The God Business

While seminal would be too extreme to describe the tiny work of a fledgling writer, I will consider this one as the best poem I have written till date. There is absolutely no hesitation that this work has been solely inspired by one of the greatest novels written entirely as Onegin Sonnets – ‘The Golden Gate’ by my favorite poet Vikram Seth. I put painstaking effort over a month in writing a heavily abridged Onegin poem, and I realized how tough it would have been for the Mr. Seth to write his magnum opus. Consisting of 19 sonnets and 266 lines, written in the Iambic Tetrameter with the rhyme scheme – ABABCCDDEFFEGG, ‘The God Business’ is laced with attempts to explore various facets of Religion, God and Spirituality which has been a contentious topic close to my heart for years. For perhaps the only time till date did I feel a profound sense of pride and achievement of my own literary output when I finished this poem.

Scarcely knowing where to begin

This writer’s desperate attempts to avoid

The minutiae springing forth from the inception of this onegin

May somewhat be rendered null and void

But he will nevertheless try to push

Through to the contents, without beating around the bush

And quickly get down to brass tacks

By starting to lay down plain facts

And promote ideas seemingly tendentious

Bordering on the lines of blasphemy.

He endangers self to land in infamy,

However knowingly employs words ‘licentious’

Wading into troubled waters, abandoning rectitude

To issue output with devil-may-care attitude.

 

One un-fine day, with heart beset by the weight of its sorrows

Plentiful, heavy, bedeviled and unable to cope

Any more with the outrageous hurling of slings and arrows

And convulsed in the throes awaiting new-born hope,

I decided to confront the creator once and for all

And release a fresh tranche of clarion call

Or in softer terms to seek succour

And exhort divine intervention into my cri de Coeur.

I also sought the comfort

Of my wife who was convinced

And whose voice and tone evinced,

That the solution required an effort

To not stop with just verbiage

But to embark on a holy pilgrimage

 

Not entirely convinced of its purported efficacy

Nonetheless yielding to glib persuasion,

And in order to conceal any signs of apostasy

I earmarked a weekend for the exertion.

On the evening of Friday, the thirteenth of April

Plucking up reserves of patience and will,

I departed for the temple town

By train, shortly after sundown,

In a compartment pullulated

By rambunctious devotees

Who ensured not a moment’s peace

As nook and corner was populated,

By swarms of human fervor in locomotion

Putting me through the sufferance of unabated commotion

 

After a night of disturbed sleep

A night that never seemed to end

Fruitlessly spent counting sheep

We eventually arrived at journey’s end.

As the sun arose from it’s slumber

To herald another day of a blistering Indian Summer.

I packed bag and disembarked

And made way to the autos parked.

The milling passengers were welcomed by masters of hustle

The obstreperous Autowallahs and their gheraoing tactics, sans finesse.

As the human hyenas scented quick business

One chap ensnared me after a lengthy tussle

And fished me out of the unruly gaggle

And I was soon ensconced in the backseat ready for the dreaded haggle.

 

Commenced the unpleasant exchange.

“So how much to hotel Four Seasons?”

“300 sir”. “300! Shocking! Is that the usual range?”

“Yes sir, it is, and not without reasons -

This is festival time, and we shuttle

You back and forth, without rest” adding a subtle

Bite, before resuming – “We need to pay bribes

And kickbacks to the police tribes”

“But, G-map says it’s just three miles, look I don’t intend to bargain....”

“Sir! I am sorry to interrupt! - You spend thousands on travel

Poojas and Aarthis. And on the move, newer expenses unravel

Themselves costing you a fortune that you never complain

Considering all that, this amount is pretty smallish

Please don’t be penny wise pound foolish.”

 

With energy levels plummeting,

Signalling, I was low on carbs

And sensing no point further fretting

I stopped trading barbs.

As the auto began winding its way

I sat back and tried to survey

The environs of the famed town,

Cocking a worm’s eye view of the temple tower, jewel in its crown.

