We made a 3-days trip to Goa. It was a welcome break from the daily routine. We spent the first two days on the usual- sight-seeing in North Goa, South Goa ,the famous beaches, etc. Having finished off with that, we had no idea about what to do with ourselves on the third day.It was then that our hotel receptionist suggested we make a trip to a Mahadev temple at a place called Tambdi surla , about 80 kms from Goa. It turned out to be the best trip of the tour. The road leading to Tambdi surla was a delight. It wound through typical rural Goa, with lush green meadows and fields and forests. On the way, we halted at Bondla wildlife sanctuary, which again, was set amidst lush greenery , with a huge garden and a mini zoo that was very well maintained.
We reached Tambdi surla in good time and surprisingly the place was devoid of tourists except for us. The temple has been relocated stone by stone and is an architectural marvel. It is now set amidst hills with a gushing stream running all around the temple. There was no pujari. A small lit lamp was the only sign of human presence in that place. It all made me feel very calm.
I have never been too religious or spent a lot of time in temples. In fact, I always thought that the churches were better than temples (when it came to crowds and noise) to have some peaceful moments. I always preferred a calm and serene temple to a crowded, famous one. (Thiruvanaikaval Jambukeshwarar temple and Nagarajaswamy temple at Nagercoil are few of the serene ones that I've liked). But this Mahadev temple beat them all. I think, we were there at the right time; season-wise, it was just after the monsoon and crowd-wise, it was not the tourist season. All of us just took in the natural beauty and admired the whole setting. We spent a lot more time than we had planned to, soaking our feet in the pristine pure stream water. The best part of it was that it was completely untouched by humans-nature simply seemed pour out its beauty for us to see.
From now on, Goa will always be remembered by us , not for those world famous beaches or the historically important churches, but for that small temple, a small reminder of what nature can become and be if left unto itself.
