Shanti!

I think it was in 1972--I was eight years old then--when we went with a bus load of Iyer families to visit a couple of temples, including Srisailam.  Well, the main purpose of this trip was to pay tribute to the head of the Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam, who was away from Kanchipuram and had "camped" near Srisailam.

We walked into the camp chanting "Hara hara, Sankara; Jaya jaya, Sankara." We submitted the offerings at the feet of the Mahaperiyava, and stayed for the puja.  I was convinced that I was participating in something extraordinary.

A few years after that, the junior head, Periayava, came to Neyveli for a few days and we were at this local "camp" quite a few times to pray and listen to his lectures.  I liked his lectures because he sprinkled jokes, and I have always loved humor of any kind in any setting.  Here was a sanyasi with whom I could relate!

I was still in my teens when a successor was anointed.  A 14-year was chosen as the successor to Periyava.  14!  It blew my mind that a young teenager could be launched on a path to becoming an acharya, a spiritual leader, for tens of thousands of people.

Of course, by this time I was in my own orbit, rushing farther and farther away from the traditional practices and the religion in which I was raised. 

I was a student in an engineering college when the three acharyas came to the town where my aunt's family lived.  My grandmothers were also visiting, and we all went to pay respects to the three.

Blue-Skinned Gods reminded me of all those--especially the selection of a young boy as a spiritual leader.  The author creatively uses Hindu mythology in weaving a story in which a ten-year old boy with blue-skin is hailed and revered as a god who heals.  His father establishes an ashram to which the locals bring their sick ones.  The father has great plans to go international, which leads to the novel's climactic ending.

Perhaps the faithful will consider the novel to be blasphemous.  But then the real world ashrams and their spiritual leaders offer plenty of drama that are often beyond the wildest imaginations of screenplay writers.  For instance, the murder mystery that ensnared the Kanchi Acharyas continues to baffle me!

Ultimately, the "need" for gods among us mortals is all because of the existential angst, which results in sufferings of many kinds that science and technology can only mitigate at best, but never solve.  Spiritual leaders, like the acharyas, are the ones to whom we often turn to for advice about the angst and peace of mind.  These leaders, whatever the religion might be, are, after all, humans like us, which then makes possible fictional works like Blue-Skinned Gods.