Typical Temple - errr Not so typical

It was yet another random days when I was struck with the idea of visting a temple.

Typically I am not the temple kind of a person although I do like to visit the same sometimes. It was just one of those times, I decided on a Sunday to visit a Lakshmi  Venkateswara temple nearby.

It was almost the end of the month when that Sunday did come. As expected my purse was thin and I was reminded solely of god. There is a saying "Sankata Bandaga  VenkataRamana" which translates to "The abode of God during distress".After a spending spree on hotels, treats and cinemas I sought the abode of the Almighty for help with my finances and "in general well being of the masses".

I entered the temple with my head bowed low and was struck in awe at the tall Gopura and the amazingly detailed intricate designs that adorned it all along. It truly is a sight to behold.

The Garbha Gudi or the Sanctum Sanctorium houses the main diety of the temple. There is also a single structure of rock that stands on the ground strecthing up to the sky called the Garudagamba which also comes with intricate designs and the images of gods neatly sculputured. The Dwarapalakas Jaya and Vijaya welcomed me into the humble abode of the Laksmi Venkateswara temple.

The large serene atmosphere takes you on a spiritual quest, suddenly you are in a place of calm, the Aum resonting in the background, the mantras and the pujaris and the Aarathis take you on a celestial journey.

Sure enough I too went into a deeply contemplative mood, the faint ringing sound of Aum seemed to be everywhere. The temple bells had begun to ring and I was too engrossed to notice much more.

But out of the corner of my eye I could see people clicking photos in the main GarbhaGudi , a fact that seemed to surprise me entirely and this seemed to break me free from a trance. I now tried to recollect the sign boards near the entrance , near the chappal stand , but I couldn't place any sign that read, "Photography and Videography prohibited inside the temple premises ". This was somewhat different to the conventional "Typical temple".

There is a lot of empty space around this big Temple and the stone benches around the temple had attracted my attention when I had made my way in. There was a strange square structure that was etched on the GarudaGamba that seemed to be done in fine detail. Although the temple is quite an old one it has had some renovations and still maintains an old school charm about it. The people were keen on photographing the same weird sculpture that had been done even inside the temple at various places.

' Nowadays people are more concerned with photos and selfies than pretty much everything else' I thought to myself.
I wanted to relish the calmness of this place to its entirety and so had conveniently kept my cellular phone at home. I proceeded to do the 'Darshana' of the god and the goddess, decked in jewels and shining in divine glory, the light from the 'Aarthi' falling on the idols was a treat to watch. And soon the temple priest came in with his Tab, to collect some donation for the new 'Bhojanalaya' that would feed all the needy everyday. I was here in the premises of the Godesss of wealth to pray for a little more dosage of wealth, and soon enough , after the 'teerthaprasada' was given; I made my way to the silent temple surroundings. There was a faint sound of temple bells that could be heard from where I sat. But surprisingly this temple had no bells that I had observed. Before I could dwell on this further, I saw a Bharatnathyam performance in full flow in one of the Pranganas of the temple. I proceeded to spend my time immersed in the artform when the temple bells rang again.
Here too the same square structure had been etched.I had expected the Shanka Chakra etching everywhere but this was somewhat different. The Typical temple had a few more surprises.

I walked along and found this 'Aachar' seated next to a board that read "Prasadam". There was no queue and I approached him with reverence and asked him,
"swamy, where do I find the place to recieve the prasadam ?"

He smiled at me and retorted "Son , you have come to the right place".

I enquired, " But I do not see any prasadam here except the small bag of coloured sheets here next to you".

He then went on to explain. "Off late most pilgrims here come to offer their prayers to God but they have a problem with donations, the new 2000 notes have proven to be a problem, we are always running for the right change to give back. Hence we have introduced the Tab where we ask for donations, the symbol you see on most place, the square structure is a QR code of the temple Hundi account. Everyone can donate their offerings to God there itself, and they can do so at anytime. It saves us a lot of hassle. We can concentrate on our spiritual journey."
Frankly I was taken aback by this and I asked him about my prime concern "How about the prasadam then ?".

