Page 71 - Keralite Magazine _new 1 copy

Sabarimala, we had to climb the 18 steps made with
Our India trip this year has been very fortunate for
pure gold. We have to pray each time we climb a
all of us. During this trip, we went to Tamil Nadu
step. At Sabarimala we had a specific pooja called
and Kerala. We had the opportunity to visit many
iconic temples like Sabarimala, Brihadeeswarar,
Udayasthamana pooja. My dad booked this pooja
Gangaikondacholapuram Shiva Temple and the
10 years ago. The Udayasthamana pooja is 18 pooja
Shore Temple in Mahabalipuram. This is my story
specifically for us. We can also be in front of Lord
about our exciting experience and the enchanting
Ayyappa the whole day. There will be 15 pooja in the
morning, one in the afternoon, one in the evening
encounter with my culture.
and one at night. The pooja at night is to sing
In January, we were getting ready to go to the
Harivarasanam (a song to make Lord Ayyappa sleep).
famous Sabarimala Temple. My dad, my grandpa,
three other family friends and I were going to see
The next day, we rode on a tractor to go to Pamba.
Lord Ayyappa. Before going to Sabarimala, there
After reaching Pamba, we drove all the way back
are rituals to be followed. First, people should take
home. But the journey doesn’t stop here…
41 day vratham (fasting by not eating meat, fish or
After two days we took a flight from Calicut to
eggs). In my opinion these 41 days were very
Chennai. I love Chennai because of the awesome
di cult because I eat non-vegetarian food almost
food, culture and places to visit. We got a driver at
every day. Once you take vratham, you have to
Chennai airport and our goal was to see many
carry coconuts filled with oil (Ghee) in your head to
temples. Our first stop was at Mahabalipuram to see
o er to the Lord. We prayed to Ayyappa so that
the Shore Temple. The temple was built entirely
our journey to get there is safe. During the 655 km
from granite and was built in the 8th century AD by
(407 miles) journey, we visited many small places of
the Pallava kings. The Shore Temple deities were
worship including a mosque. On the way we saw a
also carved in stone. The temple was mesmerizing
number of beautiful churches which I am planning
because the whole temple is one block of granite.
to visit during my next trip. We reached Pamba
The next stop for us was the Lord Shiva Temple at
around 11 pm to start our hike to the summit of
Shiva, this temple was also part of the Chola
Gangaikondacholapuram - the capital city of Chola
Sabarimala. The arduous hike took 3 hours to reach
Dynasty because it was opened by the great Raja
Dynasty. Rajendra Chola developed this temple so
the top. During the hike we have to carry a bag
Raja Chola - father of Rajendra Chola. The main
that peace could be brought to the kingdom.
filled with coconuts on our head. Once we reached
feature of this temple is that apart from the fact
The final destination of our Tamil Nadu trip was the
that it was built entirely on granite and the top of
Brihadeeswara Temple (also called the Big Temple)
the temple consists of a single rock weighing 80
in Thanjavur. Another temple dedicated to Lord
tonnes, there is no evidence of the availability of
KERALITE
2018
“Bonswa!” “Mèsi anpil!” As we deplaned in
Port-au-Prince we were bombarded with a
plenitude of locals proclaiming those phrases,
which translate to “good evening” and “thank you
very much.” We were only in Haiti for about ten
minutes and had already gotten a lifetime’s worth
of love and praise from Haitian denizens. Not being
able to understand Haitian-Creole was obviously a
Times in huge inconvenience, but that barely mattered when
we were being swarmed by natives applauding and
crying about how much joy “BuildOn” brought to
Thomas Élie them.
granite in 50 mile radius surrounding the temple; The organization I went with, called “BuildOn,”
this goes to show the hard work and engineering brought eleven of us teenagers from Troy High and
marvel put into building these temples 1000 years Stoney Creek. BuildOn has built 139 schools in Haiti
ago. These temples are part of the UNESCO World and over 1,300 schools globally. BuildOn schools
Heritage sites and is a must see for its rich are breaking the cycle of poverty, illiteracy and low
architecture and artmanship. expectations through service and education. Over
35,000 children, parents and grandparents
After visiting these exciting temples it was time to currently attend BuildOn schools in Haiti.
go to Calicut. Three days after reaching Calicut, we
were ready to fly back to Detroit. We stopped multiple times to visit Haitian locals,
Pooja Krishnakumar
and Haiti couldn’t have looked more like Kerala.
The trip was a great learning experience for me as
I learned a lot of things about my culture back
home. I got to see a di erent world out there and
I hope I can take a trip like this again. “After nine hours of
driving up rutted
roads we finally
reached our village
of Thomas Élie.
As we arrived
children, adults, and
the elderly all
swarmed our cars,
as if we were
celebrities or
special cargo.”
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