Tom and prasadam!

மார்கழித் திங்கள்!மதிநிறைந்த நன்னாளால்; நீராடப் போதுவீர்! போதுமினோ, நேரிழையீர்!

This song resonates various memories. Today, being the first day of the tamil month of Maargazhi, I found the places were over flowing with this song by way of loud speakers!!!

Devout Hindus visit the temple on this day.. partially owing to piety and partially owing to the delectable pongal with cashews gleaming in ghee!!!

My mom belongs to the second type to “devout” temple goers and so does my grandfather! Whether they worship or not does not matter… the piety is not the prime interest…. but the availability of “prasadam” matters most!! Because, in their opinion, we would end up like Tom from “His mouse Friday” in the images below!

In my mom’s opinion, if we visit the temple with an empty stomach, we will see food in the place of deity(occasionally leading to drooling!) and we will not concentrate on God! Moreover she’ll also say that it is way of gaining God’s blessing in full..that, it completes the “satisfaction” of visiting a temple(though it is prepared by those who have taken up the contract), she always insists on getting it. Even if we have to pay for it or it is unbearably spicy, it never escapes her eye… she ll pray in peace, only after the package of puliogare or sakkara pongal reaches her hands!!!😜

There is a famous proverb which I would like to quote here: “நொண்டிக் கழுதைக்குச் சறுக்கினது சாக்கு”( The lame donkey used a fall as an excuse for its inability to walk!). In the same way, my mom, out of her love for the prasadam, finds all sorts of excuse to eat it!

For the sake of the offerings, my mom prefers temples where Lord Vishnu is the presiding deity, since they offer prasadam is mostly available!

But, she is not to blame…it was her father… during her childhood, her father took her to the near by temples where they without any reservations ask for extra cups of prasadam from the madapalli(the place in the temple where the prasadam is prepared) despite the fact that my mom had a tender stomach and had to visit the doctor the next day!!!

Even when we visited the Birla temple, my mom wished to eat from the canteen inside the temple premises, calling it the “sacred offering” of the temple🤣🤣. We tried had to dissuade her, but we had to accompany her there too!!!!!

But ever since she heard the news of the people who died consuming the poisoned prasadam in a temple, her desire to get it has started waning😢🤐😪! On this auspicious day, let us also pray for their souls!

Lowered in spirits by the society,

Matangi R.