Maruthis and Mustangs, move over ...

When six hundred or so folk pull a ther (car) with 8 foot wheels around a temple tank for over 5 hours followed by a few mini ther's, it is not fair to compare it to any modern day car.

This is one event where no writeup can do justice. It was just spectacular. There was a public exam scheduled for the government schools that monday morning and in spite of that, this was the crowd!

There are only happy tears, when words fail you.

My grandpa got to see this video and he could not speak. He just lifted his hand and moved it to show "I bless you". That made my day, that made my "trip" and somehow for a fleeting moment, erased that image that I had of myself as the grandson who lived far away, unable to help his grandpa in any way.

A few photo highlights..

The remover of obstacles, literally! Vinayagar goes and clears the mylapore morning traffic for the other chariots.

The lineup from behind

The main Chariot (Ther)

Munnazhagu!

Pinnazhagu? Jr. was so envious of Ambaal's long hair!

Subramanya, Valli and Devaanai

A stitch shot of the main chariot.

This will be the last event summary post from the festival. I had to fly out the same night and missed the Arubathumoovar and another favorite, the China Potti fireworks! After this Chennai trip, there is a new belief. It is a small planet and there might be another chance to see this Utsavam in this lifetime, for one never knows.

ps. My original Video was rejected by Youtube because it was 47 seconds longer than the 10 minute limit. The next attempt was my edit of that video which ended up very grainy.. so the video posted above was the third or fourth attempt which should also be near high definition clarity!

Linking my two earlier attempts (1 and 2) of making this video out of almost 30 minutes of unedited footage, just to remind myself "if you try and fail, try again!"

.

Viennese Waltz revisited

One of the most glorious sights and my all time favorite in the Kabali temple utsavam is the way the gods dance into the temple, just before sunrise on the Rishabam (White or Silver bull, Rishabam is the sign Taurus). They time it just right and the way they rock the god to 3 beats per bar is amazing!

The last time I saw this was almost two decades ago. At that time the strange draw to this dance was not understood. During my foray into ballroom dancing in the mid nineties, the Viennese waltz was a favorite and I never realized why. This year standing there listening to the drum beats and the band as the god started dancing, I closed my eyes to savor the music for a second and there was this sudden urge to do a viennese waltz in the middle of the Rishabam watching crowd.

My mind said "cut cut cut.. we are in the middle of a very eastern ritual here and you suddently want to waltz with the videocamera in hand?", but the body was swaying to what was definitely, ballroom music of the highest quality.

Lord Kapali was indeed doing his dance to waltz timing and the note they played was a very western note too(you can hear it in the video). Finally after so many years, it felt like a giant jigsaw puzzle clicked into place!

Will always cherish this memory for a long long time to come. Lore has it that watching the god enter the temple just prior to sunrise is equivalent to watching him ascend Mount Kailas or heaven.

This time I got goosebumps watching the dance. (Probably got goosebumps watching it 20 years ago as well, but do not remember it)

Now for the photos...

The silver Rishabam

The golden Rishabam for Karpagambaal

The golden peacock for Subramanya (still remember how my brother and me were always scared of the peacock because of the snake in its mouth)

The morning started so perfectly that day, as we (my mum and me) walked slowly in search of an autorickshaw. The large crowd has dispersed within a few minutes after the procession ended and there was a silence all round the temple tank. Decided to take stitch photos from the tank. This is the best stitch I could get of the 3 mada veedhis (3 sides of the temple tank)

The old Rishabam was a hand painted bull that resembled the tigers and lions. Looks like the Taurus has received a massive upgrade. This one is just awesome! You take one look into its eyes and it transports you to a magical realm.

What more can I say?

Kapali rocks!

.

Polycephalitis and the mother of all cows

Part of the lure and the lore that mythology and the gods create, are provided by multi-headed creatures and human beasts.

They definitely make for fantastic stories, develop your imagination and get you ready to believe in Harry Potter almost thirty or so years later!

Did you know that the Lord of Mylapore has a night program as well during the festival season? Yep. His calendar is fully blocked for that week and he is out late at night, sometimes as late as 5AM!

In this video, we catch him getting warmed up for an all nighter, on his polycephalitic snake. There was a large crowd for this Friday night special.

