Showing posts with label God. Show all posts
Showing posts with label God. Show all posts
Maa….(Mother)
A little girl was jumping with joy, holding her father’s hand in one hand and a chocolate in the other. She was not too small almost in her teens but her innocence made her appear smaller than she actually was. Her family along with her mother, grand parents and brother had gone to visit a famous Kali Temple in the district of Bhirbhum. They were on a weekend trip and had plans of going for a little sightseeing once they finished offering the prayers. She was very happy, firstly, because it was her post-exam break. She had been cramped at home all this time and was enjoying every moment of the trip. Secondly, it was a family outing; she could do all that she wanted and her granny would save her from her mother’s scolding!
She
could see the temple from the moment they entered the narrow alley leading to
it. Both sides of the alley were littered with shops selling all kinds of
articles with the picture or name of the Goddess Tara inscribed on them;
starting from pens to key chains to photo frames and large posters…. You could
get them all here. There were some modern things of utility too, like torches,
costume jewelry, hand bags and a number of edible items like sweat meats of all
kinds, and shops selling hot kachoris
and jalebis too were aplenty. She was
making a mental note of all the things she wanted to buy and have once they
finish offering the prayers. The day being a Saturday, which was supposed to be
the best day of the week to offer prayers to the Goddess Kali, the temple was
thronged by millions of devotees. There were people everywhere!
Sounds
of ‘Joy Ma Tara! Joy Ma Tara!’ resounded all over the temple. Thousands of
devotees had thronged the Holy Kali Temple to offer their prayers to the
Goddess. The prayer hall, which offered a clear view of the Goddess’s idol, was
covered with a human carpet. The crowd was so huge it seemed like an entangled
mass of human hands and feet, all trying to get a glimpse of the goddess in the
process of being worshiped during Aarti.
Among
all this noise, the pleas of a girl barely in her teens, was getting lost. She
was small in height and was trying desperately to break free from the crowd,
the smell of human bodies and the disgusting touch of the man who was freely
roaming his hand all over her. She shouted for her mother ‘Maaa….!’ But there
was no one listening. She tried to break free, meanwhile the noises around her
increased and the rants of ‘Joy Ma Tara! Joy Ma Tara!’ was getting louder and
louder. With the increase in the decibel of the noise, the man was getting emboldened in his vile act. In the crowd she had somehow lost grip of her father's hand and got plastered in front of this man. With all her strength she tried to move out of the crowd. After a lot of struggle somehow, she broke loose and sat down on the floor. From among the web
of human legs she managed to crawl to the side of the prayer hall, which was a
little empty. She leaned on the wall and started sobbing! All her innocence was
shattered in one blow!
What
was her fault? Like all devotees even she had gone to the temple and had plans
of having a good time with her family? Is this what her family had prayed for?
How can human beings be so cruel?
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