Homeless and Astray ! ! !

This is about a cute pup that I found near my house last week.

On Tuesday morning, as I was rushing to the bus stand, I heard a very tiny squeal. In my hurry to reach the bus stand before the bus arrived, I moved on. At the bus stand, the bus had not yet come and I had to wait.

The squeal came again and I turned to locate the source of the sound, and I was surprised at what I saw. A very tiny white puppy ( hardly 2 weeks old) was huddled on the outer steps of a house. The steps were also painted white and the puppy was hardly indistinguishable from the step.

As I watched, it ran down with its small baby-like steps and toddled on to the road. Fear gripped me as I saw it right in the middle of the road. Before I could do anything, a car came on. Thankfully nothing happened to the pup because the pup was in between the 4 wheels of the care as the car moved on.

Then a gang a boys came walking along, and seeing the pup, they carried it and placed it in the bushes in the far side of the road, away from the rushing traffic.

I contemplated carrying the pup to Blue Cross, but by the time I could decide, my bus came and I did not want to go late to office.

The whole day I was ridden with guilt, as to why did I not help out that poor pup. I was terrified that it would come under the wheels of a car. I just pray to God that it has found a better home or has reunited with its mommy dog.

Oh How cruel can this Beast get !!

There is no animal in this world more cruel and brutal than Man. Man is perhaps the only beast ever alive to kill for pleasure. All other animals kill for food. You can very well walk past a well-fed lion and it will not as much lay a paw on you (unless of course, you seem a threat to it).

I am very much disturbed by a video I chanced upon today. The video was about how the poor furry animals are tortured to death just to take their furry skins off their backs. Is that the craze for furs, that you kill a helpless animal and take that right fully belongs to it?

Not just furs, but even Silk is a product of brutal animal torture. In a small research I did about silk, I discovered that silk cocoons are dropped in boiling water with the pupa still in it. The pupae are killed in such a way because if they are allowed to come out, then it would make a hole in the silk thread.

Sad the way this beast called man takes undue advantage of poor animals. Often all it is done in the name of Custom. Indian custom values silk a lot as much as the Westerners value fur. Many a time, the voices that are raised against these brutality are throttled and subdued.

I am sure I ll have no say against not wearing silk for my wedding. Again .. Custom !!

But there is something I can do. All my other clothes are cotton, or synthetic material. By refusing silk, I am contributing my part in preventing cruelty to animals. I hope many others do so too.

Fear the Lord????

"The Lord pitieth them that fear Him"

- This quotation from the Bible on the display board of a prayer hall caught my eye as I was passing it the other day. Since, I do not have in-depth knowldege of the Bible, I do not know the real meaning of this quotation.

But, it hit me as strange that we should fear God. For me, God is someone l love rather than fear. God is like a parent who loves and cherishes me, His daughter.

How can you be happy if your fear your Father? You must not fear Him, but fear making Him unhappy. God is unhappy when we sin or go wrong.

We have also heard many parents threatening their children with fear of God. "Sonna pechu kekalenna Saami kannu kutthidum" (If you don't listen to me, God will pluck your eyes out)

Grotesque! Why would God do that to a baby??

So, I do not fear God. I fear making Him unhappy. Thats why I try to be a good person.

Then He shall be happy to have me with Him when I transcend over to His world.

Love God. Dont fear Him!

An enchanting Love Story

Seeing the title of this entry, DO NOT assume that I am going to narrate the love story of a man and a woman.

This is the love story of two cats.

The other morning, as I was relaxing with a cup of coffee, I heard fierce mewing outside. I thought two cats were fighting and went to the balcony to have a look.

What I saw was both amusing and very sweet. Two cats were flirting with each other. :-)

Both cats were white with a splash of golden brown on their white coats. The female was thin and graceful. The male was fat and had a bushy tail. Both felines were sitting atop the closed well in our compound.

The female was sitting and was giving out coquettish sounds. The male was striding up and down at a distance from the female and watching her intensely.

After sometime, the female got up and walked away. Perhaps she hoped the male would follow her, but the ass pretended ignorance and began chewing through grass.

The female then came back and rubbed herself against the wall. When she saw that she finally had the male's attention, she strode away, her tail swishing and hump moving sexily. :-)

This time the male followed her, and watched her lustily.

Unfortunately, I was getting late for work and had to get ready. I am sure that by this time, they would have united in love, and pretty soon the female would be giving birth to a lovely litter of sweet kitties.

Wating for their arrival. :-)

The Temples of Marriage

We covered two temples in the evening - Thirumanancheri and Thirumangalakudi. It is believed that if unmarried men and women offer their prayers at this Temple, they would get married soon. So, my parents had taken a very innocent "me" to the temples to pray for my early marriage.

