A Short Story
Mornings were identical in the Rajagopalan household. The
sound of Carnatic music from Thatha and Paati’s room informed the rest of the
household that it was past five in the morning and cajoled them to wake up to
start a fresh new day. Their daughter-in-law, Meenakshi, now in her early fifties
rushed to the kitchen to prepare filter coffee for the family. Within thirty
minutes the dining area was fragrant with the smell of freshly prepared sambhar
and the whistle from the cooker indicated that the idlis would soon be on their
way to the table. On some days they had dosas too.
Paati was the first one in the house to take a bath and she
would walk out of her room in a brightly coloured kanjeevaram silk saree
bedecked in several gold chains, bangles and diamond nose pins adorned both
sides of her nose. The entire Rajagopalan family, including Thatha, Paati,
their son Mahesh and their two grandchildren, Shiva and Anuradha would be
seated at the dining table just as M.S. Subbulakshmi’s song came to an end,
often working as a cue for everyone to start eating. Meenakshi managed the house
with clockwork precision, meals and snacks were served on or even before time,
every single day of the year. On certain days the clock’s battery would fail
them, but not Meenakshi.
Soon the children could be heard complaining about the lack
of variety at the breakfast table, often followed by a gentle reminder from
Thatha that they should be grateful for the food they were having rather than
complaining, while his son would prefer to keep out of the usual bickering and
stoop over the newspaper and throw in a piece of fruit or idli into his mouth
at regular intervals. His wife Meenakshi would settle into the same chair every
morning to have her breakfast of a banana, two idlis and coconut chutney in
peace, once her husband left for office, children went to college and her
in-laws had retired to their room to rest. The excursion to the dining room
itself was a major event for them, enough to tire them out after every meal.
Every fortnight, usually on a Sunday morning, Mahesh and
Meenakshi along with their children would visit the Guruvayoor temple in Mayur
Vihar (Delhi). While the children were never keen to go to the temple they did
not dare to stage a protest in front of their strict father. They took it as
something essential for every Tam Bram. They came home with Vibhuti smeared on their foreheads and Prasadam made of rice and jaggery for
their grandparents. Festivals like Diwali, Pongal and Vishu were celebrated
with puja at home. All rituals and customs were followed to the T with complete
devotion. Meenakshi was seen decorating the entrance of the house with fresh
flowers and rice flour based rangoli at six in the morning on these special occasions.
They were a God fearing, religious family with a firm belief in destiny and God’s
blessings. They celebrated their “star” birthdays* with greater enthusiasm than
their birthdays as per the Gregorian calendar. These star birthdays involved homams, japams, deepam, dhuppam, danam and not to forget the essential payasam.
On Shiva’s star birthday that year, Swamiji came over to
conduct a homam at their house but before he left, Shiva’s mother Meenakshi,
after expressing her santosham for
the puja, asked Swamiji to look into Shiva’s horoscope since he was in the last
year of college and she was anxious about her son’s future prospects. Paati and
Thatha moved closer to Swamiji with considerable effort to listen to Swamiji
disclose the secrets of Shiva’s future. Swamiji had special powers bestowed upon
him through years of devotion and worship to the almighty.
Swamiji took out a handful of shells from the small red
pouch he was carrying with him, placed it on the table, tilted his head backwards
and closed his eyes in devotion, he began chanting in Sanskrit with the shells trapped
in his palm. Once his chanting ended he placed a few shells on the table, in a
pattern that only made sense to him. The family watched him with rapt
attention. After a full minute of silence, Swamiji finally spoke. He was always
polished in his words and with years of practice he knew how to share bad news
softly, but Meenakshi did see a few lines appear on Swamiji’s forehead before
he spoke. Swamiji predicted a fatal accident for Shiva and if he overcame that
he would have a smooth sailing and was sure to get admission into a good
college abroad for higher studies. He saw a very bright future for Shiva but
the accident was something that could shatter their dreams.
Paati let out an “Aiyoo”
immediately and began to call upon the Gods. Thatha fell silent and began
looking at the floor, it appeared as if his complexion had turned darker with
worry. Meenakshi, who was the anchor of the family at such times prodded
Swamiji to tell them a way to avert this misfortune. She was confident that
with the blessings of the Lord, they would be able to overcome this problem and
her beloved Shiva would be safely on his way to earning a Master’s degree in
the US. Mahesh and the children looked at their mother and then Swamiji as he
began to chant again. He then suggested a
Mahayagya to please Lord Shiva. They had to conduct a Mahamrityunjay Homam to prevent any tragedy. Meenakshi agreed
immediately, she had full faith in Swamiji and the blessings of the almighty.
After Swamiji left, Shiva approached his parents and asked them
not to fall into the trap laid out by Swamiji. He knew that Swamiji was playing
on their fears to earn big bucks for himself. He dismissed the need for any such
unnecessary Mahayagya which would
involve ten pandits who would chant mantras
over a period of five days. Anuradha too asked her mother to think like an
educated human being and not fall for everything that Swamiji said. Paati who
was still in the room let out another “Aiyoo” followed by touching of both her
ears and biting her tongue as if these arguments would offend the Gods watching
over the Rajagopalan family.
Soon Mahesh interrupted the discussion and said that they
would conduct the puja without any delay and asked his wife to fix up an auspicious
date with Swamiji as soon as possible. Meenakshi agreed and immediately went to
the next room to get the holy almanac to look at the dates. Shiva and Anuradha
looked at each other and left the room in a huff. By the next evening Meenakshi
had fixed the date and all the arrangements began. The very next Wednesday the yajna began and ended with a huge homam on the following Monday. All the
men of the house were present in the room wearing white dhotis and angavastrams,
while the women adorned themselves in nine yard Kanjeevaram silks, kumkum on
their foreheads. The continuous crescendo of chanting by ten pandits, the
fragrance of white flowers and the heat of the fire from the homam had changed the environment at
home. The entire family sat there with their hands folded in deep devotion.
After the puja was over Meenakshi served lunch to all the Brahmins
on the freshly procured banana leaves. The pandits left happily with the daan
and dakshina Mahesh gave them. Shiva and Anuradha stayed home for the day and
later in the evening Shiva complained to his sister on the unnecessary
expenditure his father incurred to satisfy the pot-bellied Brahmins. Anuradha
agreed and in the same breath spoke about the futility of any disagreement with
their grandparents on parents. Shiva did realize that it was done out of love
and for his well-being. They all had big hopes from him, he was the son they
would rely on when they grew older just the way Thatha and Paati depended on their
father.
In another part of Delhi that day where the new flyover was
being constructed, one section of the concrete came loose and landed on the
road. A biker got crushed under its
weight and breathed his last before making it to the hospital. It was the same
road Shiva took every day on the way back from college. He read it in the
papers next morning and decided to take another route on the way back home to avoid the traffic. Before Meenakshi settled down for breakfast that morning she read about the tragic accident in the newspaper. She looked up from the newspaper and closed her eyes for a moment, the crease on her forehead becoming prominent. Her lips quivered as she sent out a silent prayer expressing her gratitude to the Gods ending with a barely audible "Om Namah Shivay".
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