The all encompassing eye

"WHAT YOU ARE SEEING IS NOT REALLY WHAT IT IS.THAT WAS NOT IT"S FORM BEFORE YOU SAW IT, NOR WILL IT BE SO AFTERWARDS.. FOR ALL THINGS ARE MUTABLE"

I read this somewhere and found it to be very true and quite eminently practicable."Let"s start practicing it", i told, myself.....May be i will start getting wiser,.. After all, i am getting on in years and it is time i caught up with some enlightenment of the soul,and at least at this age should find out what is what.

One has to develop a comprehensive view to to understand this factor of mutability....i read...... just like the bird"s eye view,we used to study about in our childhood.One has to view the front,sides and even the back of our noses.. an improvement on the winged creature.

I tried to follow this golden maxim and found out the result a bit startling....Now i can not look at a new sari without picturing mentally how it is going to look in few more days,......faded, crumpling at the hems ,and in tatters..worse...thrown into a rag bin........

Now i take up a glass of water, stare into it as i remember how all the water molecules in the earth"s atmosphere do not decrease or increase in volume ..... just get recycled and recirculated......The liquid in this tumbler may very well be the same molecules someone drank ages ago, ..or..is the raindrops in a forest,..the roof of an igloo,...the tear drop of a mother,...the perspiration of a labourer,...or..yuck ....the piss of an animal.....

But ,the weirdest thing happens as you look at people"s faces....You get to see a, young , nubile girl and foresee the lovely curls going grey,...bags forming under the bright eyes,,and she turning out to be just like her mother or grand mother.....a young boy changing.....hair receding,..pot bellied...... into a tottering, senile old fellow...

I see a bright new painted building, looking all crisp and shiny like a new currency note,and know exactly where it is going to show it"s ugly side in a few more years.....the railings are going to be grubby.....the windows are the first to take rust.....the corners of the landings....ugh..

You walk about a place,..and it has a history...Once i went to Alampur in Kurnool district and they told me it was a bustling city during chalukya period. Today it is only a very dry, hot,little hamlet....Another time i was at Pedavegi,,,and it seems it was a capital city for the vengi kings just few hundred years back.Now there is not even a standing remnant of it....Once the bay was supposed to be reaching the Thirumala hills, and now it receded back till Nellore and Madras.

Well......yes...this type of philosophical, bird"s eye viewing was quite awesome..and unnerving.....but did not seem to deter me for long....Just a few moments of introspection......I continue to wear new sarees, drink lots of water , appreciate the good looks of others, and take joy in the present....Just shows that by itself KNOWLEDGE (jnanam) is not going to influence our reaction to our urges and feelings.

WWF.CRICKET

"People should stop watching cricket" my husband declared as he shook his head reading the HINDU..."it is this too much attention we give it that is spoiling the game.", he continued in an injured tone.." and the lure of easy money...u just bet and expect bucks to roll in"...He was plainly disappointed, and even though would not admit it,was chafing because just two days back he laughed,. nay, pooh poohed the idea that our Bermuda match was fixed when seshu and maruthi(my bro n sis)proposed that theory...Now,comes the news that woolmer was murdered and it might very well have something to do with match fixing. Plainly he did not like the way things are going on.

I, myself was not too much perturbed. My cricket watching days were over...that was when Gavaskar and Viswanath were in their prime, and arguments regularly broke out in our household over who was the better classicist,,.with suri babai rooting for vishy and others campaigning for Gavaskar,..while, dad ,always a maverick, liked Madan lal orSsolkar or Chauhan.....yeah....those were the days...India hardly ever won any match and when it did win one, a severe drought followed for quite some years later....I remember what happened after the famous KAPIL"DEVILS cup.......The most funny thing happened when those players, who retired just then reappeared as commentators... clucked their tongues,.gravely shook their heads, and reprimanded the present ones for being hasty,.....should not go for hooks, late cuts,.should not be lax in running in between wickets,......I got to wonder why they did not do all that when THEY played. ....i kept it till late eighties and gradually lost interest.

This match fixing concept started from Azharuddin days,i think...My brother and uncle used to bring in all sorts of veranda rumours....that Azhar"s brother himself was a bookie,...Azhar used to change caps to indicate a coded signal to the bookies.i mean, he wears a red cap and it meant one thing.,..he wears a green cap and it means some other thing.......Seshu was sure the test we lost to Pakistan, where Sachin scored a 90+,got out and a procession of sorts followed with all the others getting out for a mere handful of runs was fixed.So also was the Pakistani loss to Bangladesh in the last world cup .

"why don"t you first stop watching for starters?" i asked my husband.

"It is not watching" he readily backtracked. "it is the betting that is the chief culprit.the filthy lucre of easy money."

