Saluting The Sultan

The Sultan of Multan - Virender Sehwag - The Nawab of Najafgad…

We bow to you.

What an innings in Chennai today. He decimated the South African bowling attack. Scoring 300 in 278 balls. The fastest triple century in test cricket. And he joins Sir Don Bradman and Brian Lara - having scored triple century twice in test cricket.

Look at this King’s record. Ten successive times in test, when he went on from 100 to complete 150…

And talking to Ramiz at end of day today, the Emperor of Indian Test Cricket said : “I had to do this today. For it hurt being dropped. I wanted to prove that I belong here.”.

India needs to thank Chennai.

For giving their King of Cricket back to them.

A Grama Koil Kodamuzhukkam - 3

The crowd trooped towards the main sanctum.

In the sanctorum is Brahmeeswarar and a side shrine houses his consort. A nice Nagabharana awaits the Sivalinga.

The scaffolding on the side has a ladder of sorts that we use to get up to the roof. Some twenty or so of the family get this gallery view. The others are in the temple courtyard, all eyes on the temple dome.

The consecrated waters are brought. Wooden platforms have been made around the domes of the central sanctum and the other shrines. Mantra chants, pilgrims’ prayers, and the waters are poured on the kalashas of the temple.

Nadaswaram music and drum beats rise to a crescendo. An eagle circles up in the sky.

Thats the end of the function. Kudos to Mohan, the prime-mover behind the whole function.

We go across to a shed where lunch is being served. Mohan joins the servers, and sees to it that every one eats well and true. And after that, he personally hands a cloth bag with Prasada.

Around noon, I leave for Chennai.

From the Palar bridge, the view of the Pazaya Seevaram Narsimha temple is nice.

Here it is.

Roar, over, and out!

A Grama Koil Kodamuzhukkam - 2

Upon entering the temple, the yaaga shaala was on the right. Fire was blazing in several altars. Priests with colorful headdresses were presiding over the procedures. The whiff of smoke was elevating.

And now some ‘BEFORE’ and ‘AFTER’ pictures.

Heres a picture of the central sanctum, before the repairs:

And heres an “AFTER” picture:

All the villagers had gathered for the function…from the very young, to the very old…

Heres a picture.

At the yaagashaala, the “poornahuti’, the ‘finale’ was concluded.

Heres a picture.

Now, the ‘action’ would move to the temple sanctum. The pots of consecrated water that you see in the picture above, would be taken and poured on the ‘kalashams’ on top of the temple dome.

…..To be continued….

A Grama Koil Kodamuzhukkam - 1

Which translates to “A village temple kumbhabishekam”.

Some of you may recall a post on the temple at P-Nayur. Heres the link:

http://gkamesh.wordpress.com/2007/05/28/tuning-in-to-time/

Well, the renovation work has been completed. And the kumbabhishekam ceremony was fixed for Monday, 17th March.

I woke up early and with a start - dreaming of a lion lunging towards me. Best thing to do when you have such a dream is to wake up. Cant fight lions. Left home at about 6:30 am. Destination - Pinayur.

Somewhere before Chengalpet, we turn right..go down a narrow road. Past Athur….And when you reach Pazaya Seevaram, you turn off towards the Palar river bed. When I reached that turn, I noticed the Pazaya Seevaram temple. On a hill to the right. The temple beckoned. It was a Narsimha temple. The dream came to mind. I decided to have darshan. Car goes up to the temple gate. The temple was open. But the sanctum sanctorum was locked. A few pilgrims were waiting outside. On enquiry I found that they were waiting for the priest, who had gone to collect water. In a few minutes the priest arrived, and I had a very good Darshan. Worship done, the priest locked up the temple. Just in time Darshan.

The Palar bridge wasnt functional the last time I had come. This time it was. Heres a pic of the bed of the Palar river. A real broad river bed. A perennial river once upon a hundred odd years ago, the river is now a memory of sand. Heres a picture.

Past the bridge, turned a sharp left, onto the mud-and-broken-mortar road to Pinayur. The scenery was real good. Low hills. Lush fields all around.

Heres a pic.

Reached the village. Festival sights. Music. Loudspeaker chants coming from the temple. Went straight to the shed put up for food. Had the worlds most delicious breakfast.

Reached the temple. Heres a picture of the temple front - before and after. The ‘before’ pic was taken in May last year, when I had been there for the Balalayam.

Groups of people gathered in front of the temple.

Recognize someone? 

Well it is his granddads village.                              

                                                                    …Continued…

Pradosham of Panguni

Pradosham day.

