Made in Humane Club
Good Morning
The day started with us quickly hushing and bathing so that we could move out of the dharmshala. Dad got into a fit with his dhoti. He was struggling to wear it; the dhoti was winning, and Dad was losing. Srinivas helped him, and he figured it out.
To spend time, I wore one of Dad’s dhotis around myself like my mom’s sari. It is shown in the picture below.
Morning pooja
We went to Guruswami’s room. I saw that Ayyappa’s photo was beautifully covered with flowers. After praying, we got bananas as prasad.
We went to our rooms, packed our bags, and put them in the entrance hall. Pradnya and I stood down with the bags. We were guarding them. All the bags were moved down. We put them on the bus.
We split our bags into three groups. Bags that would stay in the bus. Bags that would be carried by us on the Sabarimala mountain. Bags that would be carried to the top by porters.
Breakfast
Like last time, Pradnya and I sat in the first seats. We had made a rule that if last time I was sitting on the window seat in the next drive, Pradnya would sit. There was great demand for that seat. Pradnya wanted to play a game, but I told her that I was looking outside and we would play later on.
After a long drive, we went to a restaurant. There, I realized that all the restaurants in Kerala have medicated red hot water. I nearly burnt my tongue and throat when I had that water in one big gulp. Wise old Srinivas recommended that we eat Naivedyam dosa. These dosas are made from ghee instead of oil. This protects us from dosas cooked in bad-quality oil. We then continued to the Dharmashastra temple in Erumely.
Erumely
The Drive to Erumely
Kerala looks like an extremely green Delhi. With lots of green hills and forests. The shops look old-fashioned, but the view is full of coconut and banana trees. The blue sky looked like it was about to rain. It was getting dark very soon, even though it was only 11 or 12 o’clock. The houses were simple and elegant. I imagined that there would be a nice courtyard inside these houses. Some houses were also built with 2 or 3 floors. I noticed there were many churches and mosques too.
The Dharmshashtha Temple
We first reached the Dharmshashtha temple. There we did darshan of Ayyappa. The river Pamba was there too, but this was a small Pamba. So we did not bathe here.
The Petta Sree Dharmshastha Temple
Next, we dressed up like tribals by putting colours on our foreheads and cheeks. We even put a mask on our heads. We walked from Dharmshastha to Petta Sree Dharmshastha. At Peth Shree Dharmshastra, we saw Ayyappa’s weapons. We did darshan. The fun of dancing while our feet burned on the hot ground was a joyful experience, representing Lord Ayappa’s tribal friends.
The Vavar Mosque
Right opposite the Petta Sree Dharmshastha Temple was the Vavar Mosque. It was odd that the student’s mosque was bigger than the god’s temple. I chose not to go inside.
Pamba
It was very hot. The dance made us all tired. So we had some lemon juice. We got on the bus. This time,Dad sat next to the driver. Finally, we were heading to Pamba Nadi
The police stopped our bus
Once we had almost reached Pamba, the police stopped our bus. So Venkat went to the police station. Venkat spent a lot of time convincing the police. Finally, Venkat got us permission to take our bus inside. Venkat is very street smart and resourceful. He got us in the pamba with our tempo.
Once we reached Pamba, it was raining heavily already. We rushed out of the bus with our bags and entered a restaurant. Immediately, my eyes fell on the red Kerele banana. My dad bought a few bananas for Pradnya and me. Their texture was more chewy than the robusta bananas. I enjoyed them.
Swimming in the Pamba
Next, Srinivas and my dad took Pradnya and me to the Pamba River. For days, I was excited to swim in the Pamba. But when I reached the river, I froze out of fear. I love water, but I am also scared of it. My dad could see worry on my face. My dad asked me what happened. Even Srinivas asked the same question and asked if I did not want to take a doobki. If not, I could just wash my face, but still I was feeling worried, and I thought in some way I like water, and in another way I don’t.
Then, my dad encouraged me. Soon, our Guruswami, an 85-year-old man, held my hand and got me inside and made me comfortable. He even played around in the water by taking dips. It was almost as if he were doing squats. My fear vanished, and I was happy again.
