Why leave out the roads somebody thought and now we've a roadside temple in every area. With progress and an ever increasing human and vehicular population these unapproved structures built on public roads invariably become hindrances to the free flow of traffic. By the time the government wakes up to the traffic snarls in the area someone or the other considers the deity 'powerful' and becomes attached to it and the invariable protest when removal of the illegal structures is ordered. With successive governments that have single mindedly pursued power and votes such temples have flourished for fear of antagonising those who are attached to the temple.
While most people are familiar with roundtanas / traffic parks in the middle of roads, but temples?! Only in Chennai do we find such centres of faith occupying not only the centre of our hearts but also the roads too! While visitors to Chennai gape in wonder, this is one of those things that sets Chennai apart from the rest of the world!.
East Coast Road, Thiruvanmiyur
Kotturpuram
As has been the trend recently, it's most often the judiciary that has come to the rescue of the harassed common man. Last year when the Madurai bench of the Madras High Court ordered the demolition of all structures (more than half were temples of course!) that interfered with flow of traffic, many had hoped for similar measures in Chennai, but the wish has remained unfulfilled. A glimmer of hope last week when the courts ordered the demolition of a temple in the middle of the road in Ashok Nagar, we hope for the sake of Chennai that there's many more such orders to come.
NOTE: If you don't understand my disgust of this Chennaiist, try living on a street with three road side temples and a Church!
2 comments:
hahahaa. nice article. enjoyed.
ppl lose their commonsense big time often when it comes to religion and religious practices.
I don't know about the temple in kotturpuram, nor the temples and church near your house, but I do know that the one on ECR is part of the Marundeeshwarar Temple. That temple is probably one of the oldest temples in the South (you must have heard Harry the other day). So as part of the Archeological Survey of India's suggestion that this temple should not be removed, they built a median around it. Right now, its just an extended part of the median. True, no one in his sane mind can actually stop there to worship - but what you really should be ridiculing is the tiny little 'temple' on the blue cross road in theosophical society... who knows, probably that has a history too.
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