I woke up in the morning when my mom came shouting “it is raining outside and you are still running the A.C.” Then without asking she just switched it off and opened all doors and went off. I was still half asleep just not wanting to accept the fact that it is morning now. I wanted to sleep more but as all doors were now open, sound of rain started bumping in my ears. “Dammit I couldn’t sleep now, it is just 7:00am and it is Saturday”, I said to myself. Saturday is my holiday so I usually sleep more.
When I got up from bed my dog Jacky who was also lying on the bed with me also got up and left the room, as if displeased by turning off the A.C. I know he hate it more than I do, after all he has so thick fur and summers at Gwalior are always pathetic. I haven’t seen any other place hotter than Gwalior.
I went out to see the rain from my terrace, my dad was already there watching the rain. It was raining cats and dogs. With a smile on his face my dad told me that it is raining since night. I know we need rains, it provided great relief from the scorching heat of Gwalior. “Are there any plans for today”, I asked. He looked at me with a bit of suspicion and said “nope, why?” Then it just struck my mind “then let us go to picnic, somewhere”. He looked puzzled and said “and where do you think we should?” . “ I have no idea where but just anywhere”, I replied. “Well except Tighra dam, devkho and Shitla mata temple because I have already been there with my friends last month”, I said with a bit of pause. “Ok then let us go to Chimak”, he said. “Alright then”, I said happily. He then called my mom to convey the message. She came hurriedly upstairs with 2 plates of pakodas in hand and said “here I have made some pakodas for you, just the way you like it”. I took my plate, the one with fewer chillies in it and went off to next room. I heard my dad conveying the message to her. I knew it won’t be hard to convince her as she always likes picnic.
Chimak was the name of the place. It was related to my mom, she had previously worked in Central Bank’s branch there. It is a small village near Dabra. After getting ready I hurried downstairs. I knew that if my dad goes first then he will be getting the steering and he won’t let me drive our car. I took out the car from parking and waited for everyone to come out. As usual when my dad came out he told me that he feels worried when I drive so I should let him drive but I also gave my usual answer “half way I will drive, half way you will drive, deal?” He just sat next to me in the front seat without answering. My mom came with my dog and my dad looked displeased and said “oh no, not him”. “What will he do whole day? He also likes to go out and enjoy.”, she was just looking at me while saying. I nodded. Dad opened the door for them and they hopped in. When my dad stretched his hand to close the door near Jacky, he started growling at him. I placed the first gear and started driving. I heard him say “stupid dog, which dog in the world growls at his master?”.
There were two routes to Chimak one through Dabra and one through farms. The second one was shorter and as I only knew that one so I started driving that way then my dad said “it’s raining heavily lets go with the route through Dabra, as the road though farms may be flooded”. “No, keep driving, I know this route well and it is much greener than the other one”, my mom argued. My dad was not pleased with the answer but he was confused with the other route so we just drove though the same route.
The route which we took was through farms, hills and some very small villages. In midway my mom gave the idea that we should visit temple of Makardhwaj. She explained that he was the only son of Lord Hanuman. “But mom he didn’t even had a wife how come he had a son”, was my reflex answer. She was stunned for a second then she answered “while coming from Lanka Lord Hanuman dropped a drop of sweat on a fish and that fish gave a son named Makardhwaj”. “What the...” I murmured. Not wanting to sound atheistic I said, “Alright then lets head for temple of Makardhwaj”. “It is the only temple of Makardhwaj in India and it is just two kilometres from Chimak”, she added. My dad looked pleased and said, “Then it must be a really big temple, we should visit it at least once”. So it was all decided we were heading for a big temple of Makardhwaj near Chimak.
The road was at times too smooth and sometimes too bumpy and it was very hard to judge when a bump will occur. It was still raining very hard. “You drive very rashly”, my mom said. “Yes you should let me drive”, was an instant answer from my dad who was waiting anxiously to grab the wheel. “Mom just look at the roads, I am trying really hard here to drive smoothly”. “Jacky just fell from the seat because you bumped so hard”, she argued. “Grab him tightly”, I said smiling. Jacky still looked happy, I saw him from rear view mirror. He was peeping outside the window.
We reached Chimak. My mom asked a tea shop owner the route to Makardhwaj. “It is just 12km, just go through this road” he pointed at the road. My dad and I looked at each other and said “12km, you said it was 2km”. “It was just a guess” she said with giggle. “Is the road alright?” my dad asked tea shop owner. “Yes it is good” he replied. “It looks very bumpy to me” I said. “It must be bumpy here but it would be better afterwards, just drive” my dad said. “He lives in a village, this is a good road for him” I argued. There was no other way to find out so we just drove. We kept on waiting for the road to get better but whole way it remained the same.
When we were near to the small village one motorcycle came from behind. Two people were on it. “Dada, which way is the temple of Makardhwaj”, my dad asked them. They looked surprised and said “just go to the same route and also return from the same route as this is the only one safer from Dacoits. The other route is not safe” he said and drove past us. “Dacoits, did he said dacoits?” my dad asked wanting to hear something else from us. Looking toward him I said “should we take a U turn and return?”. “No, no keep driving, he said this is a safe route so don’t worry” he replied. After some time we reached a small village, there everyone looked surprised as if they have never seen an outsider before. We asked a person “Bhaiya, where is the route to Makardhwaj temple”. He pointed out towards an even bumpier road. “sigh!, dad you drive from here” I said. My dad took the driving seat happily. Well at least for the first time he looked happy since we started driving. “Are there any dacoits in this area?” my dad asked to the same guy who told us about the route. “No, not in this route but return before dusk”, he said. “Should I come with you to guide you the way” he asked. We all looked stunned. “No its ok” my dad said “we can manage it”.
