"You are from here?" He asked in Marathi.
"Not really. Have roots in Maharashtra from my father's side. I don't speak Marathi though" I responded in Hindi.
He smiled knowingly. "So tell me, how can I help you? The Goddess is getting decorated right now. So you must wait before you can get darshan"
"I wanted to know if there is any special Pooja that I can perform here"
"You can," he said. "Is there anything special? A birthday or a wish, maybe?"
"Nothing of that sort. For some reason I always had this deep desire to visit this temple. Not really sure where and how I even heard of this place the first time. The desire was so intense that I came here driving by myself all the way from Hyderabad"
He gave me a long hard look. I hoped that he believed me because, if I were him, I wouldn't believe myself. Saptashrungi Devi is not really a popular temple outside of Nashik - or so I thought. While I knew somehow, no one that I knew of spoke of that temple until a few days ago when a friend said he happened to visit and said great things about the temple.
The guy thought for sometime. He then started writing numbers on a small scrap of paper. He kept writing small amounts of money and then kept adding them after every three or four entries. I waited eagerly as he picked more scrap paper from around him to make even more entries.
As the number grew, my excitement slowly turned into anxiety. "What's the final number going to be?"
He wrote one final number on a new piece of scrap and turned it towards me from across the counter.
"7243" it said. I didn't know what that money was going to get me but found it quite high.
I smiled sheepishly, gestured him to give me some time and turned around. He looked away nonchalantly as if he was not really interested unless I was.
I saw the Pujari sliding the curtain away from the Goddess. I quickly ran to stand in front of the sanctum and as the curtain withdrew, saw the Mother Goddess in full glory.
The darshan felt amazingly fulfilling. Never expected to have such a great darshan in such a busy temple with so many other devotees still waiting in line to start the actual darshan procedure after the Alankar.
I waited for few minutes and then turned to around to find the man at the counter gazing at me with a question on his face. I gestured again asking for another minute to make a decision.
I then quickly ran out of the temple to the parking lot. Got into my car, paid few rupees to the attendant there, made a U turn and drove away from that place as fast as I could.
And then, I woke up.
Never had a dream of a temple darshan until last night. That too of a temple that I never visited. I hardly ever remember my dreams the next day but this one stayed as vividly as if it were happening right now. I don't normally remember the Murthi after I come out of a temple but this Mata is now etched in my brain.
And never expected something like this to happen while in Bangkok !
Saptashrungi Devi has, for sure, given a call. Maybe She thinks I am worthy. Or maybe She wants me to be pulled back from the abyss of Maya. No point second guessing Her.
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