My divine experience in guruvayoor temple

 Having completed 11 readings of Narayaneeyam, I wanted to visit Guruvayoor and have the darshan of the Lord.  Kannan therefore booked two months in advance the same hotel where we stayed last time 'Hotel Pushpanjali' for October 4 and 5, Friday and Saturday.  Friday coincidentally was my birth star 'Chithira' and it was the second day of Navaratri and the first Friday.  We reached the temple at around 12:30 pm, had a sumptuous lunch at brahmana samooham hall and got back to our hotel room.  We freshened up and joined the queue at about 1:45 pm.  The 2 pm darshan had already closed and so we prepared ourselves for a wait of 2 hours to see the 4:30 pm darshan.  To our extreme fortune, though there seemed to be a crowd, at the time we came inside the Sanctorum, there was a very light crowd and by His divine grace, we could go right up to the front.  It was brightly lit up ( which again is rare) so that we could have a very clear and wonderful look at the smiling child lord guruvayoorappa in koorma avatara alankaram.  It was a mesmerizing sight and left an impression on my mind for a long time.  By the time we bought the payasam prasadam and came back to our room, it must have been about 6 pm.  Though I wanted to rest a bit in preparation for the Nirmalyam darshan at 3 Am, I couldn't sleep.  

So leaving kannan, I went back at 7 pm to see the seeveli.   I had no idea at that time that there are two seevelis every single day.  One at 7 pm with just the main elephant 'Gopikannan' and the other at 9:30 pm with 5 elephants including the main elephant Gopikannan.  I took part in the 3 circumambulations with loud chanting and singing of 'Hare Rama hare Krishna' mantra with the small golden statue of the Lord carried on the elephant by the keezhshanthi (devaswom staff).  The wonderful part here was everytime we came to the front, I had another clear darshan of the lord.  This was all three times for all three circumambulations.  It was like the Lord was gracing me again and again and I was drinking and drinking again the divine ambrosia of his smiling grace bestowing face.  This took about an hour and by 8 pm, I went back to the room highly excited and extremely happy.

By 8:45 pm both of us came to assess the situation of the crowd for the Nirmalyam and were shocked to see about 150 people already seated.  I was wondering what to do when one 'miracle person' came to me from right in front of the queue and told us one of us could have a seat in his place.  At that time, I was under the impression that for some reason,he had decided not to wait for the Nirmalyam and therefore was giving his place for me.   But later on I realised that if it was not Lord Guruvayoorappan himself who had brought me there at the right time, none of the following events would have happened.   But later, he said both kannan and myself could sit in that place.  Having secured our place in the queue, kannan asked me to sit as he wanted to rest for a couple of hours and said he would come back by 11:45pm  after bath and sit in my place after which I could go for my bath.  I agreed and sat there.  At around 9:15 pm, this miracle person came back and asked me and two other women if we would like to see the Seeveli.  I was taken aback because I thought I had seen it and the Lord has had enough of me!  But the dear compassionate lord  had more in store for me.  This person told us that it was the second Seeveli with 5 elephants and so we went with him.  He showed us a spot where we could safely keep our footwear and then led us backwards into the temple.  The five caprisoned elephants were a sight to behold and the difference this time was that there was both Krishna and guruvayoorappan on the main elephant and also 3-4 people atop each elephant with white chamarams and other paraphernalia.  Again each time we went along with the elephants chanting and clapping and singing and taking the lords darshan when we came right at front all the 3 times and making prostration in front of the elephants some 4 times in each round when the conch was blown thrice in different designated points in every circumambulation. It was a divine experience that cannot be described in words.   There were women and men from all sections of society and we were all one here in our love for the lord.

Once we completed the Seeveli, this person somehow made us stand right in front so that when the elephants crossed for one last time, the rope barricade was lifted and some 20 of us fortunate ones stood again right in front of the Lord and I was bang in the middle and the lord in front of me.  Oh! it was like I wanted time to stand still there.  Great experience though there was some jostling and pushing, I stood rooted to the spot enjoying what my eyes showed me.

