By Raghu Narayanan
We had been sitting in my balcony. Ok, AB and I. Speaking. About random issues. A superb time to sit down in a balcony and discuss. Nice night. Cool breeze.
And Ok dropped a random query, “What’s that hill over there?”
There’s a hill shut by. Not huge. However there.
“I don’t know,” I mentioned casually. “I’ve heard there’s a small temple for Shiva up there,” I mentioned, casually once more, turning to have a look at him. Uh, oh. Ok was sitting up, eyes shining.
“I wish to go up there. Like, now!” he mentioned.
Whoa! I checked out AB. She was shaking her head. It’s best to have recognized higher, her eyes had been saying. Ok was a Shiva bhakt. He has a linga at residence to which he prays every day. For him, nothing is above Shiva. He was hooked. I used to be caught. So I turned to Google Maps. However Google Maps didn’t have a lot concerning the place. Not sufficient to look genuine. Not even a transparent route. Too imprecise. A neighbour had instructed us concerning the hill and the temple on high, I remembered.
I rang the bell to her home. She appeared bewildered. The place did that come from? she appeared to be pondering. And he or she didn’t know a lot both. She had heard it from somebody who had spoken to another person who had circumambulated across the base of that hill. My info was fourth-hand. Worse than Google Maps. However somebody had posted a photograph. A inexperienced sign-board which pointed to a avenue. And mentioned that it was the way in which to the hill. Random and imprecise. However I may think about the place the sign-board stood. I had not seen it earlier than. Or remembered having seen it. However had pushed by means of that street many instances. I can discover it if it was nonetheless there. That was all Ok wanted to listen to. His thoughts was made up. We might go there the following morning, him and I. I went to sleep nonetheless pondering, nonetheless sceptical.
5.30 within the morning. AB woke me up. Ok was having his bathtub. It was nonetheless darkish outdoors. I had my espresso standing in my balcony, trying on the hill. We stepped into the elevator, Ok and I. A person and a lady had been there. I had seen the person earlier than. A daily night walker. I knew the girl too. Runs a cloud kitchen. Nice meals. However by no means seen them collectively earlier than. I mentioned so. They usually smiled.
“Going for a stroll?” the person requested. Ok and I had been dressed for it. Tees, tracks and sneakers.
“We’re going to see if we are able to trek up the hill,” I replied.
“All the perfect,” the person mentioned. The lady smiled.
We stepped out. It was cool. Not humid. Regarded like rain too. Slightly. I used to be glad. I are inclined to sweat. So much. I didn’t. I appreciated it that approach. We drove out. Ok was excited. Slightly unhappy too. There are not any Shiva-temples-on-hills again residence. He’s a Kannadiga. However lives within the US now. We reached the neighborhood. Ok needed to ask somebody. I finished by a gas station. There have been two attendants. One younger. One previous. Verify with the older man, I prompt. Ok got here again. The older man didn’t know. We must always go to the other aspect of the street and ask round – perhaps in a tea store, the person had mentioned. So we drove a bit down the street, took a U-turn and seemed for a tea store. And located the inexperienced signboard. To Ok, it was an indication from Shiva. We parked outdoors a small roadside store. It was closed. 6.30 on a Sunday morning. The store wouldn’t open for just a few extra hours. We sat within the automobile a bit. I took a sip of water.
A younger man walked previous. Ok prompt that we ask him. I seemed on the man. He was trying again at us. He was dressed for his morning stroll. Shorts, sneakers, a sweatshirt with a tee beneath, a cap and ear-phones plugged into his ears.
“He gained’t know, I’m certain,” I mentioned, sounding assured. I’m like that. Hesitant to ask folks. Particularly for the way in which. Would moderately determine it out myself. I’m good at remembering routes. Even after years. However not so good at asking. I do know, it’s a deficiency. So we didn’t ask the younger walker. Ok was being affected person. He was a affected person man. We began strolling into the lane. A person got here driving a motorbike. He stopped on the entrance to the lane and obtained down. I instructed Ok that I used to be certain that the person was going to trek up the hill.
“Then allow us to ask him,” Ok urged.
I shook my head. “They might know for certain,” I mentioned as a substitute, nodding at a person – a boy actually, and a younger girl standing and speaking outdoors a home. I requested the boy. He pointed to the large group water-tank on the finish of the road and requested us to show proper past the tank. We are going to see the observe, he mentioned. I remembered having seen a photograph of that tank the earlier night. I mentioned as a lot to Ok. We walked on. We had been crossing the tank after we heard footsteps and heavy respiration behind us. It was the walker who had handed by our automobile.
“Are you guys going up the hill?” he requested. Ok was smiling. I mentioned sure, we had been.
“Can I come together with you guys?” the walker requested. After all, we mentioned. Ok was smiling much more. Spontaneity and serendipity cooked in a pot, I assumed. What a concoction!
“I noticed you guys sitting within the automobile and thought you is perhaps going up the hill,” A, our younger walker good friend, mentioned. Ok and I checked out one another, incredulous. Are all of us, on a regular basis, dipping into the identical thought-cloud? What are the probabilities, actually, that two units of strangers checked out one another for the primary time of their lives and considered the identical factor? “I’ve by no means gone up there, and had all the time needed to,” A continued. “Once I noticed you guys strolling into the lane, I knew you had been going up the hill. I made a decision to affix.”
