Life in the fast lane

In this time and age, where everyone lives in the fast lane where speed dial rules - nobody remembers numbers any more; immigration is through the green lane; express lane to squeeze toll in a wink; dressed down to work and so forth, everything can be arranged for your convenience.
And I thought it is only applies to our daily living!

Even preparations for penance can fast trekked. Just the other day, my son who is generally cynically and sarcastic about age old traditional rituals and ethno-religious practices, blurted out that he was taking a 'paal kodam' (milk containers) on our Thaipusam outing. I guess the stress of wanting to excel in his recently concluded public examinations lured him to display publicly his private cajoling of divine interventions.

From my understanding of carrying out penance, one has to purify the body and soul by sacrificing simple pleasures of life over a protracted period of time to focus the mind with their ultimate task of surrendering their offering at the lotus feet of the speared Lord of Destroyer of All Evils. Even a day before the said event, they (my daughter joined in the foray a day earlier) were seen enjoying the pleasures of cooked meat and comforting snooze on high quality rubber mattress!
Hey, I guess it is the thought that counts, not the execution of the task....

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