How village temples preserve a sense of community - a lesson from #govindarajapuram
Most palakkad agraharams are generally a single long street with town house style layouts. Most of them have a small temple - each with its own history agama and utsava. The Govindarajapuram
temple has sri bhumi sametha varadaraja as it's deity and follows the vaikasana agama and has its chariot festival around utthradam of mesha masam (chittirai). The palakkad agraharams originally were landed but with time and redistribution - many of the families fell into penury
(including ours) -leading to migration all over the country (and abroad). As the famous palakkad person from tirunellai TN Seshan said - became cooks clerks or civil servants. But thankfully the palakkad agraharams did not go entirely the way of the Tanjore ones...
The dwindling resources migration etc somehow did not extinguish the flame that was lit in the heart of the temple... With time prosperity amongst diaspora and the blessings of the deities the temples became a nidus for the rejuvenation of the community - based on the resilence
and commitment to the deity amongst those who stayed back
... In all the penury the temple was never neglected. Each family had a role to play. The utsavams became the responsibility of the youth of the community. The youngsters planned and executed the utsavams trained
themselves to carry the lord some learnt to cook learnt to grind sandal paste - sought out expertise to restore each of the traditions - welcomed and involved those who left took along the older and groomed the younger.. these kids grew together and played together and now they
answered the calling to serve varadaraja... As one gen moved on to jobs outside world they had groomed the next group to take their place... And every year wherever they are the Govindarajapuram folks land in this small village - in the sweltering heat to celebrate the
the brahmotsavam. Our family left in the world 50s We had four homes in the village and land all gone and rebuilt ourselves. Based on an unfulfilled wish of my dad to go back i went to the village and purchased a home - so that my daughter knew that she had a root - she spent
holidays mostly taking her grand mom with her there - helped in the temple learnt networking sharing values and community there... Even now her accent changes as the flight crosses the border 😂... Temples are not just homes of deities... These kids have a strong bond forged by
varada himself... Temples are the soul around which strong communities are built - they can't be rejuvenated by cheques alone but by time and effort... When they are rejuvenated - our civilization gets to see another decade 🙏
Ack: Venkatesh Veeraraghavan whose leadership and
Devotion to varadaraja which makes varada prefer our small village over athigiri 🙏
samkalpam for #kalababishekam prior to the ther.. purushasukta abishekam for mulavar taitriya upanishad parayaNam ... The samkalpam stresses on the welfare of the grAmam and its residents
Would be interesting to compare #ps2 to the other movie that was made of a #kalki opus - #parthibankanavu
Given #ps is far more complex nuanced and layered it's apples and oranges - caveats noted #ps vs #pk
First casting - make up was not advanced in #pk so we all knew
that SV Ranga Rao was the ascetic but the casting was perfect. A handsome Gemini and Vaijayanthi make the casting of #ps2 pedestrian. But also Subbiah and Ragini.. and Jaffer Sitaraman and siruthondar 2. For the most the adaptation of #pk stayed true to Kalki this is where most
of the grouse about #ps is 3. The kicker in #ps is ofcourse music - period and culture inappropriate in the most. In #pk u feel transported to that pond near mahabalipuram where sivakami stays in wait for narsimha pallava. Listen to MLV here
Ok here is the morning after tweet #ps2 1. A few minutes of magic between kundavai and vanthiyadevan - just amazing stunning visuals beautiful love 2. The movie should have stopped at adita karikalans death and done a PS3 (i know i know) the hurry to finish lead to an
unrecognisable last part.. 4. Some sections brilliant where you can see glimpses of manis genius - i still think that if he had stayed closer to the script and avoided the kalamukha army rashtrakutas etc he would have gotten a better finish 5. A few moments between AK and
nandini - a glimpse of what Aishwarya Rai is capable of but through the movie - wooden expression with awful make up 6. To look back the music again had nothing to do with the period and setting of the movie and even otherwise awful 7. Manis PS not Kalkis PS - seemed to have
Like every parent here - we ve had conversations.. for us these conversations have happened overtime - and hence a reinforcement. The caveat for all of us is that we are trying to instill caution to people whose age and hormones promote risk taking.. we can advise and hope it
is remembered that's all.. this is what we shared 1. Don't wear your heart on your sleeve... attraction is not sufficient to squander your life away 2. You can't wish someones religion away - the dogma of religion is part of upbringing - if it teaches that a non believer
can be treated as commodity - then you should not expected to be treated differently - that's delusion 3. Love or infatuation should not make you stupid enough to film or post intimacy - it leads to blackmail 4. What ever happens (and we hope u will remember 1 -3 and not let it