Badrinath

The great saree auction at Badrinath temple

for a person, who, when forced to choose, prefers to classify herself as an atheist, it is a rather odd place to visit. but as luck would have it, i got the chance to visit this temple without much efforts on my part.

After leisurely bathing in the sulphur hot springs,.....this part i loved i must say........ i went with two other ladies, to visit the

shrine,and after three rounds of pradikashina, i settled on the rug carpet, and waited for them, while they chose to complete 108 rounds.

the rugs of course was filled with lots of shardhalus, most of them reading from various small tiny religious books, while picking on the beads of their rosaries..there is something about faith that always overwhelms me..maybe its my sheer incapacity to feel faithful .....but the raw unshakable faith of the people who throng in any temple,always always overwhelms me and turns into a lump at my throat.

which is when suddenly the action began.

there i was sitting quietly on the rug interestedly watching the people, when suddenly an apparent office bearer of the temple strode in, took his place behind a big iron trunk, which was also his regular desk. He firs yelled at people who were sitting close to his trunk. the rudeness was not with malice..it seemed more of a calculated time and tested way of crowd management with least hassles.

most people moved..i stayed put. my knees were hurting enough(from the 14 km trek downhill the previous day) to not want to make me move..and i was not that close to his trunk anyways.

he then scooped out a huge bundle of something wrapped in a green clothe, and threw it a little away from where i sat..another person who was his assistant, immediately threw open the bundle.. in tumbled sarees, dhothis, shirt and pant pieces(Raymond i heard him say), even just pieces of clothes , and children clothes and vests(?)!..

before i could guess what it was all about, i heard one sharadhalu tell the guy behind the trunk, please keep one saree and two dhothis separately for me.. my interest was piqued, when i heard a rude reply......u concentrate on your prayers!

then the mela began..lots women ran towards the sarees, and started skillfully checking for best pieces.

''this..keep this for me", " how much for this", etc etc.

soon it started reaching funny proportions.

people....men and women started jostling each other, scampering for the clothes. at one point,the guy actually had to stand on his desk cum trunk to get some order to the scene..especially, some people who were trying to siphon off some of the smaller pieces of clothes, without paying for them. i was marveling at his single handed control of the situation.

which is when one particular saree caught my eye..and hey pestro i was part of the trade!.

i picked up two sarees, mom wud be pleased, i hoped, and then remembered that i had not carried any money..the women with me had, (at least i hoped they had), so I told the guy to keep my sarees pending, till i got the money. he willingly obliged..he apparently was used to such requests.

an hour later, while i was waiting for my friends to finish their 108 rounds, and wondering whether i shud give up on the sarees, he looked at me..where is ur money?

i gave him a im still waiting for the money kind of look...

where are ur sarees, he asked?

i gave them to u. i say

i cant find them he says.

.u kept it around there i say...

.he starts searching for 'my' sarees..

when he gives a triumphant shout. i found my lost spectacles...u are lucky for me.
.i smile, and he started searching for my sarees again.

.which is when he gives another yelp..my second pair of spectacles too..you are indeed lucky..dhanya hai..

i smile again..hoping he wud find sarees too, which he finally did.

so now the atheist is the proud owner of two sarees touched by Lord badrinath!