SRI RANGAM MEMORIES

One more vaikunda ekadasi has come and gone. This year I am at Karamadai  another place which has a Renganath temple in it.Years of travelling and living in different places across the country with my banker husband has brought me close to a whole lot of men and women.I had always been amused by their relentless striving to prove themselves to be someone of importance.Diversity comes from dress, language ,foodor the way of living. Behind all these things there is an underlying factor, the need to excel at least in the eyes of others ,to live life to the full and to have a say in important matters.The ultimate goal of every human seems to rest on his freedom. The freedom of expression, freedom of action ,freedom of judgement and above all freedom for every human being to live life on his or her own terms.
                                  I happened to live in the temple city of Srirangam for more than half a decade.I must say I share a love hate relationship with this place.My ever questioning mind makes me look at many things  here a bit cynically.But this place with its beautiful ambience and customs and rituals also has the power to endear itself to any body .This place just grows into you.
                                              May I introduce you to a typical denizen of Srirangam? Well what shall I call her?Ok I,ll call her Kodha mami .(Among southindian brahmins mami is an epithet given to all middle aged or elderly  females).Great here she is our KODHAMAMI.!
                                           Kodha mami lives in the temple city of Srirangam. All her life she has spent in this city.Born to staunch vaishnavite parents and married to a typical Iyengar from Srirangam she had spun her life in and around the  temple.Like all vaishnavites in Srirangam she too happens to be a great devotee of Lord Renga.
What amused me most was the possessiveness with which she would  always speak about the Lord..It was her everyday schedule to visit the temple atleast once.During festive days she would spend more time at the temple than at home .Well talking about home she was a poor homemaker.She didnot believe in keeping a clean home or cooking elaborate meals ."Well these are for ordinary mortals" she would declare."My heart and soul I have given to Lord Renga and I do not believe in spending much time in such mundane activities".
Clad in a silk saree according to the vaishnavite style, her hair decked with fresh jasmine flowers and with an yellow cotton bag off she would march towards the temple with great elan."you need thousand eyes to see him today .He was just luminous " she would declare, well it was about Lord Renga she was speaking .Another day with some pathos in her voice she would say "He seems to have gone down a bit he almost looks dull .Must be  because of the summer heat".After blinking and wondering for some time it used to dawn on me that it was none other than Lord Renga she was talking about.
                                      Come vaikunda Ekadasi and Kodha mami was in her real elements.She was not to be daunted by the heavy crowd or the security personnels. Nobody can stop her at any place because it was HER temple. When a random policeman standing there for security reasons dared to stop her march, she will sneer at him with a derisive smile and tell him"I have lived all my sixty plus years in this soil and Renga knows it You with your uniform dont try to stop me from seeing him".Her voice would have such an authentic tone that the policeman would be nonplussed for sometime and that was enough for Kodha mami.Without batting an eyelid she would march on throwing all rules and regulations  to air.
                          During Ekadasi festival serpentine ques of men and women waiting for hours together to get the Darshan of the Lord is a common sight at Srirangam. But Kodhamami never gets daunted by these things.
With the ease of a cakewalk she would barge into the que to get near the sanctom sanctorium.If anybody were to shout at her or grumble ,swell she is not the one to be daunted by these unimportant little things -she would give them one of her best smiles and say "He has told me that I must see him today.I cant sleep today without setting my eyes on him"stay put onceagain she was talking about none other than Lord Renga himself!.
             Many a times I have wondered if Srirangam is a place that just grows into people or is it the escape it provides that draws these people towards it ?People like kodha mami abound in this city .Even the younger generation of men who attach themselves to the temple ,refuse to move away from this place .Most of the time the prasads that are given - the laddus,puliogre ,dosas and athirasams are too irresistable.(most of these are given free of charge).These young men after graduating or post graduating remain satisfied with the small time jobs that they find around the city .Fresh fields and pastures new are not for them. Is it the fear of moving away fom the lord or is it the irresistable iyengar puliogre that keeps them tied to it?Octogenarians and nanongenarians wait in Srirangam  for their last call .The popular belief is that a person breathing his last in Srirangam will go to heaven for sure because this is Bhooloka vaikundam.What ever be it there is no doubting the fact that Srirangam has a charm of its own.