BY PRAGYANSHARMA POLAVARAPU
OUR RETURN JOURNEY
TO WARANGAL
(1)
Next morning
also we felt much exhausted after the long trip.At meals time we narrated our experience briefly to our son in law . He complemented
us for completing such long tour
smoothly without any difficulty. However he had to leave for his office as they had annual work
review sessions and could not stay. After listening to us for an
hour , he took his car and started for his office .
We took a long rest after meals. After tea at 4pm we chatted for a long time about our trip.In
the evening we went for a long walk and sat in a garden for an hour. My second daughter took
several photographs. We had a fruit salad at a big restaurant . My daughter
purchased two books on computer matters. She was a B Tech student. We returned home and continued our discussion
about our long trip . We had to start for Hyderabad next day by the evening
train at 5pm . (We had to adjust our travel as per the tour program
approved by government for free travel at time of retirement).
There was now a small session of giving gifts
and taking gifts and lot of laughter and eating sweets. We purchased a suit for
our son- in- law and my elder daughter thanked .Then it was for us all a kind
of emotional depression . We would leave
our elder daughter next day to return to our distant destination Warangal
(900kms) and will not see her perhaps for an year. Such emotional breakdown is
common on such occssions . All of us became moody ,silent and immersed in old
thoughts . We remembered the old school and college days and college friends of our daughters. My elder daughter is
also a PG degree holder in Computer Applications.
We reminisced about the various towns where I was transferred in course of my
long government service of 35 years, about
the rented houses and government houses in which we lived etc, etc . All these long
conversations were accompanied by jokes and laughter. We became refreshed and came
out of all depression . Our elder daughter proposed that we should visit next day the most
wonderful Kemp Fort
Lord Shiva temple and Kemp Fort department store saying that our trip
would be incomplete without visiting them . There is a big awe inspiring statue of Lord Shiva to be seen there.
(2)
Next day(6-3-04) too, our son in law left for
office at 9am. He would come home in afternoon
to drop us at railway station. We started for Kemp Fort at 10am. We
boarded the bus and after a 45 minute ride through very neat and modern streets
of Bengaluru reached Kemp Fort. Though inside it was a normal concrete and
glass structure and a modern mall, the
outer high walls were constructed to
make it look like some ancient European fort! Red conical towers as in fairy
tales were everywhere over the outer surrounding wall to please children. It looked like some
ancient fort.
There was a cave like dark area where many locations inside were lighted by dull
electric lights and there were pujas for Lord Shiva. At those places people
stopped to pray to Lord Shiva.People thronged at those places with flowers and
fruits. We too went there and offered prayers with flowers and incense . There
was now a series of surprises. After walking through through the dark cave like passage slowly, we
suddenly came to bright day light and sunshine . Then we saw before us a 60 feet high white shiva statue in a sitting
posture with a serene face like the face of a meditating monk. The statue was made of white marble . From the tangled matted
hair on Lord Shiva’s head a fountain of
water, the fountain of Holy Ganga flowed out gently without stop. There was a
vast cement pond at the feet of Lord Shiva.We were dumbfounded.
The shiva statue was as high as the multi-storeyed buildings around.The statue of the god almighty of the universe looked so
majestic . The pond there was called reverentially as Manas Sarovar( the real
majestic lake in the Himalaya visited by thousands of pilgrims ).We sprinkled
on our heads the water from the pond.
The priest at the holy cave beneath the majestic Lord Shiva statue gave
us each a spoon of holy “Theertham” (Tulasi
water). We took photos of the huge statue .People standing before
that statue looked like lilliputs.
In
addition there was a majestic 35 feet high white statue of Lord Ganapathi (son
of Lord Shiva) situated at a little height to the right of statue of Lord Shiva
and reached by a little flight of steps . We also prayed there offering flowers and fruits . This majestic temple
complex is called as “Shivoham Temple” and has become extremely popular among
people of Banglore.
****
The Kemp Fort department store too was wonderful and was far bigger than the Kaveri Emporium which we visited in Mysore. Each
floor was vast and seemed endless . There were four floors with sheet glass all around. But it was
bounded by outer iron shutters and by the high stone and concrete wall . The
outer concrete wall was like an ancient fort with conical domes .There were 15
to 20 salespersons in each floor. The glass cabinets
showing various types of articles and dresses may be a
hundred on each floor. Price tags in computer labels were attached to
the items in the glass cases. Every article costed above Rs 300/-. Gold plated
,stone -studded jewellery costed Rs 700/-to Rs 1000/-each. There were ear rings, pearl
chains and what not. Though costly for common people ,they were cheap compared
to the art pieces and jewelry at Kaveri Emporium at Mysore. We wandered on 2 or
3 floors for an hour . My daughters
purchased some dresses and creams. We returned home by about 1 pm.
My elder
daughter observed my brooding silence . She came to me and talked in a smiling
way to bring me out of my silence. She assured me that she would be writing letters frequently (NB: At that time 22
years back the cell phones had not become very popular) . She said she would
also talk over phone and that she would visiting Warangal
after one or two months. My dullness entirely vanished. I took them all to the near
by big sweet shop to enjoy a little
sweet.
Our
son in law too arrived soon and all of us had meal and a pleasant talk. We
started by 3-30 pm for the railway
station by car .There was quite heavy
traffic on the road . we engaged a licensed
porter and proceeded to our AC I
class 3 tier coach .we bid good bye to
our daughter and son in law. We continued waving hands till they were out of
sight.
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