Trip to Sabarimala - Day 2 (14/05/2006)

The next morning, the train finally arrived at Kottayam at 9 oclock, a few hours late... This was our stop, we got down and took an auto to the bus stand nearby to board a bus to Pampa... Since this was not the usual Sabarimala season (which is november-december) , the buses were far less.. the first bus that left for Pampa was at 11 only.. we booked our tickets and went to the nearby restaurant and had some breakfast - a light meal coz it was 3 hours' journey in winding roads uphill. We had enough time to relax a bit before the bus came. The numbers of the seats in the buses there are quite confusing, and unreserved people started sitting in reserved seats.. Good thing we went to the bus as soon as it came and settled in our correctly numbered seats...
The bus started at 11, stopped somewhere for lunch at around 2:30 and then reached Pampa at around 3:30. We had a quick (as we had to start our uphill journey before the 4:30 Ragukaalam starts) bath in the sacred Pampa river.
We started from Pampa at 4:15. As we began our climb, I realized how lazy I had become since the last time I came to Sabarimala (that was in the year 1999) . I guess I had adopted a sedentary lifestyle after I came to college. Especially after I bought my bike last September, I didnt go to college by bus anymore... anywhere outside, just bike.. too lazy... Now this climb made me realize all that... I couldn't climb with the vigor I had when I did the last time... I felt so ashamed of myself for this... I stopped so many times on the way, drank so many glasses of lemon soda... my guruswami who is 62 years old, (although a well built man, and is on his 20th year to Sabarimala, in my defense), briskly walked ahead of me.. The entire journey which would usually take only 1.5 hours for him, took us a little over 3 hours because of me...
We reached the top at 7:15-7:30 pm, took out one coconut from our Irumudi to break near the 18 steps of the temple... It was relatively empty and there were no policemen in the 18 steps to push us up.. so we could go slowly touching each step in reverence... This was something I had never got before... In the temple, we saw the Deity Lord Ayyappa and prayed... The Ghee Abishekam was for the next day morning.
Then we came to the office and arranged for accomodation for one night... We ate at a small restaurant near the place of stay.. (Kerala chutney and sambar taste nothing like our TamilNadu types) ... And retired for the night...