On Sunday morning, we set out to V.Kovil. Unfortunately, due to the fantastic parking arrangements at Hotel Sampoorna, I had to wake up 3 other people, since their cars were blocking my path out of the Hotel. Of course, the ugly deed of actually waking them up was left to the Hotel authorities.
The kovil was barely 10 minutes from the Hotel and I reached there in that same amount of time! The main road first passes by the eastern entrance and once I reached there, I parked my car at the designated spot.
In fact, there was a guy who even guided as even as we were thinking of using the eastern entrance or go to the western entrance from where we usually go to the temple. But for reasons of implementing a change in custom, the eastern entrance got the votes.
The guy who "helped" me park the car, then started pitching in for archanai thattus and the likes. Our first (and probably the only one) mistake was informing him about the need for some 8-9 archanais or so, for my family and friends. Without entering into any monetary negotiations, we simply accepted to get his goods. The smart guy also didn't bring up the financial aspect.
He gave us the required materials - there is a package deal where you get the special set for each sannidhi laid out in a single tray. He also pointed us out to an iyer who was doing the rounds there, to help us with the archanai.
We went through the motions doing archanais at each sannidhi. Since we had run short of the specific combo at the sannidhi for Sevvaai, we managed to get the partner of the agent who first approached us to get the balance ones.
Anyways, the darshan went fine. Our prayers were said. Dakshinais were given. Hundial donations made. And my mother's favorite ritual of getting the elephant to bless you was also carried out!
We then said our goodbyes to the deities and left the temple. When we came out, the agents who got us the archanai thattu came out of their road-side shops. My parents were trying to give alms to some of the needy folk and I headed towards my car. One of the agents came near me and wanted to find out who would be doing the settling of the dues.
Since I was stripped of cash at the Pondy petrol bunk itself, I pointed him to my parents. He then asked if I was interested in seeing the olai chuvadi for naadi josiyam. I obviously replied in the negative.
By then, my parents also came near the car. The agents gave her the bill and the fun started!
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