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Saturday, January 1, 2022

Shree Ramayana Yatra Express

நற்பண்புகள் அனைத்துக்கும் சிகரம் ஸ்ரீராமபிரான்.  அற்புதமான நகரம் திரு அயோத்தி.  தசரத சக்ரவர்த்திக்கு இக்ஷ்வாகு குலத்தனமாம் இராமனும் இலக்குவண பரத சத்ருக்கணனும் பிறந்த  செய்தியை அரசவை காவலர்கள்  யானைமீதேறி முரசறைந்து அறிவித்தனர்.  மக்கள் அளக்கமுடியாத இன்பம் கொண்டனர்.

రామ రామ  నీవారము గామా  రామ సీతా
రామ రామ  సాధు జన ప్రేమ  రారా

Rama Rama Nivaramu is a beautiful Thyagaraja keerthana.   Lord Rama, O Lord Sree Rama -  Are we not your’s (Nivaramu!).  O Lord Seetharama, our joy and love of pious people, please do come !!   Oh beautiful Lord Sree Rama, wearer of glittering garments, please do come.  Please come as the pure golden bangaru ornaments .. .. Rama, We are yours !   Here is a rendition by AIR Bhakthi Ranjani : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXn5Mp70wqY


Saint Thiyagayya in all his piety prays Lord Sree Rama to come.  We go to Temples daily and worship Emperuman – frequently we visit other Divyadesams and other important places where there are glorious ancient temples of our Emperuman and some newly built Temples too .. .. we travel by Car, vans, Bus, train and air too ! – with our families, with groups of devotees and more .. .. here is something on an initiative by Railways connecting Sree Rama.

Those of us booking train tickets online would know of ‘Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Ltd’ – simply IRCTC.  It was set up by the Ministry of Railways with the basic purpose of hiving off entire catering and tourism activity of the railways to the new Corporation, to professionalize and upgrade these services with public-private participation. Rail based Tourism in India will be the specific vehicle for achieving high growth in coordination with state agencies, tour operators, travel agents and the hospitality industry.  Indian Railways span global volumes in hospitality and catering sectors with services provided to 13 million passengers every day.



Recently, IRCTC has initiated a special tourist train for travellers along with the Government of India known as 'Dekho Apna Desh'. This programme is to promote domestic tourism in India.   The package covers the train journey, accommodation in AC hotels with veg meals including sight-seeing with AC vehicles, along with travel insurance and services of IRCTC Tour managers and many more.

This is more specific about one great package “Shri Ramayana Yatra Express”:  starting from Delhi, the first halt is at Thiru Ayodhya (Shri Ram Janmabhumi temple, Hanuman Temple, and Bharat Mandir at Nandigram); next halt is at Sitamarhi in Bihar (Sita Maa's birthplace along with Ram-Janki Temple in Janakpuri); next it moves to Varanasi, the holy Kasi,   Prayag, Shringverpur, and Chitrakoot by road travel. There would be  a night's stay in Varanasi, Prayag, and Chitrakoot.  Next is  Nasik- Trayambakeshwar temple and Panchvati; fifth halt is at  Hampi to have darshan at the ancient Krishkindha city – the concluding leg is to the divine island of Rameshwaram and after the train returns to Delhi on its 17th day.  The price for this trip is Rs 82,950 for the second AC and Rs 1,02,095 for the first-class AC.



It is reported that Indian Railways got  an overwhelming response for its Ramayana circuit tour! The first tour of ‘Shri Ramayana Yatra’ which started on 7 November 2021, saw 100 per cent occupancy.   According to the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation, the “Shri Ramayana Yatra” theme based pilgrimage tour by Dekho Apna Desh Deluxe air-conditioned tourist train on the Ramayana circuit covers the prominent sacred places that are associated with the life of Lord Rama. The tour package of 16 Nights/17 Days  

.. .. and in a bid to encourage vegetarian-friendly Indian Railways services, Shri Ramayan Yatra has been provided with ‘vegetarian certification’ by the Sattvik Council of India in association with Bureau Veritas (global audit partner), recently at Delhi’s Safdarjung railway station. With this, ‘Shri Ramayana Yatra’ theme based pilgrimage tour by Indian Railways’ Dekho Apna Desh Deluxe air-conditioned tourist train has become the world’s first vegetarian-friendly train service. The veg-friendly services of the national transporter are particularly dedicated to observant vegetarians and vegan passengers travelling to holy destinations across India in the Indian Railways. Besides, it is also being said that IRCTC base kitchens, executive lounges as well as station platforms will also be vegetarian certified in order to ensure vegetarian-friendly train travel across the Indian Railways network.

According to Indian Railways, sooner, train passengers will  get pure vegetarian food, but the facility will be available on selected routes. The railways ticketing and catering subsidiary, IRCTC, is planning to promote "vegetarian-friendly travel" by getting some trains "sattvik certified".

Interesting !

With regards – S. Sampathkumar
21st Dec 2021. 

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