Then this godsend person took us inside where the lamps around the Sanctum Sanctorum had to be lit.  We were given lit tall torches and we had to light the oilfilled wickers of the numerous lamps to light the walls of the Lord.  I could light about 40-50 lamps and again it was a lifetime blessing to do this on a Navaratri day Friday and I felt deeply blessed.

After the last darshan, some 100-150 of us got the trippuga ghee prasad, just drops of the divine ghee that is supposed to cure one of all ailments.  We happily partook of the same and came to the backside and then I had the wonderful opportunity of seeing that the krishnanaattam was going to start with some 7-8 beautifully made up dance artists.

This was at about 10:30 pm and it was supposed to last for 3 hours or so.  Our group of 3 women quickly decided among ourselves that we would go and have our baths, change and get ready for the Nirmalyam darshan and then come to witness the krishnanaattam for some time.  We accordingly came back around 11:30 and then I sat and recited Lalitha Sahasranamam for the day and took darshan of lord Ganesha there and thus began another auspicious day.  After recitation of the Lalitha Sahasranamam, the other younger lady Leela came along with me to watch the krishnanaattam.  It was a graceful dance sequence where 2-3 men were singing and narrating the various stories of lord Krishna for the dance troupe along with traditional accompaniments.  We watched this for almost an hour between 12 and 1 Am and here too there were about 100-150 people in the audience seated on the floor.  I got a good partially standing and sitting spot near the steps where we get the free sandal prasad after regular darshan.

Around 1 Am, we returned back to our queue.  At about 2 Am we reached the final maze . The next hour was a bit difficult as I was feeling terribly sleepy.  I however managed to chant the Vishnu sahasranama in my mind.

Nirmalyam @ 3 Am was again a divine beautiful experience as we are allowed right in the front of the Lord for a slightly longer duration of few more holy seconds to enjoy his beauty and divinity.  By 3:20 we had completed our darshan.  We came out and had some sugarless hot coffee outside the temple entrance where I could see the new renovations of the roof and sculpture of the nine avatars and some other significant statues on either sides leading towards the entrance.  We made few small purchases to gift and for my kitchen needs and came back to our room.  Rested for 3 hours till 7 Am.  Got up, freshened up and took an auto to mammiyoor Shiva temple and had a good darshan there also.  Had breakfast at Aryas, checked out and left to the station at 9:15 to take the guruvayoor express to trissur and then the 10:40 vande Bharath from there to Kollam.

Our trip to Madurai and Trichy for Onam 2023

 Our Onam trip to Madurai and Trichy 2023

On 26th August morning at around 6:30 Am, we left by car 🚘driven as always by Kannan to Madurai via Tenkasi -Senkottai. We had our breakfast in Punalur in Aryaas and continued our journey and reached Madurai by 12:15 Am. We stayed at Hotel North Gate. Had our lunch in the restaurant of the same hotel and rested for some time. In the evening, we got ready by 5:30 pm and went by auto to visit the famous Madurai Meenakshi Sundareshwarar temple. After a couple of hours of wait in the queue, we had a nice darshan of both deities. As we were coming out, some people were distributing tamarind rice prasadam. We were fortunate to get it and after going around a bit, we came back to our hotel by auto after light dosa dinner outside. 

The next morning 27 Aug, we left after the complimentary breakfast here by around 10 Am to Trichy. We reached our hotel Mayavaram Lodge by lunch time, had our South Indian lunch in the 369 canteen attached to the hotel and rested. In the evening, we visited the famous Malakottai pillaiyar temple which was only a 5 minute distance away. The climb of 220+ steps was a good exercise and we felt great to see the huge deity and the city of Trichy all around from the top of the hill. We also had darshan of the Shiva (Thayumanavar) and Parvathy deities little down on the hill. Got many bananas as prasadam that were being distributed by some devotees. We came back to our hotel for the night and had our dosa dinner in the same canteen. 

