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...
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The insecurities

Akhil loves storytelling time.  He imagines a multitude and wants to convey a million things.  It's fascinating how blissfully he con construct something totally random and make sense of it.  There is a Neato cleaning robot at home which Akhil is super scared of and so we have carefully hidden it.  Every bedtime ritual involves something about this robot.

Appa, tell me Neato stoiee (story).

First, it went along the lines of, "Akhil pressed the Neato button.  The Neato went near Akhil's kaal (feet), Akhil got scared and so Appa pressed the button, and the Neato went back to the charging station."

After some time, who pressed the Neato button was a game by itself.  Sometimes, it was a dinosaur; sometimes, it was his friend, Mukund.  Sometimes, Akhil was the savior in comforting everyone who was scared of the Neato.

Storytelling has evolved over time.  It used to be me leading him on a story. I used to frame whatever imagination I had in conveying the subject matter.  It would be about space rockets, space aliens, ghosts on paw patrol, aeroplanes, trains, boats, sharks, dinosaurs and so on.  Nowadays, he leads the story.  I just provide the fillers.  We go wherever the story leads.  We go to a different planet and find dinosaurs attacking us.  So, to escape the dinosaurs, we rush into the spaceship and get back to see the space aliens playing football.  We then press the red button to get back on Earth.  It's kind of fascinating.

We went to India in February.  There, Akhil found a friend, Mukund.  So, whatever insecurities Akhil has, Mukund takes over.  It's not Akhil who is scared of Neato, but it's Mukund.  It's not Akhil running away from dinosaurs, but it's Mukund.  Akhil is the one who is rescuing everyone around.  Akhil just distances himself from the fears and puts the blame on Mukund.

Akhil wants to climb a big fire truck, but is afraid that he'll slip and fall.  He transfers this fear to Mukund to see if he'll climb the truck or not.

So, storytelling now has become more or less a game as to how much Akhil can conquer his insecurities through Mukund.  I just play along to see how far this goes. 

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