SABARIMALA: At 76, Sreekumaran Thampy shows no sign of fatigue after climbing the over five kilometre long Sabarimala Hill. He is tranquil and composed after having a darshan of Lord Ayyappa. “It seems like every visit energises me and awakens the artiste in me. I started the habit of visiting Sabarimala while I was seven. I will climb the hill as long as health permits and once it deteriorates I will stop visiting the shrine. I will never depend on anyone to carry me for a darshan of the Lord,” he told this newspaper at Sannid-hanam here on Thursday.
The noted poet and lyricist said that he had visited the temple more than 40 times and he considers every visit to Sabarimala as equally important similar to the visit to the Kollur Mookambika which helped him to grow in his career as a poet and as a lyricist. “For me, the scientific knowledge also helps in the pursuit of spirituality,” he said. The poet, who considers him to be a Left sympathiser, says that communal forces are using the wrong interpretation of ‘Hindutva’, and it is the absence of teachers like Vivekananda and Aurobindo Ghosh which is helping the wrong propagation of Hindutva ideals thereby making it a handy tool for communal forces.
“Teachers of in the footsteps of Vivekananda and Aurobindo Ghosh should save the country from the ill effects of communal forces. Such teachers should come so that they can rein in the subversive effect of using religion as tool for communal purpose,” he said. Mr Thampy, who began his career as a civil engineer after completing his graduation from the Government Engineering College, Thrissur, got employed as an assistant town planner at Calicut before entering as a lyricist in the films.