The next day, 28 Aug we just rested in the morning as the weather was very hot and about 3:30 pm, we left for Srirangam in our car. It was a 20 minute distance from our hotel. It was an important day being the pavitra utsavam day or poochandi sevai day, which is a once in a year ritual. The temple was therefore crowded. We had to wait about 1 hour in the queue and then we had a good darshan. We then went around our hotel and did a bit of shopping, mainly in the Khadi bhavan and then had chaat for dinner at BG Naidu sweets that was a stone's throw away from our hotel. 

The next day 29 Aug, Thiruonam day, we left early around 7:30 Am and visited the awesome Jambukeshwara temple. It is a beautiful huge shiva temple that also has a shrine for Goddess Akhilandeshwari. We had a very good darshan as it was not at all crowded. After our temple visit, we had our breakfast in a vegetarian hotel just outside the temple by name Mani vilas. It was tasty. From there, we went to another divya desam of Lord Vishnu by name Azhagiya Manavalan temple. The deities are Venkateshwara and Padmavathy onthe left with utsava moorthy at the front side. There is a separate shrine for Tiruppannan azhwar. 

We came back to our hotel for lunch and rested. In the evening, we went around the market area again and again had a chaat dinner in the same place as before. 

The last day 30 Aug we left Trichy early by 7:30 Am and reached a place called Melur that was 30 kms before Madurai. Here we had our breakfast at a newly opened vegetarian restaurant Susee Bhavan. It was good. 

We continued our journey to reach Rajapalayam for a simple lunch of curd rice/ sambar rice at our usual place Ashok Bhavan, which we saw to our dismay was faring poorly. 

We continued our journey to reach Srivilliputhur, where we visited the famous Vishnu- Andal temple at the avatara site of Andal. It is an awesome temple with a huge reclining Vishnu, brahma from his navel and Goddess Lakshmi at his feet. We also had darshan of the Andal shrine and a very beautiful Lakshmi Narasimha shrine here. Outside, we treated ourselves to some fresh paalkoa in the factory outlet. 

We came back to Kollam via Punalur after picking up our Omi from Sumiran Kennel and reached home by 6:40 pm. Had a light dinner of steamed sweet corn. 

My Solo Guruvayoor visit

 My solo trip to Guruvayur

This is my second visit to Guruvayur by myself. The first time I went, I only went alone one way and was later joined by my family and we returned together. 

But this time, I was all by myself for a day and half in the temple precincts. I immensely enjoyed both my temple visit and the journey by train to and fro. 

I took my first train at 6:55 Am in kollam station and reached Trissur at 10:55 Am. From there I took the passenger train to Guruvayur which left at 11:30 Am and reached by 12 pm. I took an auto to the temple from the station as I didn't know how far it was. My hotel room was within the temple precincts. After I checked in and freshened up, I went to check on the queue and had the shock of my life. It was a serpentine queue starting at one end and ending at another direction with people still joining in. So I decided to have my lunch. When I came back at 1 pm, I found that the queue had closed for the 2:30 pm darshan and I was told that I could join the queue but would get only the 4:30 pm darshan. Still I decided to join the queue. 

A bachelor guy from Malappuram was sitting beside me and he asked me if I would like partaking the paal payasam he had booked in advance as he didn't have anyone to take it home to, his mom being a diabetic.  Would anybody in the right frame of mind (and health) say No to that? 

 Being by myself, I wouldn't have known to get the payasam ticket before I joined the queue. This was in the noon. 

I learnt many other procedures about the temple from the same person and saw many wonderful sights that will be ingrained in my memory for a long time. Both times I wanted to see the Lord, I had to wait in queue for 3.5 hours. But since We were the first lot after the 2:30pm group of people, we had darshan almost immediately after 4:30 pm. 