Entry into the famed town was welcomed by an arched vault

We snaked through roads that wore a festive look

Grandly bedecked, offering a promising outlook

And reached destination, as the chap ground to a halt

“Enjoy sir, hope you like our town and its culture!”

On this note, pocketing the money, departed the human vulture.

 

The next couple of hours were consumed

Prepping for the long day ahead.

After a refreshing bath, traditionally attired and perfumed,

Brunched in the attached restaurant, feeling well-fed

I tooled off towards the temple

The routine was set, plain and simple.

I brushed aside the hollering autowallahs not to be budged

The full distance of three miles I trudged

Along drinking in the city’s traditions and mores

Lively deity processions middling the road, sided by coloured shops

Snack stalls and caparisoned pandals supported by props

And devotees thronging the streets in scores

Squeezing through humans and bovine

Creatures, psycho-geographing all the way to the shrine.

 

After an hour and two quarters

Having traipsed under the blazing rays

I finally sighted the temple at close quarters.

Summoning up reserves, and quickening my pace

I landed up in front of the temple, drenched top to toe

And took out a kerchief to mop the brow.

I made way to the ticket counter

To witness a massive queue flounder

At the very end of the human column

Where the queue diverged into three.

‘Regular Rs. 50, Special Rs. 100 and Rs. 250 for VIP Entry’

Blared the ‘Darshan’ rates on a flex board, solemn

Reminder of truth that even God in his elevated stature

Was rendered a mere commercial caricature.

 

As the queue meandered with the pace of a snail              

I spent the interim contemplating

On the best option to avail

And made no concrete decision until the end of waiting.

Caught between cost and convenience

I tried to draw from previous experience.

True, Rs. 250 was mightily exorbitant

But the Darshan would complete in an instant.

On the other hand the first choice

Was also attractive, a pittance

Of an amount, but entailed bearing the waiting distance.

So I nailed ‘Option Two, deciding to strike equipoise

Taking the middle ground, when such dilemmas ensue

Also seems the alternative, most sound to pursue.

 

So seizing the middle ticket

I set foot inside the temple compound

I thought I was on a steady wicket

New fixtures ahead penciled abound

I was dazed at the architecture magnifique

Wide-eyed, gaping jaws, welted with mystique

At the Stunning edifices and statues, sculpted with passionate geometry

And neatly laid pavilions, flanked by structures in flawless symmetry

I couldn’t help but marvel

At the greatness of my ancestry

An age where true greatness prevailed minus the sophistry

The architectonic wonder alone was worth the travel

As I peregrinated the super acres of the courtyard

And sat marveling on the greensward.

 

Impelled to the spot by the piece de resistance

I sat unflappably ignoring passage of time

What eventually returned me to my cognizance

Was the temple tower bell’s plangent chime.

I approached a man, dark, sweaty and swarthy

“Excuse me sir, How do I go to the evening Aarthi?”

“Have you bought the Aarthi token”

Token? Flashing the ticket, I rebuked, “I thought..”.. I had barely spoken

“For the Aarthi, you need to obtain

He chipped in – “Another token to validate

Your entrance into the main gate

So hurry along fast only 10 minutes remain”

So I hurried along quickening my pace

To acquire my next proof of purchase

 

Shelling out another atrocious Two hundred bucks

Again paraded in the name of the Godhead

I immersed myself again into the teeming influx

Of devotees, which began to come to a head

After a good ninety minutes, I reached the Sanctum Sanctorum

Whose air totally devoided any decorum

A crowd had gathered at the center of a kerfuffle

I rubbernecked to ascertain what caused the scuffle

The arrival of a priest had caused the clash

Between two queueing devotees, standing cheek by jowl

One stubbed his toe against the other, resulting in a howl

In the process of securing the sacred ash

After quick unruly exchanges, interest gradually waned

Amongst the heads that had inquisitively craned.

