Today 2nd July 2019 we visited Kanchipuram to have darshan of Athi Varadar perumal. Following are some important information that is gathered based on our visit.
1. There are 3 bus stands for out station buses. Once you get down there are mini buses and town buses that take you to the temple. The fare is fixed at rs. 10. The town bus we boarded took a longer route to reach the temple. So in case you are short of time please enquire before boarding. Will save you at least 1/2 hour. We reached around 7 am and there were very few autos. But by the time we came back around 10am, there were lot of regular autos and share autos in the bus stand. Roughly regular autos charge rs.150-200 one way from Olimohammed bus stand to temple. You will first reach Olimohammed parking lot if you approach from Chennai- Bengaluru highway
2. Car parking has been arranged in three-four places and while approaching the town itself the police barricades and boards will guide you to the nearest parking lot. There is one parking lot close to the temple if you approach from walajabad side. Will save a little bit of walking. Also ensure you park your car in such a place that no other vehicle can block the way when you are back.. else you will not be able to remove your car from the space.
3. Be prepared to walk.. after a point no vehicles are allowed except kanchipuram local autos and resident vehicles.
4. The regular approach has been through west gopuram to the temple. Now except for some VIP no one else can enter. You have to reach the old East gopuram.. from there you will be walking through out until vasantha mandapam where you can have darshan. In the entrance itself there is electric car provision for senior citizens and physically handicapped people. You can cover almost 80% of the distance using them. Today after that point those who are able to walk joined the normal queue and others were waiting in wheel chair.
5. The chappal stand is on the east side only and after darshan you exit from the west and have to walk all the way back to the east side to take them.
6. Lot of fans and water pipes are placed all throughout the line.. towards the end it became a single line.
7. There was no separate queue for any paid darshan as of 2nd July -8 am.
8. Some medical help centers are also set up inside the temple for immediate help.
9. How long will it take to have darshan of athi varadhar ?
It took roughly 30 minutes for us on 2nd July as the queue was not long. We joined the queue at 8.30 am and had darshan around 9.00 am. Week ends can be crowded and it can take a few hours in queue to have darshan.
Lot of police and volunteers deployed. Seems well organised based on our experience.
My request to all those travelling to have darshan of the lord- please be patient while in queue and follow the line.. the police is doing a great job in managing the crowd and the arrangements are really good. Please utilize the facilities in the right way.
Feel free to drop a message if you need any information.. will try my best to help you out.
Mail- easycrafts@gmail.com
Http://facebook.com/ECIndianhandicrafts