I swear I had no idea this was why we were visiting these Temples. :-)

Our first stop was Thirumanancheri. As in other cases, the route was scenic and lovely.

At Thirumanancheri, we had to park the car a long way off from the Temple owing to traffic congestion. We walked the rest of the way to Temple. A self-proclaimed local guide pointed to us the route to the Temple. While we walked, we had no idea that this guy was trailing us. When we reached the temple, we stopped at a flower shop to get pooja items. We then realized that Mr. Self Proclaimed Guide owned a flower shop there too. He picked up a fight with the shopowner of the shop and said that we are his customers as he brought us here. Weirdo!

Inside the Temple, there was a pooja done for all the prospective brides and grooms. We had to sit in a long queue with a garland around my neck while the pooja was being performed.

After the pooja, we were given instructions on how to worship the Lord till we get married. :-)

Thirumanancheri over, we proceeded to Thirumangalakudi. This Temple was not crowded as the earlier one. It was vast and empty. A peace pervaded the atmosphere inside the Temple. We performed our pooja and came out of the Temple.

The sojourn over, we the tired but happy lot proceeded back to Mayavaram.

A short rest !!

After a long route from Thirunallar to Mayavaram, we very totally tired out. Also, our stomachs were full of prasad and Orange juice. So, we were not really in a mood to eat anything. Still, we went to a hotel that way very crowded even at 3 pm.

After a small wait, we managed to get a table. I ordered parota and subji, which appeared almost immediately. We cruised through our food and finished it off with a steaming cup of hot coffee.

Suddenly there was a commotion at the hotel. The huge crowd at the hotel got into the nerves of the manager. He lost his patience and started screaming at one of the customers.

We finished our food and quietly went out of the hotel.

Our room in the lodge was a welcome retreat for us. I washed my feet and plopped on the bed. I was bushed. But, I was not to sleep, because we had to leave at 4 pm.

My uncle came into the room that I shared with my mother, and kept us laughing with amusing anecdotes. That was fun, as it drove my sleep away.

At 4, we got ready again and proceeded to a second round of ceaseless travel.

Sri Dhabaranyeswarar - Thirunallar

Sri Dharbaranyeswarar is the presiding deity at Thirunallar. But, the Temple is better known as Shaneeswaran Temple. People cursed with Shani's interference in their planetary positions throng the Temple for redemption. Incidentally, Shani plays an important part in the planetary positions of my horoscope. :-)

The route to Thirunallar was long. We slept for a while along the way. Also the cool pleasantness of morning was long gone and the sun began to beat down fiercely.

En route, our car was hailed down by a group of self-proclaimed toll collectors. We could make out that they were frauds, but we couldn't fight with them for fear they would get violent. As a result, we shelled out Rs. 150 for nothing. All the injustice done in the name of the Lord. :-(

At the Temple, there was a long line of devout devotees waiting for a darshan of the Lord. There was a special darshan and a super special darshan. After some thinking, we decided to take the super special darshan for which we had to shell out Rs.600 for five people.

There was a large, clear lake inside the Temple. I carefully went down the steps of the lake and sprinkled the Holy water on my head. We then went inside the temple.

After lugging in a queue for sometime, we finally got the darshan we wanted. We had to see Sri Dharbaranyeswarar and his consort before seeing Lord Shaneeswaran.

Such is the power of Lord Shaneeswaran and fear of His curse that even Christians thronged the temple. One Christian family I saw wiped out the vermillion and ash off their foreheads as soon as they came out of the sanctum. :-)

While we were coming out, prasad was shoved into our hands. It was white rice with a sprinkling of vegetables in it. It was very hot and tasteless. Till date, I am not able to make out if it was curd rice or Pongal. :)

After swallowing the prasad, we had a glass of Orange juice outside the Temple, and proceeded back to our lodge in Mayavaram. We were totally tired out and slept through the journey back.

