Notes for a Summer Diary (2006): Sriperumbudur project

[Guest guest]

Dear members/friends of the Tiruvenkatam Group,

 

In this post, it is my pleasure to give you an update

of my visit to Sri Perumbudur to acquaint myself of

the progress of the construction of the public-latrine

facility there meant for general benefit of pilgrims.

The funding of the project was made possible from

contributions received from several members of the

Tiruvenkatam and Oppiliappan Group lists.

 

Regds,

dAsan,

 

Sudarshan

 

***************

 

The day was 23rd July. Another humid morning in

Chennai when Sri Manoram Chaitanya (MC) and Sri

M.G.Vasudevan (MGV) picked me up and we set off in

MGV's Maruti car at around 8 Am to Perumbudur.

 

Sri MGV's chauffeur drove the Maruti to Perumbudur at

terrific break-neck speed (100 kmph) on the newly laid

out national highway -- a stretch of the "golden

quadrilateral" that has of late become something of a

mythic symbol for the "great strides in economic

progress India takes in its march towards "super-power

status" by the year 2025!".

 

MGV's chauffeur handled the Maruti like a true "Le

Mans" veteran, expertly weaving in and out of lanes,

and tearing down the highway like Sri Michael

Schumacher of worldwide Formula 1 fame. I held my

heart in my mouth throughout the journey but MGV and

MC themselves seemed quite unmindful and unruffled!

Obviously, they had got used to the pace of India's

"great march forward".... As a NRI, I suppose I

was'nt, not yet, at least...

 

One of the reasons why I felt rather mentally

under-prepared to confront and accept the great new

economic developments taking place in and around the

city of Chennai (as all over India) was the sight of

so many great big and beautiful trees, all along the

highways, being felled down just to make way for

roads, bridges, culverts, and other constructions like

factories, deemed universities and sewage pipelines.

On both sides of the highway, one saw brand new

gleaming buildings of some of the top corporate names

of the world --- Nokia, Hyundai, Delphi etc. All this

at the cost of so many magnificent and age-old trees

that had once stood lining the roadways and pathways

across which generations of our forefather perhaps had

once trodden? It made me wonder a bit about my real

destination! In 25 years from now, (when India would

hopefully take its pride of place in the world as a

"super-power", a status that almost everyone today in

the country is clamoring for!), in 25 years from now,

would Sri Perumbudur be known more as the epicentre of

Chennai's industrial empire than as a centre of

pilgrimage?

 

We reached Perumbudur (all in one piece) inside of an

hour, thanks to the daring performance of MGV's little

Maruti and the brave devilry of his dashing young

chauffeur!

****************

 

We headed straight for the site of the construction.

 

The site is situated outside the temple's main

frontage, a few hundred yards rightward from the

principal portals and abutting the "mAda veedhi" where

one can see, first and foremost, the "sannidhi" of Sri

Manavalama-muni.

 

Adjacent to this shrine of Sri ManavALa-mAmuni runs a

narrow unpaved, un-topped alleyway that meanders into

the distance of about a furlong farther inside the

town-quarters of Sri Perumbudur. It is towards the

rear end of this alley that we come across the

construction site.

 

**************

 

MC and MGV immediately take me on detailed tour of the

construction site. The design of the facilities is

quite simple but utilitarian: a section each of closed

urinals and bathrooms (4+4) for women and men

separated by a solid wall with full and functional

sanitary fittings, tiling, wash-basins, tap and manual

flushing toilet-seating --- all illumined by

regulation, overhead electric-bulb lighting. Nothing

fancy in the design but nothing really wanting either

in a public-WC.

 

Sri Thyagarajan is the mason (local artisan) whom MC

introduces me to. He finishes fixing the borewell pump

he is intently attending to and then gets up and

greets MGV and me.

 

It is good to note that there is plentiful

water-supply from the borewell for construction

purposes. ALso, the same source, I am told, would

supply water for regular use in the toilets too after

construction. "This is a 1HP motor and it will pump

water up to that overhead Sintex tank, you will see

there on the roof once it is completed in a few weeks

time", says Thyagarajan to me, pointing skyward to the

roof of the construction where about 3-4 masons, I

see, are hard at work completing the roofing section

of the building.

 

**************

 

MGV then takes Thyagarajan aside and then the two

confer at great lengths on some of the finer points of

design and construction. Sri Thyagarajan squats on the

ground, amid heaps of gravel, sand, bricks and mortar

piled all around. He then uses his fingers to draw

rough sketches on the ground of section-profiles in

order to explain to MGV some intricate questions of

masonry.

 

MGV, being the civil-engineering expert at L&T that he

is, nods his head, asks some pointed questions,

listens carefully and then provides some quick

suggestions and answers to Thyagarajan's posers. All

this takes a good part of an half-hour. The mason then

finally nods his head appreciatively! I can see that

MGV, our expert, has just cleared away some intricate

technical problem! "Piece of cake", MGV tells me under

his breath, "This for me is a pretty simple

construction".