" ok.so,how is one going to stop this?"i led him on.

"yeah,..that is tough" he conceded."no way one can really put a lid on it.even the altu faltu matches between Bandar hindu college and Edepalli cricket club (btw, has anyone ever heard of "em?)are betted upon."

"when u can"t beat"em, join"em. that is my motto" i declared.

"give u one idea. why don"t we have wwf cricket matches from now on?" i suggested.

"left to my self i liked those fixed matches immensely.there was color,..suspense,thrills,heart stopping catches,and even one or two miracles(that was how it struck watchers)"i reasoned. "just like the wwf fisticuffs.as if an astute script writer , who has got the pulse of the people, wrote down a taut screen play....one knows it is fixed but still can"t stay away and goes through all the thrills".I warmed up to the idea." you see.one can call in the best of script writers, pack in the most stunning sequences and make a huge hit".

"what do you say?"i interrupted my husband as he sat immersed in watching the Australia , west indies match on telly.

He merely glowered at me.

tuesday, the twenty third, may

We started our journey, back to Hyderabad,this day,..again on the good old VAIGAI.
The previous day evening SRINIVAS"S family went back to khammam, their own place, and we had to bid farewell to the two cuties, SRUJANA and, JYOTSNA,without whose cooperation,as they say in speeches,.. none of us could have done this trip. They never made a complaint where even the elder people would throw tantrums, bore with tough schedules, kept up their spirits cheerful and by god"s grace,..their health too.The younger one demanded we pack our bags to go with them to khammam.We were sorry to part with them.

That night we had a relaxed dinner and tasted some of madurai"s,hot and spicy pulao.and curries..sat gossiping late into the night and said our hearty thanks to Yasoda and her lovely Alekhya and Anupama...and in the middle of the night,....i woke up with a dream where i saw a pair of tiny snakes.As i lay there wondering about this latest dream,Anasuya too woke up and peevishly enquired why i was not sleeping and spoiling her sleep as well...When i narrated my dream to her, she kindly patted my head with ...."ratnamani...dont bother ur little brains too much...as it is, they are better than ghazni"s,work only for two minutes".....so, i took her suggestion and promptly went back to sleep.

THE MARVEL THAT IS SOUTH INDIA

Cool hill stations,.. sultry beaches,...dense forests ,...large, modern cities,...villages with barest mimimum facilities,...powerful holy places........all of these within just two or three hours drive........Both punyam and purushartham.....That is the marvel of south india.....you go up beautiful thirumala mountains,have a darshan of venkateswara, the most benefic of lords(KALIYUGA DEIVAM, as they say,)and within two or three hours you can come down to the beach resorts at Nellore or Chennai, or enjoy watching the migrating birds at sullurpet in case it was january...or you can choose to vanish into the nearby forests.........
So also is the case with north coastal andhra pradesh.lovely beaches at Bheemlee, Narsipatnam, Vizag,...araku and even hither to unexplored hill stations, and the densest dandakaaranyam..


You can visit the grand shrine of meenakshi at madurai, as we did, and opt for a two and half hour drive to the sea......or go up the kodai mountains,....in the same time span...and watch and wonder at the magnetic charm of these two elements...water and earth,...in their stark ,extensive forms, and feel your own humbleness.
Anasuya left for her M.S soon after our return from this trip...and we were glad to have shown her, at least a part of this great land, where gods reside.

pazhamudhircholai

Pazhamudhircholai was very near to azhagar kovil,...I think it took not more than fifteen minutes of driving....Set in some picturesque woods,it stood at the foot of a low lying hill.Our driver pointed to it as the temple, and drove on further without stopping,,,...As we were wondering over what happened, he explained, there were some waterfalls further up on the hillside and we must take a bath under them first before we go over to the temple. We were not intent on bathing, but wanted to see those falls. Later we came to know that this place was called NUPURA GANGAI.


When you go further up on the hill,through a pleasant forest full of bustling monkeys, after 5 to 10 minutes of driving,you reach the steps that take you to the falls...They were a good many, and we puffed up there dragging our cramped legs...A kind of big temple like structure was at the summit,with a square shaped open space, at the center of it, and from a wall of it , were jetting out some slender streams of water...They were more like the feeble rushes of water we are used to seeing from our municipal taps.Some people were bathing under those, and we stood there for sometime watching the scene....some people were filling up cans and carrying them back. They were said to be of medicinal values...might be like mineral water springs......The place was stinking, very dark, dirty too,and wet all over.....At an alcove like place,a statue of kamakshi was receiving poojas...After a few minutes there, we did a stiff climb down,..watched the antics of those monkeys for sometime and started for pazhamudhir...


