Wednesday 31 March, 2010

Aarattu: Padmanabha Temple

Today i had the opportunity to witness the aarattu (Holy bath) of the idols of Sree Padmanabha Temple. Due to heavy crowds, a close view was impossible without risking a stampede. But all in all it went off smoothly and without any incidents. There was a cavalcade which consisted of 5 to 6 elephants, horse mounted police, traditional percussion musicians, a handful of policement with arms in shoulder-arm position, and other colourful paraphernalia.

The procession started from Sree Padmanabha Temple, East Fort, Trivandrum and ended at Shanghumugham beach, where the idols were given the holy bath in the arabian sea. Traditional oil torches attached to the end of a stick held by volunteers lit up the evening, as it was already dusk. I took few picture of the elephants which were taking rest on the beach with their mahouts sitting besides them. One elephant was made to stick to rules (i.e. not to make unnecessary movements) by slanting a stick to one of its legs. The elephant is expected to see that the stick doesnt fall. If the stick falls the elephant would be calling for trouble. But this particular elephant didnt care for the stick as i could see that the stick fell atleast 2 times and then the mahout never cared to repeat the stick trick again.

A colourful evening it was for me today. Many foreigners too had gathered with cameras which caught every action happening around them. Before it was late, i called it a day and came here to update about the experience of this nice evening.

Monday 22 March, 2010

Anger: The spoil sport

Time is a bitter thing sometimes. It doesnt have a rewind button, which would allow us to undo wrongs that we did in the past. A word uttered cant be caught back. We all know these universal truths, but still, sometimes things dont happen as per our wish.

I usually dont regret for the mistakes that i did knowingly. For example, like splurging unnecessarily while in my youth. I knew it was irresponsible, but none that would affect others. And hence i usually never regretted it, because i knew i have enjoyed that time when i did it. But thats not the case with words that are exchanged between friends or family. A wrong word uttered and the other person has difficulty forgetting it. This happened to me just this past week.

My patience levels are generally quite high, unless someone is hell-bent on stepping on my last nerve. Another factor for disappointment is expectation. We expect others to behave in a certain fashion, and when that doesn't happen, we are in for disappointment which also brings other unpleasant emotions with it.

This past week i was little disappointed about some aspect, and hence i shared it with my better half. I was expecting some kind of solace and wanted to hear some kind words from her. But she started advising me. I didn't expect advise at that hour. Without my knowledge I had started arguing with her and also i started shouting without my knowledge. Though i never use any inappropriate language, my volume had gone high. She was quite hurt, and when i realised my folly, i cooled down very soon. But the damage was already done. When loved ones hurt, the pain is all the more difficult to die down.

She expressed her unhappiness with my behaviour. Apart from tendering an apology i didn't want to say anything more. Time will heal the hurt, but its better to hold one's tongue and temper than to rue later. Every failure has a lesson. I better learn from my own mistake. Smart people learn from other's mistakes, rather than committing their own. I hope readers of my blog will be smarter than me in this aspect.

God bless.

Tuesday 2 March, 2010

A plot which disappeared

Owning a piece of land in Bangalore in itself is a big achievement for the salaried class. Many years back a government employee sold his only piece of land in his village and bought a small plot in Bangalore. It was the culmination of years of his yearning. Since he didnt have the money to build a house right away, he just waited for better days to arrive.

Once in every few months he would go and visit his plot, to see that it is safe. This went on without any hiccups for around 3 years. And on one such routine visits to his plot, he was aghast to see that a house was already standing on his plot, with a family living in it. His heart rate shooted quite high. He mustered enough courage to knock on that house's door. Some one appeared at the door and asked what it was. With a heavy heart and lot of perspiration on his face, he said this plot belonged to him.

The person who stayed in the house said that they had bought the plot few months back from the local landlord and he had built the house. This landlord incidentally was the same person from whom the first person had purchased the plot. Heart broken, the poor government employee went to the person who sold his property to another person without his knowledge. The landlord said he didnt know what he was blabbering and claimed not to have seen him earlier in his life.

The poor man returned home and narrated the incident to his family members. All were dumbstruck and shocked. There was no way he could fight the rich landlord. He shared this story with one of his colleague. Luckily his colleague said he could be of some help since he knew a notorious goon named "Seemenne Nagaraj". He and his colleague went and met this goon. Seemenne Nagaraj sent two of his lieutenants to clean up the act.

The two lieutenants of the goon knocked the door of the landlord who had cheated. The moment he got to know that these men were working for the notorious goon, he surrendered immediately and said he would give the plot adjacent to the original plot, without any charges and that too within a week. Within a week, the new plot got registered in the name of the cheated government servant.

The poor guy went on to built a house on that plot, before he retired from service. Incidentally i happen to be his son and thought i should share this story in my blog.