Stone Temple Pilots
Monday, September 15, 2008 at 10:14PM As we were going through the old CD collection, a CD of the "Stone Temple Pilots" was spotted. They were a popular rock band in the early nineties. Popular for a very short time, but they had one single that I liked and hence the CD in the collection.
At that time, it was my opinion that,
Amitabh Bachchan : Mithun Chakraborthy :: Pearl Jam : Stone Temple Pilots
Anyways, this post as usual, is going to steer away from the opening paragraph. To a different world, a different time and place!
The very first time the name of this group was mentioned, and we (Myself, my friends Sedat Alkoy and Indradev Samajdar, may god find them happy wherever they are!) were watching the group perform live on one of the late night shows, it remined me of a different type of Stone Temple Pilots, and for some weird reason, that memory came back! Now we are going deep into my brain, for this is a flashback of a flashback, something not attempted, even in K. Balachandar movies!
Once upon a time, in a land far away, was a custom called Pradhosham. Every 15 days, the entire family would assemble at the Kapaleeshwarar temple in Mylapore and watch the idol of lord Shiva (on his silver bull) being carried around the temple three times, with a short break after each round. The temple would be "standing room only", and the oldies and the kids will go hours in advance to reserve vantage positions to see the prayers during the breaks.
Think of it as stadium seating where the half time show is viewed best!
My brother and me, would have our own agenda when going to the temple. While grandpa would be busy choosing a safe view point for grandma, we would go do our thing. We would watch and chase the peacocks behind the "punnaivana naathar", chase each other around the entire temple, put vennai to the hanuman on one of the pillars outside the Kapaleeshwar sannidhi, and last but not the least, chase each other on the stone elephants in the hall facing the subramanya deity! It was by far our favorite activity.
We would race across fantasy lands, throw in some Mahabaratha lingo learnt recently from grandma and beat the elephant on the head to go faster, faster! We would hog the elephants as much as we could till grandpa would dislodge us to give the the other waiting kids a chance.
The beauty of the pradhosham, is that if you pray to Lord Shiva over that narrow 90 minute window every fifteen days, he would forgive you for all your sins and grant you all your wishes! The other beauty of the pradhosham is that as soon as the final deepa aaradhanai is done, the crowd disperses within 10 minutes! The ladies disappeared to feed their family while the men had to go around the Mylapore tank and bargain with the vegetable vendors to buy veggies for the next days menu! The gaslit lamps, the crude weighing scales which made the bargaining moot, the cows that would be running the backlane between the open stalls for the discarded vegetables, the smells, the visuals... someone needs to come up with a software that can take the image in your head and convert it to .jpg and upload to blogger! Better, make that a request for video upload directly to youtube.
Where were we? Ah, the rapidly dispersing post pradosham crowd! You see, grandpa was a very patient man and he loves us dearly! That said, he would let us play on the elephants for an extra half hour. This would be followed by a request for drinking Kalimark goli soda outside the temple and he would yield. Then we would make our way to the Ambika Appalam Depot and buy :
1 piece Palkhoa each (wrapped in a translucent butter paper)
1 bag of kara sevai
1 bag of ribbon pakoda
and we would start the long trek back home. Occasionally I would roll and the floor and throw a tantrum outside the book store near Leo coffee for the latest issue of Chandamama and grandpa would buy me that too!
Every India trip over the last fifteen years has included a Pradosham, call it an old habit, a prayer for shiva or whatever. Except this trip!
We went to the temple one evening, to stand under the same Dakshinamurthy who was in some ways instrumental in me marrying San, while my brother pointed out the real Dakshinamurthy shining high and bright over the Madras sky!
Jr. is now about the same age as my brother was when we enjoyed piloting the stone elephants. She really enjoyed it. The little one will have to wait a couple of years, and then we can have the next generation race all over again!
San tells me that I live in the past when we visit India, and it is true. When you spend less than a month out of twelve in India, one does tend to live in the past, look for those connections, grab for roots, all in the hopes of refreshing the DRAM's in your head!
All said and done, it is great to go back to this temple, anytime, any day, be it Pradosham or otherwise, and take a look at those elephants!
I can be eight years old again!
.
Reader Comments (5)
Such a lovely post! Brought back memories of my uncle taking us to the Birla temple and its playground (in Delhi) when I was at the magical age of eight:)
Fabulous post ! I enjoyed the Dakshinamoorthy post too !
Great read. Took me back to my own 'wonder years' !
Sundar,
I identified with every lil thing you spoke about kapaleeshwar temple. I spent nearly all my weekends at the temple when I lived in mylapore. The veggie sellers outside with the smell of the oil light permeating (Sigh!!)... I loved the palkhoa too at Ambika appalam, but I liked the older version better than the new modernized version of the depot on the edge of the street now..
Sundar
You brought back so much memories. I can identify with every liitle thing-pradosham, arupathumoovar,ther ,ambika appalm depot,Aavin flavoured milk whenevr we go to kapali temple. The list goes on.. During college days it used to be "shanthi vihar corner.."
Gosh I miss all those. Love Madras,Mylapore,LuzCorner..
Hmmm..Would those days ever come back???
Priya
The Luz corner Aavin palkhoa I thought trumped the Ambika applam one. Gosh, Shanti Vihar was heaven...... I wonder how that place closed when everyone used to swear by the food served there.