VIZAG matters - Sohan Hatangadi's Blog

As in January 2017 and now in Dec 2017  temple replicas have been put up on the beach for Visakha Utsav which is essentially a tourist promotion event. Cardboard temples 1.Faith is personal and the state government encouraging such mass promotion of temples in the name of tourism does not reflect a modern society. 2. The government is making a commercial "franchise" out of these temples. Like a branded store opening branches in different areas. Places of religious worship have a sanctity of its own by virtue of being there for centuries. The idea that we build Plaster of Paris models of those temples and prey upon the visitor's faith somehow appears dishonest. 3. The Constitution of India recognises all religions equally. We are a secular and pluralistic country. If we build temples why not mosques, churches and Gurudwaras? Are we making temples because we are a majority Hindu area? There is something  morally wrong in this thinking. 4. If we want religio...

For God’s sake! TOI 17 July 2016 It’s coming! It’s coming! The festive season is coming! It is the time when a wave of religious fervour sweeps over the population of our fair city. Devotees gather at temples, parks, beaches, community halls, in front of their apartments and at street corners to celebrate festivals such as Guru Powrnima, Mangala Gowri Vratam, Varalakshmi Vratam, Jandyala Powrnami, Sri Krishna Jayanthi, Vinayaka chaturdhi, Durga Puja, Diwali, Kartika masam, Nagula chavithi and so on. These festivals are a time for rejoicing, socialising, shopping (what would the retailer do if there were no festivals?) and communing with God. Over the years these festivals have grown from small family and community activities to huge public spectacles involving lakhs and lakhs of devotees. And due to our constant need to communicate with the divine and solicit His blessings, the numbers joining the festivities is growing exponentially every year. How is this explosion of faith...

Temples to be built in agency areas are a matter of concern. Even a decade ago Adivasis worshiped nature. They went to sacred groves to pray. The forest was their spiritual solace and it was naturally protected.  Recently religious competition was introduced. Buildings of different faiths mainly churches sprang up everywhere. The innocence of the tribal is getting compromised. It is becoming this faith against that. Their original respect for nature as a spiritual symbol is vanishing. To top it off thousands of folks from the plains go to some small temple in the ghats and have a huge eating out party leaving the entire area with tons of rubbish mainly plastic but also remnants of goat skaughter and chicken bones. The temple cleans up 10 ft around their perimeter. The left is left in the sun surrounded by dogs and crows. There is no way of removing the garbage and they lie there forever. Forget tribal tourism. The areas around temples are filthy. Now we have religious...