Item Number: Bullet Baba Temple

Thursday, July 19, 2012

Bullet Baba Temple

Deity: 350 cc Royal Enfield Bullet, Offering: Clamor of horns, libation: beer, bullet brand

For a large part of the conversation I thought it was a joke and I was playing along. One snide comment gave me away and then what followed were a series of Google look ups.

So it’s true, the Bullet Baba mandir exists!! Rewinding back, one fate full summer night in 1991, Om Banna, as he was fondly called was riding stone drunk on his bullet and hit a tree. The police recovered his body from a 20 feet gorge and seized the bullet during the period of post mortem. However the next morning they found the 350 cc missing, and were shocked to find it parked at the place of the accident. Attributing the incident to a prank, this time they removed the petrol from the bike and placed it under chains, only for it to return to the accident spot again the following night!

Out of fear, they handed over the bike to Banna's relatives, who swore, after the fateful incident they would hear (and some still do) the Royal Enfield rev up at night . They sold the same to a person from Gujarat. But mysteriously the bike returned to the accident spot covering a distance of 400 km. The person who bought it also abandoned it. As such instances kept recurring, the Enfield was left on the fateful spot and it is here on the National Highway No.65 – between Jodhpur and Bali that the “Bullet Baba Temple” was established.

In a separate incident a driver met with an accident in the same spot and said the “dead” Rathore rescued him. The news spread like wild fire and from then on “Bullet Baba” has become a popular deity in the area with Poojas, Bhajans and worships. Today the temple has it’s own priest, who’ll enlighten you on the birth of this legend. Like any temple this too offers prasad, but interestingly in the form of humble home brewed liquor. Pilgrims empty out bottles of hooch in honour of Baba after their wishes have been fulfilled. After circling the bullet, the devotees worship the bullet baba by offering beer. The bullet stands in the centre like a Yogi next to a homkund (fire altar) wearing kumkum and sacred ash (bhasmam). Next to it is a photo of Om Banna and an idol made of marble. The temple is built around the dwarf tree which instantly killed Om Banna, the tree apparently has now turned black due to the homkund but stands blossomed with different colored bangles and handkerchief’s offered by devotees.

If you are travelling through the Pali-Jodhpur highway in Rajasthan without worshipping the Bullet Baba, beware, there is no surety that you would reach your destination. Vehicles riding through if unable to stop, blow their horn as an offering instead.

There are booze shops nearby that aid the forgetful pilgrim and a shop offering exclusive Baba merchandise which includes audio/video CDs and colourful posters.
Only India can boast of such marvels. While reading about the Bullet Baba mandir, I also came across a series of other mandirs built which have just left me speechless! Rajnikanth Mandir (super hero of the south), Mahatma Gandhi mandir, Khushboo mandir (tamil actress), Namitha mandir (kollywood actress), Mayawati mandir, Amitabh Bachachan mandir, Pooja Umashankar mandir, Maruthur Gopalan Ramachandran mandir.
Only in India we believe God is greater than his creation but will also deify the two on the same stature.

Temple at: Nathamedu near Thirunindravoor, Chennai. Built for Maruthur Gopalan Ramachandran, film actor, director and politician who also served as the CM of TN

1 comment:

shefaliFebruary 16, 2013 at 10:21 PM
Hi

I write to you on behalf of the Culturama magazine, a cultural magazine from Global Adjustments Services. We would like to use the photo of the MGR temple from your blog. please let us know if you would be willing to share with us the hi - resolution photograph of the same. We will be giving your blog the credit for using the picture.
Thanks
Shefali
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About Me

Ok, so I’m 5ft 9, about 139 pounds, big greenish brown eyes, long curvy lashes, a curvier body, soft curly hair and an electrifying smile. This impression exists in my head…and now in yours.

It’s not because what I look like makes me uneasy, but this is the number that I’d like to turn up in, someday.

Hence, the ‘Item Number’. A lot many maybe familiar with the term and all that it implies but for the ignorant read on…

I’ve always associated myself with the term ‘Item Number’ which however until recently was a phrase loosely used in Bollywood to describe a filler, a foreplay before the formidable act, a thesaurus for sleazy dance, an excuse for skin show (not always attractive).

All that is now the past. With cinemas growing sensibilities, the stigma attached to the phrase no longer exists and in fact, is now glorified by a list of A grade celebrities gracing the screen with their special performance, adding glam value to an otherwise submissive script.

However in spite of the recent but growing respect, the meaning of the phrase ‘Item Number’ has never changed for me. An item number is an exhibit out of the ordinary plot line, sometimes provocative yet necessary, it sometimes lends itself to the situation but other times it’s forced. It’s long enough to make you smile, but short enough leaving you longing for more. Sometimes special. Sometimes over the top. But never subtle.

I believe, if we search deep inside, we all yearn to be an item number (yes even you!)

It’s the longing to be special. To be provocative. To be able to tease ones boundaries. To be different. To be the one. To make people sit up and notice.

If only for an hour, if only for a minute or even a second.

When you hear the crowds cheer (even if it’s just in your head), respond to every appreciative/envious glare with a radiating smile from within, when you know the stars are shinning in this moment, only to make you look brighter, and you almost throw your hands up to the universe miming a big ‘Thank You’ that’s when you know you’re an Item Number.