My dad started driving towards the big temple of Makardhwaj. I started talking some pictures and also made two videos. Then suddenly my cell phone vent off “Dammit, I forgot to charge cell phone before coming” I said to myself. My dad looked a little worried. I can bet he was making strategy to handle dacoits, in case we meet them. Everyone we saw in between looked like a dacoit to us. We saw some people digging something in ground. We looked at them with suspicion and drove along. “It looks like we are heading the wrong way” my dad said. Some people were walking on the road. “Bhaisahab, is this the road to temple of Makardhwaj?” my dad asked. “No, you got to turn back and take the left turn”. After some time and few more U turns we were on the right track.
It was a very thin road. Now I was convinced that this temple is not a famous one. It explained why government didn’t spend on making road here. At one time it looked impossible to cross as there was a big dent in the road but my dad took the courage and went past it. After some time the road got divided into even smaller paths. It won’t be fair if I call them smaller roads. One was a pile of rocks and other was a wet and muddy path. We got confused which one to take and there was no one to guide us. My dad took one road which he thought should be the one. It was the rocky one. The road started becoming thinner and thinner and after some time the road was nowhere. There were only few tire marks at some intervals which guided us.
Finally we saw two shepherds and took a sigh of relief. “Daddu, where is Makardhwaj temple?” my dad asked. They told us to keep driving on the present road. They also looked trustworthy. “Come with us and guide us there” my dad said. One of them came with us happily and other one stayed to take care of sheep. The road ahead was horrifying. In fact it was not even a road, just pile of stones and bushes. My dad drove where the shepherd guided. “What is your name?” my dad asked. “Captaan Singh” he answered. “Captaan Singh hmmm good name” my dad said. He looked very happy to come with us. He kept guiding my dad and my dad kept driving in that direction. The road was so bad that at times the shepherd also got confused.
There were many bushes in between the road. I looked at the bushes closely and my eyes started to widen in fear. “Dad these are thorny bushes” I shouted. “Don’t worry” he said calmly. “Oh maybe he placed a Stepney in car before coming, how thoughtful of him” I thought. “Dad do you have a Stepney” I asked out of curiosity, just to convince myself. “No” was the answer. “Wh...What? What will we do if tire gets punctured?”. “Don’t talk negatively, it’s not a good omen” my mom stopped me after breaking her silence. So here we were driving according to the guidelines of a confused shepherd on a pile of stones and thorny bushes and we didn’t even have a Stepney. “Great” I said.
“There it is” said Captaan Singh. “Where?” I said. “Look there” he insisted. All I could see was some farms, a hill nearby, pile of stones, thorny bushes and nothing else. “Oh well I will get to see it when we arrive anyway” I thought. Finally we reached near a hill on the top of which was a very old building. “We have arrived” said Captaan Singh proudly. “See I promised you I would show you the temple and I kept my promise” my dad said to my mom proudly. Jacky came out in excitement and after easing himself on some trees he started hurrying towards the stairs. He was the fasted to reach the top, after him was Captaan Singh followed by me, then my mom and dad came together. Finally we reached the top where the temple was.
It smelt as if there were bats inside the temple. There was a small cave in which Captaan Singh took us and said “There it is! The idol of Lord Makardhwaj”. The cave was too small so we had to bend down to get in. I prayed to god to protect our vehicle from any flaw while returning. “Tonnnn...” the sound came when my head struck a big heavy bell which hung in the cave. “I knew it, from the way you were walking it was clear that this was going to happen” my dad said. I wondered if he knew it then why he told it afterwards. I was the first to come out of the cave. Captaan Singh then led us to an old man and said “he is the head priest”. We touched his feet and he placed his hand above our heads. “So baba, since when this temple is here?” my dad asked the priest. “Nobody knows the exact date since when it is here but it is here since very long time” he replied. “Even I am 130 years old” he added. “Eh...?” I murmured. We all looked stunned. “This guy must be either lying or he must have lost his mind while living in caves all alone” I thought to myself. He definitely didn’t look more than 70 years, anyway who cares about his age. “So what is the story behind this temple?” my dad asked again. “What?” he said. Captaan Singh said “He has a hearing problem”. My dad repeated the sentence almost shouting this time. Then he started telling something in Sanskrit. It was huge sentence or maybe combination of sentences, I don’t know but it was in the same tone and he said it in a single go. He must have crammed it well. My mom and dad looked pleased with his response, I don’t know why. I didn’t understand a thing and he didn’t even translate anything for us. When we were about to leave Jacky peeped inside the vessel of the priest and drank his drinking water. “Oh god!” the priest said. I almost laughed, controlling my laughter. “I will clean the vessel” my mom interrupted. After she was done cleaning it she filled it again and we started leaving the same way.
On midway Captaan Singh saw his sheep still grazing where he left them so he parted from there. I was still worried about the thorns in the route but we somehow we got past that road. After that my dad started speeding very fast. Then at one point he got confused whether to go right or left. “Maybe we came from left” my dad said.”No we came from right” I insisted. My dad didn’t listened and took us through left. This was the route which was warned to us by the motorcyclist when we were going to the temple. We didn’t find anyone on that long road and somehow we passed it. “See I told you this was a shortcut” my dad said proudly. Wait a minute! He said that we came from this way. “Ah! Well who cares now” I thought.
When I came home I took a big sigh of relief because everyone arrived soundly. The rain became a drizzle now and maintained cool climate. The next day I heard from my mom that the car is punctured. I don’t know the reason though. My dad was proud by his courageous deeds and was happy because he kept his promise and also led us to safety. My mom enjoyed it a lot, after all she likes picnic. Jacky slept soundly even without A.C., he looked tired from the trip but he really enjoyed it. I can tell it from his expressions and reactions after the trip.
