Memories - I

In one of my favourite Agatha Christies, a character who has gone through a lot of difficulties in her life says " No matter how tough life is later, it's a blessing if one has had a happy childhood..because noone can ever take that away from you" (Patricia Fortescue in "A Pocketful of Rye"). I guess that is true.

I went back to Trichy last weekend for my college alumni meet. While Saturday was spent gregariously with friends and a party, on Sunday afternoon,I made my way in the city bus to my grandparents' at Srirangam. Entering Srirangam always makes you feel like you're entering a different world..maybe because the quiet laidback town is a contrast to the college life I leave behind. Also, because it reminds me a lot of my childhood. When I was a kid, we used to go to Srirangam every summer. And memories of walking the dusty streets alongside the goats reminds me of a time gone by.

After an afternoon of catching up with family, it is evening. There are no cousins to keep me company anymore and my bus to Chennai is five hours away. I decide, like often, to skip the crowds and queues at the Lord Ranganathar (Big) temple that Srirangam is known for and make my way all alone to the Kaatazhagiya Singar Kovil at the end of the street. The name refers to the beauty of the lion of the forest, Lord Nrisimha being half man and half lion, the place obviously having association with a forest in earlier days. It's the quieter, lesser known temple in the town, and yet I am told attracts crowds now.

However, it is not crowded when I enter. I walk along the stone led pathway and watch people lighting lamps. I do the customary round around the temple and then climb up the stairs to see the main deity inside. I love the smell of the temple, a warm welcoming smell, that makes you admire the massive deity inside. Some things never change. I remember the many times I have come here with family. As I walk out of the main chamber I see a relative who remembers me once I tell her whose daughter and granddaughter I am and I am given kalkandu prasadam (a sweet offering made to the temple deity and then distributed to others). I stop there right outside the main chamber and pause to look at the wall paintings of the various forms of Lord Nrisimha outside. I am keenly aware that I am probably becoming more religious(!) or is it?

I am just beginning to remember that I have some memory of standing here before too, when I hear a small girl standing next to her sister, call out: "Matsya Koorma Varaha Nrisimha...Varaha enga pa?(Avatars of Lord Vishnu in chronological order)" and I now know what it is! I remember standing here with my brother figuring out the avatars from the paintings too. It may seem trivial, but it is such a vivid memory that I am surprised. I guess I haven't moved so far away from childhood after all, I wonder. I may worry more about money and work and the future, I think now that it's been several months at a job, but childhood memories will always remain. And Patricia Fortescue is right.