Ba3 - En manavaanil

Indians are accustomed to standing in queues. Be it the 4 AM queue for getting a berth in a Madurai bound train 90 days from then or be it a ticket to watch a mokkai movie given out by a larger than life movie actor. The queue for writing the scenarios for standing in queue is endless. There is one another queue that gets formed on the 'auspicious' days. The day of Vaikunta ekadasi is one such. I just couldnt resist having a darshan of Kesavan on that day. No frills attached darshan. I neither had an offering of coconuts / flowers/ kalkandu nor did I seek in return a hefty bounty in return. But lo., the queue for darshan was a longgggg winded one. Someone was exclaiming it to be short and that in a certain temple., the queue was running for 10 hours !! Gosh ! Is it that people are getting more pious, righteous, dharmic ? I think the necessity, problems, wants are increasing and that we are taking a shot cut route of bribing the God to get things done.

All said and done., it is good to have people coming to temples and spend some quality time on the temple grounds.

PS: I just couldnt resist the mention of serpentine queue formed for LKG admissions...

There seems to be umpteen different ways to live a life to hearts' content. This just stuck me when I came out from City center after watching the AGAM band perform. The band and the performers have their life of classical rock music, enjoying it every bit. The audience and the people @ the center seem to have a life of enjoyment in attending these band concerts and roaming in the center.

Then I think of the instances that happened @ the temple the previous day. There were sanyasis totally dedicated to the service of the lord, the preachers who are fully into religious teachings. There are philosophers living their life in research. The language enthusiasts who are zealous in learning the language of Tamil, Sanskrit. The music teacher of mine [and his family right from his grand father and his forefather to the small kid] is dedicated to the carnatic music.

Come to office and I see photography enthusiasts and trekking enthusiasts who pursue their passion diligently. Technology enthusiasts are aplenty to watch. With all these when I look back I sometimes long for a longer life to live all these lives in this single birth. God !! grant me this wish !!

Been a longg time since I blogged. These days I started going to temples almost every week. Not with the long wishlists to be presented to the lord. Just to go have darshan of the temple mainly and the presiding deity there. One temple which Iam very much attached to is the Kesava perumal temple in West mambalam. Told that me and my cousin were playing there in the sprawling grounds when our parents had darshan of the Lord. The temple is so old that it is established by Ramanujacharya and the deities are even older than his period. The Thaayar was found near a bush and she is the one who was found by Ramanujacharya. The Kesava perumal was then made as a presiding deity by Ramanujar.

Now to the glory of the temple. The Maharaja and the Land owners who were attached to the temple gave lands to the temple and the lord is the owner of almost the area of Mambalam and the surroundings. Due to mismanagement and corruption, the Lord is now the owner of his temple lands. Have heard that some 30 years back the Ramanujar utsavam was conducted in great fervour much like that in Sriperumbudur. The people from as far as Aminjikarai came in procession to take part in the 10 day festival. Even today, the temple is being managed and right on dot @ 8PM there will be haarthi and prasadam [two handful] is being distributed to all the devotees there. Sahasranama and other slokas are being recited there from 6PM onwards.

More about this temple in future posts.

On the one hand, a bit disappointed on BJP losing out.. On the other hand thank goodness a clear mandate has come out !! No left phew !! I really hope this time the government is decisive and handles the external, internal affairs well. May it look after the neighbours better. May it keep the friends of India near and watch over its enemies better. Yesterday night after a long time was praying for a good day today to India. May be million other Indians wished and Bharat Matha heard us all out. One waay or the other let it be the dawn of good governance !!

Its a world full of emotions out there. And the roads are the most interesting. The other day was driving to office and happened to stop for the signal. The auto in front of me stopped and out came some 4 kids, 3 adults !!! No it was not a share auto but the normal auto !! I was reminded of the scenes from movies. The kids had some bags filled with car cleaning napkins, dusters etc and the adults had bigger bags. They are the people who sell the goods at the signal. Earlier, I used to feel and many times almost got off the bike to go and drag those children to schools. Now after seeing this, Iam not sure. Are these people really poor ? Are they forced ? Pretty sure they cannot be a family but..... It is a complex world out there.

Is it happening even these days ? Yes. Whom are these being offered to ? Why the politicians and Gods. Well, look at the road side temples, mosques, Mary temples. They encroach the roads, make them narrower making the experience of the motorists harrowing! Even the statues of politicians which serve as full time open air toilet of the aviary birds add to this. Will any colony association take a stand that there will be no such nuisance installed on the roads ! Lost hope on the governments which are petty minded on vote bank politics. Till that happens, river of blood will continue to touch the feet of the gods !