Hallowed by thy name Lord Marundeeswarar of Tiruvanmiyur

“We worship the three-eyed Lord Shiva who nourishes and spreads fragrance in our lives. May He free us from the shackles of sorrow, change and death effortlessly, like the fall of a ripe cucumber from its stem!! ”

These are the verses that sprang to my mind when my mom and I decided to go to Marundeeswarar temple. She specifically wanted to collect the sacred ash from there and then proceed to Pamban Swami ashram near by collect sacred ash from there and mix the two portions to create an elixir for all ailments!! What a DIY project!

I read in a book that death at Kasi, birth at Tiruvarur, sight of Chidambaram and the thought of Tiruvannamalai confers Moksha to a devotee. Similarly, the mere sight and thought of the Tiruvanmiyur temple leads one from darkness to light.Lord Shiva revealed the healing properties of herbs to sage Agastya here hence he got the name Marundeeswara. The lingam here is a self manifested one and not sculpted by anybody. It has a white hue to it because the deity Kamadhenu or the divine cow anointed the lingam here with milk. Hence the presiding deity here is also known as Palvannanathar. The Vanni(Prosopis cineraria) is the temple tree here. Its flowers are said to safeguard a pregnancy! The consort has a separate shrine here and she is called Tripurasundari. What a magnificent & hoary temple it turned out to be.We entered the temple through the east coast entrance.

Sinful Indulgence in a beaker

One more of the weekend jaunts... we went to this place called Sandy's Chocolate Laboratory.This is one of the best places in Chennai for desserts especially the chocolate kind.You can also order main course like pizza etc.What I tried there was the dark chocolate milk shake. It was extremely rich and yummy,and very good for the bulging waistline .They served it in a beaker.They are located in the rutland gate 4th avenue Chennai.Check out the pic.

Weekend Exploits

M2, a friend and me went to this place called Cream Centre at College road. They currently have a Hyderabad Mumbai food fest. For starters we tried the "chut-patti chaat from the streets of Mumbai". The starters were awesome with large portion sizes. I tried the sabu dana vada, which was just right for my palate. It was not too spicy and it had the crunchy exterior. Next we had the Bambaiya Ragda their signature dish and dahi puri.This was yummy and filling too. We washed this down with iced tea. We were so full with the starters that we could not do justice to the main course.For main course we gorged on their vegetable satellite sizzler,Chana Batura and of course the mother of all biryanis the hyderababi dum biryani.This was one of the best biryanis we had in recent times. The biryani was presented in an earthen pot and was covered with a roti.Do check the place out. Fest on till 20th March. And check out the pictures.

Ire of Fire-A Fire Accident

Early this morning ,I woke up to the sound and smell of the fury of fire literally.The choke in the tube light burst and burnt up the lift in our apartment.There was so much smoke that I could hardly breathe.This accident could have turned dangerous if my dad and husband did not douse the flames with water at the right time.Hats off to their efforts.The others in the apartment did not want to go near the flame,because it was sparked off by electricity and they did not want to be electrocuted.I was shaking so much because I was worried sick for my mother who had not come out.The fire service personnel just came and left without doing anything much and they came so late.Later the lift inspectors still found some burning embers left from the accident.What callousness.I just witnessed the tip of the iceberg of a fire accident...it was a harrowing experience.

We did not have fire extinguishers set up to deal with fire.We did not have a separate fire exit.I don't think any of us had any expertise or knowledge to handle such a situation.We were all sitting ducks.What a pathetic situation to be in.Thank god it didn't turn out to be a catastrophe,thanks to my dad and husband for saving the day.It was their quick thinking and guts that doused the flames.Finally thanks to the Lord of destruction for saving us from one.Life is so fragile,anything can happen anytime.

Panachi amman Temple visit

Nanganallur has such an old world charm to it.The streets are full of vendors selling everything from terracotta lamps to fresh greens.And at every nook there is a temple waiting to be discovered.I love this place more because Pazhavanthangal used to be my summer home when I was a kid.I do not have vivid memories about temples back then.So,I visited another temple in Nanganallur close to the Ardhanareeshwarar temple called Panachi amman Kovil.She was found in a forest full of palm trees,hence the name.She is also a grama devathai,a protector of the village.Her icon here is facing the Northern direction.As you enter the temple,there are icons depicting Naga(serpent) deities.All temples have a space dedicated to the Nagas.I wonder what they represent,is it the Kundalini energy lying coiled up at the base of the spine.Is it nature conservation?.What ever it is,I simply love the visual appeal a temple holds for me.And I wish for a greater understanding of such subtleties and abstract concepts.Happy New Year to all my blog readers .