From: rags@casbah.acns.nwu.edu (Raghavan Jayaraman)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.indian,soc.culture.tamil
Subject: A day in mArghazhi [mArghazhi is a tamil month]
Date: 27 Dec 92 16:26:58 GMT
Article-I.D.: news.1992Dec27.162658.28896
Organization: Northwestern University, Evanston Illinois.


"nama pArvadhi padaye"

One wouldn't hear the usual echo "hara maha dEva". Instead "pAAvi!
ArambituvittAr" ["the harassment has started!!!"] This is a typical 6AM
morning mArghazhi day in Trichy for those souls living within few km of
Rockfort  [MalaikOttai]. Imagine P.U.Sinappa's voice being  amplified to
1000 watts and blasted thro' the speakers strategically located atop 250
feet   high Rockfort., to cover each and every house hold in the entire area. 

Now U would get the feeling of 'morning sevai' offered by 'Asthana vidwan'
of Rockfort temple to their beloved patrons to mark the auspicious
mArghazhi. The vidwan would start the 'ganapathi' slogam in 'ettu kattai'
voice without any 'Bhavam'. Ofcourse there would be lots of 'pAAvam'. What
an irony here. Lord 'Ganapathi' ran atop the hill to escape from chasing
'Vibeedanan'. Now! he has to escape this ordeal. We the representatives  of
Youth club, once seriously suggested to 'Devastanam trustees' to tether
'Lord Ganesh' for they might be in trouble  if they lose him. After similar
treatments to Ganapathi's brother, he would turn his 'arul surakkum' eyes
i.e., voice to Siva and Vishnu. One thing which made me curious and made me
determined to question Lord Vishnu when I reach heaven is " How could he
sleep so comfortably all the time [especially 6-7 AM ] in Srirangam
ignoring  such clarion calls from the mArghazhi beacon?".

I and my brother used all possible means to nullify this morning alarm.
Even this became an important agenda among youths of Rockfort. But all our
efforts were stultified  by "mothers' association". Do I need to elaborate
that we strongly felt this 'morning sevai' to be a desperate attempt by
moms to wake up their  wards. Discussion with our dad brought one brilliant
idea -i.e to serve that vidwan with 'pongal' made by our mom ; The result
was we had to swear  that our mom made the best pongal in the whole
'America'[ofcourse I am  hypnotized about the equivalence of World and
'America'].

Are U    hearing some one coughing? Yes! U'r correct. Our Vidwan
intermittently would entertain his audience with coughing, snuffing,
spitting. This became so famous that some cough-drop companies came forward
to sponsor the programme- much to our wrath. I hope some one informs the
devastanam that his idea has been  used in 'Naked  Gun'. 

The only good outcome of getting forcibily at such an auspicious time for
sleeping, is to get to see the street 'colorfull'. All the men  who enjoyed
the colorfull 'rangoli' in the morning, unanimously hated them while they
rushed to the office, when they wore unwittingly the shoes made out of
cow-dung. [ cow-dung was used as a flower vase- a tradition followed
during mArghazhi].

Coming back to business:- Did we suceed in our effort? Partially to reduce
the sound level. But his voice  permeated  with a vengence within days. The
result we started going for  a work out in a place far beyond the clutches
of his 'majestic' voice. My mom still looks at me suspiciously when I
continue this trend and go out for a early morning work out in Besant
Nagar, Madras  now-a-days.

Much to our chagrin, there would be an 'evening broadcast' too.  But we
had such heavens like 'Holy cross' and 'SVS' to escape this. Now U may ask
what's wrong in going to bed early in the night? Sir/Madam!  Why do U vex
me? By the night fall, another kind of concert would become i.e concert by
all the stray dogs for whom the Rockfort is a sanctuary [atleat when the
corporation men come to catch them]. I always wondered:- "How come their
voice is so loud without an amplifier?" -Do U know the answer?  

Now yearning for those good ole days, lemme echo

"hara maha deva".

-----------
raghavan