Cross at Cologne Cathedral
It was 10:30am. We had just entered Köln’s Cathedral – Europe’s biggest Cathedral. It was a magnificent sight. We were both lucky and unlucky to have entered when the priests were offering their prayers. Unlucky because we could not have a closer look of the altar, lucky because their presence added to the feel of the Cathedral.
To my left, there were a few people lighting candles and immersed in prayer. I felt an urge to go and light a candle too. I really have no clue what prompted me to do that and I approached the candles with a perplexed state of mind. But then, sometimes its just wonderful to give into impulses 
As I lit the candle in a corner of Europe’s biggest cathedral, I felt the same kind of divinity or that sense of peace which encapsulated me every time I surrendered my’SELF’ to God. Be it in Tirupathi or the temple next door. I lost sense of things around me and everything seemed to stop. The candle light grew bigger and my eyes began to water. As I began speaking to myself, thanking him for this wonderful moment, thanking him for all that he has given me and asking questions to which I have never found answers, I realized that irrespective of innumerable differences in traditions, rituals, culture, sacred texts and guiding principles the underlying emotions and connection to God was the same across people, countries and religions. As I placed my prayer candle amongst all those other candles, it struck me how every single flame there stood as a symbol of hope and faith and then…. my candle flickered!!
The exit had a small bowl filled with some Euros and cents and as I put my 5 cents in, I asked myself – “How do you value such experiential services?”
Prayer
With the wedding season setting in, sitting miles away from all the mandapams and temples I realize how much it hurts not to be there. It hurts even more because the pain is surfacing from events that happened in the long past. A time when I thought the event didn’t matter to me. 
