theruvadaichan - the road blocker

a return to the place from where this journey could have all began - cuddalore.
it was a year spent there - between may 1995 and may 1996 - which got me doing two important things - thinking and writing.

and as another example of remarkable coincidences, this is the very city of karpagam's childhood and summer vacations and a very lovely and very old grandmother.

and we visited cuddalore last week to coincide with the spell-binding annual temple festival of the magnificent Padaleeswarar temple. this picture should explain the superlatives.

all temples have wonderful stories behind them. here is the background of the Padaleeswarar temple.

the star feature of the 2 week long festival would be - Theruvadaichan (TV).
the festival deities (utsava moorthis) perambulate the streets daily in special floats.
one of them, is the imposing TV.
as the name suggests, this float is as wide as the street and is the veritable road blocker. here it is in its early trellis stage. 

and here it is all set to roll. (our camera packed up)
image courtesy - Cuddalore Online

it is nearing 11 PM as the decorations and aarati finish and the crowds tense up.
the cymbals and drummers up their tempo and as the priests on the float wave their towels - the float moves.
hair prickles up on its ends. the crowds' collective gasp as they scramble back is music.
it is quite the incredible darshan.