Sri Rangam and Koiladi-- Tour diary

I embarked on this annual trip to Sri Rangam with trepidition and abundant caution .Since 2014 this state and country no longer feels like the one i am used to .Freedom i took for granted has been forcibly taken away .I feel like a suspicious tramp/jail bird  out on parole with a rfid tag who invariably commits a great crime on each such outing by visiting temples .Punishment for this serial offence is swift and dehumanising at the very sacred premises with a harsher punishment on my return.
This process of alienating me from my environments and to be in the receiving end of constant hostility from all around including my once friendly flatmates which started in 2011 reached its nadir in 2014.
However from 2011 to  2014 i could visit temples without much physical harrassment though my right to sole enjoyment of my property viz the flat i live in and my right to privacy within it wasn't respected , rather it was taken away without my consent but my right to pursue the religion and sect into which i am born viz Hinduism and Sri vasihnavism wasn't overtly and so atrociously trifled with .Temples in and around Tamil nadu and other states were my place of refuge , the haven for me, but no longer after 2014.In those visits i could let down my armour but could no longer after 2014..
The very  evening we reached Srirangam , had a good darshan of Ranganayaki thayar and Sri Ranganathar.Though it was marred by a priest banging the silver Chadari on my head and then placing it on a thin poor man who slipped in between me and my husband, a procedure that priests do not follow.normally.They will place it on the couples standing side by side  first and then only on others.That thin man was waiting to do this as he was following us closely in the line .This sort of disrespect was shown since 2011 ,yet it am unable to brush it away.
The darshan of Namperumal the processional deity of Sri Ranganathar standing small and petite at front the huge Moolavar  in a reclining position was good.This petite deity whose face has lost its defining contours owing to passage of time and tribulations ,moved me with its quiet assurance of seeing it all since time immemoriol  and continuing to reign as a calm and eternal ruler..Again the moment was marred by a young dark priest yelling near my ears.


Next day morning visited the temple again and all the sannidhis .The renovation of the graineries abutting the walls of the temple which is said to have been built by kings of yore probably Tirumangai aazhwar of 9 the cent AD is  over.It looks new .Good work.
Whilst partaking prasad within the temple complex near Ramanujar's brindavan[resting place]i suddenly saw from my corner of my eyes a white fez cap making me jerk my head in alarm and saw that it was a old bare bodied ayengar man with dark glasses walking at the front.what  a nasty trick was  played on me .Wondered how.Saw  a mini van  with iron casing standing right in front of where we were seated.This as well as light and specs effect [on ostensible devotees wearing it] in the Ramanujar sannidhi we had just visited  could have been used .As if on cue a state govt truck used for  cleaning drove down .Also saw a group of foreign tourists [white]taking photos of hall built by Vijayanagar rulers at the bend  as we walked back to our lodge.
Saw a lot of namums bustling in scooters and on foot in Sri rangam.This sight warmed my heart .Srirangam appeared as a haven  of Vaishnavaites in a sea of vibhuthees .It reminded me of Tirupati 40 years back.
Felt glad that at least this temple town has its identity as stronghold of SriVaishnavaites  intact.

Noon i sat on the outside passage of our tiny room .This passage overlooked some of the temple towers and was very quiet with a warm breeze blowing gently.It was like a ashram and i started reading Periya aazhwars pasurams.A dark room boy  with a blank forehead [no sect mark]who was  walking up and down the passage on and off glared at me with unconcealed anger.He seemed to cool down only after i finished reading the hymns and put the book down !It is for several years now that my reading habits and blogging it bother others but only on that day i saw it first hand.Now that i have become more or less like a spy living among spies[karma] i have started observing location of cctv cameras and i was pleased that i had won a round by sitting away from it, behind it.It appears that i didn't win the round.

Proceeded to Koi ladi 30 kms away by taxi.The route to this divya desam --a temple visited and praised by aazhwars--is flanked by waters of Kaveri and Kollidam  rivers.Now only its sandy bed overgrown with weeds is visible.
With a sinking heart saw that units manufacturing concrete has multiplied  on the banks of these rivers since my last visit 3  years  back as also brick kilns on one of the most fertile  aluvial soil in this state-TN.even a blade of grass will not grow on grounds coated with concrete.Couldn't these people find a waste land to set up such units?
Two sign boards on the road side frther down informs one that both kollidam and Kaveri breached its bank in 1961.and had reached this road which is on higher ground which is higher than the tallest palm trees growing in their banks.
Further in  were lush paddy fields with pumps gushing out water.Labourers wre dehusking and drying in heaps bundles of  golden brown rice stalks on the tar road itself leaving a small gap for vehicles to pass.
Further down had to cross kaveri by bridge and dam It is like a small pond.
A new structure as memoriol for Karikala chozhan who is said to have built the original dam in here ,has come up.An endeavour to keep history alive .
Despite lush paddy fields villages look decreipt and slovenly.
Passed a church named Punitha Anthony at the entry of the small koiladi villageand reached the temple
This temple has a good make over ,it is  literraly sparkling  in its fresh paint and renovated works whilst the houses in what could have been the agraharam where brahmins and sri vaishnavaites who lived once ,leading to it are deserted and crumbling .A gaping gap which would be filled by alternatives sooner or later .To put it bluntly the village  could be christianised soon.
In my visit to Cherran kulam last year a small village near Mannargudi i was surprised to see a house owned by Muslims in the agraharam itself.what were they doing near a temple away from thier community  folks that to in a village? In this village also there was exodus of brahmins for jobs but on retirement most have returned and are actively taking part in up keep of  a ancient Srinivasar temple and traditions .NRI's visit regularily to take part in the temple festivals.
similarily the small Vardharajar temple in Satyagala village near Mysore has been renovotaed by NRI'S who have provided excellent facilities for lodging in there and many take part in events associated with Desikan who lived here in exile in 14 th cent.The village is non descreipt as it must have been in Desikan's days.yet NRI's have traced it and poured a lot of money to keep its importance in Sri vaishnava  history alive.NRI's seem to have more interest in keeping our traditions alive than most of those living in here do.


