Losing a room of one's own

In a post COVID19 world will religion and spirituality be more personal than communal Its a question on everyones mind especially with religious places in the city having shut doors since late March The extended lockdown in Mumbai only means that a trip to Gods home may elude us for a while at least What then happens to the believers for whom temples and shrines have been a mainstay or even to those for whom they arent a place of ritual but comfortYou can sit here for hours and nobody will bother youAparajita Ambastha who moves to Delhi this month says she is sad that she wont be able to visit the temple one last timeAparajita Ambastha Media studentOn Babulnath Temple Girgaum ChowpattyVisiting the Babulnath temple was a ritual that began when my parents were briefly posted in Bombay in the early 1990s When we shifted from Delhi to Mumbai in 2015 my father started taking us here almost every week for the evening aarti He would also regale us with the many legends associated with the place Because I am not very religious I wasnt too keen on these trips But the more I visited the more I started developing a connection with the place Unlike other temples its quiet and peaceful here You can sit and meditate for hours and nobody will bother youIt was after I joined Sophia College at Pedder Road that my temple visits became more frequent While travelling from my home in Navy Nagar to college Id cross the temple daily It became a sort of habit to bow when the bus passed by I also had this habit of taking a flower from the Shiva ling at the temple and placing it on my study table For me it was a symbol of positivityWe are moving back to Delhi at the end of this month and unfortunately because of the lockdown rules I might not be able to visit the temple before we leave I connected a lot of small things with it especially my achievements in life for which I prayed here It might be a long time before I see it againI am one with myself hereViji Venkatesh during a visit to Ma Hajiani dargah at WorliViji Venkatesh Cancer care professionalOn Ma Hajiani Dargah WorliDriving past Haji Ali Worli my eyes would always travel to the turquoise blue domelike structure on the opposite end of the Arabian Sea Somebody once told me that it was the erstwhile summer palace of a maharaja and I believed it to be the case So despite living in Mumbai for over three decades this place had eluded me It was only 12 years ago when my office shifted to Worli that I finally got to visit This place was a fiveminute walk from work and for some reason was calling out to me just like the Hazrat Nizamuddin Aulia Dargah in New Delhi the place of my childhood I cant explain the feeling it was surrealOne day during lunch time I decided to find out for myself I was awestruck by what I had witnessed It was almost magical like love at first sight Id later learn that the dargah was named after Ma Hajiani who was interred here and who as legend goes was the sister of Pir Haji Ali Shah Bukhari the saint venerated at Haji Ali dargahAfter that day Id keep visiting the dargah on some pretext Sometimes every day or if I was busy once during the week I am not a religious person For me God is nature its what makes the sun rise and the flowers bloom Its my universe I found that connection with nature inside the dargah I have sat here for hours soaking in the beauty of the ruins staring into its expansive courtyard and listening to the fleeting sounds of birds and the crashing of the waves It made me feel one with myself I loved this place so much that Id bring everyone I knew here especially some of my cancer patients they found a great sense of calm here Seeing somebodys wonderment only added to my joy I felt like I was sharing something that was mineRecently when I was approached to do a small role in a Malayalam film by Akhil Sathyan I took the young director to the dargah too As soon as he saw the place he said We must shoot with you here Life had come full circle This was to be my first film and in my most cherished place in the city I was overwhelmedLast week when I visited Worli after months I asked my driver to take me to the dargah Unfortunately when we drove by the gate was closed That day I realised what the lockdown had taken away from meWe all want something tangible that reminds us that everything will be okay We invest a lot of our insecurities sadness and joy into it Losing that however rational a person you might be can be painful To me the dargah represents this It also represents BombayThe city that keeps giving Bombay gave me this place And I am eternally gratefulA magnetic force keeps pulling me to the MountLeena Elizabeth Abraham Quality auditor for an educational appOn Basilica of Our Lady of the Mount BandraThe first time I visited the Mount was in 2010 I had had this really bad dream it felt very real and involved some people who were dearest to me I remember feeling helpless It was around this time that a friend asked me to accompany her to Mount Mary Now I am a Syrian Christian by birth and our churches are stark We dont keep statues in our churches and dont pray to them Yet I didnt hesitate to go I still remember experiencing peace when I went there that day I wondered why I hadnt come here before Even the fear which had crept in due to the dream had lessened I got the feeling that if I kept visiting this place no harm would come to the people who had been hurt in the dream and that they would always be protected Thats really the beginning of my journey with the MountLeena Abraham started visiting the Basilica of Our Lady of the Mount in 2010 following a bad dreamSince then I made it a point to visit the shrine every week All my friends and family know of my fascination with the place I simply loved the routine of going there lighting a candle and saying a small prayer I dont spend a lot of timemdashjust about 10 or 15 minutes There have been times when I have been stressed or lost and visiting the place has made me feel lighter It could be psychological or spiritual but my faith in the place continues I feel like theres a magnetic force that keeps pulling me to it I also made a lot of friends here I remember once while praying I met this 75yearold woman named Jean who was part of a prayer group I had a pain in my leg and they said a