There was a special visitor at Sri Kapaleeswarar Temple on Friday evening.
Jonathan Hemier, Minister counselor for commercial affairs, US Embassy, New Delhi was on an official trip to Chennai. He took time off to visit the temple.
Jonathan told Mylapore Times at the end of his one hour experience at the temple that he had done a number of official meetings in Chennai and wanted to visit this ancient temple to appreciate its architecture and understand the devotional aspects of people here.
“This is the first time I am visiting the Kapali Temple. Its architecture is wonderful pointing to the towering Raja Gopuram just behind him. What was particularly fascinating was the wide ranging devotees each invoking the blessings of the Lord in his/her own special way” he said.
T N Venkatanarayanan, former Chairman of Indo American Chamber of Commerce and currently MD of IT firm Divihn Soft Systems, Mylapore was instrumental in bringing Jonathan to the temple.
He told Mylapore Times that Jonathan was keen to understand the history of this temple. “For an hour from 4pm, I took him around the temple explaining the role of saint poet Thiru Gnana Sambandar in the temple’s history and also showed him the huge tank that was brimming to the full following the recent rains.”
Jonathan said that it had been a memorable one hour at the temple “It gave me a lot of happiness just being inside the temple and experiencing the devotion.”
He was accompanied by Carey Arun, Principal Commercial Officer, US Consulate General Chennai.
- Report, photo: S. Prabhu
