awanderingshegoes

It was balmy evening as I sat on the bench at the local fire temple. The temple was one of the last traces of the Parsi community that occupied the city of Bharuch years ago. It overlooks a river and in the distance you can see a railroad bridge that brings the trains into the city, the lights from homes that are across the river and people swimming in the water below.

This temple might as well be added to the list of abandoned buildings in India, but the devoted priest comes in 4 to 5 times a day and opens the door for anyone who wishes to pray. We had to call him and request him to open the main gate for us for which he was glad to do even though it was quite late in the evening.

On reaching there, my mother and uncle showed me an abandoned house next to the temple, which was once their ancestral home. They recalled how this house was always a buzz with the sounds of kids laughing, the women bargaining with the fisher women for the price of the biggest fish, the grandparents lounging on the porch on rickety old easy chairs and they even said that you could hear in the distance, the washerwomen slapping clothes against the river rocks.

Now, the house and temple stand quiet in the dark like two gentle giants on a hill waiting for someone to awaken them.

As I sat there by myself, I looked across the river and tried to imagine what it must have been like when they were kids. I pictured the rows of lilies at the entrance door of the temple. The beautiful terrace where people held many feasts, one of them being my uncle’s Navjote ceremony. It is a ceremony where a Zoroastrian child is welcomed into the religion.

It was not my memory but somehow I felt like I was there. I was even getting a scent of the flowers, sandalwood and quite possibly the food my great aunt might have prepared in the kitchen of that house.

I could hear the sound of the hawkers selling their wares, people praying in the temple and even the stray dogs wolfing down the food the family used to save for them.

I took in a deep breath and finally felt at peace especially since I was having a bad day, travelling in a cramped car for over seven hours, dealing with the sweltering heat and quite possibly eating some questionable meat for lunch. And it was totally worth it!

This memory is not real, but how I felt at this moment will never be forgotten.