CHENNAI: Ten deaths in quick succession in a Tambaram locality has made residents there suspicious that it could be due to a divine curse.Though deaths had occurred earlier in the locality, residents claimed the recent string of incidents were due to the curse of god.Following the death of Velaiamma in March 2011, a Class IX student, Ashok (14) of Bharath Nagar, complained of headache and was taken to hospital in April. He later died. After this, a labourer Rahamatulla (50) of Bharath Nagar died of heart attack. Suresh (32), a tricycle driver from Bharath Nagar, died following severe stomach pain after the handlebar of his tricycle hit his stomach while he was pulling his vehicle. Incidentally, the day after Suresh died, his neighbour Ramesh (30) drowned in a well nearby. The residents claimed that Suresh would usually bathe in the well. “My son’s friend called him and they went out. Later, I heard that he was dead. They make sacrifices at the temple. Everybody blames these deaths are because of that,” said Suguna, Ramesh’s mother. In quick succession, Govindasamy (35), Muthu, a hotel employee living in Bharath Nagar, and Ansar (46) of MGR Nagar were found hanging in their homes. Ravi (30) of MGR Nagar drowned in a lake.“Our deity guards the locality. Her temple has to be on the border of our locality but we constructed it within the locality without knowing it. After so many deaths, now we feel that we have made a big mistake,” said Kamala of Bharath Nagar.Through the years, the residents had made many sacrifices to the deity during festivals. Recently, they organised a special pooja in order to appease the deity. “We believe the deaths are because we constructed the temple of our guardian deity at the wrong place. We will approach the Tambaram Municipality to shift the temple to the end of our locality,” said another resident Munnusamy, also of Bharath Nagar. Sudalaimadasamy, the temple priest, claimed that no one had ever approached him saying that the deaths happened because of the temple.“Two neighbours died on successive days. How can someone blame it was the curse of the god?” asked Suresh, who built the temple. “We conduct regular festivals in the month of Aadi. We sacrifice goats and people walk on fire. All these years, they never said anything. Now, they blame the temple. Some people even said I encroached upon the temple land and was blocking the road. The land where the temple is located is owned by another person and it is a private property. The temple is not blocking the road and I built the temple only after getting the owner’s permission,” Suresh explained.
Comments
0 comment