Rumi Mallick is now married!

February 2009 was a fantastic month. It began with Rumi's wedding and I with my friend Bharti, Ranu, Jaggu, Himanshu and Subro were all there to grace the occasion, celebrate and be with the bride and groom. Udit, whom Rumi married is working in Mumbai, and so for Rumi it was first Delhi, then Kolkata for the wedding then, quite soon Mumbai where she will be living.

Bharti and I spent a few more days spending time with her friend in Chandan Nagore, a quaint French town just one hour's local train ride from Howrah. Snigdha and her family with her daughter were hosts to us there, and the first day at her place was marked with a Krishna Bhajan which we enjoyed on the terrace with all the family and friends who gathered and sang songs in praise of Lord Krishna.

The house is done up so beautifully, as most houses in Chandan Nagore are... each house has a couple of rooms facing the nearby pond, which is clean and a source of fresh water fish rearing. The ponds are often private, but are then contracted out to farmers who grow and sell fish. The idyllic surroundings not only inspired us, but also the great minds like Shri Aurobindo, Shri Rabindranath Tagore, etc.

The next day was spent in a picnic with Anamika, another friend of Snigdha and Bharti with whom we went to see the Holy temple of Dakshineshwar. The place that has the holy presence of Shiva, Devi and Krishna temples, and is set on the banks of the Ganges. After enjoying a lovely visit, we took a ferry ride across the river over to the Belur Math. We returned back that evening, and took a walk along the river in Chandan Nagore.

The next day, we spent some time with the family, and heading back in the afternoon, returning from a most enriching trip to West Bengal.

Thanks Bharti, Snigdha, Anamika, Rumi (and all her family members) for this wonderful 9 days trip by train.

Elaya Bhagawathi Temple in Palakkad

This late December, I visited the Elaya Bhagawathi temple on the Palakkad Town to Chittoor Road. It is at the 5th Mile point from the Manapulikkavu temple. Since it is one of the lesser known temples, I thought this blog will help people discover this temple.

The story of why this temple is important for us as an Ishta devata goes back to my grandfather's time. They were inhabitants of the Thekkegramam in Chittur. And, grandfather had gone to the Palakkad town to get his land sale proceedings registered, and was walking back to Chittur. On his way back, he just rested on a stone paved near the temple. He snoozed off. But when he woke up and walked back home, he forgot his bag of money at the stone space itself.

Next morning, when he woke up, he realised the mistake he made and prayed for safekeeping, and when he went back he found his money at the same place. But before that he saw the Elaya Bhagawati temple, a small discrete dilapidated building, and he got a darshan to thank her. That same night, he got a darshan of devi in his dream to say that he will be protected by "me"!

Henceforth, my grandfather, CP Ranga Iyer made Elaya Bhagawathi his ishta devata.

Nowadays, the temple external structures have been renovated and there is a pujari there, who opens the temple on Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays, and all of the Navarathri days. It is a mesmerising experience to get Bhagawathi's blessings, as I did recently on 26th December 2008.

May her blessings be showered on all of us!