rambageecha, shop no. 37

i was starting to get worried; we were all supposed to gather back at RAMBAGEECHA, SHOP NO. 37 by 7.00 am. this was where the bus had dropped us early in the morning. we were clearly instructed by the tour guide “the bus will start for the next destination at 7.00 am, and those late will have to arrange their own transportation to reach there”. time was running and i was still standing in the queue of devotees waiting for my turn to get a glimpse of lord VENKATESWARA (commonly known as BALAJI) at the TIRUPATI temple. the queue was long and with a width of 6 persons standing side by side. it was already 6.15 am by now. myself, nilay and viren had planned this visit a week ago. unfortunately nilay could not accompany due to his work commitments.

even viren was supposed to meet me at the same spot. we were not together in the queue. the tour guide had separated all the members, including me, who wanted to perform a MUNDAN (shaving the head) before facing the lord. rest of the group, which included viren, proceeded for the DARSHAN, while we went the other way.

i reached rambageecha, shop no. 37 by 6.50 am and saw viren standing there waiting for me. rambageecha is a small enclave, near to the temple entrance. it has 2 rows of small shops, 5 at each side. There is a good amount of space between the 2 rows. one is a tea stall, one is a snacks stall and the rest ones sold flowers, garlands, coconuts, framed pictures of balaji, spiritual stones, spiritual threads etc. this place was quite busy with tourists. some having breakfast, some bargaining with the vendor, some chit chatting, and some just wandering over the place. but the common property in all was that they were waiting for their bus to pick them up for the next destination, like us. it was more of an assembly point, i would say. it was quite cold and very windy up there. luckily i was wearing a sweater, burnt umber coloured and with a zip in the front. i remember i had bought it last year, during my stay in dubai, on my way to south africa. i use it more as a jacket than a sweater. i was feeling the chill in the climate as my sweater was unzipped, as usual.

we had few idlis for breakfast . we then went to the tea stall which was situated 2 shops besides shop no. 37. “randa special tea” viren told the vendor. “RANDA” in tamil means two. the knowledge of few local words made our survival a bit easy. while having tea, viren showed me the balaji picture which he bought from shop no.37 before i had arrived. i too was interested in buying one. so we went to the shop next to the tea stall, i was still sipping the tea from my glass, we browsed through few balaji pictures, i liked one picture. nilay too had asked us to buy a small balaji picture for him. the smaller pictures were a bit costlier here compared to shop no. 37, while the price for the one i choose, a little bigger one, was a good bargain. as we had less time, we agreed that viren should go back to shop no. 37 to buy the balaji picture for nilay, while i stayed there to buy the other one for me.

i asked the vendor to pack the picture while i quickly went and kept the empty tea glass at the tea stall. i took the bag from the vendor, and holding it with both my hands close to my chest, i started walking towards shop no. 37. all of a sudden i felt a jerk, which pulled me back slightly. i turned almost instantly to see what the hell had happened. It took few seconds for me to realize what had happened. my sweater zipper was entangled at one end of a girl’s DUPATTA (scarf), who was moving swiftly in the opposite direction. both my sweater and her dupatta were stretched to the maximum, in mid-air. she was holding the other end of the dupatta, so that it didn’t fall completely from her shoulders. it appeared as if somebody had tied a knot with one end of her dupatta and one end of my sweater. i recognized her, i had seen her in our bus, she was a part of our tour group. she was fair, in her twenties, and probably belonged to an orthodox tamil family. she was wearing a salwar and had glasses on her eyes. in my observation she was quite “SIMPLE”. there was absolutely no reaction from both of us, we were just standing still, lost in our own thoughts. i became conscious when a figure hurriedly came between both of us; she was her younger sister i suppose. she was holding my sweater with one hand and her sisters dupatta with the other and was trying to pull them apart. she was trying hard to free her sisters dupatta from the entangle. still there was no reaction from both of us. I had not regained my senses completely. next i saw an elderly man coming to help his younger daughter, their father i suppose. at the corner of my eyes i also saw an elderly lady coming towards us, undoubtedly her mother. “AIYO!” her father exclaimed. that was loud enough to bring me back on earth. i could see her younger sister still struggling, she was making it worse, the runner of my zipper was getting more entangled in the threads. at last i reacted, i turned, walked a step back, and i spoke softly. “wait, let me help you” i said. she promptly obliged. in a moment i freed the entangled runner of my zip from her sisters dupatta. “thank you” she replied, as she pulled the dupatta back on her shoulders. i still had this blank expression on my face, i was mum. she went her way and i went mine.

by evening the bus was in chennai city, we were going towards the last drop point, where the tour would be culminated. i and viren got down at the airport road, a few kilometers before the last drop point. she was still in the bus.

i realised it was not a “larger than life” bollywood movie. she was lost in the jungle of people.

july 29, 2006. i will remember this day for 2 things I saw, the awe-inspiring idol of lord VENKATESHWARA and the simple “her”.