It is pitch-dark and cold. A lone cycle-rickshaw is slowly making its
way on a deserted road, lit only by the moon-light which finds its way through
the branches of huge trees on both sides of the road. The only other lights are the small lamps in jhuggis
which line both sides of the bumpy road.
There is a couple in the cycle-rickshaw
praying fervently to the Almighty, to take them safely to their
destination.
The eerie silence magnifies the smallest
of sounds hence even the rustle of bushes ruffles the couple who nervously look
around, thinking that something or someone is suddenly going to pounce on
them. The gnarled branches of the trees
seem to menacingly confront them – a scene straight from the English movie
‘Evil Dead’.
As the husband angrily rebukes the wife
for having embarked on this ‘dangerous’ journey, the wife retorts ‘’Keep your
cool. Don’t show that you are nervous or
scared. Be brave, God is with us. Don’t worry we’ll reach safely.”
Both fall silent, each in his/her own
world of fear and prayer.
Well, in case, you
are wondering whether this is a scene straight from a movie or a crime
thriller, you are wrong!
The couple in the
cycle-rickshaw was my husband and I, bravely risking going to Sri Ram
Janmabhoomi in Ayodhya at ten in the night on the 26th of February,
2005.
But let me start
from the beginning. That February, both
of us that is, my husband and I visited Varanasi, Allahabad, Agra, Fatehpur
Sikri, Mathura and Vrindavan.
Initially, we had
planned to go to Ayodhya from Varanasi, as we thought is was nearer from
Varanasi, but enquiries at Varanasi revealed that it was very far and that we
would have to stay overnight in Allahabad and then go to Ayodhya.
Since the next
stop in our tour itinerary was Allahabad anyway, we decided to go to Ayodhya
after reaching Allahabad.
We reach Allahabad
from Varanasi at 12.00 p.m., checked into our guest house, had our lunch and
set off for the bus-stand at 4 p.m. We
thought we would reach Faizabad (from where we were to go to Ayodhya) at about
7.30 p.m. But when we boarded a bus for
Faizabad at 5 p.m. and enquired with the conductor, he told us that we would
reach Faizabad only at 9.30 p.m.
At this, my
husband asked me whether I still wanted to go, because we would be entirely new
to that place and didn’t have any hotel reservations. Similarly, we were entirely clueless about
how we would be going to Ayodhya which is about 8-10 kms from Faizabad.
I reasoned with
him that we had only 2 days in Allahabad according to our itinerary and that I
desperately wanted to visit Ayodhya because of its religious and historic
significance. It would be the chance of
our life-time; and I didn’t want to miss that opportunity.
Reluctantly my
husband agreed to proceed. We had an uneventful
journey, but due to some delay at the scheduled stops en route, our bus reached
Faizabad only at 10.00 p.m.
Enquiries at the
stand made us uneasy, because everyone we asked for directions, gave us
conflicting ones. There was no bus going
directly to Ayodhya. The only means of
transport were the six-seaters.
As it was quite
late in the night, we would probably have had to wait for long, before we could
get any six-seater!
As we were
standing there, debating on our next course of action; tired, cold and hungry,
I spotted a hotel next to the stand. We
immediately went and made enquiries with the receptionist there. I asked him whether we could rent a room and
stay there overnight. I also told him
the purpose of our trip. He looked kind
and helpful. He advised me that that
hotel was not suitable for us. Of course
we secretly wondered what he actual meant!
Then I enquired
about lodging facilities at Ayodhya. He
told me to go to Birla Dharamshala and stay there overnight, as it was popular
with the pilgrims there. He told us that
it was on the main road itself.
We again came near
the main road and started watching out for a six-seater. A jeep stood nearby. The driver asked us where we were headed for
at that late hour. On hearing our
destination, he offered to take us there for Rs.400/-.
We knew that the
distance was only 10 kms and that he was trying to take advantage of our plight. We refused his offer and then fortunately a
six-seater came along. We boarded it,
but our joy was short-lived, when we came to know that it would not ferry us up
to Ayodhya, but somewhere mid-way, as the driver was on his way home.
Left with no other
alternative, still bickering about whether we should’ve stayed back in
Allahabad after all; or even Faizabad, overnight; we were back on the road,
somewhere mid-way between Faizabad and Ayodhya.
We didn’t even know how far we were from Ayodhya!
I decided that we
should wait for another six-seater and go to Ayodhya, but my husband’s
impatience and hunger got the better of him and he declared that we would
complete the remaining journey in a cycle-rickshaw.
Thus we boarded a
cycle-rickshaw, promising the driver Rs.50/- and set off on this adventurous
journey; as described in the first few paragraphs of this article.
As the lights had
gone off in Ayodhya, our journey was frightening, though secretly I was also
thrilled that finally I was truly going to Sri Ram Janmabhoomi!
To be continued....
The copyright of this article is with Mrs. Priya Ramesh Swaminathan.
When we watched the live coverage of the grand Prana Pratishtha Ceremony of Sri Ram Lalla's idol in the marvellously divine temple, constructed on the venerable Sri Ram Janmabhoomi, at the hands of the Hon'ble Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi; we had goose-bumps reminiscing about our trip there 19 years ago!
![The Enigma and other stories: Does life win? The mystery deepens... by [Priya Ramesh Swaminathan]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41Svr1qmEtL.jpg)
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