Dwaraka Trip: Jamnagar, Bhandini sarees and Temple Tours (Chapter 3 of 5)

Dwaraka Trip: Jamnagar, Bhandini sarees and Temple Tours
(Chapter 3 of 5)

We made an abortive attempt at buying Bhandini sarees from Jamnagar (the nerve-centre for such sarees), more because we entered the market when most shops had closed, or were in the process. But we did kneel into a shop that had almost lowered the shutter to deny fresh entries but had kept it open partially for the customers inside to leave.

From the few twisted sarees that the salesman flung at us in quick succession before he could hurry back home, we could not visualize how the sarees would look when treated or polished. “We wish Prashanti were here,” we murmured. She was slightly unwell and wanted fully up to the temple-portions of the tour commencing the next morning. So she decided to call it a day and rest in the hotel.

“We should not leave Jamnagar empty handed; must buy something,” pronounced Siva. “In that case,” interrupted Haider Ali, the driver, “I shall take you to the famous farsan (snacks) bhandaar; and drove us to Jain Vijay Farsan. We selected items that are typically Gujarati. What stands out of our visit to the shop was the liberal free samples they forced on us before buying.

The highlight of our Jamnagar visit, however, was being part of an Akhand Bhajan that we learn had been going on uninterrupted since 1932 or even earlier. During the time we were in, a 90-year old was at the helm singing with gusto. A remarkable feat indeed.

Bidding farewell to Jamnagar, we headed to Nageswara temple, the 12^th of the twelve Jyotir Lingas. The three-hour stretch in an Innova van was rendered less arduous thanks the soft-spoken Ganesh (?) at the wheel, and us playing the ’20 questions’ game. One person would mentally identify a well-known person in any field. The rest would fire 20 questions at him/her for response in yes or no before they guess the right person. In almost all cases we arrived at the right answers. These included: Archrekar (Tendulkar’s coach), Vijay Amritraj, Potti Sri Ramulu, and Dr Zakir Hussain (educationist, minister, and later President). However in two instances the 20 questions led us nowhere. The answers were M.S. Swaminathan, the famous agricultural scientist, and Shahnaz Husain, the beautician. After the first game, at Ganesh’s request we changed the medium of communication to Hindi so that he could be part of it, which he did with his own limitations, but drew applause for his participation.

“That Gopuram that you see on your right,” Ganesh interjected as we were still in the thick of our question-answer session, “is Nageswara temple.” We heaved a sigh of relief as we saw not a big crowd. But as we parked the vehicle, left our slippers behind and walked to the entrance, there was a sudden spurt of visitors, like a flash flood.

We stood in the queue for about thirty minutes before we got a fleeting glance of the deity, as in Tirupati or Guruvayoor. But Siva recalled the briefing Ganesh had given us earlier, went to a nearby counter and bought Abhishekam tickets. The three male members, Dr Murali Krishna, Siva and I, went to a room earmarked, picked a dhoti at random, tied and went to the sanctum sanctorum. The security chaps stopped us promptly, and sent us back to the room to wear just dhoti, and not over the pant. We did that and sat right in front of the deity, touching it, for about 7 to 10 minutes doing Gangajal abhishekam. It looked as though some celebrities were getting special darshan. The ladies watched us from a raised platform about 25 yards away where the statue of Nandi stood guard to God. We met them over there after being in “Kailash” for a while. Nandi attracted no less attention. We saw several devotees whispering something into his ears - some almost holding a telephone conversation. We were told that one could express one’s wish to him, and it would be fulfilled. We didn’t want to be left behind. Each one of us whispered into his ears. I still can’t reckon what I had asked for - “Lokah Samastha Sukhino Bhavanthu,” maybe.

As we came out of the Exit gate with a victorious look having had a one-to-one meeting with the Lord, we saw that the crowd had dissipated, and one could walk straight up to the permitted area unhindered. We didn’t allow the new situation, however, to dilute the privilege that we just had. We learnt later that the crowd or the absence of it depended on the busloads of pilgrims that make it at a given point in time.

It was photograph session thereafter under a banyan tree – some clicking their professional cameras, while others make-do with their cell phones.

With a fully satisfied feeling we headed for Dwaraka. (To be continued.)