As children , going to a temple
garnered a lot of excitement at home. The first thought would be what do I wear
...should I wear a long pavada (a traditional full length skirt worn by young
girls in South India) or just a ‘midi skirt’, which translates into a knee
length skirt and what are the accessories that would go along with it...the
very fact that one goes to a temple to pray and seek God’s blessings was
secondary...our primary aim was dressing
up...and I seriously hope my daughters do not read this because I reprimand
them for the very same reason with statements like,’’ one goes to a temple to
pray.. .it is not a ramp walk...God isn’t
bothered about what you wear, it
is your faith that matters...etc etc.’’...and they would be sniggering and
rolling their eyes behind my back, silently mouthing blah blah blah....!!
Anyways getting back to my child hood, there would be
a scramble between my older sister and I
as to who would get first to the most brightly coloured pavada in the almirah and amidst the fisticuffs
and pushing and pulling, I would always win, much to my sister’s dismay!!...and worse still, I always fit into
her clothes...as we grew up and went to the same college, it was a written rule
at home that we would not touch each other’s clothes and by God if one of us
broke that ‘blood coded rule’, there was mayhem at home!!..come to think of it,
I get a dose of flashback every time my
two grown up girls fight for the same obnoxious looking top and even though I
am giving them my most exasperated looks accompanied by loud sighs, I am smiling to myself and enjoying the
scene!!...yet again hope they are not reading this.
The early morning waking up and
taking a cold shower were the biggest sacrifices I made those days to go to a
temple, which was most of the time the ‘Guruvayoor Sri Krishna Temple’ (one of the biggest and
richest temples in the south of India ) in my home town Trichur...but
it was all worth it because we knew what awaited us once we got there..no,
please do not be mistaken..it wasn’t the ‘divine calling or the sanctity ‘of
the temple ..it was a host of other exciting things....it was the bunch of
‘mulla poo’, the jasmine flowers , which we south Indians adorn our hair with,
on all occasions...the strands of the mulla poo would be longer than the full length
of our hair...sheepishly I must admit, I still look forward to that strand of
‘mulla poo’, even today...that’s the first thing I buy whenever I visit the temple and surprisingly with the
same child like excitement!!..the next good thing was the offerings at the
temple, the white butter
known as ‘venna’ lord Krishna’s
favourite food which was served along with panjasara and manja pazham (
powdered sugar and small yellow bananas),which
would be devoured in no time by all of us cousins...it was a different thing
that we were starving by then since we
wouldn’t have eaten anything ...yes that is one more thing i had sacrificed ..I
still do, but I don’t call it a sacrifice anymore, it is a choice I have made
consciously!!
The best part of our temple adventures was the
paper roast dosas with the lip smacking sambar and chutney from Indian Coffee House, which was the only
‘clean hotel’ those days in Guruvayoor!!...I still remember so well , the
happiness , the wicked glee on our faces and the stifling of our giggles when
our parents would go in the direction of the restaurants...aah we would do
anything to get a taste of that treat and that was the only time we kids got to
drink ‘kaapi’ (coffee) served in steel tumblers, otherwise it was always ‘maltova or viva’(the health drinks of those days)...and
unlike the children of today, we never complained about it, because we never
had a choice...you either finish it or you don’t get your next meal!!...at that
moment we were the best children in the neighbourhood!!...
We would end the day by buying shimmering
gold, red and green glass bangles with matching coloured dangling earrings and
of course finger rings with Lord Krishna’s picture on it, which we were
strictly allowed to wear only during the
school summer vacations...to my pleasant surprise, my daughters wanted one this
time and to my utter shock, couldn’t find any decent one in any of the shops, which
lined the street that led to the
temple...they were stacked with rings in various colours and pictures of
actors!!..
I relived my childhood all over
again this time when I visited
the Guruvayoor temple after a span of
more than 3 long years..while walking towards the main nada, the area where the
sanctum sanctorum of the temple begins, bought
‘oru muzham mulla poo’, stood in line
and had the ‘venna with the panjasara and
pazham’ ,devoured the paper roast with sambar and chutney and even purchased a
ring with Lord Krishna’s picture on it...My
husband and my daughters were quite amazed at my excitement and enthusiasm and my mother had that ‘’all
knowing look’’ on her face...yes I behaved
because I would do anything to get a taste of that paper roast and
kaapi!!!...
I do not know what it is and I am
unable to explain the feeling, but the moment I set foot in Guruvayoor temple, I am transported into a different world, a world filled with so many timeless beautiful memories, a world which revives my
faith in God , a world which makes you happy and free again..I am constantly
asking myself what is it that makes me want to go back there again and again...and
I am still looking for an answer to that!!!
