Walk into any kovil on the island on a festival morning and you will see something that no statistic can capture: three generations sitting on the same stone floor, waiting. The architecture is a glory. The devotion is real. What is failing is the clock.

Ceremonies that once fit within an hour now stretch past three. Children fall asleep against pillars. Families with early shifts leave before the archanai. The complaint is never about faith — it is about a scheduling culture that treats length as a proof of piety.

Several temple committees in the north have begun publishing fixed timings and printing bilingual order-of-service sheets. Attendance among under-thirties rose noticeably where this was tried.

The remedy is not less tradition. It is better stewardship of the community's time — and an honest conversation between priests, committees and the families who fund them.