Sri Parameswara - Thirukadaiyur

Our next stop was the Sri Parameswara Temple at Thirukadaiyur. The Temple is also known as the Abirami Amman Temple after Lord Parameswara's consort.
The route from Vaitheeswaram to Thirukadaiyur was beautiful and scenic. We passed through a village that was totally untouched by civilization. A single road passed through the village. As our car careened through the road, I was touched by the simplicity of the village. Green fields, brown huts, and simple people. This was a place which did not stink of dirty politics or communal tensions.
Civilization started appearing on the main road to Thirukadaiyur. We reached the Temple by 11.30 am.
The Temple was crowded. This is the Temple where men celebrate their 60th birthday by re-marrying their wives. On this day, many such marriages were being held and the Temple wore a festive look.
We went into the Sannadhi (sanctum) of Goddess Abirami. As with the custom in all temples, the Goddess wore a 9 yard saree (madisar), and loked really gorgeous in that.
After our prayers, we came out and walked around the temple. This temple also had an elephant. It was a baby elephant, but still looked huge. But God! It was so cute.
One thing that spoilt the mood of the whole occassion was a public toilet outside the temple. It was a paid service. People had to pay a Rupee to relieve themselves in a dirty waterless cubicle. It was pathetic. What was more odd was a nasty bitching old man outside the toilet. You had to pay him the money for using the potty, and also tell him whether u want to pee or shit.
Terrible. I refused to use that stinkpot.
We hurried out of the temple. We really had to hurry because we were told that the next temple would close at 1 pm. Our next stop was the Shani Bhagawan temple at Thirunellar.

Vaidyanatha Swamy - Vaitheeswaram Temple

The Vaitheeswaram Temple, near Mayavaram, was our first stop. The temple is the abode of Lord Vaidyanatha Swamy (Shiva) and his consort Thayyalnayagi.
The route from Mayavaram to Vaitheeswaram is scenic. Lush green fields, lovely lakes, and little huts dotting the countryside. The very place seemed to have God's hand in it. Nature in its glory looked at us from every side.
The Temple was gorgeous. A number of small shops lined the entrance of the temple. We bought uppu (salt) and vellam (jaggery) from a shop. It is a ritual to dissolve the jaggery in the waters of the temple tank. We also bought pooja items for the archana.
The entrance to the Temple was magnificent. The rich beauty and architecture of the place almost took my breath away. Its a wonder how such beautiful architecture was designed and given form in the early ages.
After buying the required items from the shop, we proceeded directly to the Temple tank. It was a huge tank with clear green water. Beautiful. As we went down the steps of the tank, a guard there told us that we are not to dissolve the jaggery in the water as it has been recently cleaned. We were told that dissolving jaggery in the Temple tank has been banned now.
So, we just washed our hands in the water and went to the inner sanctums of the Temple.
We first paid our respects to Lord Ganesh. A priest lead us on to the other sanctums. Handing me a paper plate containing lamps with ghee, he instructed me to light the lamps at some of the sanctums, which I did.
Proceeding through the temple, we covered all the sanctums. The Temple was huge and walking around in it was really a good exercise.
The last sanctum we covered was of Chevvai. This is one of the planets in astrology. It is believed that paying respects at this shrine removes all doshams or faults caused in a horoscope by this deity.
After the pooja, we sat for a while on the cool floor of the Temple and watched the Temple Elephant and his antics. I offered a banana to the Elephant and he blessed me with a tap of his trunk on my head. :-) .. Sweet!!
An amusing thing happened next. A person offered half a coconut to the elephant. The elephant pushed it beneath his foot. The mahout tried to push it away using a stick and tried to admonish the elephant. But, the elephant pushed it back beneath his foot and stepped on it. The coconut split into many pieces. For this, he got admonished by the mahout. I could have sworn that the elephant was smiling mischievously.
Our first stop having completed successfully, we moved out of the temple. We bought two bottles of mineral water and proceeded to the next Temple.

Mini Pilgrimage !!

Last week, I had been on a mini pilgrimage to Mayiladuthurai (formerly Mayavaram) and places around it. We left by bus on Friday night, and reached Mayavaram by Saturday morning. Its a beautiful place. The place reminded me so much of my native village Lalgudi. There was an air of quiet serenity there.

We were tired out by the bus journey. Yet, we had to get ready by 7 am, and begin our trip.

Forcibly freshening ourselves up, we got ready and had breakfast at Mayura's Lodge close to our hotel. Food was very good. I had vada and dosa. I can write verses on the coffee that was served there. Usually, I don't drink coffee anywhere else except at home, because the coffee served at hotels is not upto my taste. But this coffee was very good.

We booked a cab and began our sojourn at 7.30 am. We covered Vaitheeswaran Temple, Thirukadaiyur Temple, and Thirunallar Temple in the morning, and Thirumanancheri Temple and Thirumangalakudi Temple in the evening. I will describe each of these temples in consequtive blog entries.

At night, we had dinner at Kaliyakudi Coffee Shop (presumably a big name in Mayavaram). True to its name, the food was very good and was affordable.. :-) I had chilli parota and dosa and washed it down with coffee.

We then came back to the hotel and slept like a log.

On Sunday morning, we checked out of our hotel, and boarded a bus to Madras. By 4 pm, we were home.

The trip was very good and I enjoyed every moment of it.