Aparna’s Blog

“Lesser Known Temples of Chennai – Some More” - A lecture by Dr. Chithra Madhavan on 23rd August, 2011 at Gallery Sri Parvati held as part of Madras Day celebrations.

It was a nostalgic-me who attended this lecture since it was during the Madras Day celebrations in 2008 that I first attended Dr. Chithra Madhavan’s lecture little knowing that after that lecture, my visits to old temples would never be the same anymore and that I would go on to attend many more lectures of hers in the coming years. The topic of that lecture was ‘Lesser Known Temples of Chennai’ and this year’s too was again ‘Lesser Known Temples of Chennai – Some More’.

As usual, this lecture too was filled with a wealth of information. The photos of almost all the sculptures, vimanams and gopurams that were mentioned about were shown.
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Travelling by bus at 7:00 in the morning through the roads of T.Nagar, which, by the way, is where I stay now, I pass by some of the once-very-familiar streets and roads. My memories go back in time to when, as a kid, I travelled on the same roads on a rickshaw to go to school. North Usman Road, Habibullah Road, Periyar Road, Thirumalai Pillai Road, G.N.Chetty Road, Jeeva Park, Dr. Nair Road, cutting across Pondy Bazaar to reach Thanikachalam Road. The roads would be as empty back then as they are at 7 in the morning now. I used to commute in a non-motorized rickshaw when I was studying in kindergarten and later in a motor rickshaw, that too in what was called a ‘kooNDu rickshaw’. Today, rickshaws are almost extinct.
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Waking up to the smell of fresh paint, I remember today’s date - September 24th – It was on this day 15 years before that we moved to his house. With white washing work going on at home now, the entire house is in chaos with things being moved from one room to another and rearranged back again. It brings back memories of the day when we shifted here, of the childhood days, of leaving behind a whole lot of friends in the previous place and a lot more!
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The sound of some music band out on the street wakes up all of us at home. We realize that it’s being played for the procession of some Amman. Seeing through the window, we wait to get a glimpse of the deity. It was taking quite a bit of time for the deity to reach our part of the street. We go out into the street and see the music band followed by a group of nadaswaram and tavil players. And then surrounded by a small group of devotees was the Amman embellished by jewels, huge, colourful garlands and lots of flowers - beauty and divinity personified. Seeing the festive atmosphere, you don’t realize that it’s 1:30 am in the night! Isn’t this what the month of Adi is all about? With Adi being synonymous with festivities in the ubiquitous Amman temples all over the city and with even some of the small temples in street corners having their own utsava vigraham (processional idol), you can often see some idol in procession.

P.S.: This happened yesterday night and for the first time in the last few weeks, I suddenly felt the need to pen this down and felt the words pouring out. Is my bloggers’ block finally gone?

This walk was by Dr. Chithra Madhavan and it was organized by ‘Namma Mylapore’ on 7th March, 2010. Srinivasa Perumal, Kesava Perumal, Kapaleeswarar, Mundagakanni Amman, Madhava Perumal, Karaneeswarar and Virupaksheeswarar temples were the temples that were covered in this walk. History, architecture, sculptures and inscriptions were the focus of this walk. So, we didn’t see the main deities in most of the temples.
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After seeing the grand Arupatthumoovar at Kapaleeswarar temple, I had to ‘unblock’ the blogger’s block somehow and write this post. This is a very long post! Read it when you find time.

Despite living very near Mylapore for almost 15 years now, I had never been to Arupatthumoovar even once! When I was studying in school, festival time at Kapaleeswarar temple always meant getting a holiday or two and that was all. This year’s Arupatthumoovar was on last Saturday (27th March) &, initially, I wasn’t planning on going for it. My mom having gone for Arupatthumoovar for the first time last year, tempted me to go and, here I am now, all set to relive the grandeur of the fest which left me awe-struck.
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To the city which has given me so many hobbies and passions and has made me so very busy that I do not have time to even think of getting bored! Here’s wishing you a very happy birthday, Madras!