Ignorant and careless devotees could unknowingly carry electronic items with them, not realizing that they are about to witness the most well planned, meticulous and intelligent money making scheme in the precinct of the temple’s premises.
The Policeman at the baggage checking counter where the bags are put on conveyor belts looks at you with suspicion (or maybe a smug satisfaction) when an electronic device is detected probably thinking that “Ek aur bakra mil gaya”. You stare at him blankly when he says that cameras have to be left outside, you have no idea what to do. When you ask the policeman for a solution, he says there is a shop where these items can be kept in safe custody. However, no sooner you are contemplating options than an angel like man called Anil from Shop No. 52 comes by and offers to keep your belongings. When we trust him and also entrust him with our footwear, the lady in the shop pushes a basket in your hand and tells very confidently, go with him he will take you directly inside without standing in the queue. Before we can realize what is happening, this man is leading the way towards the temple. Being a Tuesday morning, we were prepared to stand in the queue atleast for a couple of hours. However, we followed him, partly out of curiosity, partly out of temptation for a close-up darshan. He takes us confidently past the policemen and guards, who on seeing him leading our way do not stop us even for a second. Bang! In 10 minutes, we are done with our darshan and are ready to leave. But more is yet to come. When we reached the shop to collect our belongings and our footwear and enquire about the price, they charge us a thumping amount. When we express our surprise at the amount, they add Rs. 100 more saying that they had added half kilo modaks (when we had not even asked for the same). Not wanting to create an unpleasant atmosphere in a holy place, we paid him the amount albeit expressing our displeasure and shock on how so much amount is being demanded from us. However, we didn’t want to make it a big issue since we had come for a good cause. But, when we left the temple we were disturbed , wondering how many times they must have gotten away with this clever plan because most people like us do not want to fight or argue in a temple.
The Policeman at the baggage checking counter where the bags are put on conveyor belts looks at you with suspicion (or maybe a smug satisfaction) when an electronic device is detected probably thinking that “Ek aur bakra mil gaya”. You stare at him blankly when he says that cameras have to be left outside, you have no idea what to do. When you ask the policeman for a solution, he says there is a shop where these items can be kept in safe custody. However, no sooner you are contemplating options than an angel like man called Anil from Shop No. 52 comes by and offers to keep your belongings. When we trust him and also entrust him with our footwear, the lady in the shop pushes a basket in your hand and tells very confidently, go with him he will take you directly inside without standing in the queue. Before we can realize what is happening, this man is leading the way towards the temple. Being a Tuesday morning, we were prepared to stand in the queue atleast for a couple of hours. However, we followed him, partly out of curiosity, partly out of temptation for a close-up darshan. He takes us confidently past the policemen and guards, who on seeing him leading our way do not stop us even for a second. Bang! In 10 minutes, we are done with our darshan and are ready to leave. But more is yet to come. When we reached the shop to collect our belongings and our footwear and enquire about the price, they charge us a thumping amount. When we express our surprise at the amount, they add Rs. 100 more saying that they had added half kilo modaks (when we had not even asked for the same). Not wanting to create an unpleasant atmosphere in a holy place, we paid him the amount albeit expressing our displeasure and shock on how so much amount is being demanded from us. However, we didn’t want to make it a big issue since we had come for a good cause. But, when we left the temple we were disturbed , wondering how many times they must have gotten away with this clever plan because most people like us do not want to fight or argue in a temple.
