The Photo Not Taken: A Day With My Dad
I don't remember the last time I went out with my father to any place alone before today. It should be at least before Corona. Today is Krishna Janmashtami and I accompanied him to a temple nearby. It was more of a prayer forum than a temple. They had an idol of Krishna and Radha and a wide hall before the statues for praying.
I have diverted towards atheism recently and it has been a major concern for my dad. So, when I accompanied him to the temple today. He looked much happier. I was driving the bike to the temple and my dad sat behind. It has been like this for some time now. For some reason I got carried away with the "Yaaradi Nee Mohini" Tamil movie and I pictured myself as the son, Dhanush and him as the father, Raghuvaran. But unlike that duo, we hardly ever spoke nor did we speak today on our ride. It was a short ride and we reached the temple in about 5-10 mins.
My dad got some items for Pooja and we entered the hall. He wasn't religious before retirement but age and ailments drove him towards devotion. We were one of the few people in the hall. We stood and prayed a little. As he prayed, I was observing the atmosphere. There were a few middle aged women and a new married couple on to the left end of the hall while an aged and possibly the person maintaining the temple was seated on a chair near the statues. Also, noticed a few students in the group. Shortly after one of the ladies started praying out loud as 'Hare rama Hare Krishna' and others in the hall started singing back.
Dad wanted to join and asked to sit down. I sat behind him. He was silent and was observing the atmosphere. I chose to try out meditation for at least 5-10 minutes hoping the atmosphere and the prayers around me would help me concentrate focus. I could sustain only for 3 minutes, thanks to the lot of movements around me. As I opened my eyes, dad turned back and he narrated how he got to know the temple. They have a year long wish that involves me. Coincidentally, it happened right after they discovered this temple and prayed their hearts out and thus it became a special temple for them. I knew the story already as my mom narrated the same earlier today. I nodded back to him as he was sharing the same enthusiastically.
After about 10 minutes, we got up to leave and he introduced me to the temple person. He congratulated me and we stepped out to wear the slippers. Dad noticed a cute little idol of Krishna where the photos and selfies aren't banned. He wanted me to go stand and that he would take a picture of mine. I rejected and instead asked him to stand besides and that I would take a picture of him with the idol. He seemed okay.
We returned back and I drank a black coffee whilst he wanted to try out jaggery coffee if I wouldn't snitch about it to mom. I said okay but unfortunately the cafe didn't have jaggery coffee. We came home straight away and I showed the pics to my mom. She asked why I couldn't pose for a pic. As I compensated with silly reasons like I don't look good, She said "your dad wanted a photo with you as a memory". It made me feel bad. I denied him thinking he wouldn't care much. But, he cared.
Maybe I should have...!
