Unseen faces behind the divine twinklers

CHENNAI: Ever since the month of Aadi began 4-5 weeks back, the city has been glittering at night with rituals and festivities with Goddess Amman, in all her colourful glory, giving her blessings to denizens from a 25-foot-tall backdrop that’s a mishmash of bamboo and wires. There are other deities too, including their divine vahanams in the form of elephants, tigers and peacocks, who have been lining the streets and main roads of the city in serial lights, neon tubes, and fluorescent tubelights to their.

Who makes them? Who are the workers that give the divine its ceremonial and festive splendour?

R Nagaraj (45), who has his small workshop in Ayanavaram, has been in the sound-and-light business for over 25 years. There were two reasons for him to stay in this — faith and interest in the craft. “This line of work has been in the city for close to 50 years. I took over from my guru Durai Venkatesan, founder of the Shree Kaliyuga Charitable Sidhargal Trust, who began the work as a service to God. He was also a huge philanthropist,” he says.

A Class-10 dropout, he joined the business immediately after completing high school. While Aadi is one of their busiest months, preparations start in April. Nagaraj, who runs Divya Sai Audio, regularly does sound and light decoration for at least five temples across Chennai. Some of these temples are government-run, while some are privately owned.

“We begin designing the cut-outs in April so they are ready for Aadi and the following months thereafter,” he says. “The work begins with a sketch of the layout for the deity. After that , it’s sent to suppliers, who provide the bamboo according to the requirements.”

A special kind of bamboo called kanni oodai is used for this. “The bamboo work is outsourced as we cannot do it here. Once it’s ready, the bamboo is designed accordingly. It has a chemical coating over it to prevent damage from rain or shine,” he explains.

A bamboo set would last three years, after which the cut-outs would be rendered useless. “While each cut-out could be somewhere between 25-50 feet long, they are all assembled at the location where they need to be displayed because we do not have space here,” states Nagaraj.

Since 2020, the bulbs have been replaced with LED lights sourced from China. Before that, workers had to wrap the bulbs with the desired colour paper, and pin each bulb to the cut-out manually. This was a dangerous job as it was prone to accidents. During rains, cut-outs of this kind would short-circuit easily.

“Women are not part of this line of work due to its odd timings. But they were involved in pinning these bulbs before the bulbs were replaced,” he says. “Now, there are no women in this work.”

Nagaraj employs 10 light and sound technicians. For each temple, there needs to be at least 3 men at the site of the event to look after it and take care of the set.

“These workers are unorganised and unskilled. While they are paid every day, they work without any security, including a harness, while climbing heights,” says Nagaraj, who spends around Rs 2 lakh for a 10-day event at each government temple. “I’m paid only Rs 35,000. Private temples would pay around Rs 50,000,” he rues.

Workers register at Tamil Nadu Unorganised Workers Welfare Board and acquire a card, which helps them avail certain benefits

Since 2020, the bulbs have been replaced with LED lights sourced from China. Before that, workers had to wrap the bulbs with the desired colour paper, and pin each bulb to the cutout manually. It was a dangerous job

I have separate insurance for each of my workers. Burn issues, the bulb blowing onto your face, falling from the heights and enduring a few fractures are all common accidents in this line of work — Nagaraj, manager, Divya Sai Audio

like health insurance and pension. “Many are not aware of this, and very few avail the benefits,” says R Gunasekaran (50), secretary of the TN Sound and Light Workers’ Welfare Association.

Founded six years ago, the association has been working towards making these rights accessible, as the State government does not initiate steps to create awareness. “The government should conduct awareness camps and let workers know they are included in this board. We’ve been demanding a separate board for sound and light workers, but the government demands that we have at least 5,000 registered workers,” he says.

When asked if the city had as many workers, he averred that lack of unity keeps workers from coming together. “If there are 100 sound and light workers, only 20 would be involved in temple festivals,” adds Nagaraj. “Many also do not join this business because of its long hours.”

One of the main requirements for these workers is health insurance. “I have separate insurance for each of my workers,” says Nagaraj. “Burn issues, the bulb blowing onto your face, falling from the heights and enduring a few fractures are all common accidents in this line of work,” he says.

The irony is that it’s not a profitable business either; if any, they’re barely manageable. Another problem is the lack of space where the clients demand a cut-out. “Sometimes the area they would want a cut-out would be just close to the wall, and there would be no space to keep any safeguard that we can climb over. And, at those places there is a higher risk of falling,” says Gunasekaran, who is also a light-decorator based out of T Nagar. “We have to draw electricity from the transformers on a street, which is also risky. But if the State government sets up a proper point from where they could connect the power lines, it would be helpful.”

MJ Nagalingam, secretary, TN Electricians’ Association, opined that the lack of proper electrical knowledge among workers was also a reason for accidents. “A lot of these sets do not have a miniature circuit breaker, which could prevent a short circuit. So, the workers have to plug the wires and put a stick between them,” he explains. “The government must provide workers with specific technical knowledge for free so it helps them in their regular work.”

Workers, however, keep flowing into this business despite the risks involved due to lack of jobs. “I keep doing this because of my interest in it,” Nagaraj says.

The colourful lights are not only meant for Hindu festivals and temples. There’s always work for these men at marriages, political events, festivities at churches and mosques. “We do the arch inside as a cut-out in mosques; at churches it’s Mother Mary,” he adds.

“Not just Aadi festivities, there are Chithirai and Karthigai months. Also, kula deivam (family deities) thiruvizha keep us afloat,” says a worker with Nagaraj.