“A book deal and a film are in the offing:” Dakshina Krishna Kumar Murthy

Paeans have been written about 44-year-old, Mysuru-based Dakshina Krishna Kumar Murthy, the ‘modern-day Shravan,’ who embarked on a journey in January, 2018, to show his 73-year-old mother, Choodarathna, Temples across India on his 2001 Bajaj Chetak scooter, the “only gift” from his Father, Dakshina Murthy. Now, in 2023, the duo has travelled not just across the length and breadth of India, visiting Temples and other places of religious interest, but have also visited our neighboring countries such as Bhutan, Myanmar and Nepal. Four days back, on September 17th, 2023, when Murthy, along with his mother, while passing through Mumbai, pulled into my apartment complex’s two-wheeler parking area, he said, his scooter’s odometer, read 77,082 kms! What’s more, with a book deal and a film deal already signed, Murthy, one may assume, is laughing all the way to the bank. Not quite! Murthy, a sharp observer and a bit of a philosopher claims to be in the Vanaprastha Ashram stage of his life, having skipped the Grihasta Ashram stage altogether. “Shankaracharya didn’t enter Grihasta Ashram stage either,” he quips. “We lead a Rishi Jeevan (Hermit’s Life) and eat only for survival,” he explains. We have no Moh (Attachment) says the self-proclaimed “spiritual child” who as the eldest son in a large