Monday, December 25, 2006

The Wishing Well

I went on a road trip to Yercaud for a couple of days with my parents. It was a wonderful vacation. Nothing much to blog about because it was a vacation meant for relaxing and doing nothing at all! However, there are a couple things that crossed my mind and this post deals with one of those thoughts.

Yercaud is also called the "crown of the Shevaroys". And nobody goes to Yercaud without visiting the Shervorayan temple! "Shervorayan" is the name of the King who ruled the Shevaroy hills and he is worshipped by the tribals in the area. There's nothing incredible about the temple at a first glance, but it is one of the best temples I have visited. I totally loved it! The deities are inside a cave. Actually, its supposed to be a string of caves stretching from Yercaud to the Cauvery river. When we reached the place, the guide told us "leave your footwear here, no photography and enter with your heads bent". Ok, at that point, I understood the leave footwear and no photography part of it... but keep our heads bent? Was it supposed to be a mark of respect or a traditional way of entering the temple? My question was answered as soon as I climbed up the stairs and stood at the entrance to the temple. It was the entrance of a cave! And a really low one too! We had to walk three caves (small ones) in to get to the main worshipping area where the priest was waiting for us. All through that, I had to stand with my head and shoulders bent to keep my head from scraping the ceiling! Once everything was over, we walked out and our guide told us the story behind these caves.

Legend has it that Tipu Sultan used those caves to escape from the Brits! Our guide told us that 18 people went into the caves and only 4 people came out! The caves are dark, the only source of light would be from the fire torch carried. Plus, it houses several bats, snakes and all those kinds of creature (that I am not too fond off!). Even today, the priest of the temple has to walk 3Kms through those caves on special occasions to get water from there for the rituals. Fascinating to listen to all these sorta things from the guide!

But thats not the point of this post. All this was just background info ;) :P

Just outside the temple, there is a well. Its actually a few feet below the place we were standing (hilly area!). The guide told us that we were supposed to take 3 small pebbles, stand with our backs facing the well, make a wish and throw the pebbles one by one over our heads. If all three pebbles landed in the well, our wish would be granted soon, if only 2 fell in, it would be granted after a bit of a delay, if only one fell in, it would be granted after a while and of course, if none fell in, tough luck! He picked loads of pebbles for us while we were in the caves. He took three and threw them all into the well like nobody's business! I dunno what he wished for. Then my dad took 3 pebbles and threw them one by one and tried his luck. They were right on target. He admitted that he didn't make any wish. After my mom tried, she said she had wished for the pebbles to land in the well!

But when my turn came, I thought I would give it a shot and just make a wish. Just for the fun of it. Afterall, it is a wishing well! So I took my three pebbles and stood, wondering what to wish for.

It was amazing that I didn't know what to wish for.... I racked my brains and finally made a wish and threw the pebbles in (2 out of 3 fell in. Not bad!). Later I wondered, why the heck was it so difficult for me to think of something to wish for. Was it because there are just too many things to wish for or was it because my life is fine the way it is and there is nothing to wish for?

I don't know why that question bothered me so much that day. Maybe its because I found it rather odd that both the options could have been right. I got all the basic necessities in life and so much more (touchwood). What would a girl like me wanna wish for? But then again, I am only human... and I guess no matter how wonderful life is, the motto "too much is better than not enough" prevails (now where have I heard that before?! :P). At the end of the day, I guess I really have nothing major to wish for. A poor man could wish for means to provide food, clothing and shelter for his family, a physically challenged person could wish for the strength and the ability to lead a normal life or to get better and so on and so forth. But I got everything I need. I got more than what I need in fact (touch a heap big block of wood again!). Then what am I supposed to wish for?

I guess, the point of this post is that I am grateful for everything that I have been given in this life. And I always will be grateful. I am grateful that when I stand in front of a wishing well, I really don't need to make a wish for myself. There are people who need miracles more than I do. I believe in God. And its been a long time since I thanked God for giving me this life, thanked my parents for always being there for me and giving me everything I ever needed and my friends for sticking with me through thick and thin.

The wishing well has reminded me... its a wonderful life and I gotta learn to keep my spirits up at all times. And at times when I am depressed, remembering the wishing well will (hopefully) remind me that when my life is just fine the way it is, there is nothing to be depressed about. (my exam results are coming out soon, lets see how things work out :P)

Did I mention its a wonderful life?

Wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

:)

6 comments:

Anusha said...

Awww, that was a wonderful post, dearie! Well written, and a very nice sentiment, indeed. :)

//After my mom tried, she said she had wished for the pebbles to land in the well!
Ha! This totally reminds me of Joey and the wish-bone. After he's gotten the bigger piece:

"So...what did you wish for?"

"The bigger piece, duh!" :P

Anyway, I totally agree with what you've said. Results are coming out, and suddenly there's this praying craze and my mother recently said "It's not good to remember Him just when you need Him -- you must believe in Him all through." True, huh? I, too, am thankful to God for everything He's given me. Things could've gone so wrong for us all, and they didn't. We have everything we could wish for -- and that, indeed, is something to be thankful for every day of our lives.

Well written, girlie. Nice work. (And who said my comments can't be mile-long ones too, huh? :P)

Anusha said...

Oooh, belated Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year to you too, darling! :)

Confused Soul said...

Nice post.. we should always thank God for all that He has given us.. and as I said in one of my posts, when you look at your life, you might feel that there's something missing, and may be you want more.. but when you look at it from another person's perspective, you find that you have a lotttt indeed :) And the earlier we realise that we actually have a lot and thank God for it, the better. And by lot I mean - eyes ,nose, ears, hands and feet which work, parents to love us, a roof above our heads and food to eat. This seems like hardly anything, but there are millions who don't have one or more of these things! :)

And yeah, that's a nice thing your mom wished for! ;)

Macho Girl said...

#clueless
wow... really? u think this was a well written post?? Fanks! :) When i was writing it, it sounded like pure crap, but i loved the topic!

Anything and everything can be related to friends eh? When I was writing that part, even I was thinking about Joey!

By some weird coincidence (or whatever you wanna call it!) it just so happened that during our trip, we ended up visiting 1 temple a day! We didnt mean to. Thursday, friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday... all days we unintentioanlly went to temples (mainly as tourists, but being Hindus, we also prayed). And in none of those temples, i prayed for marks or a good cap. It just felt wrong. I guess, when u work hard, things will happen. If they dont, well, maybe there was a higher purpose or something like that! ;)

And there you go! A mile and half reply to a mile long comment! Beat that!

#Confused soul
Maybe I shud have also tried the same wish as mom! haha. never mind, I managed to figure out something. It might seem trivial to many, but it means a lot to me :)

#soleil
I never made a wish before blowing out the candles on my birthday cake. Nobody ever told me about that. Didnt know for a long time that u were supposed to do that. Glad u liked this post! :D

Anonymous said...

Wishing you a happy new year-2007 !!

HOPE THE NEW YEAR BRINGS HAPPINESS AND GOOD HEALTH TO ALL AND THAT THERE WILL BE PEACE IN THE WORLD SO ALL PEOPLE WILL HAVE THE CHANCE TO ENJOY LIFE.

prithz said...

Wishes for a wonderful year! :)