When you have nothing to do, go tripping – said me!
Well, well, I saw a reel a couple of weeks ago about an interesting place to visit in Coimbatore. That reminded me that I had not yet visited the very famous Adiyogi Siva statue which was there and amma wanted to visit some of her relatives there. But something more important came up that kept us busy for a while. And then, we just decided it was the perfect time to go! Unplanned trips turn out to be the best as everyone says!
The idea was to drive to Coimbatore, stay at the Isha centre overnight and then move to amma’s cousin’s place for a day or two. Despite searching Google and Instagram, I couldn’t retrieve that particular reel that triggered the whole thing! So we didn’t plan further and just booked at Isha as suggested by amma’s cousin.
We reached Coimbatore a little early and that motivated us to deviate a little to visit Kovai Kutralam. That was a good one and half hour hike to & from the waterfall through the jungle. Though the waterfall was nothing compared to our own Athirampilly – Vazhachal, we enjoyed the breathtaking (literally) hike.
We spent about 2 hours for this deviation and reached the Isha centre a little past 1 pm to check in. They had quite a few guests and volunteers who helped us through the process. What we were not prepared for was that we were left to take care of ourselves! After the hike, it was an effort to push our luggage to the cottage which was a good 10 minute walk from the welcome point.
The welcome desk and reception made us read out their T&C the moment we stepped in. No explanations expected, it was a major disappointment for me to know that photography was not encouraged. So if you haven’t visited the place, you have to blindly rely upon my description until your turn comes.
The rooms were neat, modest and with ensuite bathrooms. We had opted for AC rooms and got one for Amma allotted on the ground floor and ours was on the first floor. After a little more of huffing and puffing, we got our things in place and set out in search of lunch.
The reception told us we had to walk our way to the canteen which was at the other end of the universe (well, that’s exactly how it felt after all the walking we did just before!)
When we reached the canteen, finally, surprise surprise – they accepted only cash!!! We were welcomed by two worried souls looking for someone who carried enough cash to spare for them to have lunch! Only because we travelled with Amma, we had enough cash to spare and exchanged a couple of hundreds which they transferred via the more convenient UPI.
The canteen had a limited menu but the food was good. After the late lunch, we thought of checking out the places we passed by because we didn’t have anything else to do.
We started with the Suryakunt which was right next to the canteen. Since photography was not allowed and most of the volunteers held a ‘Silence Please’ board, I abstained from asking for instructions and read out a board kept there. Half way through, I realised that I was not fit enough to enter that area as the board mentioned most of the diseases and conditions I had heard of till date in the list of caution. We saw a few people walking down some stairs and followed them to figure out what they were going for. We found a temple there which has a huge Naga (Snake) carved out on a huge rock wall. This was right in the middle of the stairs that went to a shallow pond where a few men were swimming/walking calmly and some were seen embracing a Shivaling immersed in that water.
After climbing up back to the ground level, we saw some steep and tall steps going up and decided to explore what was up. Trust me, the huffing and puffing kept increasing as I climbed each step made of stone, one by one. Well, that took us to a vast hall with a balcony view to the pond below. The hall had many pillars and people doing yoga here n there. On the other side of the hall was a beautiful pond, a huge black Nandi statue in front and a huge tamarind tree with vermillion and threads. Since we had kept our shoes on the other side of the stairs, we climbed down the same way we went up, wore our shoes and walked back to the pond side.
It was already 4:15 pm and quite hot by this time. We figured out that there was a Dhyanalinga meditation hall and a Devi temple in front of the Tamarind Tree. The volunteers helped us find the place to keep our shoes and we went in for the Dhyanalinga meditation hall since the Devi temple wasn’t open yet.
While my mother went in directly through the senior citizens’ entry, my husband and I had to wait for the next lot during which time I had to keep our bags and mobiles at the safe deposit counter. After about ten minutes, they announced the T&Cs of the meditation hall and let us in. Here again, the volunteers held the ‘Silence Please’ boards at every few steps. The meditation room had a huge Shivaling resting atop the Naga. The hall was huge, quiet and cool. It definitely had a calming effect on us. They make us sit down on the floor to meditate but in case you can’t sit on the floor, there are a few stools available as well. The round hall also had small caves inside where people could sit inside to meditate. You may miss these single-seater square spaces carved into the walls, in the first pass cause it’s a little dark inside. I was surprised to see a man walking from inside such a cave beside where I was sitting!!!
After the refreshing meditation, we went to visit the Devi temple beside and saw a huge black north-Indian style Devi statue in black stone. The Devi looked beautiful with a nathni (nose ring). After the brief arathi here, we stepped out and enquired what else was there we shouldn’t miss. A young lady guided us to the Chandrakunt which was accessible only by women. Since amma and I didn’t have plans to dip into the pond, I mentioned the same and we were told that we could just take a little water from that sacred pond and sprinkle on our head in that case. We followed that and walked out to collect our bags and shoes.
We were walking almost half across the universe again doing these in the meantime! Despite the late lunch, by the time we were out of the temple, we were perfectly tired to have a coffee. After a coffee and the lone hot sandwich they served, we headed to the shops on either side and spent some time and money there.
That’s when we realized, it was already 6:20 and we were yet to see the main attraction here, the 112 ft statue of Adiyogi! We were told that it was the only place where we could use our phones leisurely and there was an audio-visual show at 7:20 pm. Anticipating the long walk towards the Adiyogi statue, we tried our best to push our tired legs further to quickly reach our desired destination.
Luckily, as we approached the exit gate of the Isha centre, we saw some electric buggies and bullock carts ready to take the visitors near the statue. But gosh, what a crowd!!! The buggy took us close to the statue. By this time, the sun had packed away and the crowd was appalling. I was utterly disappointed, to be frank! I wanted to click some good photos and selfies there but the crowd and darkness were a huge put off! I made a note to myself that I would come back early the next morning for my peaceful 10-minute with the Adiyogi.
Everything went utterly dark sharp at 7:20 and the laser audio-visual show began. What a spectacular experience it was ๐
The show tells you the story of Adiyogi and will leave you wanting for more! OMG!!!!
The moment it got over, we had to return to the welcome point because the last dinner batch entry closed at 8:10. Since we were not sure if we would reach across to the other part of the universe in time, we decided not to take a risk and got into the lone restaurant outside the Adiyogi entry point.
Tada! The place was crowded as hell. Of course, the entire crowd that we saw in front of us at the ground a few minutes before had already stuffed themselves inside this restaurant. It took us a good 45 minutes to get our order handed over at the self-service counter. And then, since we had managed to get only one chair for Amma in that crowd, we had a standing dinner. The food was good there too.
When we stepped out, we found our entry to the Isha centre closed. So, we had to walk a little more to get inside and walked towards the end of the day’s universe for us which was the bed!!! Ahh what a wonderful day it was as my mind would say though my feet would totally disagree!
The next day, as decided the previous evening, we woke up early to find out the coffee shop and canteen would open only by 8 and we literally had an hour for that! So we walked our way to the end of the universe once again, hoping for the bullock carts or buggies to be available to take us near the statue. But as luck had some other plans, we had to walk all the way to the statue and back. But it was worth every step and the oohs and aahs of my feet as you can see in the photos below.
We happily walked back after a heartful darsan of the Adiyogi and my 10-minute private time to click some pictures. At the other side of the universe, my amma was waiting at the canteen which was finally open. We filled our tummies, checked out with a smile and happily drove towards our next destination in Coimbatore.
Am still searching for that reel that triggered this whole trip cause I forgot what it was about except that it mentioned something not to miss while in Coimbatore! Maybe next time!!!
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