I live in a sacred place. The vedas say so!

The news item on Srikanth "Sri" Srinivasan getting overwhelming Senate confirmation on his appointment to the country's second most powerful court was exciting at so many levels.  For one, an Indian-American. And  a Tamil name at that!

In this news item, I noticed that his origins go back to Mela Thiruvenkatanathapuram, which Google reported was near Tirunelveli and by the Tamrabarani.  Now, I was on full alert.  We are talking about the territories where my grandparents are from.  Father's place, Pattamadai is only a mile in from the riverbank.

The Tamrabarani at Srivaikuntam

I couldn't wait to check with my father.

I called him up.  "Hold on a second" he said.

A few seconds went by. I realized that I was no longer holding onto a live conversation.  In such situations, I miss the old landline for the unique sound it generated to indicate that the phone was off the hook.

So, a second call.  "Looks like I mistakenly pressed something here" father said.  After a few less trivial topics, I ventured into the "Sri" and Tirunelveli connections.

"Yes, there was extensive coverage here in the paper" father said.  I asked him if he knew where Mela Thiruvenkatanathapuram is.  Father didn't know.  He thought that maybe the village has another name by which the locals, and he, refer to.

"My guess is the village is along the river where it flows from the south to the north" he said.

"Wait, doesn't Tamrabarani flow eastward?"

"There is a small stretch where it flows north" father replied.  "According to the old Hindu faith, a river, flowing north, or in the stretches where it does, is very sacred" he added.

"So, I live in a sacred place" I chipped in.  The Willamette, which flows by not even a couple of minutes of a walk away, is on a northward drift from here on its way.

"Yes, I remember you telling me that the river there flows north" father recalled.  And he got back to the "Sri" topic.  "But, I don't know where exactly this village is.  When I talk to our people from Tirunelveli, I will ask them" he said.

So, that story will continue another day.

For now, I am excited I live in a very sacred place.  But, of course, the Indians here also knew that.  The Native Americans held sacred the rivers and the mountains.  I wonder, though, if the north-flowing river was any more or less sacred than rivers flowing in other directions.

The Willamette, Spring 2013