I am a direct beneficiary of Lord Guruvayurappan.
The Uttara Guruvayurappan Temple in Delhi’s Mayur Vihar attracts many who go not for a darshan of the revered deity but for the food in the temple’s canteen. There can be no better breakfast than the idli, vadai (medhu and parippu), dosai (along with delicious sambar and coconut chutney), pazham-pori, elai adai and sugiyan on offer at this place.
One recent morning, after visiting a nearby dispensary, my wife and I walked across to the G-Temple canteen. I felt terribly guilty (for not paying obeisance to the deity) as I sat down to tuck into the crisp masala dosai and medhu vadai soaked in sambar. As greed would have it, I also ordered parippu vadai, pazham pori, sugiyan and elai adai for takeaway – told myself that it is for my daughter Manisha who is visiting from Bangalore.
Back home, I found the sugiyan missing (the second time that my forgetfulness had resulted in such a situation). This made me frantic. I could not go back for just that; nor could I call the temple or the canteen with a petty request to help me get my sugiyan. The temple is particularly busy in the festive month of December when the staff take charge of the canteen’s kitchen and catering, besides providing an additional free morning meal to passers-by at the roadside.
I then recalled that, while on my way back home, I had seen a friend and colleague, Mahendra, along with his wife, on a romantic walk in the direction of the temple. I guessed that he too must be a devotee of the G-Temple canteen. I dialled him, knowing that a man tucking into dosai and vadai on a winter morning might not be keen to take the call until after the eating was done. And, I was right. Where he was wrong was in expecting that I would give up when he did not respond to my first attempt. I kept at it. Mahendra gave in and took the call.
I spoke to the affable temple employee who was at the canteen counter on Mahendra’s phone, and he readily agreed to hand over my forgotten sugiyan to him.
Perhaps, this was Lord Guruvayurappan’s way of letting me know that it never pays to enter the periphery of the sannidhi through the backdoor and exit through the side passage, thus bypassing the presiding deity of the place.
Even so, I feel blessed. Actually, like mercy (not the late Rev S Kappen’s niece in Bombay), I feel twice blessed: for the direct benefit, and also for the opportunity of a Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) to Mahendra. May the Lord continue to have mercy on me.
P.S. Mahendra thinks I was getting back at him for the time when he had phoned me to collect the pastries which he had ordered at the IIC confectionery counter but forgot to pick up on his way out. I would opt for a sugiyan over a walnut brownie any day!
Shastri Ramachandaran is a veteran journalist.
This piece was first published on The India Cable – a premium newsletter from The Wire & Galileo Ideas – and has been updated and republished here. To subscribe to The India Cable, click here.