While we were swimming in the Pamba, the fish were biting us. This is called fish pedicure. Their bites did not hurt. It felt as if my sister Vasuda was trying to bite without teeth. When we came out of the river, our feet were extremely clean. With this massage we were ready for the trek.
The Trek
We returned to the restaurant. We wore our Irumadi’s on our heads and started the trek. We started in the evening, around 4:00 PM, and reached the top of Sabarimala around 8:00 or 9:00 PM.
During the trek, there were stones on the road that poked our legs. It was painful, but I endured. Srinivas explained that life is like trekking up Sabarimala, and those stones are like troubles. You have to endure it.
Inspired by this, I saw that there were two paths: the easy-peasy Steps, and the tough road was painful. I chose the tough path. While the stones were poking us we climbed very slowly. I imagined baby Ayyappa running up the mountain and looking back at his mother and saying ‘ Quickly come up!”
While we were all chit-chatting and climbing, Mr. Serious Pranad was extremely focused on his climb. He was not talking to anyone. He was enduring the pain of stones very well. I was extremely inspired by looking at him. So I decided to copy him.
There was a lot of interesting food during the trek. I especially enjoyed eating the watermelon. Halfway through, Srinivas stopped us and bought rice balls and asked us to throw them as an offering to the forest deities.
The path was surrounded by a dense forest with trees and creepers all about. We saw many trees. Some of those trees seemed like hundreds of years old.
Meanwhile, Mahaksh groaned to Srinivas that he was so unlucky that he had to climb this mountain while the old people could sit in palanquins. Srinivas told Mahaksh that instead of them being lucky, he was lucky that he was getting to climb this mountain. These were interesting thoughts.
Luckily for us, throughout the climb it was raining. It was a blessing that it was raining; without the rain, we would have been drenched in sweat instead of water that cooled us down. Halfway through, we almost walked through a cloud. The air became moist and foggy! I felt energetic.
Me versus coconut
My mom says that I have a tough head and whenever it used to hit my mom’s head, blood would come out. Now my head, which is like a coconut, hit another coconut. The real coconut won, and it formed a lump on my head, which is still there to date.
The Sabarimala Temple Mount
The 18 Golden Steps
When we reached the top, we walked over to the Sabarimala Temple. First came the 18 golden steps. We touched our hands to each step before walking up. Once we climbed up the 18 golden steps, we saw a big golden pillar with Ayyappa’s flag flying in the air.
We were blessed to see Ayyappa. We saw all the Devas along with Ayyappa, like Malika Puram, Ganapati, and Nagaraja. There were many trees around Sabarimala, and we loved the place. It was a blessing to be there, especially as it was close to Ayyapa’s birthday.
We went to our dharmashala called Kailash Inn. There, we changed out of our wet clothes and wore fresh ones. Then we started goofing around.
We got ready for another darshan. We wore our clothes for pooja and went out. However, we could not do darshan. One guy even told us that “The temple is closing, better move out fast or else. ” However, we did not heed his advice and got stuck in a looooooooooooooooooooooong line. If we had heeded his advice, it would have been better.
Ayyappa’s Birthday
Turns out, it was Ayyappa’s birthday! There were many devotees, as it was Ayyappa’s birthday the next day. So they closed the temple early. A massive elephant came. Ayyappa’s essence was transferred from the idol in the temple to another idol, and that was put on the elephant. Ayyappa went to the forest for a hunt. We went to get prasadam, which was aravana.
Dinner
By now, we were extremely tired. We went to a restaurant. We had Puttu and chana + paratha and chana. After dinner, we walked back to the dharmshala.
Cricket Cricket
We were getting ready to sleep. We goofed around and cracked jokes, and then we lay down some mattresses to sleep on. Just when we were about to sleep, Mahaksh heard crickets. So Venkat started searching for crickets. Venkat warned us that crickets can get into your ears. But Dad and I were very tired. We decided to take the risk and sleep.
