Kottayam: Transcending the barriers of religious stereotypes, a devout Orthodox Christian from Kodumon in Pathanamthitta has been making a yearly pilgrimage to Pazhani for the past 46 years.
Overwhelmed? No, that's not all. David aka Kunjumon takes along 55 others on this soulful journey. People in Kodumon and neighbouring areas wait for his notice in December-January to join Kunjumon's three-day trip to Pazhani and various other temples. Though the tour is conducted at a certain fare, this man obviously observes all spiritual disciplines an ardent devotee would follow.
It all started way back in 1960, when Kunjumon was afflicted by a heart disease. He was taken to various hospitals for treatment but his condition kept deteriorating. He was at last saved by the treatment of Dr. Gopi at the government hospital in Adoor, which lasted for two months. And all the while, he had a friend named Mani to stand by him.
Days after Kunjumon was discharged, Mani asked his friend to accompany him to the holy shrine at Sabarimala. Though Kunjumon was reluctant at first he could not reject the call of his bosom friend outright. So he prepared for the journey, which he kept a secret from his parents. Days later, he trekked the Sabarimala hill and offered prayers at the shrine observing all the austerities, rituals and formalities of vrat, irumudikkettu and so on. It was during the return journey that Mani revealed the truth. He said that he had made a pledge to take Kunjumon to Sabarimala and Pazhani seeking divine blessings for the cure of the latter when he was struck by the disease.
Soon they started readying themselves up for the trip to Pazhani. But unfortunately Mani fell victim to a heart ailment and died that year. The incident had devastated Kunjumon to a great extend and he decided to visit Pazhani himself so that the vow his friend had made would be fulfilled. That was the start of Kunjumon's yearly trip and the chain has never been broken so far. "Earlier, it was a personal trip and later on, I conducted it as a tour for others too. It has been 46 years now."
"My parents had objected to it for a long time. But after about 10 years, now they have softened their stand," Kunjumon, who runs a small shop at Kodumon on Pathanamthitta-Ezhamkulam road, says. "It is the feeling that there is only one God for all, which gives me immense faith in all religions and that is the force that propels me ahead."
Kunjumon's entourage covers almost all the major temples in Kerala and some of the temples in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. "It's been so many years and I had made up my mind to wind up when there are no enough members for the trip. But the number of travellers keeps burgeoning, year after year," he says.