What have you taken over today?
The city has moved to a festive mode. The gears have been shifted. I experience all this as I am a Stay at Home Mom. Also I enjoy celebrating and I do not have major issues with noise or traffic. I understand people want to get out and shop for festivities. The traffic increase is due to the rich people and their chauffers who double park on the roads with the car engine running. Some of them are asked to keep taking rounds in the area till Madam finishes her shopping. These kind of people have no responsibility to the environment.
Same goes for the temple trust owners. We have a small temple in a decrepit bylane in Matunga hidden from the market eye. It is near the Kashi Vishwanath temple. It was built in the 1800s. This temple still has those big pillars with holes to put diyas and light them up. Now the temple has the funny artificial floor tiles. There is a bust of the person who made the temple which has now moved into the temple courtyard. They have made a terrace over the bust and walled it on four sides with collapsible gates. This bust was always in the end of the lane outside the temple premises. more than half of the courtyard is taken over by this. A work of the temple trustees,of course.
The Manmala Mandir which is on Manmala Tank road belongs to the Goddess. In the courtyard, a puja stall was constructed. It blocked part of the main gate. This temple has a banyan tree and a well in the courtyard. The priest keeps it so dirty with his dirty clothes hanging inside the temple and not throwing away old diyas, chunris, coconuts and what not. The house behind the temple has cats and birds in two different cages. Two dogs sleep in the main sanctum and are locked there for the night. They paint the temple every Navratri but the priest manages to dirty it always. The new gate comes on to the road.
The Kashi Vishwanath temple now has security guards inside. I feel sick when I see this trend of having these guards hanging around. Its not such a famous temple to have a security threat. In case of a real threat, an armed or an unarmed guard is of no use.
My favourite is a small little temple under a Peepul tree where the Pandit now knows me and catches me when I bunk Yoga. This temple near Starcity cinema hall has not yet cut the tree off to take more space. The priest really cleans the idol and does Puja with a lot of Bhakti. There a Marathi theatre group Chourang which has an office near it. This office underwent a renovation. They covered my temple with a shed and lights. The single naked 40 watt bulb temple has been replaced by strong glaring lights. The theatre group has taken away the footpath space to build a steps to the entrance of their office. This way they have managed to block the entrance to the temple.
The Congress office has taken over a big part of the footpath and put a shed and changed the ground level so it becomes a part of their office. The NCP on the same lane opposite side has taken over the foot path. The builders have taken over Kohinoor Mills and more of Mumbai.
What have I taken over today ? What have I encroached? My peace of mind? Husband's calm? Child's spontaneousness? A friend 's friend ? A cousin's faith? A maid's cut salary? A dirty look from a by stander? A political view from the Left?
Same goes for the temple trust owners. We have a small temple in a decrepit bylane in Matunga hidden from the market eye. It is near the Kashi Vishwanath temple. It was built in the 1800s. This temple still has those big pillars with holes to put diyas and light them up. Now the temple has the funny artificial floor tiles. There is a bust of the person who made the temple which has now moved into the temple courtyard. They have made a terrace over the bust and walled it on four sides with collapsible gates. This bust was always in the end of the lane outside the temple premises. more than half of the courtyard is taken over by this. A work of the temple trustees,of course.
The Manmala Mandir which is on Manmala Tank road belongs to the Goddess. In the courtyard, a puja stall was constructed. It blocked part of the main gate. This temple has a banyan tree and a well in the courtyard. The priest keeps it so dirty with his dirty clothes hanging inside the temple and not throwing away old diyas, chunris, coconuts and what not. The house behind the temple has cats and birds in two different cages. Two dogs sleep in the main sanctum and are locked there for the night. They paint the temple every Navratri but the priest manages to dirty it always. The new gate comes on to the road.
The Kashi Vishwanath temple now has security guards inside. I feel sick when I see this trend of having these guards hanging around. Its not such a famous temple to have a security threat. In case of a real threat, an armed or an unarmed guard is of no use.
My favourite is a small little temple under a Peepul tree where the Pandit now knows me and catches me when I bunk Yoga. This temple near Starcity cinema hall has not yet cut the tree off to take more space. The priest really cleans the idol and does Puja with a lot of Bhakti. There a Marathi theatre group Chourang which has an office near it. This office underwent a renovation. They covered my temple with a shed and lights. The single naked 40 watt bulb temple has been replaced by strong glaring lights. The theatre group has taken away the footpath space to build a steps to the entrance of their office. This way they have managed to block the entrance to the temple.
The Congress office has taken over a big part of the footpath and put a shed and changed the ground level so it becomes a part of their office. The NCP on the same lane opposite side has taken over the foot path. The builders have taken over Kohinoor Mills and more of Mumbai.
What have I taken over today ? What have I encroached? My peace of mind? Husband's calm? Child's spontaneousness? A friend 's friend ? A cousin's faith? A maid's cut salary? A dirty look from a by stander? A political view from the Left?
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