Idle Strolls

This is the fourth and final part in the series of posts about my trip to Guruvayur and Thrissur. Click here to read all earlier posts. Our second day in guruvayur began early, in the wee hours of the morning. The temple opens for nirmalyam , which is the darshan of lord krishna in the previous day’s decorations, at 3am. We had hoped to see either the nirmalyam or the vakacharthu that happens right after, but despite reaching the entrance line shortly after 3am, it was 3.30 by the time we entered the passage to the main sanctum and just a few minutes later they closed the shrine. So it happened that around 30-40 mins we had to stand in the narrow passage, being neither inside nor outside, but after the wait we got to see guruvayurappan looking splendidly beautiful in his first alankaram of the day. The early morning hours have the least wait times, except you have to take care not to get caught up roughly in between 330-415. The crowds probably start increasing after 7....

This is part 3 of my guruvayur trip series. Read part 1, about the train journey here and part 2, about the guruvayur temple here . In this part, i continue about the rest of our day in guruvayur after completing the morning darshan. Once outside after our first darshan, we proceed to have lunch, and decide to make use of the afternoon time when all temples are closed, by making another stop nearby. Around 2.5 kms from the temple is the Punnathur Kotta, the camping grounds for the guruvayur temple elephants, and is managed by the guruvayur devaswom (temple administration). Elephants form an important part of kerala temple rituals and festivals, and about 30-40 elephants (i’m not sure of the exact number) belonging to the guruvayur temple are housed, bathed and fed in these extensive grounds and brought to the temple as and when necessary. There is a small admission fee and camera fee, and then you can walk about and see the elephants eating or splashing water around. The local ...

I had written about the train journey and the beautiful early morning scenery on the route to thrissur in my earlier post . That was the first part of a suddenly decided trip to Guruvayur, and in this post, i continue about Guruvayur itself.  On getting down at Thrissur railway station, there are a few different options to get to Guruvayur, which is about 25 kms away from thrissur. One is to wait for the passenger train which stops at guruvayur station, which would be the cheapest option but depends on when your long distance train reaches thrissur and when the next available passenger is. The more common option is by bus, of which there are lots from thrissur to guruvayur. The other option is to take a cab/taxi right outside the station, and there are many who surround you the moment you come out. Although expensive, it is also quick and easy after a long journey. I also checked that cab aggregators like ola charged outstation rates to guruvayur though distance-wise it is...