Clad in the black of detachment and indifference <br />They go climbing the hill winding towards the shrine and <br />Clad in the chains of beads and immersed in the chants of 'Ayyappa' <br />They climb the eighteen steps to the abode of the deity. <br /> <br />A season`s devotion and an euphoria of equations and oneness, <br />A deity of the tribals grown ten fold in name and fame. <br />A crowd, a herd apart bent upon a mission of all sorts and <br />A world here wakes up to redefine life and godliness. <br /> <br />Inducted into a spectrum of piety alluring and magical <br />They remain aloof from the evils of wine, wealth and women. <br />They kill the wants and desires for a phase a year and <br />Then bounce back to a life pattern often nasty as usual! <br /> <br />Ayyappa, the lord sees not, just like no Lord of any land ever does, <br />Ayyappa, the lord hears not, just like his peers don`t elsewhere. <br />Man re paints a deity`s expectations and restrictions <br />And make him live on a canvas of a season drafted apart. <br /> <br />When God in the upper abodes of greater castles of reborn faith <br />Struggles to let the masses to have a feel of His being, <br />Here is a deity taking by storm a stock of humans undivided <br />And he lives for a time and goes into deep slumber next! <br /> <br /> <br />The coffers of the temple authorities fill to the brim <br />And the sponsor Government thrives on the nickel for a time. <br />A crowd looks on confused unable to speak a word <br />As the chauvinistic spirits mantle a guardian`s role. <br /> <br />The pilgrims return to the lower slopes down ever <br />With the deity left alone till the next season to brood over <br />The duties of a lord in himself and he is bemused as to <br />Why the cult is not changing his very devotees for ever!<br /><br />M.D DINESH NAIR<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-sabarimala-pilgrims/
