It was a typical boring Sunday Morning of 17th April, 2005. Mom had left for Hyderabad some days back, so that meant, there was nothing to look forward to for the lunch as well. The TV had the same old boring programmes running. Sunday Times as usual did not have any news....only semi nude models and all the gossip associated with them!
Just when I decided to pick up the Dilbert book that was gathering dust on my table, dad called me to the temple nearby. Normally, I would have refused. But this time, there was nothing worth doing, and secondly, he was talking about some PanchaDeva Maha yagna which was going on in the grounds next to it.
So, there I was. At the Manish Grounds. This ground has an interesting story. It remains the only piece of real estate in my area untouched by an builder. This ground is real huge. A little additional space, and I guess it will be as big as a real cricket ground itself! and the people of manish nagar, guard it with their lives! literally! I believe some years back, when a builder bought it to set up a go karting arena there, there were huge protests and rasta rokos to stop the builder. Thankfully, the ground is still there..... intact....
with its own walking track... between huge sky scrapers.
About the yagna, that i went to witness? man.. i was spellbound. There it was. At the middle of the ground. A huge temporary structure of bamboo. The structure is really impressive, what with its fantastic cross ventilation. Considering that it was going to be there only for 9 days, I think a considerable effort went into building it. Inside this bamboo structure was a sight thats really rare to watch. A 100 havan piers were blazing inside. And there were four vedic brahmins per pier who were meticously feeding it with ghee and all the havan samagree. Indeed a fantastic scene. So much of heat was coming out. In fact, 1 minute near this structure, i was sweating profusely. And there they were. Inside it. Offering the pooja. On the background was the divine chants of the Veda. I dont know if you have experienced it, but listen to a well versed vedic brahmin chant the veda, and you are sure to get the goose bumps! So fluid.... so elegant... so
commanding....so authentic.....so.....beuatiful........ n there were a dozen of them chanting in a choir....... man...it was so so good! what was good to observe, was that the people performing the yagna were of
Just when I decided to pick up the Dilbert book that was gathering dust on my table, dad called me to the temple nearby. Normally, I would have refused. But this time, there was nothing worth doing, and secondly, he was talking about some PanchaDeva Maha yagna which was going on in the grounds next to it.
So, there I was. At the Manish Grounds. This ground has an interesting story. It remains the only piece of real estate in my area untouched by an builder. This ground is real huge. A little additional space, and I guess it will be as big as a real cricket ground itself! and the people of manish nagar, guard it with their lives! literally! I believe some years back, when a builder bought it to set up a go karting arena there, there were huge protests and rasta rokos to stop the builder. Thankfully, the ground is still there..... intact....
with its own walking track... between huge sky scrapers.
About the yagna, that i went to witness? man.. i was spellbound. There it was. At the middle of the ground. A huge temporary structure of bamboo. The structure is really impressive, what with its fantastic cross ventilation. Considering that it was going to be there only for 9 days, I think a considerable effort went into building it. Inside this bamboo structure was a sight thats really rare to watch. A 100 havan piers were blazing inside. And there were four vedic brahmins per pier who were meticously feeding it with ghee and all the havan samagree. Indeed a fantastic scene. So much of heat was coming out. In fact, 1 minute near this structure, i was sweating profusely. And there they were. Inside it. Offering the pooja. On the background was the divine chants of the Veda. I dont know if you have experienced it, but listen to a well versed vedic brahmin chant the veda, and you are sure to get the goose bumps! So fluid.... so elegant... so
commanding....so authentic.....so.....beuatiful........ n there were a dozen of them chanting in a choir....... man...it was so so good! what was good to observe, was that the people performing the yagna were of
so many age groups..... the youngest was looking not more than 10 years of age(really cute looking with his little pony tail on a bald head!)... n there were the veteran 90 years too... all together... in unison...... performing the yagna.... the entire event made me speechless!
An interesting observation was that, despite mumbai being so "modern" in its approach to life, people here are deeply religious.... you have people wearing minis, coming to temple daily! and there they were....while the brahmins continued to perform the yagna, hundreds were going around the bamboo structure offering their prayers....
One thing that is there with any event in mumbai, is that it is extremely well organized. every possible arrangement will already be made.... these people are so professional in their approach! there can never a situation where things will go wrong... but then I guess....with this kind of population, it is really necessary.........remember the gangai amman koil festivals that keep going on yearly there in chennai? theres so much of chaos everytime.....but here...somehow(at least till what i have seen) that never happened.....i mean... just imagine....... it is just a small temple in a relatively small colony...but still they have arranged it so well.....
Unfortunately, that was the last day... it was synchronised to complete a day before the sri rama navami festival! at the end of the yagna, it seems they was going to be free lunch...unlimited in capacity, and to unlimited people..... humungous task indeed!
The 'punch'deva yagna for sure, made a huge mark!
An interesting observation was that, despite mumbai being so "modern" in its approach to life, people here are deeply religious.... you have people wearing minis, coming to temple daily! and there they were....while the brahmins continued to perform the yagna, hundreds were going around the bamboo structure offering their prayers....
One thing that is there with any event in mumbai, is that it is extremely well organized. every possible arrangement will already be made.... these people are so professional in their approach! there can never a situation where things will go wrong... but then I guess....with this kind of population, it is really necessary.........remember the gangai amman koil festivals that keep going on yearly there in chennai? theres so much of chaos everytime.....but here...somehow(at least till what i have seen) that never happened.....i mean... just imagine....... it is just a small temple in a relatively small colony...but still they have arranged it so well.....
Unfortunately, that was the last day... it was synchronised to complete a day before the sri rama navami festival! at the end of the yagna, it seems they was going to be free lunch...unlimited in capacity, and to unlimited people..... humungous task indeed!
The 'punch'deva yagna for sure, made a huge mark!
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