We’ve all been there — in those prickly situations wherein the staunchest of atheists and agnostics pray for a miracle to get us out of a pickle
Ever been stuck in an elevator or locked yourself out of your house? Or may be stuck in a room with people you dont want to be? If you have, then surely the one thing you must’ve fervently done was pray. Pray with the utmost sincerity and hope that the elevator door miraculously open, or that the key to the locked door somehow manifests in your pocket or the bag or someone magically walks up to you taking you away from the room. Irrespective of whether such prayers work or not, we asked three people to tell us about their Oh-God-please-help-me moments.
It’s is from the day of Holi, back when I was a teenager. My friends and I were goofing around, throwing water balloons at people from our building terrace. Soon we saw cops entering our building and sprinting up the staircase for us. All 15 of us were scared so we ran towards the Jain temple in our building complex, and started praying. It was pitch dark inside the temple apart from the light of a single diya. I could hear the cops yelling. I have never prayed as I did that day for not being taken to the police station!
—Prerak Shah, 27, HR professional, Ahmedabad
I was going to Goa with my family. We boarded the flight from Mumbai, suddenly the weather turned extremely bad just when the flight was about to land in Goa. The plane was unstable because of high turbulence, and the permission to land was denied. So the flight was redirected to Mumbai, but bad weather caught up with us there too, so the Mumbai airport too denied, permission to land! The flight was then redirected to Goa. All this while, I had been praying to God to ‘please give me some beach time. The flight finally landed, and I thanked God!
—Kosha Shah, 46, Homemaker, Mumbai
Few years ago, my wife, her sister and I were going from Pune to Tarkarli in the dead of the night. I was driving with the help of Google maps. We kept passing by several remote villages on the deserted roads. It was about 2am when I realised that we have lost the route so we changed tracks. There was not a soul on the street whom we could ask for help. To make matters worse, directions for ‘Bhootnath Temple’ were painted on the walls. I took a U-turn and started praying that I find someone for help.
—Hrushikesh Patil, 34, Engineer, Bengaluru
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
 "pray")
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}