The temple was a bit surprising....because, unlike the other ones, which were very ancient, this one looked very much new...just like a modern day temple....The flooring,the built,....not a very large one either....We do have such temples almost in all places....might be the earlier ancient one went into decay.
but the lord, with his consorts at his sides was a beautiful one,as ever.

Azhagar kovil

I liked azhagar kovil...might be bacause of the fact that it was less crowded...When we went in there, there were not more than just five or six people . I think calmer surroundings did help to set our mood in a more receptive frame,...We could leisurely look around us and appreciate it.


It was very much near madurai, not more than 30 km or just about that....situated a bit back,..away from the main road, in a sprawling enclosure, the giant temple stood silent and dignified....It had some huge, stonemade out houses and smaller temples in it"s foregrounds....To the right side of the temple, was a huge, archway, with strong, closed wooden doors...A bored looking preist sat before it with some pooja materials by his side.for a stipulated amount of money, (i dont remember how much),he would prepare a potful of sandal wood water,which the devotes had to splash on those doors. Then he would open the gates for a few seconds, allowing us to have a peep in....To my surprise, i found nothing there,...just a open place and big bee-hives.this act was supposed to be beneficial for the well-being of children. ...Well...ofcource we did it.

Inside, the temple was peaceful, large,and rambling.and exept around the sanctum,seemed in want of repairs too..One can easily see that though it was empty and falling into disrepair now, it had the look of a busy and well kept place in a bygone period.One can roam around the place and get lost.....Huge pillared corridors, dark,hallways,and hard stone floors,it strangely,raked up a feeling of awe and had an air of mystery around it,....that for a moment i wondered what it would be like to be caught, locked up in this massive, dark temple for a night....


The main sanctum was on an elevated platform,..The deity standing on a higher inner chamber,...and one look at him,...you would know why he was called AZHAGAR...He was a rare, beautiful idol,..tall for normal images,...It IS unusual to find tall images...exeptions being the lord balaji"s images and some others....With large ,resplendent NAMAMS,and glittering ornaments,....i just had to imagine how it would be if this image appeared and moved among us, ...with his elongated,bright large eyes,..his green tulasimalas, colorful garlands, and silks.... say, ..on a road....Without doubt, everybody would have no eyes for anything else. Here i remembered a description of lord ram, when he entered MITHILA, along with saint VISWAMITRA and his brother,...such was the magnetic beauty of HIM,...the poet says,...that the people of mithila kept staring at him throughout his walk.He was so beautiful (i purposefully use this word in stead of handsome)that whoever happened to notice his feet first, kept staring at them all through,..while those who caught his eyes,kept seeing them alone, as if mesmerised.

ramuni andam makarandam
rasamayamainadi prathi dendam
ramuni charanam aravindam
kolichina chalu aanandam

So it was not for nothing, he was called AZHAGAR.


coming out , we were amused by the fact, that this was the first VISHNUSTALAM, we were seeing on the entire trip.

monday, the 22nd ,may

this morning, we, ..meaning me and my husband got up early and went out for a morning walk,( an unusual custom for me,) around yasoda"s house....just a street or two,...enjoying and savouring the scenes and scents of a madurai morning....and soaking in the atmosphere..i always found roaming in a new place a very delightful expierience...
we were in a pretty relaxed mood that day, nursing our still sore feet, and sympathising with each other.. our trip has almost come to an end,..only two places near madurai were to be covered now...both srujana and jyotsna unequivocally stated they were not going on visits any longer.,they said, they preffered to stay with their aunt.so we called for an ambassdor from the car rentals,and leisurely started for thiruppurankundram(the name itself is difficult to write.i still dont know if this is correct spelling) after breakfast.


it was not far..., infact , it could be called a part or suburb of madurai.the temple looked like it had been carved out of a small hill.or to say plainly, a big rock. the mukha mantapams and entry halls were wide, huge and cool,... beautiful sculptures adorning the walls.. the actual sanctum was on a higher plane.and was kind of unusual...three figures, murugan, parvathi and ganesh , the mother in the middle....were carved out of a wall of rock...all the three were of same size and not regular idols....i mean, in this place, the swami seemed to be sharing the dais, so to speak,not being an exclusive deity.

downstairs there were the two divine consorts too , and some other gods. as we the came out of the temple ,we saw ,in the mukhamantapam, to a side of the low roof was a carved figure of godess kali and a man stood nearby selling tiny balls of butter.it seemed there was this funny custom of making a wish and throwing a butter ball up at the godess on the roof. if it stuck it meant your wish was fulfilled. if it did"nt, it meant otherwise... anasuya, made her father buy one for her and threw the ball. it stuck.,but she would not tell us what she wished for.