Just Jottings-4

Doves, Mynahs and tiny Sparrows were still picking their preys. Sun has already sunk in the sea.It's for real. I saw it with my two eyes while running along the coast.  Darkness has slowly set in.The birds were busy with their last pick of the day. In this open jail, they are the only ones, without any worry, live their life. As usual I ran for 6 kilometers. In a humid evening, sweat flew out from every pore. By the time I reached back in the room, the entire dress was drenched in sweat and it was dripping. The peak summer has just arrived. The months of June, July, August and the first half of September will be very hot and humid in Gulf. In my experience, rest of the time, it is pleasant to work here. 

One day, in a fine morning in Chennai, I was walking out to buy milk from the near by shop. I saw two crows pulling a twig to opposite directions. That twig is evidently meant for constructing a house. In the duel, the one that had better strength flew away with the twig. I expected a fight later on. The vanquished crow fetches a gang belonging to his community and attack the crows belonging to the victor crow. Nothing of that sort happened. It looks they took it in their stride. It is just a matter of ego. They learned how to get better of egos despite not reading hundreds of religious books like we human beings do. Amazing indeed. 

This time on my leave cycle, we went to Pazhani temple. From Chennai we boarded the Pazhani express at 1030 in the night and reached the destination at 0730 in the morning next day. Three kilometer journey to the hotel, The hotel was located very close to the steps to the hill temple. We climbed the steps to the hill with frequent breaks. There was unprecedented rush in the temple on Sunday. Somehow we could manage the darshan and return to room by evening. While returning we walked along the ramp. This is an alternative to the steps in Pazhani. 

the Ganesh temple at the foothill

There were a number of processions in the temple. Accompanied by a lot of percussion instruments, devotees carry the "kavadi" and take a round of the temple. This is one of the most important offerings to Lord Murugan. Nice to watch these processions. But, it was not nice on the temple authorities part to charge a fee to see the Lord. There are three types of queues. One for who can pay hundred rupees, another for the ones who pay ten rupees and then another one for free. Rush was more in the hudred rupees queue than that in the free darshan queue. Why should there be a fee to see the God? It is all happening because the temples are ruled by corrupt, greedy and atheist babus and politicians, I suspect. We can see similar scenes in famous temples like Tirupathi too. I only hope, temple authorities one day will make God's and Goddess's darshan purely a private affair between the devotee and the Almighty. May there be no middlemen involved in between

Nowadays, visiting a temple became increasingly expensive. At least ten rupees need to be deposited in the hundi. Ten to anything upwards needed to buy offerings. Then the middle man. Unless we please the poojari, God's blessings will never be transferred. So, in total, by the time we come out of the temple, we will be poorer at least by thirty rupees. Still, many temples offer "annadaanam", the free food during lunch time. When I visited Mangalore, I saw every temple there offering lunch. Lunch, otherwise called "prathal" is one of the most important offerings in the famous Vaikom temple. To sponsor this offering, one has to reserve a day at least a dew years in advance.

We took a bus from Pazhani to Polachi and from there to Thrissur on the next day. On the way a group of 3 young men joined the journey from somewhere inside Keralam. One of the men, aged around 23 has been taking two others of around the same age bracket. The bus was very crowded because it was running like a town bus. Somewhere on the way, the young man got the seat nearby me to sit. He started a conversation. He has been going to Thrissur to attend his hospitalised father. His father was a government employee tasked to catch fish from the Dam nearby their home. He earned decently good remuneration. His wife, took good care of the husband. She cooked tasty food for her husband except the fish that he brought. He cooked fish to make it more delicious. Along with fresh water fish, he started consuming liquor too. The loyal wife never objected to this. The habit grew into addiction and as the time passed, he fell sick. Liver failed. Now, his stomach often gets filled with puss and it bulges out like a balcony. After every three months, he has to be taken to hospital to remove the puss and then do dialysis. The young man said, the total cost of the treatment every time he is taken to hospital is nearly twenty thousand rupees. In addition to this, he has to find people who can donate blood. 

This young man is dedicated to the aging parents. He works as a tile laying worker in buildings and earns around eight hundred rupees everyday. He has to sacrifice his one day wage and also  that of the accomplices. He pays the price for one reckless man who enjoyed his life with a high all the time. The high spirit he embraced everyday would have made his life so exciting. As he enjoyed his life the way he wanted, the hapless or ignorant wife just looked on. All the addicts are like this. They enjoy their life alone and at last they need everyone to share the resulting   miseries. 

താൻ താൻ നിരന്തരം ചെയ്യുന്ന കർമങ്ങൾ 
താൻ താൻ തന്നെ അനുഭവിചീടുകെന്നേ വരൂ 

That is what Ramayanam espouses. Whatever you do, the consequences are also to be faced by you. That is in Ramayanam. In the real life, we all expect others to share all that bad is happening to us because of our own misdeeds...