivaram Akumalla
whom was considered as a Gem of our family. I am the indebted person to perform
the annual dhavasham’s for my brother. In 2009, I lost my father Mr.
Ramachandran Akumalla, Whom I consider a great man and my life completely
changed after that. Karma didn’t stop until my wife also lost her mother Ms.
Thiripurasundari and her brother Mr. Aswath Kumar Navaladi within a span of couple
of years after marriage. With all these incidents, Myself and my wife are
deeply motivated to perform the yathra for every reason. My other personal
motivation is to fulfill my mom’s dream to visit Kashi and to perform
“Shradhdham” for my father and my immediate elder brother infront of her and
also fulfill my late brother’s dream of taking my mom to Taj Mahal. For these
particular reasons I am thankful to GOD.
Kashi Yathra – Overall schedule:
Preliminary Rameswaram
Trip:
Our trip started by boarding train from Chennai Egmore
railway station on March 13th. Best train to reach Rameswaram is
Sethu express that starts are 5pm from Egmore and reach Rameswaram by 4:40am
the following day. Egmore railway station is very tricky as there is NO
elevator and every elderly person are forced to take Escalator at this point of
time. We reached Rameswaram by 4:15am
itself. We took an auto to “Geetha Lodge” prearranged the room by phone. Auto
cost is Rs. 100 for the 10 minute drive. We have prearranged the total
Rameswaram trip with Mrs. Girija maami. She is around 50 years old and a “One
Stop Shop” for all arrangements including arranging vehicle to Dhanushkoti,
Tour to temple, personal service of taking to all 22 wells and immerse you with
the medicinal water, Brahmins for Shradhdham and Annadhaanam etc. She is very
professional and we are completely happy with her service. She even arranged
Upma for kids as we can’t let them starve with us. Reached Geetha lodge by
5:15am. Refreshed, took shower and start to Girija maami’s home next door by 6
am sharp.
Girija Maami’s Street. Geetha lodge is next door and 1 furlong from Temple.
Girija Maami and Krishna
Girija Maami welcomed us by serving coffee and a Van was
ready to pick us up and head to Dhanushkoti. The van is the ONLY conveyance to
travel from Rameswaram to Dhanushkoti (~15 km) that involves literal ride in
beach with water level up to 30 inches. One of the scariest drive I had ever
had with the family. The van was specially equipped with high ground clearance
and special tools are handy to disengage wheels during sand quagmire. Dhanushkoti
is called a “Ghost Town” as the whole village was washed out in 1964 cyclone.
The scary van drive is inevitable.
Dhanushkoti Van –
Service from Rameswaram to Dhanushkoti
We were accompanied with Girija maami’s prearranged Priest
whom travelled with us in the scary ride. Once we reach Dhanushkoti island,
Priest performed Sankalpam at the shore of the sea. After Sankalpam, He asked
us to shower in the sea for 36 times. After shower I was asked to bring Sand
from the sea shore and he made 3 lingas with the sand. Three lingas are Sethu
Madhava, Veni Madhava and Vindhu Madhava. After the pooja performed on all
three lingas, Sethu Madhava and Vindhu madhava sand lingas were asked to
dissolve back in the sea. Veni Madhava was packed on a Zip lock cover and to be
dissolved in the Allahabad Triveni Sangam. Once the Veni Madhava is packed, We
drove back to Girija maami’s residence.
On the way back to Girija maami’s residence, We visited “Sri
Kodhanda Rama Temple” where it is believed that at this location Vibishana was
surrendered to Rama. There is another temple on the way where “Sri Rama Padam”
or Lord Rama’s feet could be seen. All temples are mind blowing and extremely
quiet but not much visitors to the temples either.
Once we reached Girija maami’s residence by ~10am, We were
accompanied by a priest assistant to take us inside the temple. It is believed
to be very divine to have darshan of Lord Shiva at Rameshwaram ONLY after you
take shower in all 22 medicinal wells. So, the temple is always 99% wet and
extreme slippery. So, this is extremely challenging to take elderly persons as
you are prone to slip and fall. We ourselves have seen many elderly people
falling down and had tough time to wake up. I persistently held my mom’s hands
and we had to take a slow pace to all 22 wells. The walking distance for all 22
wells is roughly 1 mile but may take more than an hour depending on the traffic
density and rush.
Once we bath in all 22 wells, We returned back to Girija maami’s
residence by ~11:30am to get ready for Shradhdham. We performed Shradhdham and
later Pinda pradhaanam with the prearranged 3 brahmins. Once the ceremony was
completed, we had sumptuous food at Girija maami’s residence at ~2:30am. We
head back to lodge and take rest until 3:15pm. We started at 3:20pm and visited
Lord Shiva at the temple. Girija maami used the special influence and led us to
the temple in no time..
After temple visit, We immediately rushed to Geetha Lodge and
checked out the facility and boarded an auto to head to Railway station to
catch the 5pm Rameswaram to Chennai egmore train. Girija maami graciously
accept to prepare Upma dinner and brought the same to railway station. We had
sumptuous dinner and slept immediately to wake up in Chennai egmore on March 15th
2015.
Kashi Trip (First
Day):
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