What makes a place 'Holy'?

             

The smell of human excreta, a stagnated sea without any waves, street vendors & rickshaw drivers competing to fraud the tourists. I couldn't find anything HOLY in Rameshwaram. It was 10 years back i visited this place with zest. I still have a clear cut visual of that architectural brilliance and the great bridge of Pamban. Things have changed a lot. 'Bhakti' is marketed at its best. It can't even be termed as a Market, though there will be atleast some unwritten laws in a Market. Everything is special here. Special Darsan, Special Pooja, Special Bath, Special Transportation and what not. If you are willing to pay an additional fifty bugs, you can have a close up special darshan of God at 5 am, the common wake up time for an average Indian God.One day in distant future, they will fix a prize tag to have a bed coffee with God. The richer you are, the more you will be blessed.

         

Holy bath at Rameshwaram

A temple in my mind is a place of tranquility, which relaxes our mind. But here, I could only see people rushing & fighting each other to have a drop of polluted water in the name of Holy Bath. I couldn't find an authorized cloak room & saw the temple security guard himself directing the pilgrims to some Lodges who pays him more than the temple trust. Each and every step must be placed in caution otherwise you will be slipped by human excreta. How can ours be called as a developing nation, where the majority still doesn't have faith in themselves? While heading to Dhanuskodi i felt proud of Dr. A P J Abdul Kalam, who became the first citizen of our country from this 'holy' pilgrimage town of Tamilnadu.

"I am a holy man minus the holiness"- E.M. FORSTER.