small prayer for me Jean and I are still in touchI am a little lost because times are uncertain and I cant go there right now I feel like I need to be there more at this point but I cant When I miss it I visualise myself standing near the grotto Its like I never left the MountThe mandir is where Id take a pausePic Suresh KarkeraRahul Chemburkar Conservation architectOn Shri Bhavani Shankar Mandir TardeoSometimes a place gives you a sense of solace I have felt that each time I have walked into Shri Bhavani Shankar Mandir I am neither religious nor ritualistic But visiting the Shiva temple in this 19th century mandir has been a ritual of sorts for over two decades I have a long association with this place This was one of my first restoration projects in 1997 as a fresh graduate from architecture school Late Sadashiv Vasantrao Gorakshkar who was the then director of the erstwhile Prince of Wales Museum now Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya asked me if I was keen on restoring the temple It came as a huge surprise that I had even been considered for this but I took up the challenge That was the turning point in my career it was an entry into the world of art heritage and restoration It all started hereRahul Chemburkar outside the Shiva temple at Shri Bhavani Shankar Mandir which he restored in 1997These days I work on multiple restoration projects at the same time and I divide my time between sites But back then this was the only project that I was handling I remember spending time here from dawn to duskmdash sitting on the scaffolding and documenting my feelings and experiences in a diary Unknowingly I developed an emotional and cultural bond with the place As the years rolled by this connection only became stronger I try and visit the place a few times every year and sometimes if work brings me to South Mumbai I make it a point to get the driver to make a stop hereI dont really go there to pray I just sit in the veranda and speak to myself I call this prayer I experience a positive vibe here and it makes me more confident to face the challenges ahead of me That feeling is inexplicable This place is so strongly connected with my identity that recently when I found some repairs being done there I immediately reached out to the family which runs the temple trust letting them know that they could use my expertiseChemburkars sketch of the templeIts because of this mandir that I have developed a strong attachment to other temples in the city including those at Banganga Tank and the deolwadi run by Shri Bhulingeshwar Devalay Trust in Chembur Each time I have wanted to steal some moments of peace I head to these temples I call them my pause placeThe lockdown has made me more reflective I know that it will be a while before I can visit any of these but instead of being remorseful about it I try and remember my interactions with the spaces and how they helped me heal Sometimes I reimagine them in sketches or go back and read the random jottings in my diaryChanting at the gurudwara brought me inner peacePic Atul KambleShilpa Chawla Social media influencerOn Gurudwara Dhan Pothohar Nagar Santa Cruz WestShilpa Chawla says shersquod visit the gurudwara after a stressful dayAfter a stressful day at work if there is one thing that calms me its a visit to the gurudwara I was raised a Hindu but for me God is beyond religion I find a sense of inner peace in religious places and somehow the flow of energy there can be very uplifting I used to attend the ardas a worship service at the Dhan Pothohar Nagar gurudwara in the evenings there is a point in the service where they switch off the lights and everyone chants Waheguru That experience was most calming you feel all the tumult inside you endingI always had this wish to offer a karah parshad a wheat flour halva at a gurudwara Fortunately I managed to do so just before the lockdown was announced in March I remember making it at home and then walking to the gurudwara and offering my parshad to the guruji there It was my way of saying thank youThe karah parshad Chawla offered the gurudwara in MarchI have had moments of apprehension over the last three months The situation outside is not helping Now is when one feels the need to connect with a higher power But I still chant even if its early in the morning in my balconyAt the Cross I would feel like I have a direct line to GodPic Suresh KarkeraMelroy Fernandes HR professionalOn The Holy Cross Cross MaidanSince childhood I have been very spiritual But my connection with the Cross is something else altogether Its here that I feel like I have a direct line to GodThe first time that I asked something for myself at the Cross was right after my Class 10 board exams The Cross was just a stones throw from my home in Chira Bazaar I remember going there daily during the summer vacations asking for just 70 per centmdashnothing more or less Surprisingly when the board results came I had scored 7026 per cent Its then that I felt there was this strong miraculous energy there which was listening to me I had become a believer and there has been no looking backThe Holy Cross is my place of refuge I may not attend mass during the week but I cant imagine skipping a visit to the shrine Its a small alley of peace in the busy and bustling Fashion Street People usually visit the Cross on the first Friday of every month I dont really follow that I go there when I am happy or when Im down in the dumps or when I simply want to be heard or spend some alone time Its like meeting a best friendMelroy Fernandes says most of his prayers have been answered at the Holy CrossWhen my father who passed away some years ago was battling poor health and had to be admitted to GT Hospital I would go there daily I have also offered prayers for friends and theyve rarely gone unanswered Its why they also believe in the Cross as much as I doI feel like I have lost my crutch right now It was what helped me get by When the lockdown lifts its going to be the first place I will visitCatch up on all the latest Mumbai news crime news current affairs and a complete guide from food to things to do and events across Mumbai Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates MidDay is now on Telegram Click here to join our channel middayinfomedialtd and stay updated with the latest news