Prayers locked with hope

CHENNAI:On the metal cage constructed around a gold-painted trident are hundreds of locks. Some so old that they are rusted and some so new that they catch the sparkle of the sun and shine on the people hurriedly walking past. The locks layer over each other, leaving only a small space for the face of Sri Angalamman carved on the middle prong of the trident to look over the traffic at New Avadi Road-Kilpauk Garden Road junction.

“People put locks when they make a wish for something like health and happiness, and then slip the key into the slot near Amma. I do a small puja for them. Every single person who has put a lock has had their wishes come true,” says Bharatiyalakshmi G, the caretaker of the temple, which is built slightly lower than the main road.

She explains that the locks are left on the cage until the prayer has been answered, after which the lock is removed. “The devotee points to their lock, and I try every key until it opens. Sometimes, I can’t find the right key for the lock, and it just stays up there. There must be around 500 locks now,” she says, hefting a yellow bag full of keys and a white packet full of opened locks.

With a twinkle in her large, friendly eyes, she brushes back her hair and says, “Of course, I don’t know what anyone has wished for. They have to keep it a secret from everyone, until it’s fulfilled. That’s just how Amma’s powers work.”

Bharatiyalakshmi sweeps the marble floor of the colourful temple, and says most people approach the temple after accidents for a speedy recovery, pointing to the Murugan Hospitals across the road. According to her, they are healed within two weeks. Interestingly, Sri Angalamman is worshipped in the southern states of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh to provide relief from diseases and injury. People otherwise put locks here asking for help during property conflicts, financial troubles, work problems and familial issues.

When asked if she had ever put a lock herself, she adjusts the many green bangles on her wrist, shakes her head, and says, “Amma already has to fulfil the prayers and wishes of everyone who comes here. I am but her servant, I talk to her every day and she listens to me, and that is enough for me.”

The temple was constructed when Bharatiyalakshmi was just a girl, by her father and mother. The mother of three, who also works at an Iyer sappadu mess with her husband, that makes food for weddings, grew up around the deity. When her parents passed away, her siblings and she took up the maintenance of the temple. The temple is busy on Amavasai (full moon) days, and during Navarathri.

She looks adoringly at the black idol clad in an orange sari, and adorned with garlands of yellow marigold resting inside a small cavity in a pillar at the middle of the temple. “I know she listens to me. My daughter had some pain in her leg a few months ago. She is studying to become a doctor in Kanyakumari, and she could barely stand, maybe because of all the standing she had to do in college. I came and told Amma about this, and within a few hours, my daughter was much better. She is fine now,” she adds.

A woman climbs down the few smooth steps and clasps Bharatiyalakshmi’s hands. Joyfully, she explains that her daughter had just gotten married, and that she would return in the morning for a puja. The two women fold their hands towards the idol, and then share a few more words before the woman leaves.
“Everyone prays differently. Some people, like that lady you just saw, and me, we do a puja and sit in front of God. Some people think that putting this physical weight of the lock is how God senses their prayers. Who am I to tell them how to pray? I am nobody to disrupt their beliefs. So when they come and put up the lock, I let them, because I know Amma will fulfil their prayers,” says Bharatiyalakshmi.

Behind the lock
Four years ago, a resident in the area prayed for the health of his family at the temple. Three months later, his ailing family member recovered. Since then, the temple turned into Chennai’s own version of Paris’ Bridge of Locks.