Achu, my nephew, had arrived at my place around noon. Just after completing a course at Hyderabad, he's back and on a visit to his near and dear relatives. He gave us a rundown of his days at the 'cyberabad' and from his account, he seems to have enjoyed every bit of his stay out there and has picked up a lot many new friends in the process! His visit was a short one that would barely cover 24 hours because he did not want to miss out on anyone by the time he returned to his home by the 12th.
One of his requirements was to pay obeisance at the sanctum of Guruvayurappan and based on inputs gathered from the more knowledgeable people around, we'd gone to the temple by about 2000h. There was a serpentine queue but I'd still say that the crowd wasn't much, the last spurt of the 'Sabarimala pilgrims' notwithstanding - in fact, they stand in a separate queue for their tryst with the Lord.
Within half an hour, we're able to get into the ambit of the sanctum sanctorum and had our tryst with Him. A short prayer uttered, thanked Him for everything that has been on offer till now and we made an equally hasty exit. What has always struck me are the unsatisfied looks on the faces of many pilgrims after they come out of the sanctum and what could be the reasons? Let me try to figure out:-
(a) Do they require more time to spend near their god? Probably, they couldn't complete the
conversation that they'd begun.
(b) Their list of woes is a fairly long one and they have not been able to let off their god for not having
provided relief for their long standing problems.
(c) In the audit by their conscience, the mistakes are so many and probably blurting out the reasons for
their misdemeanour requires more time.
Whatever be the reason, the frenzy to have a glimpse of their favourite god never seems to lose intensity.
Tailpiece.
1. Was glad that I could let Achu have his 'darshan' by joining the queue. I must concede that on occasions when I've had a special darshan through people who mattered, I've always felt uneasy to look at the people - whom I'd overtaken rather unjustly. I like it this way.
2. Achu's a greenhorn insofar as wearing a dhoti - mandatory for entering the innards of the temple - is concerned. It'd come off, thankfully, at a place that was devoid of any crowd. And wasn't the youngster so very embarrassed even though I tried to laugh it off as trivia.
One of his requirements was to pay obeisance at the sanctum of Guruvayurappan and based on inputs gathered from the more knowledgeable people around, we'd gone to the temple by about 2000h. There was a serpentine queue but I'd still say that the crowd wasn't much, the last spurt of the 'Sabarimala pilgrims' notwithstanding - in fact, they stand in a separate queue for their tryst with the Lord.
Within half an hour, we're able to get into the ambit of the sanctum sanctorum and had our tryst with Him. A short prayer uttered, thanked Him for everything that has been on offer till now and we made an equally hasty exit. What has always struck me are the unsatisfied looks on the faces of many pilgrims after they come out of the sanctum and what could be the reasons? Let me try to figure out:-
(a) Do they require more time to spend near their god? Probably, they couldn't complete the
conversation that they'd begun.
(b) Their list of woes is a fairly long one and they have not been able to let off their god for not having
provided relief for their long standing problems.
(c) In the audit by their conscience, the mistakes are so many and probably blurting out the reasons for
their misdemeanour requires more time.
Whatever be the reason, the frenzy to have a glimpse of their favourite god never seems to lose intensity.
Tailpiece.
1. Was glad that I could let Achu have his 'darshan' by joining the queue. I must concede that on occasions when I've had a special darshan through people who mattered, I've always felt uneasy to look at the people - whom I'd overtaken rather unjustly. I like it this way.
2. Achu's a greenhorn insofar as wearing a dhoti - mandatory for entering the innards of the temple - is concerned. It'd come off, thankfully, at a place that was devoid of any crowd. And wasn't the youngster so very embarrassed even though I tried to laugh it off as trivia.
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