Ashok’s life plunges into darkness
‘How am I going to cope up with her?’
A single question was racking his brain for a long time. After a 2-hour long struggle stuck in the traffic jam, his body, mind, and brain were like a wilted lettuce, he stopped his car at its place, climbed up and knocked on the door of his house without raising his hanging head.
Avoiding his wife’s glance as she came and opened the door, he sat on the reclining chair in the middle of the hall, leaning his head back and slowly closing his eyes.
Dejected Ashok
‘What to tell her? How to tell her? If I tell, in the current situation, what will I do if she leaves me and goes away?’
As he was thus thinking,
“Ashok… Ashok… What’s wrong? Is your Onsite project confirmed? What did they say in the meeting today?”
Not bothering about his tiredness, she piled up her questions.
“They didn’t say anything”
“Meaning?”
“The onsite project got cancelled… our company has lost the project for which I was supposed to be going… I don’t know if my job itself is permanent now! Then how come going onsite can happen?” As he said tiredly, his wife stood shocked as if slapped by a ghost.”
“What do you mean?”
“Can’t you hear?” He asked raising his voice slightly
“Look at the arrogance, inspite of the fact that you have turned me down on the foreign trip!”
“Don’t talk too much, am already boiling in anger!”
“What now? You are doing nothing and simply getting angry over the bitter truth? Didn’t I ask you for divorce last year itself? You only made me false promises to take me abroad. On what condition did I marry you? It’s been 5 years now! Nothing has happened yet!”
“Can’t you see, did I deceive you purposefully? Just don’t argue for the sake of arguing!”
“Didn’t I say that we should settled down abroad and have our child only there?”
“So, what can we do about it? Won’t you understand? I am not doing this purposefully, it’s all my fate!”
“Admit you can’t. Don’t shift blame towards date and time .. and don’t tell me all these stories!”
“Take it.. whichever way you want”
“I cannot suffer for your inability. I can’t give up my on dreams!”
“What do you want me to do now?”
“I am going to my mother’s house”
“Are people living in this country are fools? Am I not earning enough? Can’t we live here happily?”
“See here, I don’t care about others…I can’t be a slave and serve you and your mother any longer! Please give me a divorce, without troubling me any further”
“Do as you wish”, he said and retired into his room. He had already almost guessed this would happen. And so wasn’t shocked greatly. However, there was a small hope that she would understand the situation and stay back. Durga, his wife, through her action, made it evident that she isn’t going to budge.
Hearing Durga calling her father to pick her up at once, he retired to bed, making his mind a stone.
Hearing the door bell ringing, he woke up in the morning. The front door was open ajar. As he fetched the milk packets, he thought to himself that the milkman might have rung the bell.
“Ashok” he heard a voice and turned around. It was Lakshmi, who lived in the opposite apartment.
“Tell me sister”
“What happened, the door is ajar? Where’s Durga?”
“She has gone to her mother’s home”
“Oh…just like that, or yet another fight?”
“Another fight!”
“Ok, don’t trouble yourself. I’ll bring breakfast for you and sister”
“Sister, don’t bother, I’ll take care. Am on leave today.”
“Hey, am like your sister. Don’t be formal, ok?”. Unable to refuse, he nodded.
Ashok thought about Lakshmi and her family. Lakshmi’s family moved to the opposite house hardly an year ago. She was very kind and knew Durga’s behavior quite well and have reconciled them more than ten times.
She and her husband always greet each other with a smile. Their son is married. They also live with them. A loving family, their family knows how to live contented with what they have. No big frills or extravagant spends. It has become rare in this era for everyone in the family to be attached and caring towards each other. But thinking about them as a miraculous family, he gave the coffee to his mother, who could not walk, and sat on the recliner and drank his coffee.
After an hour Lakshmi came with breakfast,as the maid servant also came she took over the responsibility of looking after Ashok’s ailing mother.Ashok just sat on the dining chair without inclination to eat.
“Ashok, please eat” said Lakshmi.
“Yes sister”, he said reluctantly and started having breakfast on Lakshmi’s insistence and ended up eating more than his usual quantity, not only because the food was tasty but also because he had missed his meal previous night.
“Did you scold her?”
“No sister, my onsite project got cancelled. She shouted at me and went away.Dont worry.. she will be back in a couple of days ,nothing new”. He put up a brave face, although deep within he feared the worse.
“OK Ashok, we are leaving to our native place tomorrow for head-tonsure (shave) for our grand child. I’ll leave some idly batter, chutney powder along with some tamarind and tomato spicy chutneys. Manage with those till Durga is back.”. He nodded knowing pretty well that there was no point in refusing.
The next week too went by with no change. When Lakshmi and her family came back, Ashok had already returned home from office.
Having learnt that Durga had not yet returned, Lakshmi consoled Ashok. She smeared his forehead with sacred ash and handed him over the items she had bought for him from her native place.
Lakshmi comes to the rescue
Lakshmi identifies the core problem
“Tirupathi or Palani, sister?”
“Our family deity – mother goddess’s – sacred offerings, my dear Ashok”
“Family deity? Which place sister?”
“Our native place, Rasipuram”
“Oh ok!”
“What’s your family deity’s name, Ashok?”
“Family deity? No idea sister. Maybe mother knows but I suspect that too. My parents had love marriage with neither family supporting them. They settled on their own in Chennai. So, I have never visited our native place. When Father was alive, he used to go there occasionally”
“Are you in touch with any of your father’s relatives?”
