Govinda Govinda

As per our family's custom, we decided to let Button adopt the bald look again. Some trips are just jinxed from the start... this was one of them. First, the husband went a day early on work to Tirupati. Like Murphy would have it, the driver who drove Button and I to Tirupati decided to drive to Bangalore instead. A journey that normally takes 3 - 4 hours from Chennai took us 6 hours! Button cooperated brilliantly, otherwise he may have been witness to his mom murdering the driver.

We checked into Fortune Kences hotel at Tirupati (supposedly one of the best hotels). Balls! Read my rant at Tripadvisor.

In Tirupati, as was taught to him, Button repeated ad nauseum that "he was going to give ummachi (God) all his hair" and that "he would not cry, he would be happy". One cold morning at 4.30 a.m. the barber did away with Button's lovely curly locks, and true to his promise, he did not cry, even utter a word of protest.

However, when we took him into the public bathroom to bathe him, he HOWLED and how! He yelled to anyone who'd listen that the floors were dirty(!) and that mamma get 'mausi' to do 'poncha' immediately. We managed to bribe him to take a quick bath with promises of chocolates and ambulances and proceeded to the darshan lines.


And then the long wait in the queue began... although we were in the Rs.300/- queue, we waited from 5.30a.m. to get darshan at 10.00 a.m. With a two and half year old, its hardly my idea of piety or spirituality! But Button got into the groove yelling 'Govinda Govinda' in the ears of anyone who dared nod off in the long queue of waiting devotees!

We'd been telling Button that Venkateshwara being the God of Plenty would bless him with wisdom, riches, health and prosperity. To simplify these words, we told him Lord Balaji would give him "many-many" of everything. When my dad asked him on his return what God would give him in exchange for Button's hair, his reply was "Many many taxis. 10 for each hand!" Amen!!