ISKCON Authorities on Damage Control after Temple goes Bollywood
BY: SUN STAFF
Jan 3, SILIGURI, INDIA (SUN) — Authorities at the Siliguri ISKCON temple in northwest Bengal State are peddling fast to deal with an unfortunate situation that occurred at a New Year's event held at the temple. According to local reports, a Siliguri-based publication group organised the extravaganza with support from the temple authorities.
What ISKCON authorities apparently thought was going to be a tame get-together for a program on astronomy turned out to be a big Bollywood bash. Scantily dressed models were flown in from Kolkata to parade up the 'catwalk' ramp.
While popular Bollywood tunes, dance numbers by professional artists, and mundane orchestra music filled the air, the main temple above the auditorium carried on their regular program of sandhya aarti. The New Year's function began at 6.45 p.m and continued till 10.30 p.m., while the temple closed at 9 p.m., as usual.
After the party concluded, six rooms at the temple were used to accommodate the male and female models, who spent Sunday night on temple grounds. Mr Kalyan Bhattacharya, a member of the organising committee for the event said, “We are really thankful to the ISKCON authorities for allowing the event at the temple premises at a small ‘donation’ of Rs 2,000 only."
According to Mr Pradip Pal, a temple staff member, “The evening prayer, like any other day began at 6.30 p.m and continued for more than one-hour. The celebration at the auditorium below did not cause any obstacle on the way of carrying out the prayer.”
When the first reports came out yesterday, Sridam Govinda Das, the chief executive of ISKCON Siliguri, was not available for comment on the this event. Today, after news of the event made its way to the local press, temple authorities have expressed their concern over the what has apparently taken place. Sridam Govinda das said "The organisers told us they were going to organise an astronomical programme and hence, we spared the auditorium for a certain amount of donation.” Authorities have declined to make further comments until they have first watched a video CD recording that was made of the event.
Sridam Govinda das added that the temple authorities were unaware of the fact that once the program was over, all the models would be spending the night on the temple premises. “We spared six rooms for the organisers with the understanding that the artistes would stay in the rooms. We were not informed that models were to stay there,” Sridam Govinda das said.
But contradicting the remarks of the temple authorities, Mr. Bhattacharya, who helped organise the event, said they had informed ISKCON authorities in writing about the nature of the program. “While asking for the auditorium, we made it clear in our written application that we were going to organise a ‘musico-choreographic panorama and ramp walk’ on 1 January evening,”
Other local authorities are now also involved in the situation. Mr Nripen Mondal, sangathan mantri, Vishwa Hindu Parishad, North Bengal unit, today met with ISKCON temple authorities. He said of the January 1st incident: “After a thorough discussion with ISKCON authorities, it was decided that the VCD recording of the whole celebration would be watched by both the temple authorities and the VHP in a day or two, and only then would further action be initiated in the matter."
