Since our previous post about Arudra Darshan earlier this year, we've been trying to reinforce the habit of doing regular annadanam. We share with you our small success stories on the path. We conducted an annadanam for Siva's guru pooja in January. That was two weeks after the Arudra annadanam. The annadanam during guru pooja was modeled along the lines of the traditional Tamil feast and was more grand compared to the usual fare of puli-sadam (tamarind rice) and thayir-sadam (curd rice). We are always very pleased that people come from far and near to pay their respects to Siva on guru pooja day. Serving them a grand treat is the least we can do to tell them how much they mean to us.
We met again in March for a monthly annadanam. This time though, the boiler that we regularly use for cooking did not work. We suspect that there is a gas leak somewhere. We used the regular stove to cook the rice. This led to some delays because we had to transfer the water from the boiler to various vessels, get extra stoves and cook the rice in small batches. Nevertheless, we managed to cook 7kg of pulisadam and 3kg of curd rice. We served it for lunch at Sivapuri to almost 100 people.
In early May, Nataraja's temple underwent a major renovation which culminated in a kumbhabhishegam. The previous kumbabhishegam was conducted almost 60 years ago. We felt very privileged be able to attend this rare event and did an annadanam to share our gratitude and happiness. Since our boiler wasn't repaired yet, we used a combination of gas stoves, an induction stove and an electric rice cooker to prepare the rice. By this time we were quite used to the procedures associated with doing a small scale annadanam. This was reflected in our preparation and distribution efforts which went on with smoothly with minimal communication among the volunteers. We served 10kg of pulisadam to an estimated 80-100 people who live in and around Sivapuri. Now we are at a point where we know that with just 2-3 volunteers we can conduct a 10kg annadanam very easily.
The whole talk about monthly annadanam is incomplete without telling you about someone who has been the mainstay of our efforts for a long time now. Each time we do an anndanam, it is Gurumurthy's mother-in-law Bakiyalakshmi who prepares the pulikachal (the mix for making puli sadam) and leads the cooking efforts. She turns up early in the morning and stays with us till the rice is ready for distribution. A big shout out to her for sparing her time and efforts for Siva's cause and putting up with our amateurish cooking efforts!
In a few days, we have our big event coming up for Aani Tirumanjanam. As usual we are targeting 250kg of pulisadam distribution a few hours before the darshan on 24th June. Preparations have started from our end. Our overseas volunteers organized an online planning meet where we discussed detailed event plans. The paper required for packing the rice is ready. The plantain leaves will be ready on the previous day of the annadanam. We have informed the cook (Ceenu) regarding the quantity of rice and an initial deposit has been transferred to him. Our volunteers are reaching Chidambaram on 23rd (Tuesday) morning. The packing will be done at Kodandarama mantapam near the East gate of Natarajar temple and the distribution point is Siva's spot at the South gate. We need many more volunteers to help in packing and food distribution. If you are in Chidambaram and would like to participate in the efforts, please contact Varun (9994283361) or Prakash (8861548817) or leave a comment here with your phone number. To receive Siva's annadanam prasad, please join the queue! :)
Nataraja!
Comments
Post a Comment