Whatever few sorrows I had taken to share with the Lord seemed suddenly so petty and trivial after listening and observing random people and families (what else would one do for 3.5 hours) and when I finally stood in front of Him and looked at his enchanting smile in the form of a bow wielding little Lord Rama, I stood there mesmerized and smiling too, unaware of myself. What a wonderful experience! And when I was told to move on, I realized I was filled with joy. And then came the three glassfuls of paal payasam prasadam, which I never expected to get.  I felt doubly blessed. 

The next darshan I had was the same night when I joined the queue at 11:30 pm for the Nirmalyam darshan at 3 Am the next morning. Both darshans were equally awesome. But I especially loved the feel of actually waking the Lord because we were right in front of the still closed Main temple door and were chanting the holy name and sharp at 3 Am the doors were thrown open and we were the first and only 40 or so people to be fortunate enough to get the Nirmalyam darshan.(this is the Lord as he slept and is awoken in the previous day's alankaram). The queue was closed again and the next set of people could see the Vagacharthu darshan, which was after the Lord was decorated. 

Also the Camaderie between us people waiting to see the Lord was so much present especially because of the absence of mobile phones with us. If we have humans becoming only e-social these days, in the absence of our phones, we again become social beings.  I could feel how that in itself was a 'feel good' factor. I also got to know so much about the lives of the fisherfolk family from Cherai near Ernakulam, whose young daughter was sitting beside me. She narrated how they had to shift to a school camp for a week during the floods a couple of years ago after their home had flooded and also talked about their day to day lives. This was in the night. The crowd of people for the Nirmalyam would confuse you as to the time of the day or night. 

Only some people dozing off and on would remind one of the dead of night time that it was. I realized how fortunate and blessed a life I have been given on listening to these stories of people from different strata of society. People had mixed reactions when I told I was there by myself. Most said I was brave, but a few looked on with suspicion. It didn't matter because I was here to see the Lord and nobody's opinion mattered. 

After Nirmalyam darshan,i went to my hotel room and rested for 4 hours. By 8:30 Am, I was back in the temple and was in the inner sanctum (not the innermost where we see the Lord, but the outer circle within the sanctum, which didn't require you to stand in queue,but you wouldn't be able to see the Lord unless there was no crowd) . I did 3 pradakshinams, chanted the Vishnu Sahasranaam and just sat there till 11:30. By 12 I was back in the room and after half an hour I was again back at Guruvayur station to take the train to Trissur and from there, my return journey by Venad to Kollam. Reached home at 9 pm after an eventful, fruitful, maiden solo tour. So on the whole, I felt greatly blessed and I now look forward to my next solo trip. 

The Mobile phone story

  In many European countries, some days are observed as Pollution-free days when people, including office goers, use only either cycles or walk to their workplace.  What a beautiful concept!, I used to think.

In a similar thread of thought, I used to wonder if it would be good to have mobile phone free days. People are nowadays attending Vipassana camps which mandate keeping away from electronic gadgets including phones during the tenure of the camps. 

 Sometimes, technology and the need to feel connected can get into us so much that it takes away our need for personal freedom. How many of us can sincerely keep away from WhatsApp, at least for one day? Sometimes, I wish I could go back to those days when mobile phones were unheard of.

  A couple of weeks ago,  an unexpected big wave totally immersed my mobile phone when I had only wanted to immerse my feet in the waves of the beach near my home. My ‘not  so old' Phone ‘died’ as a result. 

Though I was initially saddened as I only had had a glimpse of the pictures I had posed to amidst nature only a few moments back,  but which was now lost forever,  I told myself, here was my 'Golden Chance' to live without a phone, at least for a few days.

 I started a new day as always with my study chanting  of the Lord's name. At one point I got stuck . I went to my phone to listen to the downloaded audio file before returning back disappointed to my photocopy and completed my chanting as best as I could manage. 

 The calling bell chimed. And it was our iron wallah. What did I owe him? I had no clue as I always put that in the notepad on my phone.   I had to go out to buy our provisions for the kitchen.. My list again was lost as it was again in the notepad on my phone.. 

