Love at nth sight !
It was a fairly long walk.. 10 kilometres. But all is fair in love. My love for you helped me to trudge on. I wanted to see you, but I didn’t know and wasn’t sure if you wanted the same. Again, my love for you, made me trust that you’ll want to see me, as much as I wanted to see you. It was like as if I whispered in your ear and you whispered back, saying yes you too want to see me and meet me, as much as I wanted to.
Those powerful eyes, that majestic look of yours, the jewels that adorned your body and the genuine smile on your lips. You make my heart, skip a beat. Oh how much I love you and how much I pine for you, the love of my life
There were many waiting to see you. I sat outside the road, leading to your house and waited with bated breath. Some said, there is no point in waiting, as there were many. Some asked all of those who were waiting, to come tomorrow. Some said that you would meet only important people and not stray ones like me! I trusted, I believed and waited. You called me. I inched closer towards your house and the minute I saw you, fresh tears burst out, for you had called me in just 3 hours time, when crores were waiting to see you. My eyes met yours. I have seen you so many times before, but today it was different. I then realized how much I love you. It was love at the nth sight.
It is then that I heard that wretched statement “Jarugandi jarugandi”. I then realised that I had no choice. I was in your house, Tirumala, the most crowded place, on that day. Some say the count was 7 lakhs, the highest in 12 years and some say 8 lakhs. But you called us in, without paying any bribes, in just three hours’ time. I then realised that you wanted to see me, as much as I wanted to see you. Having seen you, I wanted to tell you about the journey we had and your miracles in it, though you are all pervading and you already know about it. I wish to speak to you. I know that you will listen to me.
After a long walk from downhill, we stood in the queue meant for divya darshan (darshan for those who walked up). The police men chased us away saying “The darshans are closed for the next 24 hours for Divya darshan, 36 hours for 300 rupees and darma darshan. So please go away now and come back tomorrow. You won’t be able to get in today”. I looked at the disappointed faces of my dad and husband. We asked everybody around and they said that the right thing to do was to come back tomorrow morning at 5. But then we decided based on the experience of a person who told me that in such situations, it is best to wait and see you.Our goal was to see you and we wanted to do that and only leave the place.
I said “We’ll stay here. Right on the foot path. We have come to see him and no matter what, we will see him and only go. We will wait. ” Many thousands who were waiting, left the place to return to their cottages. We sat there. The time was 8 PM and we slept, waiting for the darshan queues to open. At 2 pm, there was a loud call “Govinda Govinda” and an announcement on the mike stating that all darshans, except for those walking up to the Lord, are closed and only this darshan will be opened. We ran. There were only 300 odd people on the footpath. We ran limping, as fast as our legs could carry us, and joined the queue, which was waiting since afternoon.
There was no looking back after that. We didn’t stop anywhere even for a minute. No vaikuntam queue complex and no sitting for long hours. The queue walked non-stop, with the resolve of a pack of hungry lions, hunting a herd of deer. We inched closer to the Raja gopuram. I could hear my heart beating faster as we were moving closer to you. I wanted to thank you. Thank you for planting that thought of not going back to the cottage, thank you for opening up the queue, thank you for that exclusive darshan and for everything. As we reached the main sanctum sanctorum, there was a huge commotion and people just crushed each other. The gates closed behind us, saying that for all others, darshan will be after tulabhara seva. We were one of the last few to creep in, to see you.
It is then that I saw you. It was your favourite time of the day – suprabhatha seva. You were clad in just a dhothi, without any ornaments. Splendid were the conch and disc on your hand. I was so overwhelmed that fresh tears burst out of me. A volunteer there, saw me crying and allowed me to see you for full 5 seconds. He didn’t push me until then. It was after this that I came back to senses when somebody screamed “Jarugandi”. I left but my heart was still with you.
I looked back for a last glance. I thought I saw you smiling and winking at me.
I whispered “Thanks. I love you Govinda” and I bet you spoke back. I know you spoke to me.
I could feel you saying “You’re welcome. I too wanted to meet you. And remember, I love you too. Take care”,
Love,
Your humble fan and friend.
Comments
Post a Comment