River prayer

'In my village, trees give shade and we take the heat sitting or lying down on a charpoi under them. In this shahar, towers provide shade and there is no space for a charpoy,' mused the temple priest with a wan smile to no one in particular. Ajoba overheard it. The priest should have been a journalist or maybe will, if there is rebirth. In a white dhoti worn the traditional way, a white jibba, a suggestion of a tikka on his forehead, name and village unknown, he soft tunes to the gods and air around, Hanuman Chalisa and a whiff of faith seeps into Ajoba. The Shiva temple is Ajoba new walking corner, bounded by housing societies with a few trees on the borders; a Laburnum is celebrating the summer, copper pods kolam the earth with yellow flowers oozing a fragrance; yes, Ajoba thought, a yellowness all round with peepals and banyans plus a tulsi adding to the company. Resting in a plastic arm chair, as Rama is into Hanuman Chalisa, Ajoba thrills to the sight of a fantail flycatcher with its up and down notes. Early mornings, there are few for blessings of Lord Shiva or is it the other way round. Will Ajoba set out on a vana prastham? At 70 its time going by many ancient rulings. Has no guts. By the way, where are the forests and the few protected forests are zoos going by the logic of that fine man and friend, Varad Giri. If Borivili National Park is turning into a municipal park and Tadoba into a zoo, where is vana prastham? In Sunday Mumbai Mirror, Bikram Grewal writes of Billy Arjun Singh and creation of the Dudhwa National Park. Ajoba has met Billy Arjun Singh at a Sanctuary awards function and his words still thud in pain: Sometime in the future, when you stand on mountains in the north, will be able to sight Kanyakumari and the seas beyond. Yes, nothing in between: No Ganga mayya, no Narmada, no Godavari, no Cauvery, no Pamba, no Brahmaputra, forests and animals. There is a prayer Ajoba likes, a prayer to rivers starting with Ganga dropping down from Lord Shiva's head, Lord Shiva the first green; for washing away one's sins. Prayer taken from google: Gangecha, Yamune chaiva Godavari, Saraswathi, Narmada, Sindhu, Kaveri jalesmin sannidhim kuru ( O Holy rivers Ganga, and Yamuna and also Godavari, Saraswathi, Narmada, Sindhu and Kaveri; Please be present in this water near me,and make it Holy). Perhaps, its time to scrap the river prayer. When the priest wound down the morning with the River prayer....