{"id":13845,"date":"2016-09-09T16:17:20","date_gmt":"2016-09-09T23:17:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/siliconeer.com\/current\/?p=13845"},"modified":"2016-09-09T16:17:38","modified_gmt":"2016-09-09T23:17:38","slug":"a-bright-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/siliconeer.com\/current\/a-bright-future\/","title":{"rendered":"A BRIGHT FUTURE"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cNo Bhagavata Purana<\/em> story today,\u201d said Grandpa Shivaram. A simple man, not particular about his clothes or his unkempt hair, Shivaram, a retired physician, looked older than his age. Children affectionately called him, \u201cDada,\u201d in Hindi. \u2013 @Siliconeer #Siliconeer #Fiction #DrRaghavendraRao #Literature<\/p>\n

\n

As usual, Shivaram Dada sat on a mat in the verandah of the temple and conversed with children. Every Sunday morning, as the sun rose, he came to the temple, circumambulated the idols of various gods and goddesses, chatted with the priest, graciously received the thirtha<\/em>, the holy water, passed his wet palm over his head, and settled in the hall. Soon, children of all ages arrived and sat around him to listen to his stories from puranas<\/em>. He had a knack for telling the episodes sprinkled with moral values which came deep from his heart out of total conviction. The children listened attentively. Often, several adults joined the group as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cO, Dada, no Bhagavata story today? Darn,\u201d the children grumbled.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll right, I\u2019ll tell you a story. Listen carefully.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was an average sized town in America. People came there from various parts of India and settled down and prospered. They were doctors, engineers and entrepreneurs. Soon they had children, they grew up, attended schools and started asking all sorts of questions about their religion, rituals and traditions. Parents did not know how to answer them and became perceptibly concerned. They met, and after some deliberations, decided to build a temple and hire a priest because they thought this would help to alleviate their children\u2019s doubts. They started collecting donations and bought five acres of land on outskirts of the town. They elected seven members to a board of directors and voted Dr. Venkatesh, a neurosurgeon, as the president and chose other officers.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOne auspicious day, the committee members met on the desert land where the future temple was to be built.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018We shall build a beautiful temple here. The main entrance should be as tall as that of Balaji\u2019s temple in India. Oh, this will be fantastic!\u2019 The president, Venkatesh said enthusiastically.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2019By the way, who will be the main deity of the temple?\u2019 Rama Rao, the secretary asked.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2019I told you, God Balaji.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2019Well, we didn\u2019t even have a meeting involving all the donors. You can\u2019t decide just like that.<\/p>\n

Actually, I was thinking of Goddess Meenakshi as the main deity for this temple. There are hardly any temples for the Goddess in this country,\u2019\u201d opined Rama Rao.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2019Why can\u2019t we have Lord Ganesh instead? He removes obstacles and already we are having differences.\u2019 said Gopal, the treasurer.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2019No.\u2019\u201d The president said curtly.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2019Why not?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2019Have you heard of ten main Gods in one temple in India? That\u2019s not the way it\u2019s done.\u2019 The president raised his voice.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSoon a heated discussion ensued. Finally, the president said, \u2018I have promised to pay a lion\u2019s share for this land with the explicit understanding that my opinion will be honored. It must be Balaji\u2019s temple here. If you people disagree with me, I\u2019ll resign and take back my money.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2019You will not get a penny back. The deed is in escrow and this land belongs to the temple,\u201d retorted the secretary.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"page-fiction-02\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201c\u2019How dare you say that?\u2019 shouted the president. He caught hold of the secretary\u2019s necktie and yanked it. The secretary, much younger than the president, punched him on the nose. The president fell in the dust, got up, and wiping his bleeding nose he bellowed, \u2018I will drag you to the court for assaulting me, then for my money.\u2019 Shaking with rage, he jumped into his Mercedes, and raising dust clouds on the desert road, sped off.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe cacti and the lizards on the land silently watched the show.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shivaram fell silent.<\/p>\n

\u201cDada, then what happened? Did the president change his mind? Did they build a temple?<\/p>\n

Where did this happen?\u201d Nalini, a high school student asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cNalini, since the escrow was not closed, the president got his deposit back. The committee dissolved and all activities ceased. Did they build the temple later? Yes. Actually, you are sitting in the verandah of the temple. We should have been role models. Instead, we fought. What would children have thought of us? We were ashamed. Finally, it dawned on us that temples are for mutual cooperation and cultural unity, to love and respect each other, but not for creating divisions among us in the name of religion.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter several years, things changed. More Indians came to this town. We formed another committee, collected money and bought the same land. We built this temple and placed deities of all Gods, Goddesses and religious sages as well, which satisfied the Indian diaspora here.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDada, what happened to the lizards?\u201d Reyva, a kindergartener asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, they are still here. We gave them a cleaning job. Often, you see them at the temple corners gobbling up insects.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anish, a 12th<\/sup> grader got up. \u201cShivaram Dada, I have a suggestion. You people were generous installing all deities to satisfy the various religious beliefs of Hindus. Now, you have four acres of empty land surrounding this temple. Why don\u2019t you invite Christians, Jews and other spiritual faiths to build a church, a synagogue on this empty land? This will create better understanding of our culture and create harmony among all the people of this town.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCome here, Anish,\u201d said Shivaram Dada. He hugged him. \u201cAnish, what a beautiful idea! I may not see this happen in my life, but this kind of future awaits you. Please strive for it. My blessings.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cNo Bhagavata Purana story today,\u201d said Grandpa Shivaram. A simple man, not particular about his clothes or his unkempt hair, Shivaram, a retired physician, looked older than his age. Children affectionately called him, \u201cDada,\u201d in Hindi. \u2013 @Siliconeer #Siliconeer #Fiction #DrRaghavendraRao #Literature As usual, Shivaram Dada sat on a mat in the verandah of the…<\/p>\n

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