Completing another stage of construction on the new maintenance/office/storage building, the team spent a few days painting the sheetrock walls of several downstairs storage rooms. Some of these rooms will be dehumidified for storing sensitive material.

With lots of dry weather perfect for outdoor construction projects, much progress is being made with laying down rock and gravel on the San Marga entrance path to Iraivan Temple. Working backwards from the river, employee Dennis has completed up to and around Muruga Hill.

A new path has been built leading from Hanuman's Mountain into the Rudraksha Forest. It is six feet wide and 200 feet long, to be planted with grass in the weeks ahead. Now visitors can enjoy the sacred forest without tripping on roots. The path leads to San Marga, where it connects with the larger, 8-foot-wide Pilgrims' Path leading to Iraivan Temple.

Our employee and longtime friend Dennis Wong has finished laying rock and gravel in the lower section of the official pilgrims' path to Iraivan Temple, and now he is heading up the straight San Marga path, from the svayambhulingam heading backwards.

The electricians team from California finished installing lighting and fans. Another team of monks and employee Doug installed insulation in the walls of all downstairs storage rooms, and another hired team has just installed sheet rock on all those walls.

Some days ago, our silpis installed hanging stone chains in the four corners of the Iraivan Temple mahamandapam roof. This constituted the final pieces of the temple to be assembled. Worthy of celebration! The silpis will return to India at year's end.

Five electricians from California have begun the process of installing wiring, fans and power outlets throughout the new Siddhidata Kulam metal building, courtesy of our SSC sishya Easvan Param, a longtime electrican.

Three scissor lifts are rented for the project, which will last around a couple weeks.

Now that the new metal building is finished on the outside, including gutters and drain pipes to move rainwater away from the building, the Siddhidata Kulam is adjusting the surroundings. The ground is now sloped away on three sides, with a slightly lower pathway cut to channel water further away. Narrow concrete pipes already in our possession were laid next to each other to form a wide culvert for diverting a large amount of water out into the nearby orchard. The road over this culvert is the main route for coming to and from the new building. A round catchment tank is being installed as another source of rainwater storage for emergency use, and we also just purchased a used, large, stainless steel tanker as another source of backup water. A mound of dirt and mulch is established around the south side of the building to grow plants for a visual barrier.

As part of the amazing Satgurus Meditation Mandapam in Alaveddy, the team also just completed a guesthouse for the Kauai monks and other special visitors to Sri Lanka. Dr. Ganapatipillai Shanmugasundaram and his wife Tillaka were there from California for the official opening and blessing. Congratulations to all who made this happen so swiftly. It will be a welcome retreat far into the future.

With some helpful dry weather in the last week, our big equipment operator and engineer Dennis Wong was able to complete the process of laying down rocks and gravel for the farthest section of the Iraivan Temple pilgrims' path. This portion is the most challenging because of longer distance for transporting the material, and susceptibility to muddiness in wet weather. He will move on to the flatter sections in the weeks ahead. The rocks and gravel were laid a bit further than the temple entrance hill steps, over to a picturesque stream. Next, Dennis is working backwards, currently around the svayambhulingam area.