Forty-year-old Dakshinamurthy Krishna Kumar and his 74-year-old mother Choodarathna, from Mysuru, made headlines when they embarked in 2018 on a long pilgrimage. They covered over 5 lakh kilometres, visiting spiritual places across the country and Bhutan, Myanmar and Nepal on their 20-year-old Bajaj Chetak scooter, a gift to Mr. Kumar from his father. Then, COVID-19 struck and they had to cut short their journey.
Now, after a gap of about two years, the duo have hit the road again, covering temples, spiritual places, monasteries, and ashrams across the country. On Saturday, they visited temples in Kannur, travelling 180-odd kilometres from Mysuru on scooter.
Four years ago, Mr. Kumar left a high-paid corporate job after 13 years. Behind the huge decision was a request of his mother — she wanted to visit a temple in their home State, Karnataka. “I was shocked that my mother, who was 68 years old then, had not visited a temple that was so near,” he said. He decided then to fulfill all her wishes.
An eyeopener
“Till then I had never given much time and attention to my mother. I was chasing my dreams to climb further up the corporate ladder,” he said. Her request proved to be an eyeopener. He began to take her on short trips to nearby temples on his scooter. “The scooter made our family complete as it reminded me of my father,” he said.
“I was apprehensive about her ability to cope with the trips. However, she responded with enthusiasm. I realised that age is just a number,” he said and added that they continuously drove over 400 kilometres when States started imposing restrictions during COVID-19 outbreak.
Three rules
“We followed three principles. Not to take money or gifts from people. To stay in temples, ashrams and other religious places and to eat only twice a day. At times there were no ashrams or temples. But people invited us to stay at their homes and served us food,” he added.
“Our journey has just started. It will continue as long my mother wishes to travel and see places,” he said, setting on his return journey to Mysuru, with his cherished pillion-rider.
