Sunday, April 5, 2009

The Morning Prayers

The temple stood at the corner of his colony and that day Prem was there at the onset of the dawn. His Mother wanted him to, so that he can seek God's blessing and see himself through tough times. A devotional hymn was being played which was asking Lord Vishnu to get up from his sleep. Listening to the song, Prem thought, "And Here I am, even before the God has woken up. I hope he wouldn't be angry with me for coming so early..."
The temple had a deserted look....Even the priest was not to be seen... There was another guy... .... a man in what looked like dhothis... it was still more traditional with the sacred white belt hanging around his shoulder. He was not circling around the sanctum, but rather sitting in the corner and pondering over something. Prem thought, "Lets do the rounds after the Suprabhatham Chanting is completed." Thinking so, Prem went and sat near the Brahmin and said, 'Any problem..."

That Brahmin was waiting for some ears, "Every day in the early morning..... I had these two young devotees.... Sneha and Bhavana....Both were young at heart and both were in love"
Prem wanted to burst out, "... Oh God... Not again Love....You better call that self proclaimed love doctor who gives his silly advices late at night on that FM channel "
But the Brahmin continued, "Sneha was a modern girl and even to the temple she came in her Jeans... Well, to be honest, she looked quite cute in it... She fell in love with this young man over the net and followed it with phone calls and messages...While Bhavana fell for her simple neighbor whom she introduced to her friends and family. She helped this young struggling friend of her and was with him in his difficult times and got herself emotionally attached. And yes Bhavana wore very traditional attire...you know sarees and chudhidars"
Prem didn't like this remarks on dresses... "Whats with you and dresses? Stop judging the attire and continue with the story"

The brahmin continued to tell his story in the same fashion as he would read the Bhagawad Gita, "Well... as usual... love was met with adversaries.... For Sneha, Parents from both sides opposed. Sneha was a confident girl and planned to elope with her lover... Run away!... and guess they had planned to marry here in my presence and then run away... And for Bhavana, the boy's father was the only person who stood against the reunion. Bhavana tried her best to convince her man... But he turned to be coward who dared not to raise his voice against his father... He turned to be man without any bhavanas (feelings).... And she too came here to curse me...."
Prem had heard his friends say of how modern priests were accused of not saying their mantras properly, "Well ... Seems you have failed to convey her messages...."

The Brahmin was insulted, but he bounced back a bit mildly, "Convey!!!... I didn't get you... Anyway the D-Day arrived for Sneha... The couple came here to get married and get my blessings... and I was prepared to bless them....But alas, their parents caught them and decided to reconcile and thus had their marriage fixed in a big hall... that is day after tomorrow...."
Prem felt' sad' for the Brahmin, "Poor fellow... You must have a lost a good amount of Dakshine (Offerings)...."
The Brahmin ignored the silly comment and continued, "And Bhavana....The girl came and complained, 'I had kept so many vraths and offered so many prayers and all went deaf ears!!!...I feel you don't know anything about Love!!!.'"
Prem, "Lucky you! ... Bhavana didn't ask for any reimbursements.... "

The Brahmin continued, not commenting on Prem's puns, "Now both the girls have stopped coming to the temple. One because she is too happy and too busy. And another, because she is too sad.."
Prem had enough of this, "Look I don't get you... Whats your problem?... U have done your duty... Its too early too say that Either Sneha or Bhavana have received or not received the God's grace.... There is more of the life they have yet to see. Sneha may be happy and Bhavana may be sad.... and therefore they may convey their respective feelings to the God.... but down the lane.... say after three or five years... feelings may change...the one who thanked may complain and one who complained may thank.....and NOW U SIT IN YOUR SEAT AND GIVE ME THE PRASADAM..."
The brahmin looked at the priest's seat and smiled at Prem, "Thats not my seat..."
Prem smiled back, "Ok... then you too are waiting for the prasadam?"
Brahmin gave a smile, "Do I look like I am waiting for anybody's prasadam or blessing?"
Prem tried to guess one last time, "Then you must be one of the trustees... worried about the Hundi(Temple Box) collections"
The brahmin arose, "Thats not my job... My Job is to listen to my devotees and console them... I sit inside there..." and pointed to the garbha gudi(the sanctum sanctorium.)
Prem looked inside and then at the brahmin... The brahmin had disappeared... With a mystified look, Prem looked at the God's Statue, "OMG!!! Was it really you!!! Why did you tell me all this?"

15 comments:

Keshi said...

**Now both the girls have stopped coming to the temple. One because she is too happy and too busy. And another, because she is too sad

how true. Alot of ppl find either too much happiness or too much sadness a reason to forget God.

A very well-written chapter Suresh! I liked it alot.


Keshi.

Anya said...

have any book release in mind based on the couple?

www.chronicwriter.com
chriz

Priya Joyce said...

wow! he had seen GOD...hmmmm.

it's very true that people forget God mostly when they are happy.

ahhh! but y wud hav GOD told all this to Prem?

Smi said...

ends with a suspense..what had prem to do with that Brahmin story

just loved...kept thinking what next but the brahmin disappeared ..Man

Not fair Suresh avare..u left the story untold

Anonymous said...

GOD huh?

Why did he chose prem to tell about his cribbing?

But then mysterious are the ways god works.

Namrata said...

may be the god came to tell someone that what all we get is because of the choices we make, depending upon our circumstances. what all he wants us to be is to remain happy and understand that he's not always responsible. and as prem himself said, too happy or too sad can not be decided right now.. a lot of life is left to be seen.

a different story this time :)

Suresh Kumar said...

@ Keshi..
Its so easy for many to forget God at the drop of the hat na....

@ Chronicwriter
No such plans. I write as I experience some things in my life.

@ Priya, @ Smi, @ abhishek
Tried to deal with karma doctrine but not very philosophically. Each of the girls were having certain experiences and God wanted to convey to at least one human that He was helpless in this regard. Look at Cindrella's comment. She has explained it much better.

@ Cindrella
Thats the answer I was looking for. U have beautifully summed it up.

Namrata said...

thank you sir :)

Indian John Doe said...

Must say very well written...and this Prem seems to be a very sarcastic person...rather scorned at the whole world...

Keshi said...

Im guilty of that too...

Keshi.

ApocalypsE said...

Okay i kinda guessed it would up like this... :)

Prem was so early to the temple for prasatham... :)

Choices... I'll keep that in mind...

moi said...

love this one, god's point of view, one is too happy and one is too sad to visit the temple, but what was the catch in the attire if their dressing??

Suresh Kumar said...

@ Moi
No catch... Its just like this... As I was the creator(Read God) of this post, I thought lets make God a bit human and a bit naughty....

Sorry if some religious sentiments are hurt....

Meira said...

Now where would have the author got the idea for this story, I try to guess :P

Suresh Kumar said...

@ Meira
Don't play guessing games...
well its the story of bhavana that inspired me to write this piece.....

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Edhey Thumbi Haaduvenu by CA Suresh Kumar is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.
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