Destination of that day!

There was  a small fear and confusion the previous when I was going to bed.  The next day I had to  see  morning early.  For me getting up early is  a difficult part. But, I strongly said to myself , I will not fail in the plan  I made.

May be because my ‘heart’ was also along with my ‘will’ that day, sharp 5.45 a.m my eyes were open. “Thank God! I woke up..”

I hurried to take bath, put some fruits and other stuffs in my bag along with a camera, made a good wish and started!

Yes, I was going for a trip to an unknown place that I wanted to make it alone to experience the difference and  another personal reason!

At around  7.15AM, I was out of the gate of my house in Bangalore and walked along  the sun who was  going to be my only known company throughout  that day. I was neither so excited nor very down.  A bus dropped me in Majestic – the main bus terminal in Bangalore. Soon, I found another bus which takes me to  a place where my destination existed. There wasn’t much traffic in the morning.

I felt, the bus speed was overtaking the speed of my thoughts. I was lucky, a window side seat was more beneficial.  Along the way, one thing that really captured me  was a “huge hill of  big boulders and stones”. Those were  a marvelous sight to my city drawn eyes. I thought… “If Vanara’s (monkey Gods from the Hindu Epic Ramayana)  saw these stones when they were making bridge to Lanka, they wouldn’t have look anywhere else  for raw materials!”. I smiled about  my own stupid thought.

 After about 3 hours of journey into the deep rural, the bus  reached the place –‘Kolar’. I owed my  thanks to the bus conductor who put me in a bus which takes  me  to a place where I realized I had to get a final vehicle to my place of interest . A little sleep  in the 30 min of quick journey did good. When I opened my eyes, I was in the golden earth of India called  KGF!

Within 10 minutes, a gate with “Linga” was welcoming  me..  I could see “Lingas” all over there as my Bus stopped. I got down and saw a board written “*Koti Lingeswara Temple”! And that was my ultimate destination of the day! (*Koti meaning 10000000 and Linga symbolizing the Hindu Lord Shiva)

I was completely thrilled while entering to the ‘Mahadwara’ (Main entrance of the place) of  Kotilingeswara temple. I could find an outbuilding of “ Black Lingas”  both the side all over the way.  I bought Pooja stuffs, paid  the entry fee  and got into the  so called “Bhookailasa”. (Home of Lord Shiva on Earth)  

Entrance was beautiful.  Since it wasn’t a Monday or weekend, which were days normally attracting many people to this temple, this Thursday had very few visitors.

In between hundreds of thousands of Lingas, I could find 3 main temples, viz. Brahmeshwar Temple, Shiva temple and Narayana Temple.

I gave Pooja stuffs to  a priest in one of the temple and requested him to perform “Archana”(a special practice for worship in Hindu Temples). He was also talking with the visitors about a “Thread Tying” service which was supposedly famous and  beneficial.

I was  amazed  to note, this Priest was communicating in 4 different languages very fluently. He was a perfect professional.  I decided and bought his magic thread, tied to the blessed tree !  I fed banana’s  to a hungry monkey . There was a 108 ft height Linga installed and facing  the Basava (The bull – believed as a vehicle of Lord Shiva in Hindu Religion) statue.  It turned out to be his tallest statue in this world!

The place as such was quiet and nice  for  meditation. I didn’t want to disappoint my camera. I tried to capture “Kotilingeswara” in all directions.  It was almost 1.30 p.m. Interestingly, even though I didn’t have any food since morning, my energy was still up!

I saw an old lady who was cleaning a field, nearby. I felt inspired, went to her and gave all the food that I was carrying. The smile on her face gave me more energy than what my food could give. It was my  best moment of the day. As one might ask, I didn’t actually take the risk to counting these Lingas. Because I knew from sight that it won’t get over in a day.

 After that, I waved my hands to all the Lingas and left from Kotilingeswara with my stomach, reminding me it was empty. But I decided that, I won’t eat anything until I reach back Bangalore, a practice that I follow when I’m outside.

 It was too sunny when I started back. The bus was running  medium fast. I was back 6.30 p.m, knocking at my house door. Gladly greeted by my inmate friends, I rushed to satiate my hungry stomach.  It wasn’t even 12 hours from when I had left. I was back to the known world with a satisfied desire.

‘Kotilingeshwara’ had been captured in my mind and camera. I couldn’t analyze much about the place since I was very tired physically and mentally. It was true , I probably didn’t get much devotional feeling in the place of Lord Shiva! The place didn’t take me much high but I was definitely  not disappointed about the experience. It was one of the places anyone could (or should) visit once in their life.  For me, the goal of this day was fulfilled. Reasons for the trip were satisfied. My experience that day was different from my routine and that mattered to me, most. And it remained as one more experiment in the journey of life.  It helped me to awake to the venturesome in me.  

Glad to have had a balanced trip, I marked 16th of Sep 2010 as a day in my history of “Change”!

Thanks to a friend who helped me by editing this journal properly!