Bodhinatha on stage at the celebration to honor the silpis in Bangalore….Today we bring your more photos from the India mission, from our Bangalore worksite.

The story of the evening celebrations of November 5th, in Bangalore continues….caption sent by Thuraisingam Rajasankara.

Next we have a song by our member Adi Sankara from Mauritius who is doing his MA in Music in Chennai.

and Bodhinatha contemplating in music ……

This is Silpi Loges who is taking this opportunity to sing a local Kannada song, the dialect spoken in Bangalore. Of course he is a local person originating from about 100 kms from the worksite.

Then awards for the next category of workers, souls who have worked at the site for over nine years. They receive a 4 gram 22 carat gold coin with a certificate ……. and that s Silpi Kanna and the smile seeing the gold coin which we kept as a secret till the function day. He is in our list of probable candidates for the next batch to Kauai.

Silpi Andiappan who went to Kauai in the 2001 batch.

So as Silpi Raman from Karaikudi.

This is Mahalingam who works in the blacksmith or patrai where the chisels are made.

and PR Supramani also a black smith chief.

Silpi Kandasamy receiving his gift.

This is Silpi Karupaiah who just returned from Kauai in the month of August.

And Silpi Ramachandran from Karaikudi, Tamil Nadu.

So as Silpi Sankaran from Tenkasi, Tamil Nadu who also just returned from Kauai belonging to the 2003 batch.

Silpi Muthi from Sivaganagai, Karnataka. He joined as a blacksmith boy and due to his skills today he stands as a competent stone carver.

This is Raja. He was a teenager when he joined as a blacksmith boy and today he is a carver, married with two kids. This ends our list of 13 silpis who have worked for over 9 years.

This is PR Supramani again. He is a highly intelligent person often participating in dramas etc and he is presenting a poem on Iraivan in Tamil. We had Madam Sheela Venkatakrishnan, who looks from behind to translate the poem into English.

A view of the audience with our guests from overseas seated in the front.

Bodhinatha gives a short message about the poem recital and thanked his articulate skill.

And this is Madam Sheela Venkatakrishnan speaking her thoughts …..

Its time for the senior most workers to receive their share of the awards. Those souls who have been with us for over 11 years were honoured with a 8 gram 22 carat gold coin and of course a certificate of honour.

Receiving first in the list is Silpi Sundarama Achari who served Iraivan since 1991. He is also one of the carvers who had gone to Kauai in the first batch of jointing work.

This is Naina Mohamad fondly called as Muthu in our worksite, a Muslim. He is a sincere worker and he is the chief behind all of our shed construction ….an expert in coconut leaf sheds. Prior to coming to our worksite, he has served as a joining silpi in Sri Trichi Swamis Raja Rajeshwari Temple of Sri Kailasa Ashrama.

This is Silpis Loges from Tiptur who appeared in a picture before. He is also a local Kannadiga and joined our worksite as a carver 11 years back. Since then he has proved his sincere devotion to our work and he drives the forklift for Iraivan. He is our all in all, serving as a silpi and a carpenter while packing Iraivan stones into the containers to Kauai

Silpi Manikandan from Karaikudi, who now helps the main Stapathy do markings at the worksite. He is supposed to be the most skilled ornamental worker we have at our worksite.

and this is Adaikalam, his brother who has served in Kauai during the 2001 batch.

Silpi Karupaiah who was on the first team to Kauai for Joining work in 2001.

This is Kariyappa from Sivagangai, Karnataka. He is another all in all at our worksite, takes care of maintenance at our worksite who fixes pipe leakage, termite control, painting etc etc and of course helps in the packing of Iraivan to Kauai.

This is Chidambaram Sthapaty, the chief at our worksite who marks all the stones of Iraivan. He received a 10 gram 22 carat gold coin with a certificate.

And the last of the Iraivan awardees is Sri Tangavelu Achari who is instrumental for all the pillar art on Iravan pillars and all other ornamental works. He is a good artist and a highly skilled craftsman. He also received a 10 gram 22 carat gold coin with a certificate, the highest awards presented.

Then we have our overseas visitor Sri Uma Maheshwaran giving a little speech about his experience.

During this occasion we also took the opportunity to honour Artha Enterprise workers who have worked for over five years as the sheds are just next to Iraivan’s and we didn’t want them to feel left alone as such Artha Enterprise decided to honour their workers too.

Silpi Saravanan who does the marking for Artha. He received a watch and a certificate.

Silpi Vadivel from Karaikudi.

Silpi Mayandy from Thuthukudi, Tamil Nadu.

Silpi Vellaisamy from Karaikudi, Tamil Nadu.

Silpi Periakaruppan from Karaikudi, Tamil Nadu.

Silpi Sockalingam, a one eye blind carver.

Lastly, this is our shipping agent Sri Sasindran of Ultra Freight Logistics who has been shipping Iraivan since a couple years now. We honoured him with a certificate and a watch. He has shipped more than 30 containers now and has made Iraivan shipping sail smoothly.

The program ended with the distribution of dhothis and bonus for the silpis and a fireworks show, followed by a good dinner after we which we bid goodbye to the swamis and the guests.

Everything looked beautiful and it was all smiles on the silpis faces. Aum

Two days back we took the young ones (Tyler and 16-year-old Potriyan Sivanathan who is here for a few months during school break from Malaysia plus two others on an outing. We visited a tree farm where the owner had some rare plants he wished to gift to the monastery.

Then off to the little town of Kilauea and a famous lighthouse here, which serves as an important migratory bird refuge here in the Pacific Ocean.

Tyler, who lives in Tennessee, was mesmerized by the sight of 7-foot-long seabirds soaring overhead by the hundreds, and nesting in tens of thousands of holes dug into the red clay, right on the ground right near the paths. He even reached down to touch a few, as the photos show. Not to mention the waves pounding the lava rock cliffs nearby.

Potriyan takes some shots to take home…

Tyler is from Tennessee…

The little birds are very tame…