It was a perfect Thursday for the God......with a queue as long as few thousands...a constant drizzling...and an early morning time..everything was just perfect. Even before the mighty God was up for a full day worship from his worshipers, his ardent devotees were eagerly waiting for his darshanam.
As eventful as it could get....this Thursday I too was there as a minuscule human being in that long endless queue. Present there in an all Indian religious devotee outfit, with an early shower and rain dripping over my shoulders, I waited patiently for my turn to move along with the queue.
With everyone besides me chanting Lord's bhajans and eagerly looking at the LCD for the pooja to begin, it was quite a sight of religious devotion in India. I too was occasionally joining the crowd to please my dear Mom as she was the reason I was there even after being an atheist. To be true...it was also because I had to do so occasionally to avoid her angry eyes that for most of the time stay focused on me, whenever I visit a temple with her ;-)
Anyways...moving at a snail's pace with the queue..I was sure I was up for a long day. A lot of my fellow devotees realizing the same, had already started availing the coffee & tea stalls facilities to make their wait time a little more bearable.
After some 2 hours I was finally somewhere close to the Lord's final abode. I must say I was really impressed with the queue management system of the temple...it made me speculate if some MBA like me could have been involved in this optimization of the restricted space and the devotee's willingness to wait ;-D
The temple was awesome...with gold glittering everywhere. I could not but stop and think as to how rich the Lord was. The beautiful temple building...its tall features...color contrasts...rich history and heritage. It was a breathtaking experience in terms of Indian history and its culture. It got me wondering on the sad irony..that through the ages while the deity is constantly becoming more and more magnanimous and splendid his worshipers continue to be more and more poor,deprived and unhappy.
Awwwwwhh...it sure hurt...an elbow dug into my stomach. Did the Lord get angry at me for thinking like this....No...it was a fellow devotee who in his attempt to rush past me lost his balance and ended up hurting me.
While recovering the blow of the pain...I asked him what was the rush..isn't he supposed to wait even at a place of his pilgrimage. He gave me a peculiar look. I wanted to abuse and hit him but then there was my mom next to me, so I just ignored him and then to my surprise when I looked around I found...that there was already a lot of pushing and shoving happening around.
I just sticked to my queue with my mom and now when I looked at the Lord..I felt I saw him smiling and saying...'Don't be surprised son....Look a little closely....do you see devotees or, consumers waiting in a long queue to get a share of the price they paid for coming so far? '
