What I Missed While Walking Past the Kanchi Mutt
A place I passed every day without really understanding it. As a kid growing up in Malleswaram, devotion wasn’t something we discussed — it was just in the air. The smell of agarbathi in the evenings. The noise of vendors lining up on 8th cross before a festival. The quiet expectation that you showed up, bowed your head, and moved on. Ganesh Chaturthi. Varalakshmi Vratam. Deepavali. Janmashtami. Ugadi. The calendar moved, but the pattern stayed. The Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham in Malleswaram was part of my daily route to school. Not something I questioned. Not something I deeply understood. Just… there. Every morning, on my way to school, I would slow down for a second in front of the Mutt. Just enough to bow my head toward Kanchi Kamakshi from outside the gate — and then hurry along before the school bell. It was a ritual for as long as I can remember. I don’t know if it came from devotion. I did it because my parents did it. The street...
Hmmm...
ReplyDeleteSo do you want to take the beaten track or the one less travelled ?
Partly both I guess!
ReplyDeleteThat means like me you also do not know what the hell we are doing with our goddamn lives ;-) !
ReplyDeleteThat was, is and will always be there!!! Life generally rolls over on you before you realise whether you are on the right path!!! I am not sure whether you have experienced that. Given a choice, I would really want to go back a few years in time and change the basics!!!
ReplyDeleteWishful thinking, huh?
I agree ! This poem is pinned on my cubicle wall and whenever I am really down, I read it ! :)
ReplyDelete