There is one thing I love about the little Ganesh temple in our college.
It has no walls.
There is a slightly elevated, an almost-square like portion at the center of the temple which houses the main deity Ganesh and lying around this portion is a small path where worshipers go about in circles, the number of which increase on festival days, examination days and on-campus placement days - in that order.
I hold very dear memories of the temple.
I had gone around in circles at the temple in my first year of college praying for a school friend of mine who was completely terrified of Chemistry and was definite of an arrear after the completion of the exam (The friend managed to pass, thankfully, making me visit the temple again).
I had accompanied my hostel friends to the temple on the mornings of festival days, filled with the excitement of seeing saree-clad girls crowd the temple (Yes! Tamil boys tend to go crazy over the 'saree wearing' part of the Tamil tradition).
One of my friends and I had once visited the temple after having collected our hall tickets and my friend in the vigor of his worship, let go of his hall ticket and we ran around the temple chasing the flying hall ticket.
I had accompanied one of my classmates to the temple a day prior to the placement process of an 'analytics services' organization. I had become a rationalist by then and had opted to stay outside the temple letting my friend enter the temple. He very badly wanted the job. It was his dream. His prayer that day would have been one of his truest. Sadly as fate/life/God would have it, I was placed the next day whereas my friend failed - another addition to the ironies of my life. But the thing that amazed me most was that he continued taking me with him whenever he visited the temple. He knew that I would not enter the temple yet he asked me to accompany him.
And it is these visits with my classmate that I cherish the most.
Looking at a temple and its happenings from the outside is different from observing them by being one among the worshipers inside a temple. Especially after deciding to let go of the faith.
But I would admit honestly that I have been more fascinated with the spiritual angle as an outsider than when I was a believer. Watching people truly express their belief in something is an enriching experience for a person trying to base his faith upon humanity.
I might have stood outside the temple more times than I would have entered it. But when I leave my college, the Ganesh temple would be one of the very important things I would miss.
The temple was more of a friend to me.
A friend with whom I had had a serious fight and vowed to never speak again but every sight of him reminded me of our earlier times and all I could make up for the loss of words was a pain filled smile.
It has no walls.
There is a slightly elevated, an almost-square like portion at the center of the temple which houses the main deity Ganesh and lying around this portion is a small path where worshipers go about in circles, the number of which increase on festival days, examination days and on-campus placement days - in that order.
I hold very dear memories of the temple.
I had gone around in circles at the temple in my first year of college praying for a school friend of mine who was completely terrified of Chemistry and was definite of an arrear after the completion of the exam (The friend managed to pass, thankfully, making me visit the temple again).
I had accompanied my hostel friends to the temple on the mornings of festival days, filled with the excitement of seeing saree-clad girls crowd the temple (Yes! Tamil boys tend to go crazy over the 'saree wearing' part of the Tamil tradition).
One of my friends and I had once visited the temple after having collected our hall tickets and my friend in the vigor of his worship, let go of his hall ticket and we ran around the temple chasing the flying hall ticket.
I had accompanied one of my classmates to the temple a day prior to the placement process of an 'analytics services' organization. I had become a rationalist by then and had opted to stay outside the temple letting my friend enter the temple. He very badly wanted the job. It was his dream. His prayer that day would have been one of his truest. Sadly as fate/life/God would have it, I was placed the next day whereas my friend failed - another addition to the ironies of my life. But the thing that amazed me most was that he continued taking me with him whenever he visited the temple. He knew that I would not enter the temple yet he asked me to accompany him.
And it is these visits with my classmate that I cherish the most.
Looking at a temple and its happenings from the outside is different from observing them by being one among the worshipers inside a temple. Especially after deciding to let go of the faith.
But I would admit honestly that I have been more fascinated with the spiritual angle as an outsider than when I was a believer. Watching people truly express their belief in something is an enriching experience for a person trying to base his faith upon humanity.
I might have stood outside the temple more times than I would have entered it. But when I leave my college, the Ganesh temple would be one of the very important things I would miss.
The temple was more of a friend to me.
A friend with whom I had had a serious fight and vowed to never speak again but every sight of him reminded me of our earlier times and all I could make up for the loss of words was a pain filled smile.
(The College Diaries is
a shameless attempt to increase the number of posts in this blog in a short
span of time and in the process, recall and cherish various instances and
incidents of my college life that strike pain and pleasure in the heart in this
last fortnight I spend here.)
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