"Rin!! So good to see you!" Rin beamed a smile. "Show us our room, we'll put our things there and come and help."
Laika nodded. "For now put it in my room."
She nodded and walked towards the old yet sturdy wooden house built right at the back of the shrine, others following her. Vira was taking everything in. He was the only one who had stars in his eyes. Everything was amazing. The house was huge, about two thousand squarefeet easily, but still puny compared to the temple which had a huge shrine and a smaller assembly hall to the left of it. There was a meditation room to the right, with limited access. A huge well supplied water, which was right at the back of the temple. Further back of the house led to a cliff which overlooked the sea.
They were greeted warmly by a very handsome middle aged man with greying hair, a lean physique.
"Uncle Karn!" Rin screeched excitedly, as she ran over to him and hugged him tightly.
He gave her a gentle squeeze and welcomed everyone warmly.
Vira felt shy. He had never been good with adults.
He dithered. Roma pulled Vira close to him and said, "Uncle Karn, this is Vira, he works with us."
"Works with you maybe, but to me he is my adopted brother," Rin said proudly.
"Wow! A guy my Rin has such high regards, must be worth a welcome!"
Vira blushed. "I was her senior at college."
"Rin has told me about her math senior who put his teacher to shame."
"Uncle Karn, you remembered!"
Uncle Karn smiled as he put his hands around Vira's shoulder. "Come in, feel comfortable."
Vira took a small box from his bag and gave it to uncle Karn. "Since this is the first time I'm coming over, I thought it would be rude to come in empty handed. But I am not familiar with the custom here."
It was a small box of local sweets which uncle Karn received with delight.
"Thank you! This is considerate of you. Let me show you your rooms. Since today is the service day, I will start preparing lunch after 1, I hope it is okay with you? I need to clean the shrine and halls. Laika will join you guys after he is done with the yard. Saka will be busy till noon, as he is on duty today."
Roma and Rin volunteered to help uncle Karn with the cleaning.
Vira said, "If you don't mind, I'd love to prepare lunch. Could you let me know the count and show me where things are?"
Uncle Karn was delighted. "Let me re-emphasize how much I love you all!"
He accepted their offers and showed Vira the kitchen.
"Can you prepare lunch for 7? Maw Lava is also coming over. You can start around 11. Why don't you go and explore our temple? Let's seek the blessings of Lord Apā while we are at it?
Vira nodded. He was dying to see the shrine.
And he wasn't disappointed. Uncle Karn, in his white robe looked commanding and regal, with a single silver line near the hem of his dress, to show his position as the high priest. He tied a white cloth around his head as he entered the shrine.
Vira followed him, simply in awe. The shrine was huge, with wooden panels depicting the story of Apā, all chiseled in wood with finest details. The doors were studded with stones and mirror work. At the very end was a huge altar with a carpet laid in front. A small cup was placed on a holy rock with inscriptions on it.
Vira walked towards it, dazed.
He offered his salutations very sincerely.
Uncle Karn looked at Vira. "How do you feel?"
"Overwhelmed. The fact that you remind people that the sustenance of every life starts with the single cup of water, that there is no greater god than water that gives us life, I resonate with the philosophy."
"The five elements need to be in harmony for life to exist. No element is superior or inferior to one another. Similarly, the five schools of thoughts should also be in harmony with each other. "
Vira nodded. In a word where they fought that their school was most important, here was a priest that encouraged all schools.
"To you, what sort of deity is Apā?"
Uncle Karn smiled. "You should come see the play. My son can answer that best."
Uncle Karn left Vira to explore the place, as people had started to come. Vira was not surprised to see the respect uncle Karn commanded in their society, and he felt is was not misplaced.
He walked around to observe the paintings and the craft depiction. As he didn't know much about the water deity, he could not correlate. He would ask Saka to explain to him later. He wondered where Saka was.
As more people started walking in, to seek the blessings of Apā and the priest, he decided to stay out of the way and went out to the assembly hall.
The assembly hall, not as big as the main shrine, could still accommodate 500 people at ease. It was designed to, for any gatherings and festive occasions.
A young priest with his eyes covered by the mask, his head covered in respect, wearing pristine white clothes was seated on the dias, which was in the middle of the assembly hall.. There were two basins in front of him and and a pit of fire, which he invoked during his chant.
The moment Vira heard his voice, he knew it was Saka.
People started swarming around Saka, in a circle. They sat around him, in reverence.
There was no sound except for the voice of Saka.
Saka looked divine in his outfit. After the invocation ceremony, he gave some insights on to the scripture and went on to tell a story around the core philosophy. People sat, almost as in in trance.
Vira never knew Saka's voice could be so powerful. It was clear, without hesitation, with a pleasant ring that calmed the people around him. The way he explained the scripture made it easy for even a kid to understand. When he spoke, it was devoid of fanatism. It was objective. It wasn't the word of God, it was common sense, a recipe for harmony.
When Saka finished, there was no defening applause, it was just a bow, after which people left. It was an environment of absolute reverence and respect.
Vira was just as much in awe as the rest of the crowd
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