Thursday, January 22, 2015

The 'Parikrama'.

I was at the Guruvayur temple on the dot at a half past 5 in the morning, thanks to a punctual Anto and his well oiled rick and was there for two reasons:-

    - to let my nephew, Achu, to have his morning 'darshan' of the Lord.
    - to do the parikrama of the sanctum sanctorum of the Lord as part of a pact that I'd made with Him
      a fortnight back, while at Bombay. Side rolling the entire pathway or what's commonly known
      among us, Malayalees, as 'sayanapradakshinam'.

The ever dependable Narayanan and his graceful wife, Rema were there at hand to see through the activities to their logical conclusion. Dorning the dhoti and a longish towel tied firmly around my waist, I'd a dip at the temple tank and after squeezing the dhoti hard to stop the drip-drip of the wetness, I'd begun the roll from the eastern or the main entrance of the temple. A timely tip from a well meaning elderly gentleman to continuously 'feel' the upper extremity of the pathway - the right edge, as it appears to us when we go around on foot - ensured that I stayed on course without any deviation!

On completion, Narayanan, who walked along to keep the people out of my way, had told me that I'd done it under ten minutes and there weren't any stoppages! Except for the continuing spin of my head which lasted for a few seconds, there was no difficulty, whatsoever!! And soon after, we'd gone for His darshan!!! Meanwhile, Rema had taken Achu around explaining to him the relevance of each of the figures that were carved all along the sides of the temple. For him it was a wonderful experience as he later confided in me.

Mom had not slept a wink, throughout the night thanks to her restlessness and consequently, I who was in attendance, could not sleep either! She was into her early morning sleep when I'd left her. I'd also decided to show her to a doctor nearby, if her condition were to persist!

But, thankfully, on my return from the temple, I found that she looked and sounded much better and kept improving through the day. She was back to being her witty best when two rounds of guests had dropped by. I was glad that she'd recuperated completely and seemed to be ready to undertake the trip tomorrow to meet her doctor and finally spend the evening at our ancestral house!

I'd like to believe that more than the medicines, it was my circumambulation of the good Lord that had brought about the turn around!


Tailpiece.

Recalling the Bangalore fiasco, I'd insisted on carrying warm clothes like a light pullover, a pair of socks and a shawl for mom but forgot to put them to use when we went for the movie 'PK' and the harsh controlled atmosphere of the multiplex! It was this carelessness that I was repenting about during my morning tryst with God!      

No comments:

Post a Comment