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Bangalore has a unique way of doing things, be it in its roads or in the way houses are built, the way temples are built or the names of the temples. One of the temple that has been on my radar list since the time I came to Bangalore has been the Sri Prasanna Ganapati Temple( The techie temple). On the second day of my office visit, I was informed by my team that if you have any issues with your life, with work or whatever, you must visit the techie temple.

I went there twice, till now, once was on a Sunday evening and the other on a Monday morning. Sunday happened to be on Sankasht(Sankashti Chaturthi is a monthly Hindu holy day dedicated to Lord Ganesha, observed on the fourth day of the waning moon phase (Krishna Paksha). Oh boy, there was a queue, a huge queue, we stood there for almost 45 minutes, before we could even reach the idol. The amount of people that had gathered was overwhelming, and honestly yet, even then, there was a peace that could poke you, not stir you, but still poke you. What fascinates me , is that the temple is on the main road, with constant vehicles passing by, the crowd even on Mondays is massy, yet you can sit there and not feel the usual frustration of being in over crowded places. We visited the temple and left it at it.

I woke up the next day, with an urge to visit the temple all over again, mostly to be able to write better about it.

And, oh boy, what a heavy morning it was! I thought, hey I am a writer, I need to explore and write, and I should visit the techie temple, one more time to write better. Even when I visited the temple, I kept repeating the same chant of a writer, and kept thinking, analysing and may be sometime mocking the people who came there with their wish list. Some of them wanted to do the Puja for which they paid 100 bucks, some of them kept their documents on the feet of the idol, while others like me, were chatting with the idol and mocking his followers.

I did observed few things for a while, until the tears started flowing in, as if the idol started talking with me. Fucking talking back as though. At that moment, it felt as if some elderly was asking about my whereabouts, and I could not stop. I stood there for 20 minutes, and talked about things, I did not knew I feel. No wishes, just a talk. In the temple premises, apart from the Ganesha idol are the idols of Shiva, Parvati and Ganesha (Subramanya) temple. People across the idol were sitting and meditating, exactly where I sat down as well. In that very moment, I thought, now I am going to observe people, only to find myself closing my eyes and the tears started flowing in. The temple bells rang and people moved and talked, but all I could hear was the temple bells, and all that I could see or observe were the idols. There were no thoughts, no wishes, no talks, just tears as I sat there. It felt as though I was at peace, the constant conundrum of voices in my head was over, and I sat with myself.

I know I am repeating this often, but I did go to observe people, to talk about temple, and rarely has it been the case that I visit a temple with so many people and still feel a connect with the diety. This temple has to be one of those. The noise and quietness exists parallel inside the temple. I am still heavy on the temple, still high on the quietness I felt inside the temple, and planning to visit the temple all over again.

PS: Near to the temple is the Sendhoor coffee house, I had my dosa and tea and confirmed all over again, that even in South India, not everyone can make a dosa. Most of these joints are expensive and average at the same time.

On that note, see you soon.

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Amore,

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