A 45 minutes drive down I-35 north...
listening to oft-heard numbers from Ilayaraja...
wondering if Ilayaraja belonged to the ages of Thiruvalluvar/Kamban as all his songs seem to have been composed ages ago..
Sipping the hot de-aerated diet coke at regular intervals...
A sudden dose of lively feeling as A.R.Rehman adds some beats and his soulful voice..
And at last the destination is reached..
The good old temple..
Fleet of desi driven Toyotas and Hondas welcome us..
A feel of India engulfs as the saree clad tamil Maamis and kurtha clad Gulete uncles smile at us.
Children playing around not minding the scorching sun..
The clever Desi thought of leaving behind the chappals in the car backfiring almost instantly as it starts to burn the feet outside on the tar roads...
Entering the premises to find the Koil Poojari specially uttering slogams and doing archanai to one set of preferred devotees.
Sneaking in between the group to get a glimpse of the God and somehow reaching out the hands to get a pinch of Vibuudhi,kumkum.
Pujaari giving a glaring look which seemed to indicate..."whats the urgency dude?Can't you wait for the general round of deebaaraadhana for all the non-archanais devotees?"
Then going around all the deities and finding oneself done with the task of worshipping while all others accompanying ,still deeply engrossed with the first deity.
Starting to look around to see what everyone else is doing and try if it could be emulated.Few of them looking at the gods with eyes unabted,a few others uttering shlokams which is visible from their lips wavering fastly.
The only thing doable is the meditation part.Sitting with folded legs and going to that ever enjoyable world of dreams and trance amidst the smell of prasadham coming from the adjescent halls.
Suddenly being shaken awake by someone from the party and following them to the dining hall.Heading to the part of the temple trip thats always entertaining - The food.Entering the hall crowded with a million maamas n maamis.
Slowly sneaking to the bench where all the food has been laid.
Feeling odd to find no customary 'Hundi' near the table to place the money for the food.
Still going ahead and helping oneself with 1 or 2 helpings of all the items on the table.
!!!!! Suddenly realising that that food was not for the general devotees but for the private function going on in the temple !!!!!
Unable to hide the embarassment,smiling at the mama gaurding the food and gulping down the paayasam and pongal that had already been snagged from the table.
Then at last finding the thayir saadham and not-so-grand food meant for the general junta ..
Now,no one has U.S 1 dollar bills to buy the food.One friend coming up with a bright idea of dropping Canadian dollar bills that he has left from his Canada trip..
After all the follies,leaving the room in a hurry as if the cops are after us..
Yet another dull Saturday culminates with a memorable event,keeping us laughing all the way back to our homes.
The look on one of us upon realising the folly and the complimenting look on one of the food-incharge mamas still remaining fresh in our memories..
-Raapi
Posted by rajesh | 
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