The plus side of doing things for your family - Sringeri

This was an unexpected trip. The story goes such. My brother was going through a challenging phase in his life, my grandmother called a good friend/confidant who recommended an astrologer in Udupi. So, I (as I am the doer of the deeds that everyone in the family needs done; most of the time) called the famed astrologer and he shared some details and also asked us to visit and get a puja done. My brother and my father and my grandmother thought I should go and I went. You see, the conditioning of the eldest female child is detrimental to the child at all times and to the rest of the family when the said child explodes which is usually around her 40’s.

I dragged a poor soul who had a car and was family. I didn’t know exactly where the astrologer’s home was and Google was not as prominent as it is today. No one knew what would happen.

It was the monsoons and Udupi is North Karnataka and if you haven’t seen that part of India during the monsoons, you must. The green is contagious, almost feels like if you stand in the rains for a tad longer than you should, you would grow moss and turn green. The green is blinding and electric at the same time. We drove.

It was lunch time and we had reached Sringeri, it was not a stop I wanted or had thought of. But I figured we are there so we might as well go see the temple. But as we drove to the temple area, it was packed. My friend and reluctant driver said no thank you to the temple visit. I was thinking about what I should do. It started to pour, like a massive downpour. People just dispersed. The whole area emptied out. I wore a gigantic poncho and a big smile and walked into the temple complex.

I wanted to dance, I would have, alas, my only dance skill is to Bollywood and wine. The gods were glad I didn’t. A curious pujari stared, probably wondering what I was doing.

Was a large temple complex. and no exaggeration, I was the only one walking. I had no history of the temple except that Adi Shankara had something to do with it. And Shiva was there and so was Saraswati (Annapurna). Standing inside the Shiva temple and looking at the furious Cauvery rushing off is etched in my brain. It’s not religion that these spaces hold for me. It holds a lot of prayers, energy of each and everyone striving for Darshana (In-Sight) and hope for good things to happen. Touch the rock of any place of religion and listen.

History, depending on which school of thought you subscribe to, has a hold of our current. I am in the quest of watching what I do when confronted with conditioning especially when religion blends with my love for the old.

The legend: A cobra was spotted giving shelter to a frog under its hood and the place was chosen to foster the vedas 12 centuries ago.

Disclaimer: As this was not a trip but a task, photos are absent. I have shared a couple of pictures and credited the takers. Hope it is okay with them.

Reached quite close to where we needed to go and then couldn’t find the place. I am serious. We just couldn’t find the place. The astrologer couldn’t be connected with. We just didn’t go. Drove back home the same day.