Temples on the foot-path

Our city Trivandrum has many "Tamil" characteristics. It's bacause of the closeness to Tamilnadu, and having a large Tamil population. One such characteristic is the presence of small temples, on the foot path !
Earlier, there was such a foot-path temple , at Pettah junction (opposite the Theatre). Over the years, inevitable changes did happen. The roads got widened, and many of such temples were vanished or shifted to convienient locations. But , the foot-path temple at Pettah, did get a more honorable place. I happened to see this last day, after a gap of about three years.
The temple is on the road side, just the foot path. It's grown well with a sign board and illuminated. It's a small room, the priest can just sit near the deity.
It's an "Amman Kovil". The name is interesting.. "Kaniyaatti Amman Kovil" ( കണിയാട്ടി അമ്മന്‍ കോവില്‍ ) .
I've here two snaps, for you to see.










































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Lucky 'Aal maram'

Chingam 1. Malayalam New Year day, Chingam 1, was on 17th August, Sunday. 

All temples were crowded on this day morning. I have today, a few pictures of my neighboring temple. It's not the crowd that I wish to show you, but the big "Aal maram" (Banyan tree) . The temple is built around the tree. The idols are just at the base on the roots of the tree.

And see a lottery ticket vendor in front of the temple. Devotees, after darshan and with the blessings of DEVI, buys a ticket. May Luck favour them !

{What's the botanical name of Aal maram ? } 

Accidents, Fear

Accidents happen accidently. Not always.
Accidents happen due to carelessness. Yes true. They happen also due to ‘lack of a leader’. Individuals are intelligent. A group may not be so ( and are sometimes idiotic)

What I wish to tell you now is based on two recent accidents. There are many things in common for these accidents.
Both are in connection with temple festivals.
Both involve deaths and burns.
Both are electricity related (electrocuted !)
Both happened in Kerala ( where we claim that people are learned and intelligent).
Both happened right in front of many people watching.
Case 1 : Last Wednesday.
One dead (electrocuted) and many ( 14 ?) injured (burns).
Happened during a temple festival. The flag mast, which was being hoisted ceremoniously, touched high voltage lines (66 KV ?) passing just above the site. Many people were watching the function.

Case 2 : Last Thursday.
One dead, many injured. An elephant also got serious electrical shock.
A temple priest, on an elephant, during a ritual procession, was electrocuted. The procession was going down under a power line.

Why did these accidents happen ?
These two incidents could have been averted, had someone (atleast one in those gathering) had a little bit of common sense. I am sure most of the people there are educated ( above 10 th standard). Any 10th standard student now knows that electricity is dangerous ! What they all lacked is not education, but ‘common sense’.
Why none among the spectators could see that the kodimaram will touch the close/low lying power cable ? Why they dared to hoist the kodimaram right below the powerline ?
The photographs, in the newspapers, clearly shows how close the lines were.
Certainly, the absence of a good leader for the function, is evident.
During a festival, individuals try to be smart, but no one is responsible. The group, not having the leadership of a manager, is responsible.
In the second case, was the priest a normal person ? Was not the power lines visible ?
To my mind, I think you can ask many questions, but here they are all of no use.

FEAR is a good characteristic. Being afraid of is good. Fear is an emotion which nature has built into every creature, to be safe . Being safe is also to avert accidents (or danger).
Fear and Safety; Fear is the basic sense to make oneself safe. A group may not feel fear at all.

Morale of the story is, Include lessons on Safety, right from primary classes ( or nursery classes ).