In Pursuit of God

This was submitted for a contest in my company’s internal blog for the topic ‘Finding God’
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Search begins at home (derived from charity begins at home ) Sticking to that tradition, biting a piece of dairy milk (Shubh Aarambh you see ),I asked my mom when she was busy cooking, “Amma… What’s your take about God? Do you know where to find Him?” My mom didn’t even give a second thought “Why do you want to know? To trouble Him too? Atleast let Him be in peace! Do you think you can distract me with your so called intellectual questions? Your cupboard is still as messy as your hair *simultaneously pushes my curls from falling on my face* , bed is not done…I asked you to dust all the windows…Am sure you didn’t even attempt to take that dusting cloth yet! What have you done to your T shirt…*I attempted replying* Don’t use that tone and look with me… How many times to tell you not to wipe your mouth with it” Clearly knowing that I will be ripped to pieces before I could even draft my final round post, I slowly slipped out! *scribbled the first attempt in my notepad* I dropped the idea of asking my dad as he might say “This is why you should watch news instead of watching unwanted programmes… Had you kept yourself updated, you wouldn’t be looking out for answers”.Sigh!

I visited Kalakshetra to pick up my niece from her music classes. My sister stopped for a quick chat with her music teacher . I heard her tell, “Music is divine…It gets you closer to God” *point noted* I heard another one reframe that sentence “Dance or music *must be a dance teacher* Any art forms for that matter gets you closer to God… It helps you find inner peace”I was reminded of Kungu Fu Panda and made note of it too!

One fine day, my friend and me visited a restaurant after a tedious round of shopping We were super hungry.We placed the order and waited patiently for it to arrive. Every single time the door opened, my friend sincerely asked ‘Is this the waiter who took our order…check’.Before I could see and make a judgement, he would turn in a different direction to go to the next table. When hunger took over , the saviour arrived to protect the world from 2 to-be cannibals. We made very less efforts to hide our zero patience level at the sight of food. TV was in sync with our mindvoice and played the scene from Thenali where Kamal tells ‘Neengal verum machhan illai…Deiva Macchan’ as he laid out the dishes on our table. As soon as my friend took the first bite, she remarked ‘Tastes Divine!’ closing her eyes to savour the moment. *searched notepad frantically in spite of the hunger and made a note* On the way back home, there was an elderly couple distributing food packets to few people who were dressed in rags. I found the mom of two little ones in that crowd to fold her palms as a token of her gratitude and added that the couple was sent by God to help them *point noted*

I decided that it was high time that I reach out for some expert advice. I asked my paati (grandma). She was thrilled and called out with all the possible energy that her fragile body could produce ‘Kozhandhai evlo azhaga kekardhu paaru… Evlo periya vishayatha patthi kekara…Kannu pattra pordhu…Dhrishti sutthi podanam’ (She was just expressing how proud she was to hear such a question from me #feelingshy )After the initial hungama and hush-hush about it’s the right time to take the wedding topic (I don’t know how every topic leads to this point ) she started with her gyaan about the theory of God being omnipresent. At one point, the information was getting over my head and I stopped scribbling on my notepad. My grandma has the habit of calling out God names while getting up or sitting down. That day, due to the preceding conversation that we had, she added ‘Iyyapa…nee enga pa iruka’ only to hear the plumber respond ‘Paati ma… inga dhan iruken… tap maathitu irukken.’ God is truly omnipresent…Whatte quick response!

When I sat down to analyse the points I received, I was able to summarize as below
Points got at home,

Doing our duty with dedication

Cleanliness
At Kalakshetra,

Happiness

Inner peace
At restaurant,

Giving something at the time of need

Helping at the right time without any second thoughts
As I write these last few lines, I am reminded of a brilliant scene from Anbe Sivam where Madhavan enters a first aid camp and sees a boy with his (rare) blood group bleeding…The kid dies in spite of the blood transfusion…Maddy is heart broken and has a superb conversation with Kamal.
Excerpts from it
Madhavan: “Oh.. Yaar antha kadavul..” (Kamal points his finger towards Madhavan).
Kamal: Munna pinna theriyatha oruthanuku kanneer vidariaye athan kadavul
Madhavan: Enna thideernu indha panivu..
Kamal: Ean na naanum Kadavul.
Link to the full scene with subtitles: https://youtu.be/Pg3spKxKQ1c
Anything/anyone that brings happiness with his/her actions is related to divinity or God sent. G(o)od in each person is that ‘secret ingredient’ to make this world a better place to live in.