Desikar Temple Mylapore Keshav Sripatham Kudai

His is a story of how devotional transformation can happen in a very short period of time if one has the intent

From out of nowhere, this Automobile Design Engineer has become an integral member of the Sripatham Kainkaryam and a ‘Kudai Carrier’ at the Desikar temple in Mylapore

In 2013, the life of mechanical engineer Deepak Rajagopalan (Keshav to those in the temple circles) took a dramatic devotional turn. While he was service oriented right from his AVM Matric school days in Saligramam having worked with senior citizens and blind children, he had not been involved in temple service of any kind in the first two decades of his life. In fact, no other family member of his had been involved in temple service in the decades gone by.  His school days were spent at the football ground as he rose to the heights of a districts player. 

Marine Engineer lures Mechanical Engineer into temple service 

He did not have an inkling of the voluntary services at temples until past 20 he came on chat with Marine Engineer Siddharth Sampath, an ‘unseen’ friend on the social media. 

There was a shortage of sripatham service personnel at that time and Deepak was asked if he would be interested in carrying the Lord on his shoulders as a Kainkaryam.  Siddharth, a Kodambakkam resident, whose family had been associated with the Desikar temple Kainkaryam for long even offered a pick up and drop back at Kodambakkam. And thus began what has been a truly devotionally transformational decade for Keshav. His Sripatham Kainkaryam began with the Vana Bhojana Utsavam at the Veera Raghava Perumal Divya Desam in Thiru Evvalur (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2008/06/veera-raghava-perumal.html). 

                  Marine Engineer Siddharth 

It had been an out of the blue call from Siddharth, one that changed Deepak's life forever. In that early phase, just under a decade ago, with him still searching for his first job, there was time on his hands and a regular trip for the Pancha Parva procession to Mylapore’s Vedantha Desikar temple became a reality “Initially it baffled me to see the way the Sripatham team functioned. I had not seen anything like this earlier. People from different walks of life and different age groups came together right on time for the procession. The enthusiasm and commitment of the Sripatham personnel at the Desikar temple kindled my devotional spirit.”

Deepak's interest through his teenage years had been in football and he had moved to the level of a districts player but the year he finished his engineering degree, he kept aside all other interests to devote himself fully to Sripatham service at the Desikar temple in Mylapore. It had been a new initiation in his life, something he had not visualized earlier.

With the kindling of his devotional spirit,  Keshav began to make regular trips to the temple to carry the Lord on his shoulders even after he joined an engineering firm. It was not an easy task at all for he had to ride from Saligramam to his office in Saidapet and then to Mylapore for the procession before riding back home another 10kms late in the evening to Saligramam. With him beginning to enjoy this devotional service, the processional days became something he began to look forward to. And his devotion grew manifold after experiencing the annual Vaikasi Srinivasa Perumal Brahmotsavam and the Puratasi Desikar Utsavasm. Soon he became an integral member of the Sripatham team.

Within three years of joining the service, he was inducted as a committee member of the seven decades old Sripatham Association. 

A fascination for the Sacred Kudai

While he started off carrying Srinivasa Perumal and Vedantha Desikar on his shoulders during the street processions, he branched off into another sacred activity – the carrying of the Kudai. “Initially, my interest was only in Sripatham service but the team initiated me into the ‘Kudai’ service as well. I practiced for months the art of holding the ‘Kudai’ and then carrying it after placing it on the hip inside the temple complex  under the guidance of seniors like Mambakkam Murali and Malayankulam Varadhan.  They believed that this would make me more versatile in temple service.”

“Their early encouragement and the opportunity to carry the Kudai gave me great exposure to another service in the temple space. And I took to a fascination for the ‘Kudai’ for I found it to be a hugely challenging task during processions. Carrying different sized Kudais for different processions was a new experience as was the Chariot procession day during the Brahmotsavam when 10 different Kudais lead the procession.  I learned the art of maneuvering the Kudai during peak hour traffic, away from trees and to keep it under control on windy days. It also gave me great insights into the management of the health of the Kudais.”

“I found carrying the Kudai to be a great learning in life. It is all about the art of ‘balancing’.”

He has along been a dominating personality who likes to do things on time. And he is quite vocal with his point of view as can be seen when it gets tense sometimes during the big utsavams.

The Name - Deepak to Keshav to Elakkai

Once when the Elakkai Maalai did not make its way for the Anna Kooda Utsavam, he took it upon himself to knit the Maalai. From that day, Deepak Rajagopalan became ‘Elakkai' Keshav.

From Rank Outsider to Treasurer 

Though a rank outsider for the Mylapore temple having lived all his life in Saligramam and having not performed any service at this temple till he well past 20, his high devotional commitment has led the Sripatham leadership team to entrust him with the responsible post of Treasurer of the Sripatham Association. And thus he now performs three roles - Sripatham, Kudai and managing the finances of the Trust. With a young family, he has had to shoulder a lot of responsibility – at home, office and temple. But he manages each of these with ease. In recent years, Deepak Rajagopalan has been into automobile design at Haldex, a company that has been considerate to him on his temple service activities. 

At the temple, he is always bubbling with devotional energy and there is a positive vibrancy when he is around. During the big utsavams, there is very little rest for him especially as he has to ride 10kms from West Madras to Mylapore and twice a day at that but temple service has jumped up to the top of his list.  Interestingly, his wife has been an ardent devotee of Srinivasa Perumal since her childhood. As part of her Kainkaryam, she had knitted and presented flower garlands on each day of the Vaikasi Brahmotsavam to the Lord for many years.

With education and football taking precedence, Deepak spent the first two decades of his life away from temples. Over the last 10 years, the 32 year old engineer has more than made up for lost time with his unflinching devotional Kainkaryam so much so that he has come to be called 'Kudai Keshav'.