Time Machine
*** Back in Time Machine.
Yesterday evening I was transported to a bygone time, some 30-40 years back as if in a Time Machine.
It all started with an innocuous telephone call at 4pm inviting Krithika to sing in a place called "Panchamukha Anjaneyar Temple" near "Chithrai Kulam" , Mylapore, Chennai. Everyone knows the Mylapore Kulam, but chithrai kulam ... ? No one was aware of its location, exactly where does it exist. Somewhere in South Maada Street, we could see in the map.
We reached Mylapore, the Chithrai kulam was there where it was supposed to be as per the map. But. where was this PA temple? Locals didn't know its existence, if it existed at all; a few of them actually mis-directed us, though it was no fault of theirs - none seemed to know about this PAT. We were going in rounds and rounds in the narrowest gullies of Mylapore. Finally a good Samaritan came along and he walked with us to show the place - it was NOT a temple, but an old dilapidated HOUSE !!
The owner of this house - Mr. Rama Swamy Iyengar, aged about 70 - has installed a 2-feet idol of Anjaneyar, a rare Panchamukha Anjaneyar, in one of the rooms and doing elaborate poojai for the past 20 years, as directed by HHH Kanchi Sankarachariyar Swamygal. On Aadi Amavasya days, this Anjaneyar is deified as an incarnation of Goddess Durga and worshipped as such with 3 kg of kumkum. Krithika sat in the koodam and sang for 20-30 minutes.
But, what was amazing, what held my attraction and attention was the house itself. I was transported to 1950's or earlier. It was a very ancient house, more ancient than our 17 Babu Rao St house. Rezhi, Thazhwaaram, Koodam, Adukkalai, Store room etc, in low roof Odu (tile). Dimly lit rooms of poor ventilation; wooden uththirams criss-crossing, a couple of thoonkal near the koodam. Do you visualise our 17 Babu rao St house when you read this? All this in the "heart" of the metropolis City, I couldn't believe my eyes! Could it be Madras, or some sleepy village whose clock has stopped some 50 years back?
The contrast inside the house itself was amazing and striking. All along the 100-years' old uththirams I could see five or six electrical extension boards hanging from which the latest Sony 4-CD changer gets power; Or a Philips DVD player. Or a LG flat TV. These gadgets are of course placed in all nooks and dirty corners (no proper "stands"). There is a "pirai" for lamps, but I see only a Casio Digital Clock in that pirai. A phone rings, where is the instrument? On the dingy floor, my dear. Not the place for a phone, you may say. But there is a latest Panasonic Cordless nearby, again on the floor ! A Nokia blurts out the latest tune. Where is that Nokia? - it is on the uththiram, get it.
It was as though I was transported to 1930s and back to 2004 and then back again to 1930 and back to ........... ......... ....... At last, we left that house and started back to ours. Hardly 200 metres, the contrast strikes you in the face - a buoyant and bustling city with the sparkling Hondas, Hyundais, and Benzes roaring by. Broadbands, Net Zones, MRTS, Pizza Huts and the ever-pervasive neon advts.
Was it possible that 2004 and 1930 could co-exist within 200 metres? Yes. In Mylapore.
That was an experience. Did I indeed enter such a house? I can't believe.
rajappa
18 August 2004
## I would be least surprised if a daughter / son of that Iyengar Mama is a Green Card Citizen of USA !!!!!
*** Back in Time Machine.
Yesterday evening I was transported to a bygone time, some 30-40 years back as if in a Time Machine.
It all started with an innocuous telephone call at 4pm inviting Krithika to sing in a place called "Panchamukha Anjaneyar Temple" near "Chithrai Kulam" , Mylapore, Chennai. Everyone knows the Mylapore Kulam, but chithrai kulam ... ? No one was aware of its location, exactly where does it exist. Somewhere in South Maada Street, we could see in the map.
We reached Mylapore, the Chithrai kulam was there where it was supposed to be as per the map. But. where was this PA temple? Locals didn't know its existence, if it existed at all; a few of them actually mis-directed us, though it was no fault of theirs - none seemed to know about this PAT. We were going in rounds and rounds in the narrowest gullies of Mylapore. Finally a good Samaritan came along and he walked with us to show the place - it was NOT a temple, but an old dilapidated HOUSE !!
The owner of this house - Mr. Rama Swamy Iyengar, aged about 70 - has installed a 2-feet idol of Anjaneyar, a rare Panchamukha Anjaneyar, in one of the rooms and doing elaborate poojai for the past 20 years, as directed by HHH Kanchi Sankarachariyar Swamygal. On Aadi Amavasya days, this Anjaneyar is deified as an incarnation of Goddess Durga and worshipped as such with 3 kg of kumkum. Krithika sat in the koodam and sang for 20-30 minutes.
But, what was amazing, what held my attraction and attention was the house itself. I was transported to 1950's or earlier. It was a very ancient house, more ancient than our 17 Babu Rao St house. Rezhi, Thazhwaaram, Koodam, Adukkalai, Store room etc, in low roof Odu (tile). Dimly lit rooms of poor ventilation; wooden uththirams criss-crossing, a couple of thoonkal near the koodam. Do you visualise our 17 Babu rao St house when you read this? All this in the "heart" of the metropolis City, I couldn't believe my eyes! Could it be Madras, or some sleepy village whose clock has stopped some 50 years back?
The contrast inside the house itself was amazing and striking. All along the 100-years' old uththirams I could see five or six electrical extension boards hanging from which the latest Sony 4-CD changer gets power; Or a Philips DVD player. Or a LG flat TV. These gadgets are of course placed in all nooks and dirty corners (no proper "stands"). There is a "pirai" for lamps, but I see only a Casio Digital Clock in that pirai. A phone rings, where is the instrument? On the dingy floor, my dear. Not the place for a phone, you may say. But there is a latest Panasonic Cordless nearby, again on the floor ! A Nokia blurts out the latest tune. Where is that Nokia? - it is on the uththiram, get it.
It was as though I was transported to 1930s and back to 2004 and then back again to 1930 and back to ........... ......... ....... At last, we left that house and started back to ours. Hardly 200 metres, the contrast strikes you in the face - a buoyant and bustling city with the sparkling Hondas, Hyundais, and Benzes roaring by. Broadbands, Net Zones, MRTS, Pizza Huts and the ever-pervasive neon advts.
Was it possible that 2004 and 1930 could co-exist within 200 metres? Yes. In Mylapore.
That was an experience. Did I indeed enter such a house? I can't believe.
rajappa
18 August 2004
## I would be least surprised if a daughter / son of that Iyengar Mama is a Green Card Citizen of USA !!!!!
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