10
Oct

From here to eternity -1

A pilgrimage to introspect!
When a WhatsApp message came from Rtn. M. Lakshminarayan, an old hand in organising tours of Rotarians, that a holy trip, pilgrimage,  was planned, I instantly responded with joy.
Ever since Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister in 2014 and he had committed to cleanse Ganga at Kashi and to get rid of that most unhygienic, congested roads to Kashi Vishwanath Temple and the burning Ghats, I was wanting to see Modi’s work in his second term, yielding 5 years, in cleansing that terrible Augean stables which the earlier Herculean PMs, including Rajiv Gandhi, could not do.
Despite a couple of attempts, I could not make the visit but my yearning became overwhelming when Modi inaugurated the Ayodhya Ram Mandir and consecrated the idol of Ram Lalla. Lo, at last, the Hindus reclaimed their God’s land under Modi’s PMship.
The Hindu temple was demolished in 1528 by Mughal Emperor Babar and Hindus could not claim it back even after Independence in 1947 till, after many agitations and legal battles, Narendra Modi as PM succeeded and inaugurated it in January, 2024. Since then I was wanting to visit Ayodhya and thanks to the Holy Trip organised by the Rotary, I jumped into this bandwagon.
A journey, usually a long one, made to sacred places as an act of religious devotion, is called pilgrimage. Obviously this journey of ours was only to sacred places, temples, beginning with Ayodhya, Prayagraj, Chitrakoot, Kashi and Gaya.