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!

Road Trip Facts

Road trip can be fun, but:

1. The total time taken for reaching the destination is calculated with the formula:

Total Time = X + iY

Where X is the estimate of time duration provided by Google Maps.

Y is the Total Rest stop time that we are planning to take.

i is the Number of Insects that come and hit your car Windshield to commit suicide.

2. Murphy’s Law of Road Trip states that “If it is your turn to drive the car, and if a freeway can be closed then it will be closed and you will have to follow the Detour for some unknown amount of time”. During this condition, following the GPS will lead to going round and round the same place like a daredevil stuntman in a cage. If you are yet to have lunch at this point, you will feel like a highly charged particle going around the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), not that I have any experience of going through it or knowing how it will be.

3. Freeways are built by human beings and is not a direct creation of God. Hence, freeways are subject to Natural damage and will need to be worked upon once a while. So if you are not surprised at Road Construction signs then you are an Atheist, Otherwise it may be your first road trip, just make sure you don’t fall behind a truck. If you fall behind a truck don’t curse God if you are an Atheist. If you don’t understand this then you will scream “Oh my God!” whenever you enter a Road Construction zone and fall behind a Truck that won’t budge a single mile per hour beyond the posted speed limit.

4. If you miss an exit the GPS lady will automatically adjust to your fallacy, recalculate and provide you with a new route automatically. This does not mean in any way that the GPS lady is in love with you or attracted to you or having wet dreams about you. But the problem is, you will fall in love with this lady and you will be obsessed with touching her once a while to find out the route, next rest stop exit, restaurants etc.

5. You will love to compare the number of miles you drive with the distance in India. What you can cover here in 4 hours will need about 8 hours in India. So as we drove 600 miles one way during the trip we had travelled from Madurai to Chennai (444 Kms or 276 miles, which takes about 8 to 9 hours by train or 10 hours by road), had a little business meeting and then drove back from Chennai to Madurai all on the same day. It is fun to do this comparison.

6. Did I say the GPS lady is not in love with you and certainly not having wet dreams about you? Yeah, don’t even have second thoughts even if you are desperate.

7. Law of Road Trip Inertia: When you reach the destination, come to a complete stop and retire for the night, you will still be feeling that you are in the freeway. Your dreams during the night will involve rectangular sign boards of different colors and shapes, speed limit signs, white dotted lines and the Voice of the GPS lady (But no, the GPS lady isn’t going to dream about you)

8. Your back will hurt. Resistance is futile. If you manage to sit in a yogic posture in an attempt to minimize your back ache, your neck will hurt. If you try to nullify your neck pain by bending down slightly, the pressure will be passed down to your rear. In any case, atleast one part of your body will ache and you will know more about it during the night at the motel.

9. The big circular red sign with a slash in the middle that comes up on the GPS screen when it becomes horizontal doesn’t indicate that you have to keep your coke can perfectly aligning with that sign. Now, this is a kind of wet dream that the GPS doesn’t want to have.

10. The probability that a Super 8 motel franchise is run by a desi is 1 billion to 1. So if you end up in a Motel run by a Gujarati Desi fellow, please do not hesitate to ask him for directions to the Ganesha Temple. He will be much more accurate than the GPS lady by 18 miles. Do not be afraid that the GPS lady will break up with you, remember she wasn’t loving you in the first place.

11. It is easier to pass Trucks when they are not there. Trucks are like Auto Rickshaws in India. You never know about their driving style. The time between beginning to pass the truck, driving a safe distance ahead of them and changing the lane back to the right lane is slightly short of 25 blight years, where 1 blight year = 1 blinking light from your Indicator.

12. For every 30 miles on a given freeway there will be an Indian restaurant named Tandoor. How else when you drive on a freeway with nothing but mountains and forest on either side with SUVs threatening to pass you anytime and Road construction sign popping up randomly between kids getting restless in the back seat, the GPS lady shows up with Tandoor Restaurant in Clarksville, TN coming up in the next 27 miles? It is either a freaking coincidence or there is an Indian Restaurant named Tandoor in every 30 miles of a Freeway. I am fairly comfortable believing in the latter.

Wise people used to say “The Journey is the Reward”. Road Trip has a lot in store for you as a Reward. In spite of all the buts you will love it because Road Trip to me symbolizes freedom.

Road trip is always fun.

PS: For the last time, GPS lady definitlely is not in love with you, now get over it.