Bronze Memorial Foundation is Poured

The Ganapati Kulam teamed up with our grounds manager Doug Noggle and poured a nine-yard foundation for the future Bronze Memorial. The giant granite stone in the middle is going to be home for our Gurudeva centerpiece.

A quick holler and all look over at me for the final group photo. What a team!

Doug led the pour today and was the first on the job. In the photo he is finishing the surface and is the last one to leave. Thank you so much, Doug.

Before the truck arrives, yogi Rajanatha does a short and simple Ganesha puja to invoke peaceful blessings and clearing of obstacles

The order of his short puja for these events: Guru chant; first 5 names of Ganesha ashtottara, dhupam, dipam, arati. Very simple yet effective. Ganesha is right there, you know?

The final arati is paraded around the site so the inner-world beings can better see what is going on

Ganesha is then set up on a throne near the job. He is kind of the head boss of the job.

After the puja and before the truck comes the team gathers and goes over final details

Brahmanathaswami and Jayanatha are first on the ground and moving the wet mud all around

Doug and Kumarnathaswami are the detailers and take some time to go over specific moves for going around the slab

Arumuganathaswami handles the shoot

Doug: Head Mason

Church member, Kulapati and island resident Vel Alahan arrives to enjoy the show

The cement arrives and it is GO TIME. Fresh cement is exciting...

This is the driver looking over the job...photo out of order!

Small details and questions about hand signals, along with the scores of the game last night...just kidding.

OK, back in order and it is GO TIME now. Acharya is a natural with directing the shoot. It\

s hard to do actually, since the driver and shoot operator must be continually in communication over the ruckus of mud pushers, finishers and camaramen'

...doing good, move it all around...you missed a spot

This is a large pour for the monastery so we have all hands on deck. This blog post comes from three different camaras.

Rajanatha eyes Paramacharya\

s shot and steals it. Yogi\'s are only six-years-old so they can do stuff like that...'

The group finishes up the last corner

The top is going to be layered with quartzite tile

Kumarnathaswami\

s eye for detail is other-worldy. Perfection is seldom found these days. '

Ganesha\

s-eye-view of the job. Doug gets the cream of the cement up and does the final touches. '

You can see the workings of the small step in the front there. This is going to be a seriously cool area of the grounds pretty soon. Can\

t wait to see what happens next. '
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