US Diary 08-Oct-2023

Weekends are always welcome. All of us wait for those two days, Saturday and Sunday. 

Last Saturday we had a few guests. Reji and Suja are friends of Sree and Preetha. Pradeep and Rajani are relatives. They live in NJ. Preetha had cooked many dishes for lunch. Cooking is relaxing for her as she is so busy at work. Sree is happy sharing the household duties and helping her. By lunch time, the table was full of dishes. The items were chicken biriyani, rice, salad, two curries, two thorans, pickle, pappadam, kondatom, curd, gulab-jamun and Pradeep's tapioca special dish. We chatted happily till 4.10 PM about many subjects. Reji is like an elder brother to Sree. I know him for years as he was Sree's senior while they were students. Suja grew up in Perinthalmanna, Kerala where I was born and brought up. Her father, A.J. John, was the Principal, Govt. Polytechnic College in Perintalmanna in the 90's. He and his wife live in Kerala. Rajani is the Kathakali artist about whom I had mentioned in my blog Santhanagopalam. Pradeep finds time for service after his office as President of WMC (World Malayalee council) and as Vice-president of NAMAM (North American Malayalees and Associated Members).  So, we had many topics to chat besides the usual enquiries about children as well as about extended families in Kerala. All of them bid farewell by 4.35 PM. We took rest for some time afterwards. It became chillier by then. So, instead of going out, we chose to stay back home and watch TV till dinner time.

Sunday was even more chilly. We spent the day till 3.30 PM chatting, listening to news and watching a movie before we went to worship Lord Guruvayurappan at a temple, about one hour drive in Morganville, South New Jersey. 

Lord Guruvayurappan temple has an entrance gate with an arch over it.  The temple is big and has vast area of land, more than 30 acres. HATCC (Hindu American Temple and Cultural Center) came into effect in 1988. I understand that a gentleman from Ottapalam ,who owned the land offered to build a temple in it. The temple is governed by a committee elected by members. There are different categories of members as per their membership donation. I went through the temple website once and the above details are from my memory. 

A kodimaram (dwajasthampam or religious flag post) as bright as gold glittered in the sun's rays and welcomed us on stepping out of the car. There was a beautiful fountain in front of the kodimaram. Seeing the flight of steps, Preetha made sure that there is another entrance providing lift facility to the first floor where the Sreekovil (Shrine) stood. Sree joined us after parking the car.

 The main deity is Guruvayurappan. Though there are many other deities on both sides of Lord Guruvayoorappan's shrine, in the big spacious hall (about 30 feet × 20 feet in appearance) this temple is known as Guruvayurappan temple. There are Sreekovils for Thirupathy Venkatachalapathi, Shiva, Parvathy, Saraswathy, Mahalakshmi, Garuda, Ganapathy, Subrahmanya, Andal, Ram Seetha Lakshmana, Hanuman, Navagrahas, Dasavathara etc. A balance for offering Thulabharam stood at one corner which I have not seen in other temples in the US that I have visited. The homokundam (religious fire pit) had smoke pipes just above it to prevent smoke alarms.  

The temple is in the upper storey of the building. As there is lift from ground floor to the Temple it is convenient for senior citizens to enter and worship. The priest did Pushpanjali in our names and gave us flowers and an apple each as prasadam. We also bought Thirupathy type laddu from the counter from where we bought tickets for Pushpanjali.

 People can enter the ground floor from outside to the spacious cloakroom where they can keep their shoes, hang their jackets, and if they wish they can wash their legs in the adjoining wash area. I saw devotees rarely making use of the wash area. Wet floors can result in falls which may lead to legal proceedings in the US.  The temple authorities have placed rubber mats all around the wash area to prevent falls. 

There are benches to sit and remove shoes. From there, we can go to the other side of the hall where there is a separated area with a wall of glass where a music concert was going on. The names of participants were displayed outside the area. Both vocal and instrumental music was going on. The hall was full of listeners. I understand that the authorities are keen on promoting and encouraging our traditional arts like Bharathanatyam and other forms of dances, vocal and instrumental music etc. They conduct tuition classes for yoga, music etc.

A shop selling all kinds of articles connected with temple rituals was there on another side. Water fountains exclusively for drinking, disposable bowls to serve prasadam, washrooms etc. were provided in different parts of the hall. At the entrance itself near the lift stood the beautiful idol of Sreekrishna. We clicked photos standing on the side of the idol. Photo and Videography are not allowed inside the temple. They are running a Bhojanasaala, Gosaala, yajashala etc. The temple is open from 4.30 PM to 8.30 PM daily. This temple has Nithyapooja. The pooja starts from morning itself and the temple is open every day. All the Indian temple festivals are celebrated besides Prathishtadinam. We left the temple after taking a few photos outside. We reached home at 6.10 PM. After listening to the news and taking dinner, we went to bed with a peaceful mind filled with "Santhy".