My neighbour's quip.

I'd bought my house, almost a year back, in the temple town of Guruvayoor. No, it was not out of any religious streak but because of the simple fact that it suited my pocket and it's a stand alone house - a rarity, these days, when flats have become extremely popular.

My immediate neighbour Air Marshal (Retd) Radhakrishnan happens to be from Sainik School, Kazakootam like me though he is miles senior - he's in class XI when I'd joined class VII in 1967! He seems to be excited as a guy with similar background is fetching up close to him.

Meanwhile, many of my relatives and friends have been visiting the place just to ascertain as to what had excited and prompted yours truly(which I've narrated earlier) to buy that house. In the process, they've been knocking on the Air Marshal's door to make sure that they're seeing the right one.

And the Air Marshal's quip, "Bloody chap, I've seen and heard of hundreds of thousands of people flocking to the shrines of saints who're dead and gone, but your house is the first case of a living guy's abode being visited by many!" He couldn't have pulled my leg in a better fashion.

Tailpiece.

It's a belief nurtured by many Hindus, out here, that a pilgrimage to Guruvayoor is only complete, if one were to call on Lord Krishna(Guruvayoor), 'Edapperiyathu devi', the goddess within the compound of the temple and Lord Siva of the 'Mammiyoor Kshetram', a stone's throwaway from the Gurvayoor temple!

And now, I must let you into this little secret that I'm sure many of the people who come to Guruvayoor will also come to meet me, otherwise, their trip would not be complete. And yes, this was also a factor in my decision to buy the house!!