Waking up at 4 am, we were dressed
and out of the door by 4.45. The roads were totally empty, except for the usual
one or two vehicles plying at this hour, and the crescent shaped moon that was
shining in the black sky. We entered T.Nagar in a quarter of an hour, and as we
entered the Venkatnarayana Road, the whole scene was different than the one we
started from and the ones we travelled through. The Venkatachalapathy Temple
was beautifully lit with the words “Om Namo Narayana” visible from either of
the street end. And so begins the first Saturday.
For those who do not know what
the title means, Purattasi is an important Tamil month usually from
mid-September to mid-October, the prime deity being Lord Venkatachalapathy
(Yes, the Dude in Tirupathi). Temple going on Saturdays (Sanikizhamai) is
auspicious during the four weeks in this period. And if, the temple is stamped
by TTD (Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam), then it takes the endorsement to a
whole new level. But, these Saturdays, are a gold mine for the silent observers,
as a whole plethora of characters and idiosyncrasies are always in store.
Anyways, so we reach the temple,
and its bustling with activity. Police personnel are everywhere, police cars
are parked on either side of the road, with those red and blue lights blinking non-stop
to turn a passerby blind. Barricades are lined up, and the people on the side
of the barricade, stretched the queue away from the main road, into Ramanujam
Street adjoining the Oxford School. My parents hopped off, I parked the car at
a point further away and walked back to join them in the queue.
Many types of people can be found
here – ardent believers, disheveled souls, charioteers and the crowd in the
queue was a healthy mix of them all. Husbands who parked their bikes away were
trying to find their wives in the queue with newly bought flowers in plastic
bags for offering to the Lord and the wives, adorned with sarees, with washed
hair neatly tied up and jasmine flowers pinned, were shouting out to their
husbands to make recognition more easily possible. The queue started moving
only after a good 15 minutes.
As we reached the main Road, and
inched our way ahead, more sights awaited us. People were standing in the
middle of the median, putting the elevated platform to good use by getting a
darshan of the Lord. This middle standing crowd mostly involved the active
morning walkers, who probably were not in a mood for an early morning bath and
will probably visit the temple later in the day. And then the bus no. 13 from
Triplicane made its way slowly through the Road, promptly stopping in front of
the temple for a few good seconds, as the morning travelers peeped through the
window for a glimpse and murmur of prayers. And then there were the flower
sellers, the slipper safekeepers, and then the guy who sold coffee from his
parked bicycle.
As we made our way inside the
temple, ‘volunteers’ neatly dressed in pattu veshti and pattu sattai were
guiding the crowd towards the exit, who were more interested in getting more of
the Darshan, rather than walking towards the Exit.
After the darshan, as we made our
way out, the overpowering smell beckoned. The laddus from Tirupati had arrived
and were being distributed. Promptly, we bought our packets and moved out. As
we were walking towards the car, my mom nodded satisfactorily and said “Very
good and satisfying darshan” and my dad, the dutiful husband agreed. The words
cheered the charioteer. We got to the car and drove away from the building up
traffic and the never ending queue and the Temple.
One Saturday down, Three more to
go… Happy Weekend Folks !
