“You have to do upasana daily” – he replied to me in soft voice.
Standing on the shores of river Souparnika, I had struck up a conversation with one of the pilgrims who’d come to take a dip in the holy waters. A few minutes earlier, I had seen him float on the river, absolutely still, in lotus posture. I was curious how he did it, and so when he came ashore, I asked him about it. He told me he had been doing this for years, and I gathered from our conversation that meditation was his secret. Meditation seems to be the answer to all our problems these days. Darn, I have been trying to learn meditation for some months now, but I still have not got a hang of it. Well, that topic for another day.
I was at Kollur Mookambika, fulfilling my wish of staying overnight to attend all the evening and early morning poojas. It turned out to be such a wonderful experience – a very calming one. I noticed that the crowds had increased over the years, and I had to stand in queues for everything now – to get inside the temple, for the temple dinner, to buy prasada … heck, even for putting my sandals on the footwear rack outside the temple. The dinner tasted heavenly (even more so because I was starved after standing in queues all day), though it was just rice, sambar and a vegetable dish (all served hot; adding to the taste).
I had chosen Hotel Abimon Residency, (in spite of its name, I should say) based on Trip Advisor reviews that told me it was clean enough for families to stay. The room tariff matched that of a Tier 2 city hotel, and the stay was comfortable.
The next morning, we woke up early to attend the morning poojas. As we walked back, my gaze fell upon this shabby old tea stall by the side of the temple which still used fire wood in the kitchen. I wanted to get a taste of some smoke flavoured coffee, and so I stepped in and ordered for one. Well, the coffee did taste smokey. I hung around the temple for some more time, watching people come and go and then started my journey back.
Note: All photos taken using Blackberry Q5 and Samsung Galaxy