The Chosen Ones...

I was in 10th grade then... It was mid-summer and we were out on an excursion (one of those few times a teenager is conned into believing that he has finally gained the much anticipated "freedom") to Mysore...

Well we made the usual stop at the Palace(some guys seemed to be totally awestruck by the splendour of the 18th century emperor's palace... But I was more keen to get into some shade to avoid getting sunstruck) and a few other places including the evening shopping trip(Which the girls went ga-ga about; Which the guys simply detested.) The itenary for the next day morning said "Chamundi Hills and the Chamundeshwari temple". Well, me and a few of my friends were getting pretty annoyed by the way they kept carting us up-and-down without any place to rest, forget having fun. But well, you can't do much in that situation. So there we were, in the bus, early the next morning waiting "eagerly" to see the Hills...

Having alighted from the bus, a teacher told me that we would be visiting the temple first. As we walked towards the temple (which felt like all of a mile, in the blazing heat) an old lady approached us. She held each of our hands and saying that god would bless us, she handed each of us a lotus. We were bewildered at first. Why on earth would some arbit old woman come up to us and do such a strange thing?? Then I noticed that some of the girls who were just getting off the bus had seen the incident and they seemed pretty puzzled too. One of them, a friend of mine, asked - "So what do you intend to do with those flowers?" Not wanting to admit that I was puzzled too, I said - "Look! we were chosen from amongst this large crowd... God has selected us." My friend, by chance an Anirudh himself (actually it wasn't by chance... You see I have 3 friends by the same name as mine (all of them were there)) says -"We're the chosen ones" Quickly my other friends seconded him.

As we made our way into the temple, the thought of these words clouded my mind... Could we really be the chosen ones? (I'd been watching too many movies at that time I guess) But what must I do with the flowers?? Common-sense told me that I should offer it to the goddess inside... And then perhaps, I could sit back and say - "Take thou what course thou wilt." (I can't be sued by W.Shakespere, can I?) But, my mind being filled with the thought that I could possibly be the Messiah, I totally forgot about the put the flowers as offering and brought it out...

We sat by the temple steps wondering what the implications of our actions could be when suddenly I saw that old woman again, walking towards us... This was my chance-I would, at once, ask her what it was all about... She spoke first however-"Naa ungalukku poo kuduthirenthene. Paisa enga?" (I had given you people flowers. Where is my money?) We didn't know what to do... After all we weren't the chosen ones, it was just a new sales tactic! She even managed to bring the rest of her family when we said we wouldn't pay... It was only with the help of some of the peons who accompanied us that we managed to escape unscathed from the hostile territory. Ofcourse, we couldn't help but notice a few girls giggling as they passed us...
But I swore to myself - "Never again, in any circumstance would I ever be chosen for anything (however godly the task seemed)"