A thin man in his forties, Dr. Rawat’s face radiated calmness and simplicity. Hailed as ‘pandit ji’ in the entire village, he was admired and respected by everyone – after all he had achieved the remarkable feat of instituting the first temple of Goddess Durga in the village. The temple was located on the top of a hillock at one end of the village, nestled between Pine and Sal trees. Every year, during navratri(nine day festival in honour of Goddess Durga), the temple was decorated and illuminated for celebrations.
It was believed that on the ninth day of navratra, Goddess Durga would herself make her presence felt inside the temple premises to fulfill the wishes of all Her devotees. In a particular ritual in the evening, the spirit of Goddess Durga will enter into the body of the chosen one- our very own Dr Rawat. Led by curiosity of this news, I decided to visit the temple on the ninth day of navratra. After all, it is fortuitous to be able to see an educated doctor turn into an avatar of “Ma Durga”, I thought.
As I entered the temple, I saw all the women of the village sitting in the courtyard singing bhajan-kirtan(hymn songs) in a local dialect. Dr Rawat stood infront of the idol of Goddess Durga, draping Her in a glistening red cloth(chunni). I fixed my gaze on him, waiting for the divine moment of enlightenment to arrive. The moment the clock struck 4, Dr Rawat rose from his place and left the temple. He returned in five minutes, clad in a glossy red colored saree. I almost spurt out a giggle, contemplating whether Goddess Durga had told him beforehand to wear a saree through e-mail. As he sat down on the chowki(pedestal), his body began to shake vigorously. In a few moments, he began oscillating his head to and fro, quite akin to the head-banging rockstars I had seen once on television. The divine moment had come as Ma Durga spoke in a squeaky, feminine voice to all Her devotees. Unable to satisfy my rational mind, I walked out of the temple with arrogance, chuckling and laughing at the histrionics of ‘Pandit Ji’.
I woke up early the next day to bring milk. The milkman had a small stable adjoining his house with a large disclaimer on the gate “Beware of Dogs”. I rang the bell a couple of times and then opened the gate carefully to enter inside. Seeing no wild, unruly dogs around, I decided to cross the stable and reach the courtyard of the house to enquire about the milkman. I had just crossed the stable when I heard the snarling sound of a dog behind me. I turned around to be greeted by a ferocious Himalayan mongrel. Panic-stricken and nervous, I ran across the stable. As I tried to jump over a pool of fresh cow-dung, my foot slipped on a brick. The next thing I realized was the lovely fragrance of cow dung all over my face and an angry mongrel attacking my buttocks. I was saved by the milkman’s four year old son. The day started with four stitches, an anti-rabies injection and an antiseptic bath with dettol.
I was recuperating from the trauma of the morning accident basking in the sun when one of my friends visited me for lunch. Himalayan rivers are filled with trouts(freshwater fish) during autumn. I was utterly pleased to see a bag full of trouts he had fished. Something to feel happy about finally, I thought. The trouts were marinated in a paste of ginger, garlic and local herbs and baked in the oven. We savored the fish with squash (buraas) made with rhododendron flowers. Little did I know what awaited me in the evening.
It all started with an uncontrollable itching on the neck and the cheeks. Gradually, it spread to my ears and eyes and places unworthy of description. In a few hours, my eyes and face had swollen to an unimaginable size. To add to that, everything seemed weirdly distorted to my eyes. I rushed to the doctor immediately. It seems, there was an allergic reaction because of the fish I had for lunch. A couple of more anti-allergic injections were injected on my beloved behind which had already borne the brunt of a terrible day.
The injections had a hallucinating effect and I slept off on my bed on returning home. I was woken up at the middle of the night by the oscillating sound of the armchair. I could see a figure in the armchair, clad in white kurta and pyjamas, moving to and fro on the chair. As I raised the lantern with fear, I saw the smiling face of Dr. Rawat in the darkness. “Ask for forgiveness”, he said. The moment I walked up to him, the figure vanished.
I do not know what drove me to the temple the next morning, but that is the first thing I did after waking up. Kneeling infront of the deity, I prayed to Goddess Durga and asked for forgiveness. On returning home I saw a red, shimmering piece of cloth(chunni) lying on the armchair…..
