Remember - this day !! ~ Five years ago !!!!

How good is your memory ! – this day 5 years ago, brought relief and happiness to most of us.  Today,  September 1 is the 244^th  day of the year (245th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar; 121 days remain until the end of the year.

 

The Crisis of the Tumu Fortress, also known as the Tumu Crisis,  was a border conflict between the Oirat Mongols and the Ming dynasty. In July 1449, Esen Taishi, leader of the Oirat Mongols, launched a large-scale, three-pronged invasion of China. Despite having capable generals, Emperor Yingzong of Ming, under the influence of eunuch Wang Zhen who dominated the Ming court at the time, made the decision to personally lead his armies into battle against Esen. On  this day, 576 years ago,   Ming army suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of the much weaker Mongols, and the emperor was captured.  This defeat was one of the biggest military failures in the Ming dynasty's three centuries of existence, and it was largely attributed to the poor leadership of their army. 

On this day in 1604,   Adi Granth, now known as Guru Granth Sahib, the holy scripture of Sikhs, was   first installed at Harmandir Sahib. 

The Guru Granth Sahib  is the central holy religious scripture of Sikhism, regarded by Sikhs as the final, sovereign and eternal Guru following the lineage of the ten human gurus of the religion. The Adi Granth   first rendition, was compiled by the fifth guru, Guru Arjan (1564–1606). Its compilation was completed on 29 August 1604 and first installed inside the Golden Temple in Amritsar on 1 September 1604.  Later, Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth Sikh guru, added hymns of Guru Tegh Bahadur to the Adi Granth and affirmed the text as his successor. This second rendition became known as the Guru Granth Sahib and is also sometimes referred to as the Adi Granth.   The text consists of 1,430 angs (pages) and 5,894 shabads (line compositions), which are poetically rendered and set to a rhythmic ancient north Indian classical form of music.  

The Golden Temple  is a gurdwara located in Amritsar, Punjab, India. It is the pre-eminent spiritual site of Sikhism. It is one of the holiest sites in Sikhism,  the land that became Amritsar and houses the Harimandir Sahib was chosen by Guru Amar Das, the third Guru of the Sikh tradition. It was then called Guru Da Chakk, after he had asked his disciple Ram Das to find land to start a new town with a man-made pool as its central point.  The Harmandir Sahib   also called the Durbār Sahib,  meaning  "sacred audience",  is well known as  Golden Temple for its gold leaf-covered sanctum centre. 

Coming to this day – 5 years ago !!  -  the year 2020 started on an ordinary note and sooner turned virulent – the Corona Virus to be named Covid 19 took  over the Globe and the whole World underwent  untold suffering !   there have been bad influences like Spanish flu, Economic crisis, World War and more .. ..  In that year, the monsoon season  arrived in South Asia and   ravaged large swathes of farming and urban areas, leaving millions who were already suffering the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic in financial ruin. More than 10 million people in India, Bangladesh, and Nepal had  been affected by monsoon floods in 2020, the worst flooding since 1998.  Bangladesh was badly affected with One-third of the Nation going  underwater after torrential rains caused 53 rivers to overflow in June, when Bangladesh was just beginning to recover from the devastation left by Cyclone Amphan in May. 

2020 was the year when the Globe almost stopped rotating and came to literal halt due to the Corona virus – on Mar 19, 2020, Nation heard with awe, the speech of Honble PM Shri Narendra Modiji who in an extremely balanced manner, explained the situation, threats, measures, expectations and plan of action as a Janata Curfew was announced on 22.3.2020 from 7 am to 9 pm. 

Then came those days of difficulty hard to fathom and beyond wild imaginations. In tune with the National Policy, Tamil Nadu State Govt announced curfew, effectively closing its border with neighbouring Karnataka, Kerala and Andhra.   Sadly, the Curfew was imposed, extended and continued for a few more months.  

Sept. 1, 2020 was a day of big relief to people after continuous lock-downs.   People were out on the streets.  On the first day of bus services resumption after lockdown relaxation, as many as 6,090 buses operated across the State.   While MTC resumed operation of about 2,400 buses, the six divisions of Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporations (TNSTC)  operated the rest of the buses.   

That was a time when Corona had not been completely driven out and lurking fears remained at large.   As India entered the fourth phase of the post-pandemic ‘unlock’ process, the Indian Railways started more special passenger trains in high-demand sectors

 

Sept 1 2020 was an all-important day as after 160 days Temples reopened and devotees were allowed inside the Temples and could have darshan.  At Thiruvallikkeni divyadesam, the crowds were not exactly swelling – people stood in queue, were given a token (which was collected immediately after two / three steps by another person !) – those in the queue proceeded having darshan of Thirukachi Nambigal, Vedanthachar, Sri Ramanujar, Swami Manavala Mamunigal, Pillailogachar and -  could have darshan of moolavar Sri VenkataKrishnan from distance [from Dwarapalakas] and then had  darshan at Sri Vedavalli thayar, Sri Varadha Rajar, Sri Azhagiya Singar, Andal sannathies, proceeding further towards yagashala of Pavithrothsavam.

 

Temples in other parts too opened and devotees could have darshan.  Unimaginable that there could be a situation, when people had to remain at home, Temples too remained locked !!  -  Sept, 1, 2020 was thus a day indeed satisfying to devotees who had been silently praying Emperuman in thoughts only !!  - and this was a time when they could stand before the Lord, pray and focus on some kainkaryam too.  

Today almost all of us have forgotten those black days and a decade or so more, we will only recall the bad memories in books or social media.  Here are couple of photos of devotees at Sri Parthasarathi swami thirukkovil during Vaikunda Ekadasi [file pics of Temple and devotees – Vaikunda Ekadasi day earlier years]

 
Regards – S Sampathkumar
1.9.2025