Two months back my parents asked me accompany them to “Arunachala”…!! I have been hearing this name “Arunachala” from my grandma, uncles and aunts ever-since my childhood but I never really got a chance to know more on this. And finally when my parents requested ME to accompany them, I thought to know what this is all about? Very little I knew that this search would expand my panoramic view. Here started my quest to know about “Arunachala”….! We started our journey to this holy hill on Monday evening. This was enrooted Hyd-Chittoor-Tiruvannamali. As this was our first visit to this holy place, we were not aware of much of the places and of course language was a kind of barrier. Suddenly I have been told that my aunt is also joining this trip and it was a kind of BIG surprise to me. I was happy for many reasons, firstly because she is a joyous talkative and expressive woman and secondly and more importantly she has been almost regular visitor of Arunachala….! She joined us in between during our break journey and we all reached this place called Tiruvannamalai. And from there we need to reach the holy hill Arunachala and we have been told that our accommodation is based out of there. Well, by the time we reached this place it was almost late evening, all I could understand is that we were given accommodation is some guest houses.
Next day when I woke up I could hear some soul touching
chirping sounds, immediately I jumped out of my bed and went out to observe
lush greenery everywhere with peacocks being walking in the garden in front of
me. I was simply astonished. I was pleased to see those beautiful cute birds
singing in front of me. I felt as if those birds were using the inside of their
mouth, using the vocal cavity as a sound box, a sounding board. So I decided to
take a walk and I see that it’s just the birds and their sounds that are
filling the air with. I just felt that Listening to birds is a fascinating way
to learn about animal communication. “I just stood entranced and amazed, my
very soul vibrating to this gushing melody, which seems at once expressive of
the wildest joy and the tenders sadness.” Well, I just walked a furlong and I
could see some young monks who woke up by probably much earlier than I did and
were doing some chanting. Till this moment I always used to think that monk’s
are those specialized sect of population who are a way very different and who are
much beyond and above any physical/emotional bonding, however this thinking of
mine was shattered when I saw a monk probably in his early forties. He was
standing in an open big hall looking at a statue for long. I just kept looking
at this man and it’s nearing 15 full minutes, suddenly he started wiping his
tears. This made me much more curious and I started observing him more closely.
After a long pause he started conversation with himself and after a while a
small little girl called him and they went away. Well, I have just looked at my
watch and realized that it’s just 7:03 AM and I have around an hour more time
for breakfast. And I thought of exploring this place more and I the moment I
came out I have seen this man sitting in one of the corner alone and looks like
ruminating over thoughts. Somehow I felt that I should talk to him and I
approached him. And he being from some foreign land made my conversation much
easier and slowly we started talking about the purpose of our visits, during
which he told me that was living here since past 20 years. I was so surprised
and this made me much more curious about him. May be, because, I have never
encountered such people, in my lifetime till now. Slowly I confessed to him
that I witnessed him being emotional sometime back and I very casually asked
him about this, for which he told me something which moved me.
He said in his own words: “I vividly remember those days,
those moments: exactly 15 years ago in this same room? I have visited India for
a month’s stay so that I can cover the important places. There must have been
more than a hundred people on that occasion... But when I saw her across the
room it felt as if there were just the two of us. It was a dilemma for me
whether to appreciate her demeanor in that beautiful dress or to focus on your
flowing locks gyrating in sync with your sensuous but coy laughter. Up until
then I had never believed in love at first sight. Even on that evening, I was
not really sure about anything. But I guess in such scenarios, my heart always
has the final say. It’s a crazy little thing called love”
I asked, so you felling love with that lady and made
Arunachala your home? For which he
replied” Ah, well, not really”
And he continued “I still remember how we used to visit this
room with religious fervor almost every month? As if the spirit of the room had
possessed us in some way! Somehow this room provided certain warmth to me
matched only by a mother’s comforting hug. Its colors resonated with the state
of my mind. The sense of space here made me feel liberated – much the same way
how I felt being in love with her” And then, the proverbial ‘life’ as we know
it, happened. So, I happened to marry her but this is not the reason of me
making Arunachala my home”
I with a puzzled look asked him again:”Then, why?” For which
he replied “2 years after my marriage, she left all of us…..she died…. I know
you would have never expected it, knowing my goldfish like memory and what we
went through in life. But I never wanted to go back to my country without her.”
I could see he could have continued blabbering forever, had
his throat not choked. His moist eyes were now swelled up and tears were freely
rolling down his face like a roller coaster in an amusement park. I didn’t want
to make him sad again. And I asked him did he had any food for that day but his
reply made me feel that he really cannot
remember anything clearly now. Like he said, he had become increasingly
distracted and absent minded. But what he did remember, each and every day
after they parted was to revisit this room. Somehow it was his only remaining
way to reconnect with his past.”
Just as I started drifting off into eternity, his little daughter interrupted us and said “Papa, can we leave now or do you want to talk to Mom’s photo for some more time?” And he left…..!!!
