V. Padmapriya, 9, hailing from Chennai, was one of the devotees who climbed Sabarimala hills this year. This is her third visit. She is pained by the Supreme Court order which is conflict with the age-old traditions. She visited the temple of her favourite deity along with her father and grandfather. She came holding a banner which read: “I am 9 years old; This is my 3rd visit to Sabarimala; I will come again only after 41 years (2058).”
Padmapriya got rousing welcome from devotees with many taking her photographs and selfies with her. It was her own wish to carry such a banner. Her grandfather Sivasubramaniam and father Vijayakumar said traditions are to be respected. “You don’t do away with everything that’s old. If you take away certain customs and traditions, Sabarimala will not remain Sabarimala. It will be just another temple. There is beauty and aesthetics in our traditions. When you look everything through the Western prism, many things here look stupid because our so-called intellectuals are culturally illiterate,” said PK Swaminathan, a chartered account from Tamil Nadu.
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