The thought process.

I’ve been to tirupathi in the eve of the annual function, called the brahmotsavam, a grand event. The lord of seven hills in His deity form, parades before lakhs of devotees in His vahanams(vehicles). More than the devotion, it is enlivened to see people’s crowd engaged in a harmonious spiritual cheering.

From pollachi, it was the bolero (the crude jeep masquerading as a car) with five people onboard. I didn’t drive, for the bolero is a commercial utility vehicle and therefore lacks of mannerism of the car. The route taken was pollachi-palladam-tirupur-salem-vellore-chennai-tirupati, as there was a need to attend a private function at Chennai. The road after salem was four-laned and demanded a total toll charge of 150 rupees-not bad as Chennai was reached in a record time of 10 hours with several breaks in between.

Right before sriperumbuthur onwards (where rajiv Gandhi was assassinated) one can see the industrial mode of the city. The nokia factory welcomed us, with its innumerable buses ferrying workmen (nokia employs more women than men). Sriperumbuthur town follows the memorial sight of the past (lost) prime minister of the country, with its very large Indian flag swaying in the breeze. Chennai has never changed, except for the slight increase in the disorder in the traffic system, pollution levels, primitive driving styles, bribe tainted traffic men, etc. Urbane living has its own merits of being in a civilized environment, but the cost one pays for that in non-pecuniary terms is enormous. The population surge of this country has changed the western equations of urbanization, and life in the part of the planet is more consummate and savourable in semi-urban areas than at the cities. Urbanity is synonymously capitalism and a living mirage, a kaleidoscope. You race with aspects like time, money, fame, your designation, your flat bedroom numbers, etc. A race which you are dragged into, consciously or sub consciously. Liberalism is commensurate to your degree of your adjustment to urban living. Urbanity is all about variety; the difference it feeds into your daily life. The evening, I went to one of my acquaintance’s home. It was a simple 2 bedroom flat in a posh area, as I already mentioned, he is used to urban living and even though he has a better home back at the town, he cannot leave from the iterated routines for which he is trained into until now. But towns like pollachi is fast changing, it is showing characteristics of this citified living, but all on a micro scale. A residence at DB road, RS puram Coimbatore is a near equivalent. But life is not as we scheme, and it is better we escape out of delirium and get in touch with the threads of reality. Refined mannerisms, a forward looking attitude, liberal views, and a mind trained to accept and worship multitudinous is what attracts everyone to the city. Except for the population of our ill fated country, urbanity is not unwelcome.


The next day afternoon, we started to tirupati. As the starting lecture in public administration states, mankind has evolved and civilized a lot, and human life has become more complex and intricate. The temple town, now a large city, bores no sign of any religious involvement; all of it is reserved to the hill temple zone. The faith of an individual is feeding the roots of capitalism. The constant buzz of horns and not even a micro second of gap to cross the road are evident of the ruthlessness of Market economy. I am a tourist here; you people must respect me; for in theory the customer is the king. But all that is ironical and only customer’s money is king. The real feel of the pilgrimage is uphill at tirumala(i). The whole place is a charity destination, with speakers in hymns of the lord with carnatic music that which is a serene soothing to a perturbed mind, which you can hear distinctly out of all the noise around. If you walk uphill, then you can forget the fatigue for mostly it is M S Subbulakshmi’s renderings or the live bhajans held near the temple. Until the queue reaches the temple entrance, there is always a physical stress of the crowd. But once you enter the main temple, it is completely different. The aesthetic appearance and the poignant attitude of the mind and heart in seeing the rare sight of the lord before you overcomes everything on its way. The devotees exclaim the lord’s name out loud; to explain it I can say that it is all a resonance phenomenon; a thousand people on the same motive and same belief will naturally create a spiritual resonance, just in the same way how a throng of urbanites creates urbanism. The oonjal seva, in which the lord Himself poses in a relaxed manner outside the temple to his devotees with a mild sway, listening to the hymns sang by some carnatic singer gives a very realistic spiritual feeling. Here I am, before you, however complex the world gets, simple are my ways… I never know whether I am religious or not- a mind trained to science intellect should deny god; but it is not seen in the commonplace. Scientific living, which is living by rationality and observation, may be true; but what is human life that which is filled with formulas and a set of observations contained in the universal set U? What hope is there for me to live, if everything happens by formula and logic? There is a void arising out there, and religion fills this void. The belief that one day in future I will be in a better position is the assurance derived out of a prayer to Him, and thus I can live the rest of the days with hope, whether I reach the destination as promised or not.

Religion is the ensemble integration of each and every conscience’s spiritual health.

Thus if thousands are sitting and worshipping the lord’s sight, and if I sit and propound theories, my intellect may be satisfied, but then to get into resonance to live the life of the times, I need to follow the same, even for a few seconds it may be, but which gives a eternal gratification of having blended with humanity.