"Well, my son the prasadam was being wasted by a lot of them, most times dirtying the sanctity of the temple and it was difficult to carry it home. So we give you this Prasadam voucher for you to encash at the Hotel nearby. We only prepare little that we use for the "Neividya" and the rest is given to hotels and this can be taken by the devotees anytime just by submitting this voucher.
Interesting is it not ?".

His answer struck me in the very elements, there was no Hundi here to put my humble offerings to God , no prasadam too , the symbolism of the Almighty's blessings. The Bhojanalaya was under construction , I had nowhere to go except home. Happy to have had the pleasure of the having the Darshan with utmost peace.

The typical temple bells rang once again, even before I could ask this man about the mystery my mom woke me up.

"It's Monday , the time is seven, wake up and stop sleeping. You have office today. Remember.
Your alarm is on snooze."

And thus the typical temple experience came to an end.
I was happy that I did atleast have a great Darshana in my dream.

But the question remained, what if our Typical temples, would become like this one day...

Read the original piece here :

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Story of dreams -Part 1

In a fit of rage he picked up his bag and went off into the night.
Slowly making his way through the streets that still slept, the light polses that flickered and the dogs that slept peacefully.This was his every day ritual.

His anger was caused by his cab driver who had called him and informed him at the last instant, of a change in travel routes for that day. In all his clumsy madness he had forgotten to lock his room that was housed amongst a colony of other paying guest accomadations.

The entire road to this new pick up point is through an open drainage arena where the "shit" of yesterday finds itself on the brinks of tomorrow. As he made his way through the not so populated roads he found himself wondering...

Back to his mediocre life. He had always been the average guy. Not too brilliant to land himself a dream job , not too crappy an educational degree to propel him further into other more lucrative ventures. He had stuck with the sheep herd and done his rather unsuccessful engineering successfully.

And like many others like him , not found campus placements. He had loitered around cigarette shops, training institutes and much more to finally land himself a job at the call centre.

It paid for his education loan, it kept his family safe and happy and he had much more money for himself than ever before but the only downside was that he had to work the night shift. It was all too good , this new experience of corporate work stations, laptops , smart phones , free WiFi and perennially available coffee.

He had met a few friends and had really hit it off. They were a cool bunch of guys and girls. The thrill of the new found friendship had pretty much propelled him on , for the first half year of work.

By then he had bought a new phone, a new laptop , a fridge ,a washing machine and a 23 inch 3D LED TV.

Wait!

Everything had been on EMI and taken with great fanfare on discount sales that sprung up two a dozen every month.

By the tenth of every month his salary would be running on the very fumes of cigarettes he consumed to make it through the day.

It had been a year and a half since he broke up with his girlfriend. And to add to it , she had called him a few days back wanting to meet up and very cheerfully informed him about her marriage to this big shot guy in the USA.

The car already had three other people in it and they were fast asleep already !

A lot of his friends were in the States and a lot of his friends were getting married too. And he was there at the cliff hanger.  The monotone of the night shift had not changed even after a year and a half and his year end reviews had been the first hit of hard reality.

The night offered him some peace. The soft breeze pulled him back to the present.

Another call came to him from his driver and the horn of the Tata Sumo reminded him again of the office.

He got in and closed the door and smiled to himself, atleast there were three more like him. But that was when his unrest came back to him , haunting him and tearing at his senses.

And the train of thoughts found their resonance, he remembered his old dreams ,as a kid . Growing up he had discarded everything to study and pass the exams. He had little knowledge of what hit him after first semester of engineering. He had lost his way and was lost in the labyrinths of reality. He remembered the promises he had made his parents about quitting cigarettes, drinking and being responsible. The romance of his first ever love story and all the things they had planned. It hit him really hard, like potholes on the railway track , his inability to overcome all this.

He wanted to go back again to sleep, to the last days of school , to his mother's lap and his father's farm and his grandfather's cycle.

Sure enough he came to office and found tons of mails and calls to attend. And as easily as he had slid into depression he went out of the same into his chores.

No coffee breaks, no gossip breaks and no internet. His day at work had begun. He began answering his call of duty.

But he had forgotten all about the key and the door he had left ajar.