What I Missed While Walking Past the Kanchi Mutt

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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...

The blind side

Pass me that bag lying in front of you.

In a rather intriguing way, I stretched my neck and strained my eyes to find out in the hardest possible way what was in front of me.  There was no way in the world that that bag was lying there.  My mind was blanked out and it was as though a black piece of cloth was wrapped around my eyes.  It is quite probable if that was the case, at least my other senses would have helped me in locating the bag.  Locating is actually a wrong word here, rather, it should be, seeing.

Praveen! It is right there, shrieked my wife.  

Where, where, I asked, in a pleading tone. 

I just wanted her to put an end to the aura of "invisibility" (definitely, I wouldn't use invincibility).  Looking at the number of words that are getting replaced, one shouldn't be faulted for thinking that this is some kind of a Find and Replace word editor.

She stood stoically, at least she tried to, but I was not sure whether her expression was completely bereft of even the minutest of emotions.  That seemed rather hard to believe.  She was staring at me, as though, she was ready to go to a couple of stores nearby, select the best looking bag and get it back home.  That had a better probability of getting a bag than out of me.  It was a hopeless situation to be in.  I did not, for even a second, imagine how I would have reacted if I was put in the same situation.

She emerged out of the reverie, ( I having fallen into one), knowing that the only way to save the situation was to stop expecting me to pick the bag, walked a few steps ahead of me, and picked the red bag that was lying right in front of me.  I obviously had a sheepish grin. 

How do you fail to see what is right in front of you?

It was a question I had faced innumerable times in my life.  Maybe, Google has just ravaged my life to such an instant, that when I Google, I don't want to find a link and get into a page,  I would rather read the snippet and find what I am looking for. 

I think it is too hard to find something that can be found easily, and that just adds so much pressure on the finder! I know that's such a useless explanation, but it is always good to have an explanation than not to have one at all.  I wish I can find things easily.  But then, there is an alternate way of looking at things.  My wife is learning too, and is doing a pretty good job.  She never asks me to fetch anything.  In hindsight, it is a good situation to be in actually.

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