I had gone to a couple of temples near Tumkur on Friday. Frankly, I was not looking forward to the journey, given that it is on one of the few dreaded highways known for its notorious traffic jams. But the gods were smiling on us and we sailed through.
First we went to a Lakshmi temple in a place called Goravanahalli. I was pleasantly surprised to see how clean the place was, considering it’s a very famous temple around that area. The goddess there is said to be self originated. Throngs of people queued to get a glimpse of her. I was looking around and admiring the place when my eyes met those of an elderly lady, approaching me with a beaming smile. I started to smile and then got skeptical and managed to give her a half smile. Now, anyone who has visited temples of tourist interest or pilgrimages around India will understand my skepticism.
We have taken a lot of measures to attract tourists but we have been unable to curb those things which will drive them away. Any such places you go to, you find these ‘lurkers’. Yes, pretty much like the ones who take over your slot machines at a casino. These people lurk in the shadows of hotels and temples, waiting for their prey, which might just be you! They wait and watch you, much like a butcher trying to pick the hen which seems to promise the juiciest meat. Are you the type who believes that ‘if you have it, flaunt it’? You might want to think again. Stash away all your hi design’s and louis vuitton’s and blackberry's as far under your bed as possible, before you step out. What do they know about brands, you may think. You forget that this is their profession. They con people into buying things and rituals which they may have never even heard of. Now, to do this they need to know if you are loaded enough to pay them and they study such give away signs. Thrusting your designer bags or wallets on their face is not going to help your case. (Also, you might want to be less generous with the perfume you sprinkle on.. not that it has anything to do with this but overwhelming scents in queues just annoy me) Once they have zeroed in on you they check how approachable you are. Whoever said ‘a smile costs nothing’ has apparently never visited such places. It will cost you a hand and a foot and some more! So dont let those compliments of you having a winning smile go to your head, it might work against you in this situation.
Coming back to the elderly lady, well, apparently she didn’t have any such hidden agendas and was just being friendly (a welcome change). From there, we moved on to Devarayana Durga. The temples here sit on a small hillock a few kilometers away. The drive up the place was refreshing, to say the least. The surroundings were very serene and the untouched beauty around, almost lull you into a meditative state of mind. The road up is narrow but well laid. Though a sleepy little village is tucked away somewhere atop the hill, you never get a clue of its existence from the empty roads, with jus an occasional bus or cowherd passing you by. There are two Narasimha temples there, one on a plateau on the hill and the other at the peak. The temples are mostly built with unpolished granite and have an old world charm to them, which the marble lavished temples of the city fail to provide. For those who have time on hand, there is a pathway to climb up the hill, which looked like a sketch right out of a story book, flanked by trees and flowering plants on either side. All of a sudden I had a strange sensation, the air seems funny I thought in panic, was I developing an allergy? Pollen perhaps? Only to realize a few seconds later, that it was because the air was fresh and pollution free and I had forgotten how that feels. I took in deep breaths to give some relief to my dust lined lungs. The staircase leading up to the temple, has been cleverly designed to wind into the hollows between the rocks and it makes you feel closer to nature. Once up the hill, the view is breathtaking.
There are most certainly many places around India and even the world, which might have much better view points, but to my greenery starved eyes (given that Bangalore has become half bald, thanks to the metro) pollution irritated nostrils(courtesy-a million cars and still counting) and tired eardrums( from all the incessant honking) this lush, pollution free, serene place was paradise, for that moment.
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