 

In a country which is unwilling to spare

Even smallest tiffs which snowball into riots

Such temperate resolutions are refreshingly rare

I silently thanked my two compatriots

Even if I knew it was more out of sacrilege

And fear of the divine, that usage

Of words and actions more profane

Were retracted in fear of inviting the bane

I propped up against the rails of the altar

Once the adornment of God was complete

With milk, ghee, honey and bananas replete

I would at last see God himself without any falter

And hopefully feel at ease

And my problems would cease

 

The next few tense revolutions

Of the largest hands in the clock

Saw God’s children waiting for their absolution.

Rammed to each other chock-a-block

The prized wait ended moments later

As God’s sacerdotal mediator

Threw open the screen to full vision

And triggered a human explosion.

The crowd plunged into pell-mell

To catch fleeting glimpses of the deity

Oxymoronically everything in the process amounted to impiety.

Morbid human masses began to jostle, thwack, and yell

Cannoning onto each other, bellowing many a foul-mouthed sound-byte

In a primordial attempt to throw themselves into God’s line of sight.

 

The penultimate portion of the process was over

The screen closed again signaling an intermediary buffer

With messianic zeal, the mob continued to spill over

The last step would prove to be even tougher

To my own surprise, I proved to be no pushover

Despite completing the divine sighting, I continued to hover

Instead of beating a hasty retreat

Through the side exit, I decided to linger in the heat.

In 5 minutes, a rotund priest lumbered in, all authority

As a posse of security guards herded the rabid swarm

Of men, to have one quick tryst, to fob off their charm

To God himself in close proximity

So, I trundled along with the rank and file

As we were shepherded through the turnstile.

 

If I had thought I had already seen the worst

Make no mistake, I was proven wrong

As the simmering pilgrim bubble yet again burst

And I was squashed yet again in the throng.

Able-bodied men tried to bore through

Unsuccessfully, instead sticking to each other like glue.

As we neared the idol, almost every member of the wrestling

Gang further hastened by the guard’s incessant whistling

Caved in before God in an act of spontaneity.

As the guards mercilessly pulled and smacked

The recalcitrant few who refused to exit, were dragged and whacked

Out, as attempts to secure extra seconds of divine eye contact, the ultimate quest

Made all the difference in this miserable spiritual contest.

 

The Sanctum Sanctorum reverberated with holy cries

In praise of the lord with effusive unction,

While the security guards under his watchful eyes

Defenestrated us without compunction.

I staggered out, my juices sucked out, low and shriveled,

Rattled, shaken and disheveled

But relieved to be out of the mess and freed

And not have succumbed to a stampede.

Without any further delay

I saluted the monument and exited.

I didn’t mind if my visit was unrequited

But I was slowly convinced I didn’t need a show of parley

With God to prove my devotion and fealty

My first step towards understanding the reality.

 

Cut to 36 hours later

I was back home, seated in my Pooja room

In front of the Supreme Being, my creator

The working week, about to resume.

There were no signs of taedium vitae

To the gravest problems I knew, there was hope, a way

A new power surged through my veins, the power of life

The power to take over the reins and overcome any strife.

I still had to take care of one pending matter

The matter of God, our business was unfinished

Now was the moment to seize, before it diminished

The rest could wait, I could choose not to cater.

I wished to ratiocinate, totally impervious

To temptations of visceral bias.

The business of God abounds with confusion

After orchestrating one deeply profound introspection

I had formed my conclusion

After subjecting God to this imperative vivisection

I needed no chants, no book, or ritualistic channels,

No pilgrimages, no sacred ashes or panels

Of priestly intercessions in commercialized edifices.

I needed only God (free of cost) his ubiquitous presence alone suffices.

The ultimate truth which had belied

For years revealed itself - The place

I had to look for solace

When needed was deep down inside

For that is the holiest abode where God resides

The truest temple is in the heart from where he presides.