We have been planning to visit the Birla Temple, Ballygunge, Kolkata, ever since we landed in the city. However, the visit happened just a couple of weeks back, on a rainy Saturday evening. Probably that was not the most suitable day to visit the place after all.
We parked the car in the lane next to it, there are no provision for car park - the place also has the well known Birla Auditorium which plays host to many a renown artists round the year. Anyway, nit-picking aside, we parked it a little down the road, away from the temple. As it was drizzling lightly and my baby was sleeping, we left him with his grand parents in the car. Hubbs and I went ahead for a little 'together' time in the temple!
As we reached the temple gates we met the 'al(l)mighty' - more powerful than the idols standing inside. Any guesses? Ah! Right you are , they are the Security Guards. "Bag dekhan - show your bags", "juto opasher ghore rakhun - keep shoes in that room over there", "camera nite parben na, bhetore locker o nei, ekjon ekjon kore opore jaan - you cannot carry the camera with you, there are no lockers to keep it, so go one by one." Well those were the orders we received and that ended any time together.
I decided to go ahead. Rains had made the entry point totally messy and dirty. There was a rag of a thin coir carpet over one side of the white marble stairs. The pristine white marbles were not all that water friendly and coir was definitely a better option to walk on.
Once I reached the courtyard, the expanded podium gave a feeling of being free. Alas! There was a security lady there checking the bags once again for any food or water or what not. I reached her while a heated exchange over a bottle of water was going on with an elderly lady.
I walked up a couple of more steps and reached a corridor sort of place. It had pictures of various episodes of Krishna's life etched around the walls. There were two busts on either side, a lady and a gentleman, guess they are the Birla's in whose memory the temple was erected. There were few families sitting in the corridor in front of the busts. Some children running about playing catch. The security had a problem with that too, I remembered reading the list of Not to do's at the gate which said keep your children to yourself.
The main deity, Radha Krishna duo, also made of marble and draped in expensive clothes and jewelry looked beautiful. An angry looking priest was sitting in front. I looked at the deity and then at the priest, wondered what had happened between the three. The devotees were to keep a distance from the front of the entrance to that room in which the deity were there, so something must have happened between the three of them only!
I went round the place, the intricate works on marble looked beautiful but were pretty dirty. Not sure how on a rainy day there could be so much dirt - did they not clean it everyday? Well, devotees were not allowed to touch any thing any how. So blame it on the wind.
There were two other rooms in the main temple - one belonged to Shiva and the other to Durga. I visited them too. The priests there looked rather bored. I walked out to the courtyard again. On one corner there was a room for Hanuman and another room housing the various 'avatar's of Krishna.
People were scattered in that courtyard, chatting among themselves. I could see groups of foreigners in the crowd too. The view from the top was just the city traffic in the front and buildings on the sides. That was all there to see, so I went down and out of the place.
Hubbs had been clicking away the roadside, temple as seen from the road and the vehicles on the road. But the most exciting picture was that of the moon that evening, never thought our Cannon would focus that far.
(So you know how I feel about that place, if anyone visiting Kolkata wants to visit that place, please don't ask me for company!)