A Tryst With Arunachalam

It is exactly a week since I ticked off something from my bucket list – a trip to Thiruvannamalai and completed the Giri Pradakshana (Giri Vallam; Parikrama) around Arunachala Hill. Also, was eagerly waiting to visit Ramanashram and meditate at the place where Ramana Maharshi spent most of his time.

As told by Ramana Maharshi, Arunachalam is Lord Shiva himself, & the positive energy you feel all around is quite evident. The Pradakshana, best done on Purnima, is a 14km barefoot journey around the hill. We embarked on this journey knowing it would not be easy. We  reached Thiruvannamalai on Friday, 9th Sep in the assumption that the full moon day was on the 10th and that is when we would undertake the Pradakshana. However, Pournima began on the 9th at 1800. We then modified our plans and around 1730 , we made our way from the hotel to the Ganesha temple which is regarded to be the starting point. Once we began our journey after taking blessings from Lord Ganesha at 1900 I saw a sizeable crowd but still did not realize what I would encounter. We were told the number would be around a lakh!

The barefoot walk was quite demanding but what kept us going, was the crowd around us completely immersed in devotion. I must say that  our young kids who accompanied us walked along in a relatively non-fussy way. It took us 6 hours to complete the journey and though our legs were gone , it was an exhilarating feeling. While I would not know the exact number of people who had undertaken the journey, I do think that a lakh may not be as wild a number as I had thought. If one were to be conservative, we could say that it was a few tens of thousands.   At 0100 when we completed the Pradakshana  so many people were beginning their journey and the whole atmosphere of faith and devotion needs to be seen to be

The next morning, I sat down to view Arunachalam from the comfort of our hotel & found myself transfixed at the sight. I sat there for over 2 hours, simply contemplating & it was one of the most calming feelings. The serene feeling continued with our visit to Ramanashram. There is something magical  in the ashram and one can sit there in contemplation for hours.

There was positivity all around and this trip was an absolute blessing. After a tiring schedule, guess I deserved to rest on an easy chair in the afternoon. And as I write this post from my home in Bengaluru just today morning we were discussing about  when the next  trip to Arunachalam should be planned for…

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Srinivas Nidugondi

was wondering how to describe myself and the first thing that came to mind is that I am caught up in a time warp and while the body has moved forward the heart says that the needle is stuck in the 30s! When I look back over the years I have only gratitude at where I am and what I have got in life. Of course. Once in a while I do yearn for more but most of the time I do see the positive side of life. On the professional front, with over 25 years under the belt, I never imagined that I would be deeply intertwined with the evolution of tech and digital and be part of many transformative initiatives across the Globe. Clearly a journey that began by default now reflects a tapestry that has been beautifully woven. Having been involved in launching and scaling financial products and services that have touched the lives of over a billion people it does give me immense satisfaction. What with these initiatives touching 13 of the 17 UN SDGs I do hope we will, one day, see us move from financial inclusion to wealth inclusion. Further, being part of the evolution of digital banking in India I helped launch the first mobile banking app, first digital only banking product, helping build a financial inclusion IT network and conceptualising and launching IMPS - IMPS and UPI have transformed the payments landscape in India. Starting off in the Smart Card industry, I worked on product concepts and help take them to scale and these include some of the largest ID card projects in the World. Of course, in this journey, there have been enough failures and these learnings have taught me much more. What keeps me going is change and the fascination for the new and so I thrive in anything transformational – be it business, product, process or people. I believe in tech for real development and as an angel investor look for sustainable growth ventures which, hopefully, will drive India’s growth story forward. As an avid reader I have a deep interest in philosophy, politics, public policy, international relations, history and spy thrillers. I am fascinated with limericks and penning them down is a great stress buster. Finally, the love for travel and food is something that gets me going. I do hope I will be able to write on some if not all of the above topics.

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