"Appa, how do Devas and Devis converse?" asked a ten year old girl.

Her father folded and kept aside his Kannada newspaper. He thought for a while. "Why did you get such a doubt?"

"No, actually they are supposed to be Devas and Devis. How are they similar to us?"

"They look like us."

The girl gasped. "But they have numerous hands."

He smiled. His daughter was definitely smart and quick. He walked to his study table and found a book. He flipped few pages.

"Let us forget your question for time being. Have a look at the photos of Padmanabhaswamy Temple. What had I told you about it, yesterday?"

She looked at the photos.

Padmanabhaswamy Temple, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.

Pictorical representation of Padmanabhaswamy.

She scratched her head. "I do remember some things."

"Good. What do you exactly remember, kanna?"

"That it is in Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala. It is the richest temple on Earth. It's main deity is Lord Vishnu. And..."

"Split the words. Padma-nabha-swamy," stressing on each word, he looked at his daughter expectantly.

"... ah! Lord Brahma is connected to Lord Vishnu's nabhi."

Her father smiled. "That's my girl. Look at the picture again. Did you see those three doors?"

She nodded. He said, "Those three doors are created for some purpose."

Her eyes gleamed. "What purpose, Appa?"

"I can explain it to you but I feel that you are too young to comprehend it."

The girl literally started begging. "Appa, please, tell. Please Appa."

He sighed. "Don't beg like that. I will tell you."

She giggled. She loved it when her father gave into her demands, occasionally.

"It is believed that Devas and Devis are cannot be understood by our simple human minds. We have to see beyond what is visible. We have to think in a different way to understand them.

That's the reason why the architects then had designed three doors. First door to view His head, second door to view His navel and third one to view His legs. They wanted us to understand the same fact.

Now, coming back to your question, Devas and Devis are like us in many aspects."

"Do they talk like us? Do they walk like us? Do they get angry like us?"

"By Lord Shiva, you are bombarding me with numerous questions. Yes, kanna, they are like us. They walk, talk, sit, sleep like us. But they can read our minds before we can speak."

Her eyes were wide. "They can read our minds?"

"Yes."

"How Appa?"

"That's because they are Gods."

What Durga's father didn't tell was that there could be a possibility that the devas and devis were highly trained in transmitting radio waves through their minds. Again, capturing those waves was another art to be mastered. It was believed that temples served the same purpose with the condition that the temples have to be raised to a minimum height of fifty metres.

***

"You should have seen his face, Durga. He looked devastated," chuckled Ramaiah.

Rudra rolled his eyes. He knew very well that Ramaiah was taking sweet revenge.

Durga shook her head. "That is the problem with you men. You men can't just survive without us."

Rudra kind of guessed where the topic may lead too. But Ramaiah was a bit offended. He tried to defend, "How can you be so sure?"

"I can actually prove it. I can even prove that Gods need Goddess but Goddess don't need Gods."

Ramaiah crossed his hands on his chest. "Then prove it."

Durga looked at Rudra asking for his permission. Rudra was quite unsure about what Durga was going to prove. But he decided to give it a try. He nodded.

She took a book on her desk and flipped few pages. Then bookmarking three pages, she told Ramaiah to go through those pages.

Durga puja celebration in Kolkata,West Bengal.

Goddess Kali and Lord Shiva in Madhubani style painting.

Animated image of Lord Vishnu and Goddess Lakshmi.

"Look at the pictures and tell me what they mean to you."

"First picture is of Durga Puja in East India. It has Goddess Durga, Goddess Lakshmi, Goddess Saraswati, Lord Ganesh and Lord Karthik."

"Where are their husbands, the Trinity?"

Both the best friends got a shock. They had never thought in this aspect. Durga gave a triumphant smile. "Take a look at second picture."

Ramaiah glanced through the second picture. "It is a Madhubani painting of Goddess Kali and Lord Shiva."

She smiled mischievously. "Look at the third picture."

"It is a common picture. Lord Vishnu is in sleeping position and Goddess Lakshmi is sitting near His feet."

"Good. Now, club all the pictures together."

Rudra raised his hands. "I give up. I don't know the answer."

Ramaiah thought for a while. He kept flipping through the pages, not seeming to understand. Durga smiled mentally at his plight. He pulled his hair and gave up too.

"What does Durga puja actually signify?"

Rudra answered, "I suppose it marks those ten days when Goddess Durga comes to her home."

Durga smiled. Her Rudra can never go wrong. "To be precise, it signifies those ten days when Goddess Durga stays in her maternal home or maika. There she complains that my husband is always busy in tapas. I have to kill all the asuras who have strayed away from the path of Dharma. My husband is there for yogis and I am there to save the world.

Here she complains about Lord Shiva being non cooperative to slay asuras with her. But she accepts this as her fate and enjoys her stay in her maika.

She is immersed in water after ten days with assurance that she will visit them next year again. The Trinity is not significant here because it is festival of women. You must have heard that on the last day, the women smear sindhoor on each other's face.

The next picture is of Goddess Kali waking her husband Lord Shiva. She is asking him to get up and help her in slaying asuras and maintaining peace in the world."

Ramaiah was dumbfounded. But he managed to ask "What do you call the third picture?"

"That's my favourite. It means Goddess Lakshmi is happy with the work Lord Vishnu has done. So she is rewarding him. Remember that Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva are the same God with different manifestations and so are Durga, Kali and Lakshmi."

Rudra applauded her. Durga suddenly felt embarrassed and shy. She looked down at the floor and tucked few strands of hair that had slipped out of her neatly combed braid.

Rudra said, "This will be our next article. Ramaiah and Durga start writing the drafts. This time Shekar will type the draft."

***

Padmanabhaswamy Temple: A temple dedicated to Lord Vishnu, one of the unique temple designs I have ever seen. The intricate and exquisite carvings on the temple pillars will make you fall in love with them. The temple has sound pillars too! Wonderful, isn't it?

Kanna: My dear in Telugu, Kannada and Tamil.

Telepathy theory: The stuff about transmission of radio waves and other things have been borrowed from Amish's books.

Thank you for reading.