Made in Humane Club
I woke up at 7:00 am and started to get ready to meet the Sabarimala gang. My mom oiled up my hair and packed it with oil so that it could at least stay for a few days. Dad and I left at 8:15 a.m. Then we travelled from Nana and Nani’s house to Chembur by taxi. It took us 2 hrs to reach Chembur.
My dad first told me to observe Mumbai. The city looked like it was a monstrous disaster! Waste was strewn everywhere, the roads were changing shape all the time, and it was as if the road was trying to make our ride horrible and uncomfortable.
At Guruswami’s House
I walked into our Guruswami’s home and saw an old man with white hair, a scruffy beard, and a scruffy body. He looked grumpy and sleepy. He spoke very fast Hindi, so it is hard to understand him, but he keeps making hand gestures and keeps grunting, which makes it easier to understand what he is saying.
So, who is a Guruswami?
Historically, the Sabarimala pilgrimage was very dangerous. You have to walk through a dense forest. There were no roads, and wild animals like tigers could attack you. Hence, you need a Guruswami to lead the pilgrimage. I was feeling nervous because I had read that Guruswami can get angry. You “don’t ask questions to old men, just follow”.
Guruswami’s temple was very beautiful! It is covered by photos of Bhagwan on both walls. It looked like it was used every day, and it was alive and lively.
Guruswami gets shocked
Guruswami asked us to put our bags in a corner. Next, he asked us to wash our hands and feet. Guruswami asked us for our malas. Dad told him that Srinivas was to bring the malas. Guruswami got shocked, and he stuck his tongue out and put his hand to it. Ideally, we should have worn the malas at the start of the vrat.
He led us to his temple. He took the mala hanging from the photo of Ayyappa and gave it to Dad and chanted a mantra. He repeated the same with me, but with a mala from Krishna. He had been praying to these malas for the last six months. Hence, these malas are auspicious.
Guruswami serves us a feast for a breakfast
I thought we had to fast, as whenever Jains do religious things, they fast. But Guruswami had other plans. He served us a humongous breakfast with idlis, sambar, vada, rice, chutney, payasam, and shiro. Guruswami asked me, “Coffee peyega?”. I replied, “nahi mein coffee nahi peeti dhanyawad”. So Guruswami said, “toh pani peyo”
The Gang Arrives
Soon, Srinivas’s sister and niece arrived. They were very nice to me. Together, we started preparing for the pooja. Coconuts have 3 eyes at the bottom. Guruswami would find the one soft eye, and then he would ask us to pierce a hole in that eye and pour their water out in a bowl. We made sure no water was left and corked the hole in the coconut.
Next, I sat with Srinivas’s niece, and we started writing Om on the irumudi bags. The Irumudi is the bag of offerings that we gave to Ayyappa. The front part is for Ayyappa, and the back is for you.
Slowly, steadily, the gang arrived. First came Mr. Pranad, who was a very serious but good guy. Following him came 10-year-old Mahaksh. Mahaksh was so smart. Even though he was goofy, he was extremely intelligent. He knew everything about Pokémon and could solve an entire Rubik’s cube. Finally, Srinivas came with his daughter Pradnya. She was 6 years old. She looked adorable yet timid, like my younger sister Vasu. Looking at the gang, I knew we would have a fun time!
Along with Srinivas and my dad, two more dads came. One was Pranad’s father, Kumar. The second was Mahaksh’s dad Venkat.
The Initiation Pooja
By now, we were already getting late. So Guruswami grunted something, and everyone started preparing for the pooja. One by one, Guruswami did pooja for each person. He chanted some mantras, and then we had to pour ghee inside the coconut we had hollowed out. Then we put the cork back and put it inside our irumudi bag, pour rice inside another smaller bag, put that small bag inside the irumudi bag with 2 coconuts at the back side of the bag.
Srinivas, Srinivas’s sister, and dad all put 3 handfuls of rice in my bag. This was usually only for family members, and they treated me like a family member. That was very nice of them. Srinivas’s family were very affectionate and kind to me and my dad
As the pooja happened for everyone, we had to stand nearby and sing Swamiye Sharanam Ayyappa. During this time, Pradnya and I stood next to each other and held each other’s hands.
This is the mantra of the offerings that we spoke:
ashtadasham mahasaaram sasthru darshana dayakam
Vidhitham shudham utkrishtam Sannidhaanam namamyaham
Manasa karmana Vaacha Shraddhaya bhaktya Jagatguru
uktasya deva karyaartham puraayan Kapilagrutham
Bhootanatha Sadhananda Sarva Bhutha dayabara
Raksha Raksha maha baaho Shastre tubhyam namo namaha
The Marathas make an entry
Immediately after the pooja, I took Pradnya outside and gave her the books I had bought for her. Then I showed her The Epoch of Nanasaheb Peshwa. I was telling her all about the Marathas. That is when Venkat came by and started chit-chatting about Marathas. He knew a lot about them, and we had a good chat.