 

MC tells me then that if all goes well the

construction should go full steam ahead in the next

few weeks. Although, there were local elements in and

outside the temple who initially seemed to resent and

resist the "kainkaryam", eventually, general public

opinion had turned positive towards the idea. Everyone

knew, that during festive days at Sri Perumbudur, the

general public and assembly of pilgrims had simply

nowhere to go to relieve or wash themselves.

Invariably, they used the street-sides itself as

latrines making the stench and filth so revolting as

to make the whole street virtually out of bounds for

civic society. So, realizing the importance of the

project now under progress everyone at the temple were

cooperative and helful. So, no problem is expected in

completing the project in time. Thanks to the funds

made available by contributions from the T'venkatam

and Oppiliappan lists, no financial crunch too would

be faced.

 

Everyone is happy. I am very pleased to hear the good

news too.

 

*****************

 

While we are all huddled together, in walks another

person whom MC immediately introduces to me as Sri

TirthAnkar Das Prabhu! "He is the man who is our site

manager, who oversees the work here on a day-to-day

basis", says MC.

 

Sri Tirthankar is a short man dressed in traditional

dhothi and vest with a frayed cloth-bag slung on his

shoulder and walking barefeet. He wears a "shika" and

carries the traditional "chandan" mark on his forehead

typical of all ISKON devotees. He is dark and heavily

sunburnt --- sure tell-tale signs, I can tell, of a

man who spends probably most of the day out under the

cruel summer sun of Sri Perumbudur, overseeing the

construction from morn till evening. But Sri

TirthANkar, I notice, has a ready and cheerful smile.

I find it strangely radiant!

 

Sri TirthANkar tells us that he expects the whole

construction to be completed by the next

"tiruvAthirai" (asterism) next month and all should be

well by then, by the Grace of God. He then politely

takes leave and vanishes from sight.

 

I do not meet TirthAnkar Das again and it leaves me

with a vague, inexplicable sense of loss.

 

***************

 

Later, on our return to Chennai, I query MC about Sri

TirthANkar and his background. What I hear from MC

simply amazes me.

 

Sri TirthAnkar is a native of deep interior southern

India hailing from a humble Naadaar family. He joined

the ISKON many years ago and has spent all his life

like a wandering mendicant, going from one place to

another all across Tamil Nadu wherever ISKON-centres

needed volunteers to carry out any sort of "kainkarya"

in their particular part of the state.

 

Tirthankar has no family attachments except an old

mother who lives in Chennai. He has no belongings

except the cloth-bag in which he stores the sum of all

his wordly properties -- a few change of clothes and a

few spartan items of personal toiletry. He has no

steady source of income. He lives entirely on the

daily alms of kindly souls of the particular ISKON

group he happens to be serving at any point of time.

He has no personal address, no roof over his head. He

lives wherever he can find a place to lie down and go

to sleep at night --- e.g. a temple "mantapam", an

"ashram" quarters, a "choultry" or some such public

place he happens to find in the area he is operating

in.

 

Sri Tirthankar also has a few good friends like MC

himself who give him some money now and then with

which Tirthankar sometimes buys food or eats out at

local roadside restaurants.

 

"TirthAnkar Das Prabhu has always lived like this", MC

explained to me, "and he will continue to live like

this. Once this project in Sri Perumbudur is

completed, he will move on to some other ISKON project

elsewhere in Tamilnadu where his services could be

used. When TirthAnkar has nothing much to do, he goes

to Chennai to be with his mother or to come to our

ISKON-local centre there where he participates in

"bhajans". He is a good singer of bhajans. Right now

in Perumbudur he is doing a good job for me. He is

honest, hardworking and completely reliable. I have

great trust in him."

 

What MC told me about Sri TirthAnkar, he related in

stark, flat and matter-of-fact words without a trace

of any sort of emotion! I was simply stupefied by what

I heard! Here was MC describing to me a man whose life

seemed to almost perfectly fit the description of a

true "karma-yOgi", a true Vedantin, a true "vairaagi"

--- and MC was talking to me about him so casually ...

as casually as Thyagarajan, the mason, had explained

to MGV about the 1HP motor-pump back at the

construction site!

 

I could not help slightly chiding MC, "MC what have

you done! Why did you not tell me all this about

TirthANkar before? What you tell me about him makes me

desperately want to meet him once more and prostrate

before him! In this age of "kali" and in this world

where we are all interested only in our own selfish

needs and concerns, you are telling me that there

actually lives a person like TirthAnkar in flesh and

blood! By God, he is a true 'yOgi', someone who is

living by the highest of Vedantic ideals --- by

"Unchavrti", by "nishkaama karma"! I would have loved

to spend more time talking to him, MC! You have robbed

me of an opportunity to get to know a soul who must be

a hundred times more noble than anyone I have known in

my life!".

 

Having let the opportunity slip by, I made MC promise

me however that on my next trip to India, he would

arrange to bring Sri TirthAnkar Das to my house where

he would sing a few bhajans and deign to dine with me

and my family members.

 

*****************

 

Having completed our tour of the construction site,

MGV and MC took me around the town to take a quick

survery of the temple "teppakkoLam" -- the temple

pond. I was aghast to see the dire condition of the

sacred pond. It was good to see it full of water but

it was pathetic to see how abused and utterly

neglected it was.