I climbed the gaily painted steps  of the tiny hillock over which the temple for appla ranganathar has been built and reached the entrance.The dry bed  of kaveri overgrown with weeds was visible from there.It gentle flow snaking behind and around the temple  a balm to weary eyes and mind was missing .
We two were the only visitors and i could drink the details in leisure unhindered
Appala Ranganathar is as huge as Sri Ranganathar and in similar  yoga nidra--reclining position .His face was glowing with happiness and a knowing smile lingered at his lips.
In the several trips i made to this temple since 2007 this is the first time that i observed his visage with clarity
It was like as if he was saying -All this is my lila--sport .
He was smiling in a similar manner when i first stood on the entrance all alone in 2007 waiting for the priest and trying to still my mind by watching the river flow.The difference is that i never noticed it then and in subsequent visits or was too distraught to assimilate the message Ranganathar was beaming.
Soon a group with a toothless spectacled old woman laughing at me with too much familiarity joined us and alerted me that my private time was over .
Decided to meditate in the inner prahara .The habit of meditating in all temples i visit which  i have picked up to gain spiritual solace since 2007 is no longer a easy one.I have to make sure that there are no lights or electric connections behind me .Sounds paranoid?Well if spot decisions are going to be taken by what i write or talk by competing top political leaders i have to take precautions  lest my poor back weakened by sound , jamming and squeezing out of liquids absorbs others suggestions whilst  thus concentrating on japa .
My guard slipped and i went and sat inside though i had intended to go out in the open prahara.chose a spot away from fixtures and embarked on my habit since 2007 some filthy words in tamil flitted across my jammed forehead in that rocky corridor and immediately drums beat and bell was rung as if on cue commemorating the successful bid of some pervert to invade my inner space in a sacred place .
 Didn't want to give up though i knew that sanctity i attach to my meditation in hoary  and sacred places where galaxy of saints  have immeresed  themselves in bhakthi  down the ages was axed  brutally, yet  went out with bravado to repeat my meditation.
two country crows --Andangkaka were eating with relish the sacrificial cooked rice placed on a beam whilst  a flock of parrots screeched as they flew around .Chose a place to meditate .Parrots were screeching hysterically .It was unlike the ordinary screeches of parrots of earlier trips.Continued stubbornly with what maybe a  mere lip service and heard the drone of a plane .Here to!Didnt hear them in SrirangamWas our trip pre planned ?Does it explain that poor priest's[ who must have been micro waved ]sudden staggering as i went past him to go out?Does it also explain hubs breaking into sweat and my restlessness and indecisivness  in finding a spot for meditation  few minutes before?
Had headaches in lodge as well as in return train trip that very night --21st.
Kept writing whole of 22nd in fits and gaps as my mind seemed to be  stuffed and i had to get rid off it all. Wrote my diary at length and then this article for blog.Observed that there were barely any take offs .Not much take offs today --23rd also saw landings and my diary writing is yet to stop.After ages  my sore throat returned with fever!
this is the concluding piece of the tour diary article --It is the bodily nastying i am subject to in my annual  trip to Tirupathi which hurts me most , this is since 2014 .Probably those who are deliberately doing this dirty job on me know that i am unable to stomach the nastying i am subject to in Tirumala temple due to my special affinity to Srinivasar lay it  thick in there  .So i'll be adding fuel to fire when i share this piece of information ,that my great grand father on my paternal side a sanskrit pandit never left Tirupathi though he had lucrative offers from Benares , trivandram , Rewa ,mysore and many others , due to his deep devotion to Srinivasarand that he wrote 150 slokas in sanskrit on Srinivasar at ripe age of 80 for every Bramha sutra explaining that brahman in those sutras refer to Narayana and Narayana is vishnu and it is he who is enshrined at tirumala.
He did  all this in britishers period and even got audience and a medal for  representatingHindu
  orthodoxy in south, with King George when he visited India .He seems to have lived more freely under British than me under Independant Republic of India!Irony! Double irony is that my maternal grand father  sacrifised a lot of time and money and energy to free India of britisher rule and help create this independant republic of India was also a deep devotee of Srinivasar at Tirumala.He spent his last years at Tirupathi.

I guess it is  my lineage which makes me even more vulnerable to such unspeakably dirty physical and mental harrassments  in such sacred places by those who are envious of my anscestry and it gives them a high to rub my nose to the ground .