Call of faith, avenues of livelihood converge for Ayodhya’s youngsters

The ‘Pran Pratistha’ at Ram Mandir on January 22 is a special occasion for which youngsters can’t resist coming back home

The Ram temple has given the youngsters of Ayodhya the chance to reconnect with their spiritual and cultural roots, besides the opportunity to make a decent living thanks to the expected surge in pilgrim footfall after the January 22 consecration ceremony.

The mood in Ayodhya in the run-up to the Pran Pratishtha ceremony. (Deepak Gupta/HT)

Take the case of Sukriti, a software engineer, who has been in Bengaluru for the last three years but hasn’t lost her faith in Lord Ram and Ayodhya, where she grew up.

Familiar with narration of the epic Ramayana since childhood, she is delighted when something related to her faith happens in her hometown. The ‘Pran Pratistha’ at Ram Mandir on January 22 is a special occasion for which she couldn’t resist coming back home for about 10 days.

“I have been told about Lord Ram and Ramayana since my childhood. My parents and I couldn’t afford to miss the opportunity of this ‘Pran Pratistha’ ceremony. I opted for a 10-day work for home so that I would not miss the chance to be part of this,” said Sukriti, whose parents run a small shop of ‘puja samagri’ (puja material) near the historical Human Garhi temple.

“When I heard about the Pran Pratistha ceremony last month, I approached my boss and asked for a week’s off. Thankfully, I was allowed a 10-day work-from-home opportunity,” she said.

“I won’t be there at the main ceremony on January 22 as, except the guests, nobody is allowed to go there (that day), but I am happy that I will be part of the ceremony from a distance,” she said.

She also said most of her colleagues in the Bengaluru office have requested her to bring ‘prasad’ when she rejoins office on January 25.

“People back in the office are excited and eagerly waiting for prasad,” she added.

Like Sukriti, other youngsters of Ayodhya are excited about the construction of the grand Ram temple and they see a big opportunity to earn a decent living in the future.

“I have never seen such a crowd and pilgrims in this temple town before. Things have changed after the Supreme Court verdict for the temple,” said Yogesh Sahu, who runs a mobile phone shop near Digambar Akhara.

“I am making good money through mobile recharge as the daily footfall in the town has risen manifold ever since the decision to build a ‘bhavya’ Ram temple here in 2019. This surge of the daily crowd is expected to be more in future. This Ram temple is now the biggest source of income for many youngsters like me,” said Yogesh.

“In fact, after completing my graduation from Faizabad University in 2019, I was planning to leave this town in search of a job, but my father insisted that I take care of his shop. Now, I find that instead of looking for ₹25,000-40,000 job in some other city, earning ₹1500 to ₹2500 per day is a far better option, that too while staying at home,” he said.

Lord Ram has created job opportunities for everyone, he said.

“Kehte hain ki Bhagwan sabke liye kuch na kuch karta hai aur usne kar diya bhale hi mandir ke roop mein (people say that God does something for everyone and in fact He has done this in the form of the temple ),” he added.