Diwali, Celebrated in Open Pasture Under Stars and with Neighbors

By Jawahar Malhotra

KATY: In the engulfing darkness of the night it was difficult to find a parking space on the grassy field around the temple buildings, but easy to find the brightly lit stage and the two round fountain light sculptures on either side. The trek to the back of the three wooden buildings was uneven, with broken stones and pebbles crunching underfoot. There, under the stars and the stray dim light of the building, on folding chairs and tables, over a hundred people sat eating and watching the Ram Leela being played out on a built-up stage.

Behind the stage for another 8 acres of the temple property the darkness loomed, broken to the one side by the outside lights of a neighboring house. In front of it, the spectators watched, among them some of the neighbors in this distant part of Katy, some 30 miles west of Houston’s Galleria and about 5 miles west of Katy Mills Mall, on the short stretch of Tina Lane, where a few residences dot either side of the street.

The temple was started on this tract by its late priest Udaya Kumar Gullapalli who passed away last December at an early age from an unfortunate accident. His zeal to start the Sayi Durga Shiv Vishnu temple in this isolated tract of land about two years ago, led to the main sanctuary, adjoining office and kitchen all housed in temporary wooden buildings raised on concrete blocks. Recently, SDSV has partnered up with the Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha Branch 377, an organization comprised mostly of Indians from the Carribean, Surinam, Gyuana and Fiji, to expand. The congregation of about 100 families is equally divided between the two communities.

Currently, two full-time priests cater to the needs of the Hindu faithful in the area, Pt. Shridhar Kumar Sharma, who is the brother-in-law of the late pandit Gullapalli and just arrived here last October; and Pt. Subbaraya Sharma. Shridhar was a priest at the Lakshmi Narayan Temple in Kurnool, Andhra Pradesh, which is maintained by the large Birla factory that makes vegetable oils in the city. Subbaraya used to be a scientist at MD Anderson Cancer Center for many years before taking up this new path for himself some years ago.

The joint-venture between the two entities hopes to raise the $150,000 in short order to pay off the land, and then seriously start to build up the structures. The Diwali Mela, though a step in that direction, also reflected the zeal of the congregation to showcase their faith and get the children involved. Emcee Sharda Jankie guided the program, with comments from SDMS Secretary Peter Gooman and President Vishal Chatoor, the national anthem on the saxophone by Sanjeev Chatoor and bhajans by Gooman and Jasoda Sharma (with the SDMS, who coordinated the event). Miss Guyana Divya Yabindranath made an appearance with her sash, and the adult King and Queen – Vashti Ravi Garib and Sharlene – were crowned.

Kusum Sharma, the Executive Director of the Shri Natraj Shool of Dance brought her students and her two daughters (who played Sita and Ravana) to re-enact the Rama Leela with an English narrative and interspersed it with questions on the story for the young in the audience to answer. “The wooden stage and the decorations were all built up by our volunteers in the last week,” said a proud Ram Sharma, who was decked out in a colorful Sherwani. And, with a group of others playing instruments, he sang bhajans at the end of the program. The music from the oasis of lights reverberated into the dark, cool night.