Madras in California

I've heard so much about this temple. Somehow, I haven't been here even once in 4 yrs. Maybe, its the distance. Or maybe, it was not until late that Livermore temple became commercialized.
Our 4th anniversary marked my first visit to Concord temple.
It is actually a church converted into a temple.
It can be a challenge to find this place, though. In no way it resembles a temple from the outside.
In fact, it does not resemble a church either. G had a borrowed Magellan GPS from a friend & he proudly says that he found the temple with the GPS. ahem...

It really was not that big a deal of a temple. That was my first impression. A small Vinayagar idol, A decent size praharam that was screened(6pm is marked for Shiva Murugan Abishekam) & a small Amman idol. That's about it. But when they opened the screen & I saw the way the Kurukal(pandit) performed the pooja, I was simply jumping with joy. It was all in Tamil, my mother tongue & he even performed archanai without a single dime.

The best part was after the pooja. He came over to all of us to give milk(from the abishekam), veebuthi, kungumam & santhanam. In most of the temples here, we will have to go to get it.
It might not be a big deal for many people, but for me, it reminded me of my homeland & the temples near my home. The place smelled camphor, oil & all the pooja items. Call me materialistic, but that's a good reason for me to like a temple.

I was so happy. I intend to visit this temple more often. It is very calm. Not many people(thank the distance).

All this happiness with a typical South Indian lunch & dinner made it an ideal weekend. I love my life :-)