 

It is a fairly large "kkoLam" and seems to have been

well maintained in the recent past for I saw neatly

constructed stone steps all around the banks. But

obviously, in the several years of drought the tank

had probably seen in the past, it had been left

bone-dry and since then had never been dredged or

de-silted. As a result, now it was a quagmire of

slush, weed, dead-fish, muck, pilgrim/tourist litter,

household waste (local residents I saw were washing

their clothes and utensils on the steps of the pond)

and stray animal excreta.... It was a terribly sad

sight indeed!

 

MGV could not help silently lamenting why the

SriVaishnava community, both in India and abroad,

could not come forward to do something about the pond

at Sri perumbudur.

 

We passed on in silent, helpless mourning.

****************

Next, we visited the Sri Vedanta Desika 'sannidhi'

situated on the eastern side of the 'kkoLam'

overlooking it. This is a beautiful, not-too-large a

shrine to our AchArya, and also housing additional

shrines to "perumAl" and "thAyyAr". It is neat and

clean and extremely well maintained. I was really

happy to visit this 'sannidhi' at Perumbudur.

 

****************

 

Next MGV and MC led the way to the main temple of Sri

Adi Kesava Perumal and Sri Ramanujacharya. The day

happened, by a happy and auspicious coincidence, to

fall in the asterism of "tiruvAthirai" --- the

'tiru-nakshatram' of the AchArya himself! It also

happened to be a Sunday and the weekend crowds of

worshippers milled and swelled all around us across

the temple 'prAkAras'.

 

MC explained to me that of late it had become a common

folk belief that anyone who was suffering

(astrologically) from "sarpa dOsham" (ill-effects of a

serpentine configuration in one's astral horoscope)

could seek relief by worshipping the 'sannidhi' of Sri

RamanujachArya (since he is known to be a

"amsha-avAtara" of the primordial Serpent-servant,

"Sri AnanthaAzhwAn Adi Seshan", who ever resides in

divine service to and with the Supreme Lord Almighty,

Srimann Narayanan). No wonder the crowds kept milling

around this temple which otherwise is known to be

scarsely visited by pilgrims!

 

We purchased ourselves a "special darshan" ticket of

Rs. 25/each and after what seemed like an interminable

wait of about an hour, we entered the 'sannidhi' of

both "perumAl" and "uDayavar" and had a glorious

"darshan" --- the first time ever for me in my life!

Although I had been a native of Chennai for well over

3 decades somehow, by a strage quirk or accident of

circumstances, I had not had the good fortune to

worship at this shrine of our venerable AchArya!

 

The grievous lapse on my part had at last been made

good! My spirit felt at rest and deeply comforted.....

 

****************

 

Outside the temple gates once again.

 

The sun burned down on us mercilessly. The crowds

around us were milling all over, shouting and jostling

amidst the noise of tourist-bus engines gunning,

exhaust smoke belching and sound-horns blaring

everywhere. In the midst of all this, I began to feel

hungry but was rather shy to admit it to MGV or MC.

 

Magically, MC seemed to instantly sense my need and

immediately rushed back into the temple, only to

re-emerge a few minutes later with loads of "donnai"

(cups made of plaintain-leaves) in his hands. I was

served hot spicy "kovil naivEdya prasAdam" straight

from the kitchen fires of the "madapalli"!

 

MGV and I sat down right there on the large doorsteps

of the Adi Kesava perumAl temple and happily feasted

upon holy "bhagavadh-prasAdam" right under the nose,

as it were, of Srimadh Bhagavadh RamanujAcharya!

 

It was delicious! It was sumptuous! As I tucked one

mouthful after another of the tasty "daddhi-annam"

into my belly, I heard it burp and belch happily....

A profound sense of gratitude began to envelop my mind

in that moment. I thought to myself, "How grateful I

should be for my AhcAryA's kind hospitality! As a

native of this province here for 30 years, I had not

cared to visit him and offer worship him to at his

very birthplace ('avatAra-sthala')! And yet, now that

I've made amends for the lapse on my part, how He

hastens to show me such courtesy and compassion

through this thoughtful "prasAdam" delivered to me

through the hands of a good "bhAgavatha" like Sri

Manoram das and in the company of yet another devout

SriVaishnava like Sri MGV!" How fortunate indeed I am!

How blessed!

 

*******************

 

Thus ended my wonderful trip to Sri Perumbudur! A

memorable one indeed in many, many ways!

 

In the next posting, I will try and cover the event of

the "sathAbhishEkam" of my father.

 

 

Thanks and regards,

dAsan,

 

Sudarshan

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sudarshan Madabushi

Chief Financial Officer & Vice-President

KGL Ports International

Plot A-21, Kuwait Free Trade Zone.

PO BOx 24565, Safat 13106,

Kuwait.

Ph: (965)- 4827804/5 Ext 212

Fax: 4827806

mob: 7063337

email: mksudarshan2002 (AT) (DOT) co.in

 

 

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