The worshipper

The alarm is ringing out slowly beside a lazy and half asleep Vikram. It's been put to snooze every 5 mins for the past 1 hr. He decides to finally have mercy on the alarm, dismisses it and gets out of his bed. Its 8 AM. Ample time for everything. Lazily he walks to the hall. His eyes fall on the newspaper bundle kept on the dining table. The headline of an English daily read "BJP promises to build Ram Temple in UP election manifesto". Oh no, not again!! He exclaims.

This is heard by his mother and she comes out of the kitchen. Good morning Vikram, she graciously greets him. He smiles back lazily. He is preoccupied with the Ram Temple agenda. Annoyed, he starts his speech. "What is wrong with the leaders in UP. What is wrong with the citizens there. Why is there so much dumbness all around? If Ayodhya is the birthplace of Lord Ram, how does it matter on which portion of land is the temple built? Every square inch of land is of Ram and worth worshipping."

Vikram looks at her and continues further. "This whole thing of the temple is so hollow and flawed. It is nonsense. Worshippers are fools". Her mother is startled with the paroxysm displayed by Vikram the first thing in the morning. She says a temple is a place where a person inculcates love, care, and affection for himself/herself and for the others like for family, friends and sometimes even for strangers(including Gods). The place emanates these powerful positive vibes all around. A worshipper is the one who makes sure he/she inculcates and practices these in himself/herself for the greater good of everything inside and outside of the temple not bothering much about all the pains and troubles. That puzzles Vikram. Surely he does not get it. She asks him to keep aside the newspaper and hurry up for breakfast within 30 mins. He obeys.

She goes back to the kitchen and continues her work meticulously. That special part of the home which is always kept neat and tidy before any other part of the home. Properly maintained. Every nook and corner dirt free and shining. The busiest as well, where she starts preparing something or the other from as early as 7 AM. Sometimes even by 6 AM. She is the first one to enter the kitchen any day and the last one to leave it sometimes as late as 11 or 11:30 PM.

A while later, Vikram rushes into the kitchen at the powerful smell of aluu sabzi. There she is, her mother has prepared this breakfast today. A typical breakfast of spicy kachauri and aluu sabzi. He goes all excited and asks how she remembered his wish for this breakfast the other day. His mother gives a faint satisfactory smile. One thing that always amazes Vikram is that his mom always remembers every single wish he makes to her particularly for any kind of foodstuff. A few days ago he had just momentarily spoken of having this breakfast which he had forgot himself after that. But she remembered.

Vikram sets out of the kitchen and awaits his breakfast at the dining table. It served. While having that delicious foodstuff, he is still pondering over the news headlines but decides to enjoy the breakfast at hand. He makes sure he thanks his mom with all due credit for this delicious meal. Out of nowhere Vikram's father bangs in and says "It is me who took all the pain in buying the best flour and the potatoes and spices son. The credit is all mine, she just mixed them all." They all have their share of laughter. Vikram leaves for college immediately after.

A few weeks later.

The alarm is ringing out slowly beside a lazy and half asleep Vikram. It is been put to snooze every 5 mins for the past 1 hr. He decides to finally have mercy on the alarm, dismisses it and gets out of his bed. Its 8 AM. Ample time for everything. Lazily he walks to the hall. His eyes fall on the newspaper bundle kept on the dining table. The headline of an English daily read "Angry protesters throw beef on the premise of a temple, worshippers outraged". Oh no, not again!! He exclaims.

This is heard by his mother and she comes out of the kitchen. Good morning Vikram, she graciously greets him. He smiles back lazily. He is preoccupied with the beef and temple agenda. Shocked, he starts his speech. "What is wrong with the citizens of this country. Why is there so much dumbness all around? Why would anyone want to do something so barbaric, brutal and reckless? Inciting violence, unrest, and tension. This makes me sick."

Vikram looks at her and continues further. "This whole thing of a temple is so hollow and flawed. It's nonsense. Worshippers are fools". Her mother is disturbed with the paroxysm displayed by Vikram the first thing in the morning. She says a temple is a place where a person inculcates love, care, and affection for himself/herself and for the others like for family, friends and sometimes even for strangers(including hatemongers). A worshipper is the one who makes sure he/she inculcates and practices these in himself/herself for the greater good of everything inside and outside of the temple not bothering much about all the pains and troubles. That puzzles Vikram. Surely he does not get it. She asks him to keep aside the newspaper and hurry up for breakfast within 30 mins. He obeys.

While having breakfast Vikram is reminded that tonight his parents are going out of station for a week. Its a tour to several temples around Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh. So he discusses all the necessary stuff related to the tickets and train. While his parents instructed him to eat well for the week and not to skip any meal. If he is to prepare any food in the kitchen he better be careful with it and not indulge in other activities simultaneously. And every other necessary instruction is shot at Vikram. His parents leave later in the evening.

A troublesome week starts for Vikram. The next day he gets up at the first ring of the alarm, sharp at 7 AM. He has got work to do. To water the Tulsi plant, to feed the pigeons and crows on the terrace. Prepare breakfast for himself. Wait till the maid completes her work and then leave for college. Till the maid comes on duty, it's a great help to Vikram. Unfortunately for the last 3 days of the week, she did not come for work. Somehow Vikram manages.

Its 4'0 clock early morning and the doorbell rings. He gets up. His phone is also ringing. He finds 10 missed calls from his parents. He jumps out of bed. They must have been ringing the doorbell for a minimum of 15 mins now. He runs to the door and opens it. His father scolds him badly for sleeping like a useless donkey. It has been an 18 hr long and tiring train journey. Vikram immediately apologizes and touches their feet to get blessings. He arranges his parent's luggage in their bedroom. His father asks for a glass of water. By the time Vikram goes to the kitchen, he finds his mother already inside. She hands him a bottle of water to pass it over to his father.

Vikram returns back to the kitchen briskly to talk a bit. He already had thrown a question of how was the tour even before he had reached the gates of the kitchen. But what he sees hits him hard on the head like a hammer. There he finds his mother telling him excitingly about the trip while actually cleaning the messy/dirty kitchen. Flour spread around the gas stove, dirty utensils in the washbasin and scattered all over the marble slab, vegetable and fruit peels around the dustbin and everything else she could probably have imagined it already before reaching home.

The epiphany strikes Vikram. He is speechless with the sheer beauty of the moment. He realizes he is standing in a temple with his mother The Worshipper.