I looked at watch again, it was 7:45 AM and I am nearing
towards breakfast time, yes my aunt told me that here everything is systematic
and if we miss the time then it means we miss our food…so I hurriedly went back
to room just to realize that my parents and aunt were eagerly waiting for me!
Well, we had breakfast and post that my aunt showed us few beautifully
constructed old temples and few ashrams nearby. And every time we have to keep
an eye on time because if we miss the slot then we miss the food!!
Well that night I was thinking about this man and his
journey…I was just thinking how come a foreigner who no way belongs to this
remote land was drawn here and made to spend …and slowly I drifted off to
sleep…Next morning I woke up around 6 AM and just walked into the monastery
nearby and have seen many monks involved in meditation and chanting some
mantra’s. Well, I just felt awesome and later on we have completed our
breakfast and our ritual to explore this holy hill started. I wondered what
goes on inside those tucked-away Arunachala hills. As you might imagine, not
too much. Since my parents cannot walk much distance, we dropped them at the
guest house and I along with my aunt started out expedition of this holy hill.
I was fortunate enough to get company of someone like my aunt because this is
her 66th visit to this holy hill and she knows many secret places here !
Suddenly we stumbled across a small monastery and I overheard my someone
calling my aunt with name. And my aunt also responded back by saying “Hello
Suchitra”!!! I was equally surprised when my aunt introduced me to her saying
that she was also a software engineer like you. I was surprised because of her
simplicity, her looks. She was in the robes and she has a shaved head. I was
again taken aback, because I never knew any girl who belongs to software
community in such a look. And this made me much more curious to know about her
or know about Suchitra. I totally lost on thoughts, somehow later I spent my
day with aunt and parents and the next morning I asked my aunt about her. My
aunt said that when she saw Suchi for the first time probably a year and half
back, she was lavishing beautiful with long hair, sparkling eyes, and all the
girly ornaments which any girl would like to decorate her with. Then I
requested my aunt that I would like to talk with her and requested her to
introduce me to her. Well, that evening
we were taking rest in the monastery and discussing something about our trip
and suddenly I saw Suchi reading some book in the dim light in a corner. I told
to my aunt and she called her and introduced me to her. I have asked her:”Hi,
So, I heard you are into software, what do you work for?” For which she replied
“I used to work for Oracle”! Gosh….I was stupefied, immediately said to her
that I am also a part of Oracle. There started our conversation, we kept on
talking about various stuff in software and I was really surprised to know that
she has all the information about the latest Oracle Cloud services. Well, it was nearing dusk and it’s almost
time to leave but I wanted to talk more, definitely not about software stuff
but about her journey to Arunachala...somehow I couldn’t catch up that nerve,
so I have asked Suchi if we can meet up again? For which she said that she
would be doing pradakshina’s around the holy mountain at around 11 PM and said
I am welcome to join her. Since we also didn’t do any pradakshina’s, I asked my
aunt and she was ready for that. And finally we 3 started the walk and our
conversation varied totally about Life, death, God, Demon, Spirituality,
Vairagya etc. All these are beyond my scope of understanding at least….but I
was calmly listening to all the discussion and trying to understand a bit of
whatever I can. And after walking a we sat under a tree and I casually I asked
her about the dress and shaven head, for which she replied that she wore a rob
because she want to wear the cheapest color the area has and she shave her head
because she has no attachment to her hair and told that she is beyond and above
all these materialistic things. She told me that she was IIT Madras passed out
and later joined Oracle prior choosing this monastery. I told Suchi that I used
to know who was in her middle whose husband died shortly after her second child
was born. She needed a place of refuge and the monastery took her in. This was
kind of digestible for me, but I was always wondering why did young women like
her made a way to this monastery…I thought about this for a while then suddenly
my aunt called in for me and I again was directed back to her call. She was
asking if I were interested to visit one of the oldest temples nearby...and was
completely fine for that as I wanted to explore this new place as much as I
can. Well, those temples, especially the old ones, have rich mythology,
sculptural splendor, and ancient tradition of festivals that still attracts
thousands of devotees. Exploring these temples gave me the whiff of the rich
culture and heritage that has existed for millennia. When I first entered this temple I was
awestruck with the giant statues of all gods been...
After spending good amount of quality time, we continued our journey around the mountain and we are done by 5 AM. And we I observed that her most repeated phrase was 'I happy!' the most obvious thing I learned from Suchi were detachment. They lead simple lives and are attached to no material pleasures. She is content with what she has and derives happiness through prayer and serving others. Her food is simple — often consisting of just some bread, a simple vegetable and loads of tea what was really amusing was to see her joking with others and teasing others. ... The nicest thing was that she seemed to have chosen and accepted this life, and never looked like she were forced to do anything in particular, or feel a certain way.
2 comments:
Must be a wonderful experience.. Nice !!
Thanks :)
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