Triplicane temple

Whenever we talk about Triplicane, what immediately comes to your mind?
Yes, it is Parthasarathy temple.
Few tidbits about the temple:

1. Located close to the Marina beach, this is one of the easily accessible Divya Desams in Chennai
2. Divya desams as you know are those temples on which the 12 aalwaars visited and sang pasurams. Thirumangai Aalwar has composed 10 pasurams on the triplicane temple.
3. Actual name of Triplicane is Thiru Alli Keni (Alli - Lily, Keni - Pond). Once this place was surrounded by Lily pond, so this name.
4. The temple has two entrances, the front entrance is located in Theradi theru (Car Street) and the back entrance is located in T.P. Koil street
5. T.P. Koil street stands for Thulasinga perumal koil street. It is actually Thelliya(Clear, Pure) Singam(lion) which later became Thulasingam. As you come through the back entrance, the first sannadhi you would encounter is thulasinga perumal (Narasimhar), hence the name of the street.
6. Let us now get back to the front entrance of the temple. You see a big pond on the front and the gopuram facing it.
7. As you enter, you notice Magizha maram (a type of tree, not sure of English name), which is the sthala virusham of this temple. Make sure you buy some thulasi flower for the perumal and lotus or other flower to Thaayar.
8. Further in, you would see Kodi maram (Dwajasthambam). It is a usual practice to prostrate before the Dwajasthambam (considered equivalent to prostrating before every sannadhi in the temple).
9. Moving further, near the archana counter, there is a small sannadhi for thumbigai aalwaar (Vinayagar).
10. You could the 10 pasurams on this divya desam inscripted on the wall just after joining the queue. These ten pasurams end with the words "thiruvallikeni kandeney"
11. As you get into the queue, you would see sannadhis of Thirukachchi nambigal, Vedantha Desikar, Udayavar Ramanujar, Manavala Maamunigal, Ramar Pattabishekam, Ranganathar.
12. Now you are near the moolavar sannidhi and you could see the tall, moustache faced perumal with his entire family. Moolavar's name is Venkata Krishnan. Urchavar's name is Parthasarathy.
13. Perumal here is none other than Lord Krishna who accompanied Arjuna in the war against Kauravas. (Partha (Arjun), Sarathy (Charioteer))
14. This is one of the very few (may be only one) temples where Perumal is seen with a moustache.
15. Perumal has Sangam (conch) on one hand and the other hand points to his feet (thiruvadi).
16. Such is the beauty of this perumal, your eyes will not move anywhere as you get close to him. You could recollect the aalwaar's lines "En amuthinai kanda kangal, mattru ondrinai kaana" (Having seen my lord, my eyes will not see anything else)
17. If you notice, the urchavar's face will have lot of spots, which is said to be caused by repeated arrows from Bhishma. Krishna beared the arrows on his face to safeguard Arjuna.
18. As you walk back towards the entrance, you would see the idols of 12 Aalwars, Vaishnava Acharyas, Anjaneyar facing the Ramar sannadhi.
19. Come round the main Undiyal and deposit your Kaanikai
20. Now time to an outer pradakshanam (round). You first will see the Vedavalli Thayar sannadhi.
21. Going further you see the Gajendra Varadhar, Madhurakavi Aalwar, Yoga Narasimhar, Andaal sannadhis and Ranganathar thiruvadi in that order
22. It is believed that worshipping the Narasimhar in Yoga position, will relieve us from any ailment/disease. Normally devotees buy a pack of salt and pepper and deposit in the outer prakaram of narasimhar sannadhi.
23. It is to be noted that always Thayar sannadhi would be located to the left of Perumal sannadhi and Andal sannadhi to the right.
24. Don't forget to look at the many carvings on the pillars and walls.
25. As you walk back towards the main entrance, you notice the madapalli (temple prasadam counter). You get a variety of prasadams here including Puliyotharai, Sakkara pongal, white pongal, laddu, athirasam, mysore pak, murukku, vadai. Mysore pak is my favorite here.
26. Coming outside, get the theertham from Ramar sannadhi near to mandapam.
27. You now completed one full round of the temple, it normally takes an hour to visit all sannadhis and come back (when there is no rush).
28. Temple is normally open from 6am till 12 noon and 4pm to 8pm. There is sufficient car park near the front entrance.
29. After visiting the temple, you could also plan going to the beach as it is very close.
30. On the T.P Koil street entrance, you could see Bharathiyar's memorial just near to temple entrance. This is the house where Bharathiyar stayed during his last part of his life. He is a staunch devotee of this lord and frequently visited the temple.
31. Let us worship Parthasarathy and seek his blessings to lead a life as per the Gita preached by him.