My Vesak adventures

Yesterday (May 9) was Vesak, the birth day of Lord Budha, the enlightened one. Or, as we call it in our household, Saturday. Now don't get me wrong, this is the case with nearly all festivals (holidays) of all religious faiths. In keeping with usual practice, the day began much later than the regular weekday. My wife had to work yesterday. So after seeing her off, I strategically positioned myself in front of the laptop, browsing aimlessly even as my breakfast waited on the side for my attention when the door chime played out "London bridge is falling down." I knew it was our friendly, talkative, old Chinese neighbor who stops by about 3-4 times a day for a quick chat. The chats are made quick only by his rather limited vocabulary in English. (lady son = daughter) . I opened the door and it was him alright. What was not alright was that he was wearing a nice t-shirt (a rare event), pants (an equally rare event given that he always wears shorts) and a watch (reserved for the most special occasions). He announced, with as much grandeur he could muster, that he was there to take me to a Buddha temple.

Honestly, at that point, I was not aware that it was Vesak day and I thought that he was asking me to accompany him on his routine visit to a temple. I have turned down this offer on at least 6 different occasions in the past and my father too, when he was here, had turned him down on 6 other occasions. He had an air of conviction about him yesterday and made it very clear that he was not taking no for an answer. My usual excuses to wiggle out didn't work and before long I knew I had to give in. He gave me 10 minutes to get myself temple-visit-worthy and positioned himself against the railing just opposite our door. As I turned around, the choice was between taking a shower and skipping breakfast or vice versa. Those who know me well will know what I would have chosen...

I quickly informed my dad, with whom I was chatting, about my impending trip and was off with our neighbor. His son had come down to take them to the temple. As soon as I had gotten into the car and introductions were made, he announced that on account of Vesak, we would be going first to a temple at Bukit Batok, then to the one at Thompson and finally to a temple at Punggol. That was the first moment when it became clear what I had signed up for, actually, made to sign sign up for, and as the car sped into the tunnel at 80kmph, there wasn't much I could do but grin.

In our family, and I'm sure in most others too, going to the temple on a special day would mean a half day event most of which would be spent in a serpentine queue. So a quick mental calculation made it very clear that I was going to be either in temples or speeding to one for the rest of the day and it was only 11am. During the journey, talk was centered on how they were casual about religion and not that familiar with their texts and traditions. That definitely made me less apprehensive about the rest of the day and also raised my hopes for a quick return. And I was pleasantly suprised at the first temple. The routine was short and sweet: find a parking spot (15 mins), bathe the little Buddha (5 mins) and light an incense stick (5 mins) and walk back to the parking lot. The second and third temples took slightly longer only because one was a massive temple complex and it took a while to park the car at the other. At Punggol, I even got a vegetarian Bee Hoon lunch that could have had a bit more salt, been a touch spicier and a lot less wet. But it was vegetarian and I was hungry and that's all that mattered. As I polished it off, what I was feeling was either satiation or may be even nirvana!

All in all, it turned out to be a particularly active Vesak for me. As I tottered into the house, returning from the unplanned pilgrimage clutching a coke bottle filled with holy water and a booklet on Vipassana meditation techniques, it was half a Saturday well spent. Peace!