FOREIGNERS AT THE TEMPLE

Twenty years ago, nobody knew that there was an enormous amount of wealth in the form of gold jewelry and gems hidden in the vaults of the Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple. So there was almost no security system at the temple premises then.

At that time, I was working for a private firm in Trivandrum City. I had to visit ISRO often, since I was marketing products which they required. These products were mostly manufactured in USA or Europe.

Sometimes we had Engineers from abroad visiting Trivandrum to promote their products. On such occasions, we had to accompany them to ISRO and arrange their meetings with the ISRO Engineers.

In the evenings, when we were free, we used to take the foreigners around for sightseeing. One of the popular places was the Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple.

One day we took a British Engineer to the Temple. He looked at the Temple and said “It’s Magnificent. Truly Magnificent” He took out his camera and began taking pictures of the Temple from various angles. He was very impressed by the Temple but a little disappointed by the notice saying foreigners are not allowed inside the Temple.

Some months later, we had a French Engineer visiting Trivandrum. We took him to the Temple. He had an expensive camera with him and we thought he would take some pictures of the Temple. He did not use his camera. He looked at the Temple for some time and said “It’s dirty; I think you should clean it.”