To add to my frustration, the landline was down. It had been down for a few days now, but none of us had bothered for obvious reasons. Could I call someone to lament? No, I didn't have either my cell phone or my land phone now. And all my contacts were stored in my cell phone 

 OK, let me motivate myself,i thought. Let me make Rash Bora. I had craved eating the sweet for some time now.  Yes. OK, so where was the recipe?. Oh no, I had it saved in Pinterest on my phone again. Now I was beginning to become sad. 

 My new maid, who hadn’t turned up on Saturday, came a few minutes late, and I looked at her menacingly. She started ranting as to how many times she had called me on Saturday and why hadn't I called her back. Definitely, I would have had some missed calls on my phone. I briefly narrated to her the tragedy of my phone. 

 The calling bell Again. I rushed to see that I had an Amazon delivery. I had ordered a book. Thank God I tell myself now. At least I can read my book in peace. 

Can I have the OTP Madam? He says as I'm extending my hand to receive the book.  Grinning sheepishly, I briefly narrate the  calamity to my phone again.

Chitra, You better browse and see what phone you want, said my husband this morning, to which I bravely replied. Let me be without a phone for a month at least.

 Now I wonder, can life go on normally without a cell phone, even for an ordinary soul like me? 

I sit with my new book in the Sit out and our dog Omi is scratching away. OK, let me give you a bath. I say to Omi and myself and an hour later, Omi  is sleeping blissfully after a refreshing bath and a hot grub. I look at him enviously and think to myself what a fortunate “mobile phone free” life he has!!

Sensitivity to the mute - a strength or weakness

 Sensitivity towards the mute - a strength or a weakness

This incident happened a few years back when my daughter was a student in a popular Co- education school in our town in Kerala.  

One afternoon, while it was nearly lunch time, my daughter heard some deep wailing noises, which she was quick to identify was coming from a young dog.. To her absolute shock and dismay, she soon realised that it was coming from within her school.. Incidentally, a young dog had accidentally ventured into the school compound and a care taker woman was beating it mercilessly in her attempt to drive the dog away.. My daughter, the animal lover that she is could not bear this sight unravelling right in front of her eyes and she started yelling and crying herself in the midst of her class and pleaded with her class teacher permission to go and set right the situation.. Meanwhile the little dog in question had taken some more severe beatings and supposedly fled for its remaining life.. 

My daughter with some friends in tow marched to the Principal( a Christian Father) and with tears still streaming down her face narrated the cruelty meted out to the stray by the school care taker, hoping that a little punishment or atleast a harsh word of caution be given to the woman in question. 

But what left my daughter shattered for many days afterwards was that the Principal not only did anything in the issue, but asked her if all her tears was just for a stray dog and that if she was a member of Maneka Gandhi's group.. 

Leave alone the action and insensitivity of the lady care taker who was the perpetrator, which gave my child so much grief, but the inaction and apathy of the protector, in this case the Principal, definitely did  

her more damage. This incident is definitely one of her bitter experiences in school life. 

The Thankless Job

 

The Thankless job

We often pass a busy intersection in the small town where I live and my husband has sighed more than once looking at the traffic policeman saying what a thankless job it is, rain or shine,  standing and directing traffic and each time immediately, I am reminded of my own chores as a homemaker making me wonder how thankful a job it is in comparison.

I have been passionate about cooking right from my teenage years.. We used to buy a magazine 'Women's Era' (now I'm sure, there will be an issue with even its name if it was around) and there used to be recipes in it, which I used to try and surprise my mother. Later I used to look up cook books(I have a vast collection of those) I used to cook when I was happy or sad, when there was a birthday or an anniversary, when I was going to visit people or when people visited me, when someone had a house warming or when somebody's daughter conceived. Cooking for me was a genuine way of conveying that i cared and shared in their joy. My Google continues to throw up recipes and  even now, I zealously try out those that have caught my fancy.

