It was a heartbreaking photo of a ruined Temple on Facebook. The place was Ootathoor,near Thiruchi. The historic Temple seems to have collapsed fully . The photo shows the dilapidated status of the sanctum with the Shiva Lingam surrounded by broken stones.
On seeing the above photo there may be some sympathisers who express their anguish over the damage done. They " like" the photo/ post and few others write comments. To click a "like"or writing comment is not going to improve the situation. Where are the volunteers who can swing into action by visiting the site immediately, discuss with locals, form a renovation committee and look for donors? Field work alone can help under these situations. It is not going to help in any way by sitting at home and expressing our sorrow.
Thiruchi is fairly a big town wherein there could be many philanthropists who can donate liberally towards rebuilding the dilapidated Temples. But the initiative should come from a group of volunteers who can approach the donors and invite them to visit the site. Once the spade work is done, it may be rather easy to find donors for procuring the materials. If the whole project is subdivided ,people will be ready to undertake a subdivided part of the project and the work will commence smoothly.
It is very common to see people thronging to famous and rich temples and offer money and valuables in the Hundi. If they divert atleast part of their offerings towards the dilapidated Temples, many restoration work can start without facing shortage of funds at any stage of the project. Imagine the devotees offering just one rupee per head when they go round the Hill at Thiruvannamalai on Full moon days. When millions of people take the route by foot, the nominal offer they make can help rebuilding numerous Temples that are in dilapidated stage. Where are the volunteers?