As a kid, we would never get this close to the god because of the crowd and the fear of a kid getting lost in the crowd. Any tamizh movie fan knows that the number one way to lose a child is to walk the kid through a temple festival crowd.

Here are the pictures.

The many headed Naagam (snake)

Kamadhenu, aka the mother of all cows, giver of infinite gifts

The horned goat

My mom said "5 headed snake. you always loved this one". On careful inspection at home with the digital pictures and the video with a 120x zoom, one finds out that the snake actually has 7 heads, not five! Even grandma was surprised by this find.

We always learn something new, don't we?

.

Manimals

Well, what exactly is a manimal? A man-animal aka "Purushaa-mirugham" in Tamil.

It is a scary looking stead for the gods. Oh, yes, the mind is still in Mylapore..

This one was on a weekday and there were high school examinations in the state government schools smack in the middle of the festival and the crowd was not as big or as enthusiastic. The local government is atheist and these days, the poor kids from Mylapore have to study while all the bands are playing outside. Now that, is tough!)

Just like the attendence on the last day of a cricket test match that was a definite draw, this crowd was comprised only of the real ardent devotees who were going for the record books to say "I attended every day!".

Still it was fun to watch as they did the rounds faster. The photo sampler follows..

Purushaa-mirugam (the manimal)

Singham (Lion)

Puli (Tiger)

All of them in series..

My theory? The whole idea of having a utsavam is to entertain kids and get them to like the temple and associated concepts at an early age.

This was the "catch them young" marketing campaign?

They definitely succeeded in catching me.

.

From one world to another

My mother was standing next to me on top of the steps at Sri Kumaran stores in Mylapore during the temple festival. As I videotaped the procession of the various gods on their vaahanams(props, if you will) and the gods rolled past us one by one, with a pit stop or two at shades built for the purpose, an elderly uncle asked me a very simple question:

"Ange Americala indha maadhiri edhavadhu unda?"
(In America, do you have anything similar to this?)

His tone was suggesting that I would make him proud by answering in the negative. Being born with a disease called "dontknowwhentoshutuposis" my reply was

"irukku mama. USA-layum indha maadhiri oru utsavam irukku!"
(yes uncle. even in the USA they have something like this!)

My mother saw the mischievous glint in my eyes and took me six feet away from said mama and asked,
Mom : "where in gods name was there a procession like this in the US of A?".
Me : Mousaandavar Kovil-la idhe maadhiri oru oorvalam irukkamma.. (in the mouseaandavar temple there is a procession just like this!)
Mom : Adhu endha Kovil? (what temple is that? I don't remember)
Me : Walt-aalvaar kattina Kovil! (the one that the devotee Walt built for the Mouse)

When I calmly told her that the Disney parade is the american version of the Kapali utsavam, she started laughing.

Had that been said that to my grandma, she would have said "siva sivaa", "enna piththukuli thanam" or something to that effect and hit me on the head with some blunt object. Mom on the other hand actually liked that logic, especially after my other comparisons.

In the utsavam, the vinayagar and nayanamars go first and peps up the crowd, much like the initial clowns and characters that walk in costume at the head of the disney parade.

Then of course come the vendors selling popcorn, cotton candy, little flourescent toys, etc. much like the kaathadi, bangle and pori kadalai sellers who have a three minute time window, to use the artificial sense of emergency to make a quick buck.

This is then followed by the band (naayanam) and the floats with the stars of the parade. Different gods, different props. The priests hand over sacred ash, vermillion and fruits and flowers to the crowd much like the cartoon characters sprinkle glitter around. The disney parade is on motorized floats while the Kapali floats are carried by people and that seems to be the only difference.

People who have a zillion gods and godesses can have the luxury of selecting the parade favorites. If not, you have to go for funny ducks and adorable mice!

Mylapore -> Los Angeles
Vinayagar -> Pluto
Chandikeswarar -> Goofy
Karthikeya -> Donald duck
Kapali and his -> Mickey mouse and his
consort Karpagambal -> consort Minnie Mouse

It is almost one for one! Mickey mouse brings up the grand finale in LA while Kapali's entry back into the temple closes the parade in Mylapore. One has got to wonder if Walt Disney was a mylapore resident at some point.

When you accept the Dinsey Utsavam to be a replica of Kapaliworld, you are truly on your way to bliss!

.