Triumph! “My only wish in life is to visit this place”, said my grandmother (Ammamma). “I have eleven children and several grand children, but no one has ever offered to fulfill my wish”, she rued. She was in her late seventies when she said this. “OK Ammamma, I will fulfill your wish, tell me more about it”, I volunteered. She told me about this place, Avani, a hillock near Kolar in Karnataka, not very far from Bangalore. I asked her why is the place so important to her and she mentioned that it is one of those rare temples dedicated to Sita (Ammamma had completed her Rama Koti, writing “sree ram jaya ram jaya jaya ram” 10 million times and a great devotee of Lord Sri Ram) and she also mentioned that Lava and Kusha were born there. Legend has it that that there is a room where Sita gave birth to the twins! I was both curious and interested and told my grandmother that I will take her the following Sunday. It was the month of May. We set out for Kolar on a Sunday and very close to Kolar, we visited a family whom we know for a long time. They were mighty pleased to have us and served us great breakfast. While having breakfast, they found out the real purpose of our visit. They agreed that Avani is a very good place and they also mentioned that there were many ancient temples in the neighborhood of Avani Hill. After breakfast, they requested both my mother and grandmother to rest at their house and told me and my wife to carry couple of bottles of water, as it is arduous and hot to climb the hill. I mentioned to them, that both my mother and grandmother were coming with us to Avani Hill. They were shocked! They said even my mother would find it very difficult to climb, let alone my grandmother. They strongly discouraged us from taking both the elderly persons. But my grandmother insisted. She explained to them, that she has waited for more than 75 years for this day and told them it was very important for her to go atop Avani Hill. Now, I was worried. But still took courage and wanted to keep up my promise to my grandmother. I requested two young men in our host family to accompany us so that any emergency could be tackled. They agreed to come. At the foothills of Avani, there are quite a few ancient and beautiful temples, some in dilapidated condition. We visited some of them and went to the foothills. I was amazed. It was hot. Really hot. It is not a huge climb, but it is no pushover. I asked if my grandmother and mother were up to it. Both of them said, they will climb. We started the ascent. En route, other visitors and there were quite a few of them, kept cautioning us that it would be difficult for my mother and grandmother as we go up. Some even cursed me for taking my grandmother uphill! Well, I took everything in my stride, we rested often and made sure that my grandmother was cheerful all the time. It took us quite some time to reach atop the hillock. There is a room where Valmiki, apparently lived. Finally, we went to the temple dedicated to Sita. My grandmother was in tears. She was ecstatic. Her joy knew no bounds. At that time she revealed that whoever climbs Avani Hill, shall beget healthy and wonderful children! I never witnessed Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay’s quest to conquer the Everest. But, I witnessed triumph of grit, determination, will power and the joy this journey brought to my grandmother. She was ever so thankful to me. She should know how thankful we are for her for giving us an opportunity, firstly to know about Avani Hill, secondly for us to be a part in her conquest and thirdly for the wonderful children that we have now! Did I hear someone say, “Spirit is willing but the flesh is weak”? Chidananda Rupah Shivoham Shivoham Phanibhushan Sharma Tagging my wonderful cousins, Srivalli Miah, Shiva Charan Kodur, Sushma Kodoor, Sindhu Kodoor, Charan Kumar, Pramod Sridhar, Prapul Sridhar, Raghav Murali Ganesh
Posted on: Wed, 18 Sep 2013 15:19:31 +0000
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