A time to fast and a time to pray

The MetroPlus team visits Palayam Juma Masjid, Ganapathi temple, and St. Joseph’s Cathedral to capture the many shades of devotion

July 23, 2014 06:51 pm | Updated 06:51 pm IST - Thiruvananthapuram

The faithful  offering prayers in front of the Palayam mosque in Thiruvananthapuram  Photo: S. Gopakumar

The faithful offering prayers in front of the Palayam mosque in Thiruvananthapuram Photo: S. Gopakumar

Twilight at Palayam. Eager devotees hasten towards places of worship. The muezzin’s soulful call to prayer mingles with the tinkling of bells from the neighbouring Ganapathi temple, while church bells ring solemnly at the St. Joseph’s Cathedral. The MetroPlus team visits these places of worship to capture the many shades of devotion in a city that has always prided itself on its communal amity

Food for body and soul

Scores of the faithful have gathered at the Palayam Juma Masjid in preparation for the evening’s nombu thura [breaking the fast]. Clutched in their hands are small packets of food and glasses of sweet lime juice. With just five minutes remaining for the evening’s azan [prayer], latecomers rush to complete their ablutions at the wash area. Today, the food packets contain two dates and a slice of apple and pineapple each. Several women too make their way to their special prayer room, in an annexe of the mosque, where they too are served iftar fare.

At 6.47 p.m. sharp, as soon as the muezzin’s call rings out, the men wish each other and break the fast with gusto.

“We have to break the fast immediately on hearing the first notes of the azan,” explains Haji S.A. Azeem, president of the Palayam Muslim Jama-ath, before leaving to join the others for the Maghrib prayer, which starts after a five- minute gap.

The prayer lasts around 10 minutes and then the faithful, among them politicians, celebrities and laymen, descend on the adjacent community dining hall, where piping hot tubs of delicious nombu kanji and plates of steamed kappa are waiting for them. Nombu kanji, slow cooked on a wood fire oven, is like porridge and has some 25 ingredients. By 7.30 p.m., the queue dwindles, with everyone having had their fill.

Shortly afterwards, the prayers begin again and devotion fills the air.

In the name of God

It’s 5 p.m. at St. Joseph’s Metropolitan Cathedral, Metropolitan Church, Palayam, on a Tuesday. Only a handful of pews are occupied inside the church. Heads bowed down in reverence, many are saying silent prayers either seated or bent on their knees. A confession session is in progress. Although, there are many people going in and out of the church, the place is quiet and peaceful. Outside the church, people troop in and out to light prayer candles or to stand in front of the shrines to offer prayers.

It’s 5.30 p.m. and the church is now packed. The crowd comprise both the young and the old. While men and women sit in separate aisles, some families sit together. The mass begins on the dot; it’s in Malayalam. Television screens placed at strategic locations screen the scenes from the altar, live. The priest begins the service with a prayer. After the reading of the gospel, it’s time for offertory. People stand in line for the communion as the choir sings hymns. The mass concludes with a prayer. Although the mass is over, most stay back for the novena. Tuesday’s novena is to St. Antony, who is believed to be a miracle worker. Once the novena concludes, the bell chimes and the congregation slowly troops out, beatific smiles on their faces.

Lead kindly light

As the solemn ringing of bells from the St. Joseph’s Cathedral fade away, the soulful melody of bhajans fills that air with devotion at the tiny Palayam Vinayaka temple, bang opposite the bustling Connemara Market.

A reading of the Ramayana that began at 5 p.m. has just concluded and the priest is getting ready for the deeparadhana. One or two people drop in to pray while a youngster rushes in, drops money into the hundi and vanishes into the crowd outside.

The singers, oblivious to the patter of the rain and the people inside the temple, continue to make music. The bhajans on Tuesdays and Fridays have been going on for more than 25 years, just before the pooja at sunset.

At about 6.40, as soon as the bhajan singers conclude a number, the muezzin’s sonorous prayers arise from the neighbouring mosque, which shares a wall with the temple. While the prayers go on, there is pin drop silence at the temple.

As if the priest knows the exact timing, the minute the prayers conclude, he rings the bell and shuts the doors of the sanctum sanctorum for the pooja. The door opens to the accompaniment of bells. Deeparadhana over, the bhajan singers resume their worship.

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