“My aunt’s son is in Chennai. Am in touch with him infrequently”
“What’s your birth star?”
“It’s Moolam. Why sister?”
“Ashok, do these at once. Go to your father’s native place and get to know more about your family deity and your family guardian deity. Then, head there along with Durga, and offer Pongal to the deity. Bring the sand from the temple and place it in your prayer room. Pray to your deity regularly. If any ancestral rites has got missed out, please ensure it is done appropriately.”
“Sister, she won’t come”
“I’ll talk to her, Ashok”
“No sister, she has already sent a divorce notice”
“Oh my God!”
“Leave it sister. I can’t even imagine telling the reason for the divorce, to others. Hence, have made up my mind to give consent, sister. I can’t get along with her any longer”
“Don’t say that Ashok. Don’t worry. First you finish all the formalities for your deity. Everything will be alright soon”
“Oh sister, there is no God left that I haven’t prayed yet. It’s of no use”
“No purpose praying to other Gods, when you haven’t prayed to your own family deity”
“Why do you say so?”
“Our family deity and ancestors have the capability to directly fulfil your prayers. They would be able to take help from the entire cosmos. Life is turning out to be continuously difficult for you, as you don’t have their blessings”
“What, no blessings from our own family deity? Why, don’t we belong to that family any more? Why wouldn’t the deity bless us?”
“Ha ha nice joke. Then we can always assume that Deities would automatically protect us and stop praying totally…”
“Right. I don’t know what to say”
“If you don’t respect someone, will they help you? Isn’t it same in this case too? How do you expect them to help you?”
“Hmm”
“Knock and the door opens. Ask and you would get. First find your family deity and start worshipping”
“Will everything change miraculously?”
“It is like expecting an severely injured person to become normal with just one tablet!”
“…”
“Start worshipping. You would see improvements in due course, step by step”
“How do we know that the deity is listening to our prayers?”
“When we have the blessings of our family deity, our good wishes would materialize even before you go in search of them. Not only that, our deity would shoulder our troubles too, on our behalf. And protect us as a shield.”
“How did you say I did not have the blessings of my family deity?”
“For one who is not blessed enough, even small problems gets blown out of proportion and poses as a great hurdle. Also, you are born in Moola star, which indicates that your father has not properly offered his prayers to the family deity.”
The turning point
“Ok sister, let me start finding out more about our family deity”
Half-heartedly, based on insistence by Lakshmi, Ashok started fishing out information on their family deity. After a long struggle, he finally got to know their family deity and started worshipping the same. He undertook the associated formalities as prescribed for worshipping the deity. He also completed the pending annual ceremony in remembrance of his father.
Meanwhile, he got officially divorced from Durga and lost his job as well.
“At least until now, I was able to live. But looks like situation has worsened now”, he started worrying deeply.
“Sister, I did what you prescribed. See now, I lost my job and my life too”, he grumbled to Lakshmi
“Ashok, it was well known to you that Durga had applied for divorce and that your job was also unstable. Nothing new. Also, did you pray whole heartedly? And going to your temple just once and telling the problem once, is it enough?”
“No, actually I prayed half-heartedly and only because you were insisting”
“Ok, did you bring the soil from the temple and keep it in your prayer room?”
“No sister. I would be going again this week as my paternal uncle wanted me to come for a discussion regarding ancestral property. I’ll bring the soil then”
“Pray to your deity, earnestly and with full faith, that your life should become peaceful and prosperous. Tie an one rupee coin in a small yellow cloth and keep it in the prayer room near the deity. Regularly pray in brahma-muhurtha time (3.30am to 5.30am daily) for the next 48 days. Definitely, all your troubles would vanish soon. Importantly, ensure that you have absolute inner belief while you pray.”
She gave a little pause for him to ingest what she just said.
“Hmm…”. Ashok had no words to say.
“Ok, let’s says, I solely and entirely depend on you for some work, what will you do for me?”
“I’ll do my best to support to the maximum extent of my capacity”
“Same applies to deities too. It is foolish to believe that a half-hearted prayer would resolve all your problems. You don’t fall into that trap. Believe whole-heartedly. It will happen definitely. Our past good deeds and our deity all will come forward to our help in time”
The happy family!
This time Lakshmi’s advice seemed to have made it’s mark. He whole-heartedly prayed to the deity for the next 48 days. His hard work, never-give-up attitude & self-belief helping him on one-side, his life improved progressively in the next couple of years.
Initially his mother got cured 80% through domestic organic medicines. Using the money he got through sale of his share of ancestral property, he started off a business and it grew considerably well in the next three years. He also got married to a matching life partner.
Now he has a son too. As soon as his son was born, the first question he asked Lakshmi was if his son had the blessings of their family deity. Lakshmi also checked his son’s horoscope and confirmed that there is no curse on their deity side.
“You don’t need to check horoscope Ashok. It is obvious that your deity is guiding and supporting you from the way your life has changed”
“You are 100% right sister. To get a life partner like Thulasi itself is a blessing. Business is also profitable. I give 20% of my profits to my deity. Mom is also good enough and is able to look after herself well, thanks to you for making this happened in my life.”, he said happily.
“You are like my brother, Ashok. I just told what I knew. I did nothing. You are a good hearted person and so your deity helped you through me. Whatever be the way, I hope you do well always”, blessed Lakshmi lovingly.
Ashok prostrated at the feet of Lakshmi, who was reason in renewing his once withered and spoilt life, and went to look after his dear son.
🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