Renovating the temple tank in 1963

 Renovating the temple tank in 1963

Maravanpulavu K. Sachithananthan

Deck tennis is played with wooden bats and tennis balls in decks of ships. The size of the court depends on the deck size.

A small ground south of Arulmiku Pillayar temple, bounded by an abandoned temple tank to the east, temple to the north, roads on the south and the west, was where we played deck tennis in the evenings.

Mid-teens

In mid-teens my father was not happy with my association with friends - all in the mid-teens. I was neglecting my studies. My growing interest in non-academic matters was worrying my father. My mother will allow me to play in the evenings because all my friends were children of her relatives. Any misbehaviour, she could handle through her cousins, uncles, or aunts.

Our residence was a new house built by my father. The area is where my mother came from. Almost all residences around one square kilometer area belonged to my mother's relatives.   

The temple is located three residences away from our residence. My mother wakes me up at 0500 in the morning. I am at the temple after a head bath wearing washed dried veshiti, accompanied by a cousin - neighbour. At the temple, I pluck flowers, make garlands, support the priests in their poosai duties, and pray to be back at home around 0630.

Thereafter I cycle to Jaffna Hindu College, the co-founder of which was a grand-uncle of my mother. I come home for lunch. Then at 1600, I am back after school.

I am at the deck tennis court between 1630 and 1730. I then leave for Sivathondan Nilayam of Yoga Swami for 30 minutes of Kanthapuranam recital. It was at Yoga Swmai's instance, I was reciting Kanthapuranam guided my Mr. Nalliah. I glanced through (not studied) school books at home thereafter.

Therefore, I was not making any progress at school.

Graduation

So my father sent me with my cousin through him to Chennai for graduate studies in 1959.

During April 1963 I was back from Chennai, having grown up enough physically. Also, I had completed my Bachelor’s degree in Science with a first-class pass. All in my family who frowned at me during my mid-teens were then elated and pleased.

I was playing deck tennis again in the evenings. One day at the deck tennis court, while one of us missed the return stroke, the ball went straight into the abandoned tank. The second ball also missed the bat and fell into the tank. We had no spare ball. So the game was abandoned. We were talking about pooling money to buy new balls.

It stuck to me that the two balls could be recovered from the tank. Pathmanathan and Maheswaran liked my idea. How to reach the balls? The tank had filth, dirt, and debris. The steps leading down had human fecal matter dried or baked. 

Pathmanathan led us. We carried sticks broken off the fencing trees. We managed to climb down to reach the water level. With sticks, we drew the floating balls towards us. Picked the balls, went to the temple well and washed the ball and ourselves. We had balls for the next day.

I asked Pathmanthan, 'why don't we clean the tank?' He readily agreed. Maheswaran supported. Next Saturday we started cleaning the tank. It took us few weekends to clean to go reach the water level. 

The water was full of algae, moss, and dumped waste. My uncle had a water pump. When we told them of the situation, he himself brought the pump to drain the tank. Draining cleaning, taking the waste up by climbing the steep granite steps, all this took two weekends. At last, we saw the clean water transparent enough to, see the clean tank bed. 

Leaving the tank at that stage would attract the same polluters. They would defecate and dump waste. Pathmanathan was for reclaiming the tank for theertham ceremony. I was for bathing and swimming. (I was missing the Vallaikulam tank at Maravanpulavu where I had bathed as a kid).

We met the office-bearers of the temple society. We explained to them the situation. My uncle who pumped the water was all for renovation. Society had no funds. 

I took the responsibility to collect funds. I bought a ruled notebook. I went to my mother. She wrote 100/- in the first line. My father as a teacher was drawing a monthly salary of 175/-. My mother gave me from the saving of her dairy income. 

I would have visited almost all the nearby houses. 100/- from each house and that too from the lady of each house. 

I collected enough to (1) repair to set right the unruly granite steps, (2) have a thula and bucket for drawing water, (3) a boundary wall with a gate, and (5) pruning of the roadside bo tree to reduce the falling of its leaves into the tank.

At the end of the project, I submitted an income-expenditure sheet to the temple society. Neither Pathmanathan nor Maheswaran came with me. A member who was then a practicing lawyer asked me, 'Where did you learn to account? You are a biology student.' Poor lawyer, he did not realize that my father trained me in daily accounting at his printing press (1952 to 1959).

The project neared completion just before the onset of the rainy season. Rains brought in more water. We were swimming during weekends. One of my uncles was an expert swimmer and a good guide for beginners.

Theertham day

Next May, (then I was a research student receiving a stipend from the Ceylon Association for the Advancement of Science to be with Prof. Arudpiragasam at the University of Colombo) theertham ceremony was shifted from the temple well to the tank. The steps leading to the tank were filled with devotees giving the appearance of a stadium. One could imagine the state of my emotional elation. 

A week before the theertham ceremony, I was with the editor of Eezhandu daily. I asked him for a page on the renovated tank and the theertham ceremony. He readily obliged. I gave him the text material on the temple history, its recent renovation, and the theertham ceremony. I wrote most of the text.

To this day theertham ceremony is held at the tank. I do not know about swimmers. The space inside between the wall and the tank is now a garden. 

A few years ago, while I was in Chennai, a student from the Jaffna University phoned me. He told me that the subject of his dissertation was Arulmiku Pillayar temple. He said that he also used the material from the texts I wrote for Eezhznadu daily (1) on the theertham day (1964) and then (2) three years later (1967) on the newly built temple car. He expressed his gratitude.

I hope my memory is good. I may have skipped many details. As usual in public life, there were a few problems. However, they are not worth mentioning.