But why is cooking done by a homemaker so taken for granted?  Although I am not duty bound to cook for my guests, be it the extended family, or friends, I am still traditional enough to do it.. But what irks me is the lack of appreciation or gratitude or gratefulness for all the effort that has been put in to turn out a thoughtful dish.  When one spends say a couple of hours to prepare a meal, is it too much to expect a word of appreciation that takes a couple of seconds?? A simple 'Thank you, I enjoyed it'... Wouldn't it completely reward all our labour? But No.. It never comes and we condition ourselves not to expect anymore.

So, i am telling myself this nowadays..when you have people around- don't fret and labour alone in the kitchen.. Just dress up well and casually say "Let's go to the new restaurant" and enjoy a good meal. It is definitely not worth the slogging anymore.  This way, your back doesn't ache for a couple of days later, you don't need to wait for that word of appreciation and above all that, Nobody minds anymore.. And definitely don't forget to pay a courteous return visit!!

My favorite bird

 My favorite bird. 

If  you are thinking about the more colourful creatures of the feathered family like peacocks or parakeets, I'm sorry you will be disappointed to know that my favorite happens to be the simple plain looking Crow. 

I have been an admirer and an avid watcher of this very common bird and I have gathered a lot of information from various sources that never fail to fascinate me. 

One evening, I was walking in my terrace as is my routine at sunset time.  I noticed a small bird which by its movements, I gathered, had just learnt to fly.. But what initially bothered me was that it was constantly being pursued by a Crow.    On closer observation, I realised that the young bird was not a crow.  After a while, I couldn't spot the two anymore, I continued to walk, but constantly kept looking around and at a distance on top of a coconut tree, I saw to my deepest thrill and shocking surprise, that the Crow was actually pursuing a young cuckoo (which after being hatched by the crow obviously) and finally succeeded in feeding it some food scraps it had found.. My love for the bird grew many fold watching this beautiful scene unfold before my very eyes... What a great lesson to be learnt by us Humans..!! Till then, I had only known that the cuckoo laid it's eggs in the crows nest and the crow hatched it without the knowledge that it was not one of its own..It brought to my mind a beautiful couplet by the famous Tamil poet Thiruvalluvar. 

A few months later, I happened to read an article in Reader's Digest about the famous cartoonist R. K. Lakshman wherein he is asked by the interviewer why the common crow figured in most of his cartoons to which, much to my delight, his reply is ' because the crow is my favorite bird'.  He also says that the crow is the most intelligent of all birds. Very true, I thought to myself. 

There are a lot of things we humans learn from nature and definitely in that respect, the crow is a perfect teacher.. 

Decades back, when we were living abroad for a few years, the list of the things I missed so much about India included the humble Crow. 

It is said that the crow rises very early(I definitely am yet to see a sleeping crow) 

It takes a bath twice a day.. I have seen that whenever I have a basin of water laid out, few crows dip and wash themselves at dusk time.. I haven't observed this in the early mornings as I am not such a early riser myself. 

A crow has only one partner for life.. That was really great to know.

A crow does not take any food after sunset.. That was really awesome to learn.. Won't it help us humans a good deal in Emulating that? 

Making a great noise on spotting food and sharing it with other crows unlike  human beings who are more selfish and again making a cacophony when one of its fellow beings is hurt or in some danger again unlike us who are indifferent (road accident victims -how many of us stop to help?) 

One of my favorite pastimes is watching the interaction between my dear dachshund Omi and the Crow.  Whenever Omi creates a fuss eating his food, I only have to lay the plate a little further for the crows to arrive.. And suddenly Omi is all hungry and there is a competition and everytime to Omi's distress, the crows are successful in snatching away few beak fulls. At other times I have watched Omi trying to catch up with the speed of the crow and ultimately look bewildered when they are only half an inch apart now and the next minute, the Crow takes flight.. I love the expression of Omi at such times.. It is a mix of helplessness and admiration.!!  I pat him on the head and tell him 'You may be black too Omi, but you are not a Crow'😊