At Tirupati
Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh
“I want you to come to show my boys how to dance”, said Revati Raman, president of the fairly newly constructed temple in Tirupati. Raman invited me a few times now. There are currently 80 monks living at the quarters for single men. When I arrived after 12 hours of travel (no walking again today). I came upon one of the most beautiful temples I have ever seen.
If I can offer an opinion after all the travels and I see south East Asians to be the most photogenic people of all. Their cities, however, are eye sores, crammed and, unplanned pieces of metal and concrete with oversized bill-boards every where. There are exceptions such as the architectural wonder of the Krishna Lotus Temple, a blend of the north and south. It is situated a five minute walk from the world’s most visited and wealthy temple. A colleague, Bhakti Chaitanya Swami, from New Zealand explained to me that the deity Balaji (a name for Vishnu) on special days has ornamented on his form 7 million dollars worth of diamonds. It’s a popular place.
Balaji’s temple attracts 10 times what Revati’s temple attracts which is 5 to 10 thousands pilgrims a day. Not bad for a temple that is celebrating its third year. From my room I could see the full scale of the temple and also the face of the Tirumala mountains. It’s a sensational view. As far as dancing is concerned I did offer some dance steps to the monks. They caught on quite well although it was a task to encourage musicians to slow down their tempo in the kirtan (chanting session). The drummers have this passionate crime and they tend to speed upon their own whim. With a little bit of coaching they started to incorporate a mellow but steady beat.
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