CS PURAM 5

MY LIFE – CS PURAM-5 PILGRIMAGE TO PAZHANI PAZHANI Each region in India has its own favourite god. Uttar Pradesh has Ram, Maharashtra has Ganesh, Andhra Pradesh has Balaji(Sreenivasan) and Tamilnadu has Pazhani Andavan(God), my namesake. As a name for children, both of us disliked it, without any reason. Taditionally, my son should have been given this name, being my father’s name; instead, we called him Sudhir. One night my wife forgot to swith off the water pump. When she woke up at midnight, she asked me to chech it. By then, mud had entered the pipe and it had stopped, though motor was still alive. Wife thought of atonement by a visit to the famous temple, on the hill to at Pazhani. There is a metre guage train from Palakad town to Pazhani, spelt Palani in their language. We, including Sudhir and my niece Usha, got out of the railway station, when we were greeted by the tongawallah: come, I shall take you to a hotel. As I was totally a stranger to the place, we got into the horse drawn cart and, in five minutes, we reached the town. Don’t you want to do pal abhishekam?; the fellow seemed eager to please us. Go to Pazhani and not wash the deity with milk ? It is like going to a barber, chitchat and come back without hair cut. (In the village, many people do it). So he took us to a milk shop, where Rs. seventy five was paid for ten litres of milk. That evening, we went round the town; dirty, narrow streets, unclean people, children in rags and plenty of tongas. The majestic hill with lights can be seen, but not the temple. The next morning the same tongawallah, took us to the same milk shop. A huge brass vessel, containing milk was ready. How shall we carry it up the hill? No worry; a maid was ready at hand. Give her just Rs. 25, that is all. So we followed her, climbing thousands of well concreted step, two lane, and when we reached the entrance to the temple, we saw a long que. Do not worry; I shall take you direct to the sanctum, give only Rs. ten, so we paid it and followed her. When we reached the sanctum by a short cut, the milk can and materials for pooja, like sandal sticks, coconut etc. were handed over to the poojary, not a brahmin, some other middle caste, and we went for Darshan and prayers, as direced by the maid, who promised to see us after half an hour. The view from the top is worth all th trouble. Beng a single rock projecting above a vast plain, we can see the country side in all directions, as from an airoplane. Kodaikanal hills, a tourist spot with lake etc. could be seen in the horizon. In the night, the sky lit with stars is a real treat. The golden chariot made at that time, is small of course, but cute! There is a large crowd when it is taken out from the cage, where it is safely kept. The temple itself is just ordinary. Tamilnadu is a land of thousands of grand temples, never damaged through the course of history, as invaders had had enough in the north. When we met the maid again, she gave us each a mouthful of milk, the left over after pouring over the deity of Lord Subramanian, as is customary. The whole drama is to cheat the unsuspecting devotees. There was not a single drop of milk in the can! Near the temple we saw the notice: Rs. ten for milk abhishekam. We saw people burning a piece of camphor on each step as a tribute to the Lord. During our next visit there, with Kishan, our common nephew, he and mysef, to give him compahy, had our heads shaven and photographed. That time we used the electic trolley, to climb up and down.