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Odisha Part 6: The Yogini Temple of Hirapur

I fell in love with this temple the first time I set eyes on it. Back in 2017 , I had been excited to see yet another Yogini temple, when I visited Puri. The resort I was staying at (and writing for), had arranged for a car and driver to take me around. The driver was happy to take me to most of the places I wanted to go, but when it came to Hirapur, he was appalled. He knew of the temple, but had never been there. It was a tantric temple, one not visited by women, and certainly not women travelling alone. He tried to convince me not to go, but my stubbornness and persistence paid off, and he reluctantly agreed when I told him that if he didn’t take me, I would find another driver who would. All along the way, he kept going on about the sinister things that happened at the temple, the tantric rituals that were performed at night…. An Odisha brahmin who took his religious duties very seriously, to the extent of stopping the car to perform the sandhyavandam when he deemed it time, he...
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Mia by Tanishq - As Beautiful as your work

It was about a month back that I first got a mail, inviting me to participate in the Mia by Tanishq contest. The mail mentioned the TV ad running then, and I realised how disconnected I was, with happenings on the TV front! I am usually reluctant to participate in contests (as most of you know well by now) and my first instinct was to refuse. Besides, it was barely a week since my father-in-law had passed on, and I had the perfect excuse too. But, I must admit, I was curious. Both, about the ad, as well as the tag line for the contest – As Beautiful as your work!

Amidst all the work at home, I managed to grab one look at the ad....



And the first person I thought of, was my sister. I could so imagine her as Megha, with her taste in ear rings. She has just begun work, and I wondered if she would react like Megha too. And I hoped she would. After all, I am the one who gets her ear rings of every shape and size!!!!!


However, she isn’t the one I want to write about. Amongst all the women I know, there is just one who fits the bill; whose image was the one that came to my mind the minute I read that mail. That woman is my mother.

She never ‘went to work’ but worked harder than most people I know (and that includes me). She faced dilemmas more complex than Megha’s in the ad, and tougher than the ones I face today, yet she remained strong – holding on to her convictions, staying true to herself, doing what she believed was best. And the results proved her right.

She was a single parent, a stay-at-home-mother (SAHM) in the time the term wasn’t even invented, and as to how well she did her job, just see how I turned out!!!

She faced criticism and fault finding with the same aplomb that she faced everything else, never losing her cool, never shouting or creating a scene. Today, as I lose my temper at the slightest mischief of my son, I wish I had inherited her patience, and her inner calmness, which saw her through much worse.

Life seemed to throw troubles at her again and again, forcing her to question the choices she had made. But she stayed true to her principles, her ideas, and her decisions. I truly wish I had her resilience too!

The woman I know as my mother has never worn much jewellery, or dressed up. Yet she looks just as beautiful today as the day she was married, even without all the adornment. In fact, I think she looks even more beautiful today, for she has remained the same in spite of all that she has been through.


She, truly is the woman, who I feel, is “As beautiful as her work”.

This post is my entry for the Mia by Tanishq Blogger Contest. 

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Comments

  1. Sonal GandhiAugust 13, 2013 at 10:34 PM

    Simply beautiful Anu!!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Meghana HassanAugust 13, 2013 at 10:39 PM

    Beautiful post, Anu. I have met your mom and I know how nice a person she is... All the very best for thee contest...

    ReplyDelete
  3. MridulaAugust 13, 2013 at 10:45 PM

    Anu what a beautiful post!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Nitesh PrasadAugust 14, 2013 at 6:21 PM

    nice blog............See My blog also......

    http://seo-friends.blogspot.in

    ReplyDelete
  5. SudhageeAugust 23, 2013 at 5:15 PM

    A very beautifully written and emotional post, Anu.

    ReplyDelete

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