Alarms set on mobiles rang at
6. After brushing, we rushed to the old man whom we had made an appointment on
previous day. He asked an assistant to guide us to do the rituals in sea. He
led us to the seashore. Rameshwaram is famous for sea with no waves. Water is
absolutely still.
This seaside is addressed as
agnitheertham. Priest made me and my husband to tie our clothes together and we
took a dip in the sea. I found it hard to walk through the water since there
was too many dresses dumped in sea. It is also a practice.
After bath, we sat around our
guide. He helped us to do offerings to our ancestors who had normal or abnormal
deaths. Again we went to sea with three balls of rice and a few ingredients and
left it in the sea. It is believed that ancestors would come and have their
share of rice balls. The guide said he needs Rs 150 per head.
In view of the fact that he is
poojari, my family didn’t bargain though I had no support with their view. He
didn’t charge me and my hubby as ours was a package. Once the rituals near sea
were over, we waited in the queue for taking bath in theerthas inside the
temple. There were 22 holy tanks in temple.
We had to take a ticket of
Rs.25 per head for the holy bath. They’d tie a paper band on our hand. Masses
of people, all soaked and dirty, waited near each well. There were at least two
officials near each tank to (actually I must say) give a blow on our face with
water.
Notice boards warned devotees not to give any
additional charges to officials near wells. But those words were not taken
seriously. We’d see guides taking dozens of people near officials and they had
special treatment (which is a whole bucket of water poured smoothly on their
head). These guides were paid extra money and in turn they’d give a percent to temple-folks
too.
A person standing next to a
well demanded Rs 10 to collect a few drops in a bottle and Rs 70 to get
individual baths. My uncle, who accompanied us, had an intention to collect
theertham (holy water) in bottles and present it to my grandmother. However,
the ‘cost’ of theertham made him to pull back his wish. Queue was tiresome.
Long hours of waiting before each theertham made us tedious.
Lord Rama was famous for
patience. I prayed him to offer me fortitude to stay calm. As soon as the holy
baths were over, we got out of the temple and had a quick pray or I must name
it an apology to Lord for not visiting his shrine. The inner courtyard of the
temple (where the shrine was located) was completely crowded. Again, there are tickets
to get inside without waiting. The more you pay, the nearer you’d reach and
pray. I opposed that idea of ‘pay and pray’. My family agreed though they wanted us to reach
back to the priest quickly.
We changed our wet clothes and
were ready before the head priest. His house sucks! I had sometimes felt that
Bhakthi and cleanliness are too extremes. Even if the head priest had all
typical decorations of a perfect poojari including rudraksha ornaments and
designs on body with sandal pastes, his assistant’s costume was worse than the beggar
I’d see in front of my office. I am sure he had not taken bath for past two
days. His shirt, without two or three buttons, was torn.
Pooja started. Its name was
Uma-Maheshwara Pooja. Before entering the pooja room, priest warned us, “Brahmins
there will ask you for dhakshina (tip). You can give it later if you wish, but
not now.” Four North-Indian Brahmins
were sitting next to the corners of homa-khundam (platform where fire is
lighted to do pooja). During pooja, they are passing comments, actions,
checking messages over phone and so on.
After Shiva pooja, it is
Parvathi pooja. A lady sat in front of us. We had to chant hymns considering
her as Goddess Parvathi. We had to walk around her, pay her dhakshina and in
the end she would give as a few flowers as blessing.
Then the priest declared pooja
is over. He gave the list of dhakshina (I like to call it tip) for each human
being who participated in it. Also, we were asked to pay a small amount for a Brahmin’s
meal. All these are supposed to be holy deeds.
We dumped our old clothes in
the sea. That second itself, there were people to carry it away. These clothes
will be dried to sell in open markets. My family was happy because everything
ended well. We had a heavy lunch seeing that we ate nothing since morning. The
moment our car started, I slept.
Indeed, it was a great
journey. Sincerely speaking, I did not feel any bhakthi neither inside that
temple nor during rituals. I did for the contentment of my family.
The only moment I could sense
a heavenly bliss was on Pamban Bridge. Powerful wind and panoramic view, the point
where oceans met! I stood on top of it, in between two water sources that
weaved many civilizations… Godly!
