A new kind of religious...

Vaibhav and Shriya have resumed their classical music lessons. Now, these classes happen to be every Saturday evening and is very conveniently located next to all the dosa joints and one of the oldest and most beautiful temples in Little India.

The Dad and I park the car at the temple, have our weekend dose of filter coffee and masala dosa, shop for mangoes flown in from India and then pick up the kids. Once we get the kids we feel obliged to step into the temple to pop in a hello to the Lord. Afterall, our car was parked in His official premises.

What started off as something so unplanned and casual has now become quite a ritual.The kids, who previously had to be dragged into a temple now assume that it is next on the agenda after their class.Saturday evenings, the Perumal temple is as festive as it can get. The place is teeming with devotees- some in beach shorts and tank tops and others in bright hued sarees and pristine veshtis. Luckily, as it is a sprawling area with an open, outdoor design, it can accommodate everybody comfortably.

Organized chaos at its best. There is a long queue snaking around the temple waiting for the traditional and I must very delicious 'prasadam' of Puliogare, thayir sadam, sundal and kesari.People are lighting the 'ellu vilaku' in one corner while in another, a group of elderly women fervently sing bhajans if not reciting the Vishnu Sahasarnamam.

At every sannithi, Vaibhav and Shriya check with me on the right set of shlokas they should recite for maximum benefit. We share and compare stories of Andal and Meerabhai as we circle the tulsi leaf plant. Vaibhav occasionally breaks a coconut (and is very glad that he is given the honor) and Shriya lights a lamp (after some quiet mischief with the oil dispenser).

This is exactly what we missed in Finland. Tastes, colours,smells and rituals that are so authentically Indian. However much we tried to replicate it all in our Helsinki home, we still lacked the real thing. By just observing, listening and being here, the kids are learning tons about who they are and where they really come from.

Religious or not, we just feel comforted being at the temple. As we soak in the atmosphere and breathe in the aromatic air that is a tantalizing blend of tulsi and camphor, we know that as we make these trips every week, we are also creating unspoken memories for the kids. No matter which part of the world they will live in the future, a faint smell of incense or the strained tunes of a familiar shloka will trigger the memories. And hopefully with each trigger, they will be transported to those idyllic Saturday evenings that we spent together at the temple.