2 Mottai's @ Thiruchendure

We have 5 head shaving's (mottai) to do for each of the babies. It is a mandatory custom which I forcefully follow. Akil had completed 4 of them and Arnav had completed 1.  We combined Akil's 5th and Arnav's 2nd and it happened at Thiruchendure. We did it on April 4th as I didn't want Akil to go to school with mottai. It was night long journey in train. This also happens to be Akil's & Arnav's first train journey. Both of them enjoyed it.

 

Also, they are seeing ocean and ocean waves for the first time. Akil was very interested to see the big waves but when he stood near them, he got scared to the peak and never enjoyed it. On the contrary, Arnav enjoyed seeing them. My parents accompanied us and it was a neat trip without any juggles. From Coimbatore, we booked the train to a place named Vanchi maniyachi and we should use cabs from there. Instead of this place, we should book train till Thirunelveli as Vanji maniyachi station is very deserted. From Thirunelveli to Thiruchendure, commute is through cabs. If we book directly to Thiruchendure, we spend about half-day extra in train. Train route between Thiruchendure and Thirunelveli is long. The cost of commute betwee


n hotel and railway station is too high in local cabs or the cabs that hotel over there provides. It is wise to choose Fast track call taxi. Their service is good. We chose them for return journey.

The hotel we stayed is Udhayam international. This hotel is far from temple and it is not easy to walk from the temple though the hotel people claim it to be nearer. We have to again depend on auto's which are again not cheap. Food in the hotel was not great but other facilities were reasonably good. There are few hotels very close to the temple where food taste is good.
 

 The temple also has two elephants. Akil recognised them as one boy elephant and one girl elephant. This was major attraction for Akil