Driving to Ramana Kendra, negotiating the turns of Luz Church Road, one knew that there was something afoot. The cars that were on the road seemed to be vibrating at a higher frequency, if you get what I mean. There was some electricity in the air. And then I realized…It is the Aruvathimoovar day – the evening of the procession of icons of the sixty three Saiva Saints – the Nayanmaars!

Ramana Kendra was a picture of peace. The Pradosham worship had concluded at 6 pm. Devotees had left. A one on one with Ramana. It was like being a lone sea gull in the vastness of sky. I basked in that ambience of grace and stepped out. And like the gull, I decided to dive into the ocean – of Aruvathimoovar!

Walked down the Sai Baba temple road. Density of people was very high and getting higher with every step. Hawkers on both sides of the road. Selling all kinds of stuff. “65 Rupees! 65 Rupees! Just 65 Rupees for a Saree!” screamed one hawker. Bangles, toys, eats, clothes…all sorts of stuff. A riot of colors. And as I moved closer to the Kapalishwara temple tank, I was in the ocean…Of people…People, people everywhere. The procession of icons was slowly making its way around the tank. Cops were doing the best they could. The first little chariot that I saw had the Goddess Kolavizhi Amman. Grand. The next one had Goddess Periyanayaki and Lord Valeeshwara…Many more to follow…The towers of Kapalee Temple and other nearby temples were all shimmering with festival lights. How is one to convey the atmosphere! You don’t see so many people in one place. It was like Kumbh Mela, a furnace of human energy. An ocean of joy. Thousands and thousands of microcosms, all doing a dance of bubbles, and moving as one large macrocosm of vibrance,  resonant with the celestials. No longer is one just oneself.. One becomes the whole mass of people.

I look up at the heavens. The near-full moon looks down from up high, like Gods sentinel in the sky. All is swell in the world…

The Odyssey Man

Arthur C Clarke is no more.

He is one of those that one would have liked to have met and talked to. I wish I had scuba dived into outerspace and traveled in time with Arthur C Clarke (somehow, i always think of him as ‘Arthur C Clarke’ rather than ‘Arthur Clarke’. The ‘C’ adds music and magic to the name. Suggests ’seeing’, As also one who loved the ’sea, and scuba diving). He did ‘fore-see’ the coming of communication satellites docked in geostationary orbit…For which reason, the geostationary orbit has been designated as Clarke’s Orbit…

Writing to my college alumni egroup, I mentioned that though I have read some of sci-fi: Arthur Clark,HG Wells, Isaac Asimov, and that other ‘not-that-easily-catagorizable’ genius, Kurt Vonnegut, I havent read enough…and i wish I had read more of Arthur C Clarke’s works.

And my classmate Dan Balan, a writer himself,  now settled in Chicago, wrote back:

“Arthur Clarke was a generation ahead of his time. He was one of the foremost Western visionaries who also understood Eastern way of thinking. He’s a must read. He once said ” Genius is indistinguishable from Magic”.
 
 While Issac Asimov understood scientific principles as a chemist, he was not a thinker in the classical sense. He was an engaging writer nonetheless. Vonnegut was in a completely different genre.
 
 America has lost some of its premier writers in the last few years.  Mario Puzo, Art Buchwald, Joseph Heller et al. They were the doyens and definers of timeless writing that birthed a cultural movement; one of thinking outside normal confines of disciplines and dailyness; one of blending humor to covertly challenge institutions and entrenchment.
 
 Sadly, we are now living in an age of dumbing down. Literary sharpness has been blunted by populist trash, politically correct toothless prose, and a decline in intellectual rigor. There’s a damn swirling Browninan motion that’s culturally bloodying…”

**

Gotta go now. My HAL computer beckons.

Manic Monday

One more crazy day in the markets. The pretty anchors in Biz News channels have brought out their grimmest masks to wear. Subprime crisis (whoever heard of it an year ago), seems to be rumbling into an avalanche. And markets all over are diving lower. Gosh whats up?

Reminds me of a fella who had a pretty rough time in life. He was never the type to consult any astrologers. But this phase of life was pretty rough, and he thought that he’d seen the last of it. And so he wanted to check if he had just been through saadey-saathi, that seven and a half year cycle of saturn. For the first time in his life he consulted the almanac, and he found…..that the cycle had just commenced. What he had experienced was perhaps an acclamatizer!

Anyway, all the pundits are out on this one. “What do you advise the retail investor? Sell and cut losses?” asked a pretty anchor to a prettier analyst “Well..unless you are in distress and need cash, I would advise not to sell. Hold on. Take a holiday. Dont even look at the market news. Come back after six months. Things would have improved. I wouldnt even advise buying now. For we expect that the bottom has not been reached. There will be more fall. So for now, just switch of the TV and go play bridge or learn breathing exercises…Dont come anywhere near the market”, was the approx reply I heard.

