If the above photo made you think that you were looking at an offerings counter in a temple, look closer. You are looking at the prepaid auto-rickshaw counter at Trivandrum Central railway station. This photo was shot at 6 in the morning on February 14th Monday, after a tiresome night train journey. I was running towards the pre-paid counter because there would usually be a long que there if you got down from the train a bit late. The prepaid center has two ticket counters and both of them would have long ques when trains were arrived. But this Monday, I found one of them to be closed. Not just closed, they made a temple out of the place that bordered carefully with hollow bricks. So the que at one counter went on to the walk/drive ways and the traffic policemen had to control the line.
This temporary setup was made by the prepaid auto-rickshaw drivers for their Aattukaal Ponkala celebrations. They had a photo of the Goddess, a lamp lit, fruits as offerings and most of them all, a pot placed at the forefront for money offerings (which is out of the frame on the left hand side of the photo above) from the travelers. Aattukaal Ponkala was still one week away.
I don’t understand who gave them the right to use this busy public space to mint money. And how come nobody talks about it or no paper posts a photo of this, because such looting in the name of religion and such gross misuse of public space are publicly agreed upon.