We walked on. There was no path. Only a approach. Marked by arrows painted in blue on rocks and stones. A copper sulphate blue. On we went. Stepping over stones and rocks. Handhold extra essential than foothold, many a time. It wasn’t a excessive hill. 300 meters, Google Maps had mentioned. A thousand ft. Thirty minutes. We walked on, now chatting, now quiet.
“It’s my birthday right this moment,” our younger walker good friend confided quietly. Whoa! What? The place is that this day taking us? Shiva’s recreation, Ok was certain. Spontaneity and serendipity at work, I assumed. Congratulations; nice technique to begin your birthday, we instructed A. He agreed, beaming. We continued on. Climate was nice. Cool wind in our faces. Candy odor of the morning. However I used to be respiration onerous. The oldest of the three. Ok was not even breaking a sweat. He bikes recurrently. Our walker good friend was younger and durable. And glad. Ok was on the telephone, capturing the whole lot. Capturing moments for eternity. To be shared with these about whom he cared. After which some. However too quickly, we reached the highest.
A woman was sitting cross-legged on the bottom. Away from the trail. Meditating. In prayer. Sitting in entrance of a small mound that seemed like an ant-hill. Or one thing comparable. A face of Goddess Amman was positioned on the mound. We grew to become quiet. Didn’t wish to disturb the lady. Just a few small rocks painted white and saffron marked the temple. There have been three males in there. A person sporting a blue t-shirt and grey observe pants walked over.
“Take away your footwear there should you want to enter the temple,” he mentioned, politely. “For trekkers, there’s a approach under the temple,” he mentioned, pointing. We didn’t even look.
It was an open temple. No partitions. No roof. Open on the perimeters. Open to the sky. A Shiva linga on the bottom. Nandi was sitting, going through him. A small altar past. Not the form of temple I had ever been to. A temple, but not. However what’s a temple, actually? The place folks pray? Or the partitions and the spire? Phaedrus had requested the same query concerning the church in Zen and the Artwork of Motorbike Upkeep, I remembered vaguely. There have been two males there, other than blue t-shirt. And two canines. Strays, lounging round. One of many two males was the pujari. The opposite was a younger man, the meditating lady’s elder brother, we learnt. The pujari was younger too, mid-twenties.
The rituals had been solely simply starting. I used to be struck by the quietness. No loudspeaker songs. No noise. Simply how I desire a temple to be. The lads labored easily. Properly-coordinated. They’ve been doing this for lengthy, it appeared. The pujari cleaned the Shiva linga. Then Nandi. Blue t-shirt adopted. Pouring water over Shiva and Nandi from a small brass pot. The brother went subsequent. Identical routine. After which the sister. We waited by the aspect. The three of us. Blue t-shirt stuffed the pot once more. And prolonged it in the direction of me. Wow! However I pointed to A. Let him do it, I instructed Ok. It was his birthday, in any case. Ok agreed. A was finished. Blue t-shirt stuffed the pot once more. Wow, once more! I requested Ok to go forward. He began pouring water over Shiva. The elder brother began blowing a conch. I had goosebumps. Ok was in Kailasa. Now my flip. I didn’t know what to assume. Ought to I feel in any respect? I simply seemed on the idol. And poured the water slowly. And watched it move down.
Swarna-abhisheka was the following. Ok was sporting a metal kada. Blue t-shirt requested for it. Ok was thrilled. He traded in a vogue accent and obtained again Shiva’s blessings. To be worn till the top. The very finish. The pujari adorned the idol. Easy but majestic, Shiva seemed now. The biker-guy got here in then, with two different mates. I used to be proper. I gloated.
“That is the primary hill coming in from the bay,” blue t-shirt mentioned, immediately. “On a day with good visibility, you might see the ocean,” he mentioned.
We turned east and noticed. It was too hazy. The wind had picked up too. It was going to rain. Blue t-shirt began reciting one thing. I had heard it earlier than. In different Shiva temples. However didn’t know what it was. Acquainted, but unknown. I closed my eyes and stood. Attempting to get quiet in my head. Attempting to really feel the place. The wind. To decelerate and cease. To be nonetheless. I obtained there. For a couple of minutes. Or seconds. I don’t know. But it surely felt nice. As if one thing stopped in me. It stayed lengthy after.
Prasad was distributed. A easy sundal. In a easy donnai. Ok obtained his share. Some spilled from his cup. He stooped to choose it up.
“Don’t!” blue t-shirt mentioned, shortly. “Go away it for the ants,” he mentioned. “and the mongooses,” he added.
It started to drizzle. Delicate, feathery drops. Hardly felt. Carried by the wind. Dispersal was fast. No thanks. No byes. Job finished. And gone. It was the three of us now. On their own. On the high. We didn’t discuss. Simply stood quietly. Every in their very own world. A took just a few snaps. Don’t know what Ok was pondering. I used to be attempting to not assume. Simply be.
The drizzle was getting heavier. Time to depart. Trek down was tricker. For me, the previous man. Ok was cool. Had just a few snaps taken of him on a slab of rock. The rocks had been moist and slippery. As soon as I slipped. And landed on my butt. However no hurt finished. We met three folks strolling uphill. Two girls and a person. Barefoot. I checked out Ok. He was shaking his head.
Reached our automobile. Provided to drive A again. He declined. He needed to complete his morning run. Wow! Ok obtained his Insta. And shared his. A was, in reality, AA, he instructed us. And a Kannadiga. What had been the chances!? Ok and I had been past disbelief now. Byes had been mentioned. AA began operating. In direction of residence. Or not. We didn’t know.
We sat within the automobile, Ok and I. Simply taking a look at one another. What a morning!
