Thiruvallikkeni Deepavali purappadu 2025 ~ cleaning by SYMA

Deepavali is a festival of happiness – Gangasnanam, New dresses, Sweets and .. .. of course Crackers ! (pattasu!) 

All pyrotechnic compositions evolve heat upon ignition, and this release of energy can be used to produce colour, motion, smoke, and noise. There are applications as well for the chemically- produced heat itself. The use of incendiary mixtures in warfare can be traced back to ancient times, when it provided an effective means of assaulting well-fortified castles.  A Firecracker is a diminutive  explosive device primarily designed to produce a large amount of noise, especially in the form of a loud bang, usually for celebration or entertainment. They have fuses, and are wrapped in a heavy paper casing to contain the explosive compound.  

Firecrackers, are very popular and the town of Sivakasi, down South is very famous for manufacturing quality fire crackers.  For Deepavli, people  light up fireworks near their homes and in streets.   

For us at Thiruvallikkeni divaydesam and elsewhere, Deepavali is double bonanza ~ it couples with Sri Manavala Mamunigal Uthsavam –  this year Deepavali 20.10.2025 was day 3 of the Uthsavam – Deepavali was  celebrated with fervour.  Diwali symbolises the spiritual ‘victory of light over darkness and good over evil’. During the celebrations every house gets  decorated by lighting díyas and drawing rangolis.  

It starts early in the morning ~ ‘the pureficatory bath prior to Sun rise – is known as Ganga snanam’ – bathing in the holy Ganges.  Life starts  with lighting colour matches before bathing – then children rush to burst crackers – in earlier years,  Deepavali would start a fortnight or so in advance, siblings would share the booty of crackers bought – look at them everyday, speak fondly of their valuable purchase, dry them in heat – and in the morning – there would be din .. .. in fact, in my house, my great grand ma, into her nineties would be the first to get up and in the timber oven, she would light one cracker (cheena pattasu) and throw in the backyard, it would explode with a big bang .. .. crackers, new clothes, sweets, elders, cinema, cricket, Perumal purappadu  - life just rolled on .. .. ..  

At Thiruvallikkeni divyadesam, Deepavali evenings are extravagant – the purappadu of Swami Manavala Mamunigal with Sri Parthasarathi would take close to 4 hours even .. .. hundreds of 10000wallahs and special firework would light the air – thousands would walk along with Perumal enjoying the celebrations.  This year too, the celebrations were very very grand.  

Acaryan Manavala Mamunigal Uthsavam – Deepavali purappadu with Sri Parthasarathi Emperuman – Triplicane exploded !   so many many crackers and more than them beautiful fireworks.  So many houses burst big winding electric sarams - thousands of crackers, rockets, flower pots and many other items lit the sky.  

As so much is burnt, one sees the skyline with hued colours .. .. ..   10000 wallah leaves so much of heat and pile of rubbish – and the road itself gets hotter – Mamunigal (Sripadhamthangis), arulicheyal goshti and Emperuman, various kainkaryabarars including Battachars   walk on the road bare-footed ! –   even as the cinders remain partly extinguished, road red hot.  The unburnt crackers, remnants of fire all cause injuries too.   

Sri Thirucherai Sarathy (fondly Lamba Sarathi to us) – is a Vadhyar, Swayamsevak, kudaikarar, Sripathamthangi –  has been sweeping  the deepvali rubbish regularly for Perumal purapadu over the past few years. Srinivas Youngmens Association [SYMA] had organized equipments and people for cleaning. SYMA stands for social service and  back in 1977 – it started with civic activities of cleaning the mada veethis and kairavini thirukkulam.  This year for this cleaning -   Me (S. Sampathkumar), AMR Sundar, VP Manivannan, Aravind, T.P. Srikanth, M.A. Sadagopan, D. Sudarsan, Boopalan, G Parthasarathy, Durai @ R Seshadry and many other  volunteers took to the streets engaging themselves in cleaning with broomsticks and placing the debris at corners, making the streets safe for walking. 

It took hours, it was difficult, strenuous considering the heat, fire and the smoke – yet it was service to Emperuman and to his devotees.  Fall at the feet of all Sri Vaishnavas and pray our Emperuman to give the intelligence of mind in being humble and never criticize or speak ill of those involved in every type of kainkaryam

 

Here is a short video of the cleaning taken by our friend Shyam Balakrishnan. : https://youtu.be/dtlpfYGaxo0

 
 
~adiyen Srinivasa dhasan
Mamandur Veeravalli Srinivasan Sampathkumar
21.10.2025