Mini Travelogue: Nashville Ganesha Temple

On the same Road Trip that we went the other day, we also went to the Ganesha Temple in Nashville, TN. Nashville is located somewhat south east of Kansas city and hence the place was hotter and humid than where we came from. The heat from the morning sun, a warm breeze and a feeling of running drops of sweat between my body and my T-Shirt made me feel like I was in Chennai. The place was just about 3 miles from the motel that we stayed. The Gujarati Motel Keeper bhai guided us to take the easiest street route that would be just under 3 miles, while the GPS lady showed us a freeway direction amounting to about 20 miles. We had a hunch that our bhai was more accurate and we followed his advice.

As we travelled down Hickory Blvd, we slowed down a bit and the temple was on the right and it was a bit difficult to spot the sharp right entrance. For a moment I thought we were being kidnapped by our friend as he took a quick sharp right turn into the Temple Entrance. We might have missed it if we didn’t have enough time to brake. The temple was slightly uphill. As we parked the car and stepped out, we saw a brilliant building with a golden colored pillar in front. The entrance of the temple was as usual from the side and the exit was from the front. I keep wondering why this is so in most temples here in US.

The temple had a series of stairs leading to the top as it was built on a small hill. It made it look like one of those hill top temples in South India. The day we went in, there was also a pooja going on for Puri Jagannath. The Jagannath statue was very big. Photography was not allowed inside and hence no pictures. The main deity is Lord Ganesha and this is one of the biggest I have seen. I can say it was almost as big as the Mukkurini Vinayaka in Madurai Meenakshi Amman Temple.

This temple was bigger than the one in St. Louis and it was quite an ambient place. It was a sunday and hence we did see a lot of people coming in. There was also a stall just inside the Temple Hallway, marketing some guruji’s preaching materials – books, CDs and also advocating some preaching sessions for a hefty sum ( I think $260, and that is costlier than an iPod Touch 8GB)! and Oh this was done by Americans!

PS:

OFF TOPIC – TWITTER:

I have plunged myself finally into Twitter. It is quite interesting and easy to quickly put one line updates of your life on the web. If you are on Twitter, let me know and I will follow you. You are also welcome to follow me if you want to hear weird things like:

“I think a man has to carry two wallets to keep his sitting position balanced, otherwise he is tilted like Earth’s axis.”

“Glass is a supercooled liquid and doesn’t flow like a liquid and so is hard stool !”

“Whenever I see the button labeled “Quick min” on the microwave oven, I can’t help but think “Is Quick Min quicker than a minute?” “

“Barney is purple and green in color for a reason. If it was black and white people would mistake it for a cow.”

“A lot of people would have had high self esteem if we had Anti-Gravity Weighing scales”

“The friendliest of all Dinosaurs that are not real is Barney.”

“I was a born genius, Education ruined me. I then gave birth to another genius and now I am planning to ruin her.”

“Hi guys … am new to twitter. It is strange that at some point everyone is new to something “

These are some of the interesting update messages I have on my Twitter page so far and I will try to update with more as I go. See you there in Twitter!

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Tagged: Barney, Chennai, Freeway, Ganesha, GPS, Gujarati, Jagannath, Joke, Kansas City, Meenakshi Amman, Motel, Mukkurini, Nashville, Pillaiyar, Road Trip, Temple, Twitter, Vinayaga, Wallet