Lunch time
It had been only a few hours since the humongous breakfast. Now it was time for food again. I was nervous, this is too much food for me! But Srinivas’ sister gave me a plate. There was curry, rice, sabzi, cucumbers, papad, and payasam. I ate it all.
Playing in the meditation hall
By now, we were getting late. So we picked up our bags and went down. There was a big meditation hall below the building. Pranad, Pradnya, Mahaksh, and I played a game of tag, ice, and water. We bonded and started having fun.
Then came a taxi. We put our bags inside. Venkat, my dad, and all the kids fit inside the cab. Kumar, Guruswami, and Srinivas decided to focus on the irumudis and come in a rickshaw. I think we got lost while going to the railway station. We kept going round and round.
Trains, Tales, & Top Berths
This was my first train journey ever. I was very excited and so was the gang. We played and bonded like we were long lost brothers and sisters. We laughed, we played, we ate, and we slept together.
Top berth Top berth
The moment we climbed onto the train, we were looking for a way to get up to the top berth. We found a ladder that led to the berth. We wanted to climb it now, however, we had not found our seats yet, so we could not do so as it was not respectful to mess up somebody else’s seat.
Arm wrestling
We were getting bored with looking out of the window, as we had not yet found our seats, so we could not climb to the upper berth. So we decided to play an arm wrestling competition. I won against Mahaksh and Pradnya. Mahaksh won over Pradnya. Wise, old Srinivas advised Mahaksh, “Never fight against a girl. If you win, then there is no credit because you won against a girl, and if you lose, well, you lost against a girl.”
Who knew younger siblings could be goofy
Pranad and Mahaksh were brothers. Mahaksh kept annoying Mr. Pranad. He would climb over Pranad, speak in his ear, and slap him on the face. Mahaksh is 5 years younger than Pranad, both are a classic case of brothers. My dad cracked a joke, saying, ” This is your future with Vasu.”
The Fort Wars
We finally found our cabins and started climbing our berths to build forts and play war. We built our forts with blankets, pillows, and bedcovers. The whole day went by in this, and we had adequate play.
The gang makes a plan
I jumped over to Goofy Mahaksh’s fort and told him to come to our fort. He did so. I told him and Pradnya, “Listen, guys, why don’t we do the war and talk at night? For this, we must practice moving around quietly, as we could be caught. We must stuff as many pillows and bed sheet bags as we can and act as if we are sleeping, but we are awake! But we have to wait till our dads are asleep.”
Everyone agreed to the plan. We got to work. We stuffed empty bags of bed covers underneath our blankets. We hid our bags underneath our pillows. We wanted to make a fort and that to a good one. The whole point of this is to play for 2 hours, stay up late, and have lots of fun without anyone telling us anything, and there were none to disturb us.
Did it fail?
But when it was time to sleep, our dads took away all of the stuff needed to make the forts. To make up for it, I asked for an empty bag, but my dad said no to me. Pradnya asked her father, Srinivas, said no to her. So I climbed down, acted as if I was looking outside the window, quietly picked up one bag, and then climbed back to my fort. Mahaksh managed to save one bag too. We got ready for our plan to work after that.
But then goofy Mahaksh almost gave away the plan. He said that he was very sleepy to the dads. But it was obvious that he was not sleepy. I quickly rushed to his fort to tell him that he was giving away our plan. Instead, he should just wait for the dads to naturally fall asleep. After hearing me, Mahaksh said loudly, “Actually, I am not sleepy at all.” I told him not to say anything about sleep, the grown-ups would understand.
Nighty night
We went to bed at 8 pm and started to whisper, and acted as if to sleep.
The plan in action
As soon as the clock turned 9 o’clock, I think my dad fell asleep. One down. Two more dads to go. But Srinivas and Venkat stayed up quite late till almost 11 o’clock. Then they slept. Sneakily, Makaksh, Pradnya, and I got up and grinned, looking at each other. We got to work.
First, we needed more bags, so I slipped down the fort and softly landed on my feet. I crept down and managed to get 4 bags. I first went to Mahaksh and gave him two, and then climbed up my berth. For 2 hours, we were playing and going up and down. I kept a check of the time when I crept to my dad’s berth and peered into his phone. My dad opened his eyes and shouted, “Chucky, go to sleep.” Oh no. I was caught. But luckily, Dad slept again.
The excuse
When it was 1:30 am, Srinivas woke up and caught us playing. He asked us why we were awake. We told him that we were feeling hot, so he went to fix the AC. Meanwhile, Mahaksh climbed over to our {Pradnya’s and my fort} and we started to talk. Then one of the daddies was waking up. It was my dad. He looked at us, made a face, and then went to sleep again. Then at 1:45, we went back to sleep. Mahaksh was feeling cold, so we got him down to Srinivas’ bed, and Srinivas went to Mahaksh’s bed. We then slept.
The accident that almost happened
At 2 am, I woke up to see that Pradnya was at the edge of the bed. I came down and put my hand up to make sure that Pradnya does not fall. I slept.