The Chapel and the Garden

I am at it again! To be exact, it is 11.42 pm, pitch dark and an hour ago we had just returned from the chapel, where we once decided to go everyday. In fact, we took this decision about a couple of years ago but managed to keep it only as many times as all three of us had the convenience together. When I was ready, my wife wasn't; when she was ready, I had my moods elsewhere... finally my daughter never wanted to go to a church and sit there in the night....she got fed up in the first few days. The final outcome...I beg your pardon! We just managed, may be 100 days. The chapel where the Blessed Sacrament is exposed was kept open till 11 pm. I liked the surroundings...the garden always looked fresh and well nourished, and every wild growth was nipped and the uneven hedges smoothened occasionally. Sometimes, we stood in front of the grotto of our lady, while our daughter burned the candles and enjoyed until a drop of boiling paraffin burned her little finger and she howled in pain. The light that came from the street tube light, dimly lit the garden and sometimes, when it wasn't raining, we sat together and talked away. The church had a few curving steps around it, and we could just retire to a dark curve, without a soul wanting to see us.Annu, my daughter always wanted to go home early....so we never spent as much time as we wanted there.

The chapel was circular in shape. The granite floor was grained in dark uneven waves, but cold and hard, and my leg bones protested every time I sat on the bare floor. Along the wall, at the back, a few plastic chairs, and stools made of reeds were placed. People sat on them and prayed and sometimes slept. I would usually go forward, and would sit on a carpet laid just before the altar. My legs were comfortable on the smooth surface. Sitting here and praying, I grew to be less religious. I looked at the world and at everyone in the world. I saw boundaries everywhere. There is a fence, even between a wife and a husband. The tendency is to tighten these boundaries, and may be, religion created, the tallest and the most impregnable walls between people.