Of Temples, Devotees and the Priests...

Venue: Nataraja Temple, Chidambaram

State of Mind at the Start: Curiosity, excitement to see the dancing Shiva idol, the place of Chidambara Rahasya (secret) - where the formless is worshipped.

And then,

As we start entering the temple, young priests start waving furiously at us. We avoid a couple of them and are soon stuck with one young enthusiastic Pujari near a deity.

Priest: Where you come from?
Me: Bangalore.

Priest: Rajajinagar, Malleswaram, Seshadripuram?
Me: Koramangala?

Priest: Yes yes. We have a lot of devotees in Bangalore. I have visited Bangalore many times.
Me: uh huh. Nice.

Then, the priest launches off into a detailed explanation of the temple and its history in Tamil. Finally, he finishes off by telling me that not everyone has the fortune of visiting the temple. I am lucky that the auspicious time for visiting that temple and seeing the dancing god has arrived for me. And then, he goes for the kill...

Priest: Why dont you leave your name and address?
Me: No no.

Priest: We will pray for you everyday. Nothing is required. Just put your name and address. (slides a notebook towards me).

Me looks around for support but by then Y too is stuck and nods helplessly.

Me: How much will it cost me?
Priest: Nothing at all. Whatever amount you want to donate, thats ok. Please give us your name and address. Write down the names and nakshatra ( birth star) of all your family members.

Me: Ok ( and write down )
Priest: Can you fill up the amount? It is Rs 600 per year of prayers for you. How many years you want?

Me: Just 1 year.

We pay up and run.

And of course, by then, I am irritated and angry and just want to exit the temple. I dont care about the history, significance, etc by then.

All I can imagine is a weekly status meeting to take stock of how all these priests have done with their collections. How it will affect their appraisals and their payhikes...

And I think about the TOI (transfer of information) program for new-joinee priests on how to collect from hapless visitors who are conditioned to be polite to priests and so concerned about looking good in front of these scamsters.

Because, there was a priest at every other corner in the temple with a book and started off with the same spiel - Where you come from? Rajajinagar, Malleswaram?