So folks…just as India Inc started to flex its muscles, the nerves and bones seem to be crumbling. And the ‘nerves and bones’ systems have a command centre. And thats not the brain, for no one seems to know where the brain is. The command centre is the spine. Which happens to be the American market. And it seems kind of broke, or on the way there. Because there is an imbalance, it appears, between the ‘yen’ and the ‘yank’.

Nero hasnt stopped fiddling though. Election smiles in US and India…And China prepares to light the Olympic torch….

So folks…how do you see it going? desh ka kya hoga? duniya ka kya hoga?

A Sun Day

Some days
Are like desserts.

Sun Days.

A sweetness
To go with fullness.

A break
In the battle.

When I travel in time
Back thousands of years
To see Rama
Stand despondent
In the battlefield
Having felled all
But the ten headed one,
The wizard,
From whose bow
Flew magic shafts
Alligators, tigers,
Vultures, jackals,
Five headed serpents,
Mouth agape…

Like the Indra-Vrittra war,
The Rama-Ravana Yuddha…

The benchmark battle
For all time to come…

**

And deep in that battle, there comes the turning point, the ‘Aditya Hrudayam’, the Hymn to the Sun…A free translation of its first few verses, I attempt below.

Aditya Hrudayam - 1

Then
Having come to see the battle,
Agastya, the Bhagavan-Rshi,
Accompanied by celestials
Saw Ravana in the foreground
And Rama
Standing forlorn in the battlefield
Fatigued by fight;

Going then,
To Rama
(Agastya) said to him:

“O Rama, Rama,
Of mighty arm!
Listen
To this eternal secret,
By which,
My child,
You will overcome
All your enemies!

(This hymn)
Aditya-hrudayam,
(The Heart of the Sun),
Pure and holy,
The destroyer of all foes,
Giver of victory,
Undecaying
Supreme
Auspiciousness
Should indeed
Be chanted every day!

Among all that is auspicious,
It is most auspicious;
Decimates all sins,
Cures anxiety and anguish,
Increases longevity
And is the most excellent (mantra)!

Offer worship
To the Sun
The giver of light,
The Lord of the Worlds,
To the resplendence
That rises
With bright rays
And is venerated alike
By Devas and Asuras!

…To be continued…some other dessert time…

Timesheet Today

Some days
are like deserts.

Dunes.

There is not
even a decent cactus
to chew.

Whole day
You sculpt dry sand
and end of day
You sign-off on dirt.

Mans got to make
a living.

Beautiful Hockey

India has not qualified in Hockey for Beijing Olympics. And the media is spitting venom. “National Shame”, “Chuck Dey”, and more. This mediadolescenct self-righteous rage shows little wisdom. One newspaper carried a front-page a photograph of the players, where they stood, faces down, forlorn – like a bunch of fellows caught in some illegal act.

Why hang the players? 

Did the same team not beat Mexico in this tournament with a score of 18 goals to 1? Yes. That’s right…18 to 1. When was the last time we saw a score like that in Hockey? Perhaps during the times of the great Dhyan Chand. When India defeated USA 24 - 1 (1932 Olympics, Los Angeles).

And with thoughts like these and such, my mind goes back to some hockey memories. The brilliant Ashok Kumar, son of Dhyan Chand, blazing his way as outside-right, with a wand for a hockey stick. What a dashing dribbler he was. And Govinda, his centre-forward teammate. Zafar Iqbal the forward. Ajit Pal Singh, who one of the greatest centre-halfs the world has seen. Surjit Singh the back, and penalty corner scorer. Aslam Sher Khan, Mukhbain Singh, full backs. Balbir Singh…Shahid, the great Shahid…Dhanraj Pillai, Baskaran…Shankar Lakshman, the goal keeper…All great players.

And memories of legends before. The great Dhyan Chand, surely the Don Bradman of Hockey. The man who could score from anywhere, ten times out of ten chances. Roop Singh, of 1936 Berlin Olympics team – of whom it is said that the Germans named a street after him. And so many others.

Yes, India is a great field hockey team. Artistes on field. Dribble like magic. Dhyan chand has played barefoot! But the advent of artificial turf was perhaps a dampener to sub-continental hockey. Also, penalty corner goals became far more the rule, and India somehow has not been able to machine-master it like the Europeans. I would rather see a nice dribble, pass, scoop, push, and a field goal strike, than a penalty corner guillotine goal.

What say you? Hockey memories anybody?