I shall narrate three incidents that took place today and no, it's neither an attempt at cheap humour nor to make fun of the protagonists as each one of them did so because they ardently believed in what they did and perhaps, may repeat the actions all over again the next time that they are here. And so, here I go:-
(a) A more powerful entity than god.
One is aware of the long, serpentine queues of devotees thronging to have a 'darshan' of their good
Lord at Guruvayur and these days being holidays for the children, the crowd has multiplied
manifold. Among the devotees, there are many who come armed with 'recommendations from
worthies' directing the local authorities for a 'special darshan' - shorn of all the niceties, it's a
directive nudging the local officials to grant an extra-constitutional(?) permission to short cut the
queue.
The result is that the local administrator has become very powerful and it's not uncommon to see
a larger queue in front of his desk. He, certainly, has become more powerful dispensing favours to
the people than the god that he's protecting.
(b) The craze to log many 'darshans'.
There's something about Guruvayoorappan that makes people go crazy to have a darshan of him
many times over. To illustrate this point with an example, my aunt and a cousin had fetched up
at 6 in the morning and visited the temple thrice during the day. Mind you, each time they'd made
use of their 'connections' to jump the queue!
To them, I'd two queries viz.:-
(i) Don't you feel that you're cheating the others by jumping the queue?
(ii) Why don't you get satisfied with one single 'darshan'?
I didn't get a plausible explanation! Incidentally, there was another relative who'd logged eleven
'darshans' in a day. Can you beat that?
(c) The 'langar' at the temple.
One of the humanitarian tasks that the temple authorities does is to provide food during the
afternoons to the devotees. It's extremely popular and has devotees thronging during those
hours outside the dining hall.
Why can't Guruvayur provide food to the devotees, all through the day, on the lines of
'Guru ka atoot langar' in the Gurudwaras, the Sikh places of worship?
Tailpiece.
The sudden spate of guests was passe by 2100h. Had dropped my aunt and cousin at the Guruvayur Railway station and my sister and niece at the Thrissur Railway station.
(a) A more powerful entity than god.
One is aware of the long, serpentine queues of devotees thronging to have a 'darshan' of their good
Lord at Guruvayur and these days being holidays for the children, the crowd has multiplied
manifold. Among the devotees, there are many who come armed with 'recommendations from
worthies' directing the local authorities for a 'special darshan' - shorn of all the niceties, it's a
directive nudging the local officials to grant an extra-constitutional(?) permission to short cut the
queue.
The result is that the local administrator has become very powerful and it's not uncommon to see
a larger queue in front of his desk. He, certainly, has become more powerful dispensing favours to
the people than the god that he's protecting.
(b) The craze to log many 'darshans'.
There's something about Guruvayoorappan that makes people go crazy to have a darshan of him
many times over. To illustrate this point with an example, my aunt and a cousin had fetched up
at 6 in the morning and visited the temple thrice during the day. Mind you, each time they'd made
use of their 'connections' to jump the queue!
To them, I'd two queries viz.:-
(i) Don't you feel that you're cheating the others by jumping the queue?
(ii) Why don't you get satisfied with one single 'darshan'?
I didn't get a plausible explanation! Incidentally, there was another relative who'd logged eleven
'darshans' in a day. Can you beat that?
(c) The 'langar' at the temple.
One of the humanitarian tasks that the temple authorities does is to provide food during the
afternoons to the devotees. It's extremely popular and has devotees thronging during those
hours outside the dining hall.
Why can't Guruvayur provide food to the devotees, all through the day, on the lines of
'Guru ka atoot langar' in the Gurudwaras, the Sikh places of worship?
Tailpiece.
The sudden spate of guests was passe by 2100h. Had dropped my aunt and cousin at the Guruvayur Railway station and my sister and niece at the Thrissur Railway station.
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