(Sathya Venkatesh)
After attending a family function, my husband and I were driving along the outskirts of Coimbatore. It was a beautiful, breezy day, and the wide roads were relatively quiet. We were driving at a comfortable pace, our seatbelts fastened, enjoying the calm scenery and the gentle wind outside. There was no hurry; we were simply savouring the peaceful journey.
Suddenly, a large peacock flew across the road. Its magnificent, lush feathers grazed past our front window, momentarily blocking my husband’s view of the road ahead. Instinctively, he applied the brakes, and the car came to an abrupt stop.
We looked ahead and were startled to see a toddler walking along the roadside, completely unattended. Before we could fully take in what had happened, the child’s mother came rushing after him. She scooped him into her arms and hugged him tightly, tears of joy streaming down her face. We gently told her to be more careful and not let the little one wander off unattended again. She folded her hands gratefully.
As the shock began to sink in, we realised how many things could have gone terribly wrong in those few seconds. Had the peacock not flown across our windshield, my husband might not have braked, and we could have crossed the toddler’s path before even noticing him. And, had we hit the peacock instead, we would have been devastated at having harmed such a magnificent bird. Being our national bird, the peacock is protected under Indian wildlife laws; the thought of having to deal with the legal consequences would have been frightening too. In that moment, it felt as though we had been spared from not one, but two possible tragedies.
The incident had left us shaken, so we stopped at a nearby bakery and had a cup of tea, taking a little time to compose ourselves before setting off again. As we sat there quietly, replaying those few moments in our minds, we thought of something that had happened just three days earlier. We had offered our prayers at the Tiruchendur Murugan Temple.
The peacock, after all, is the vahana of Lord Muruga. Had it flown across our path at that precise moment for a reason? We could not say for certain, but in our hearts, it felt as though Lord Muruga had intervened and protected us from what could have been a terrible accident.
We continued our journey with grateful hearts and a renewed sense of faith. Perhaps it was instinct, perhaps coincidence, or perhaps divine grace. Whatever the explanation, the image of that magnificent peacock crossing our path has remained with us—a gentle reminder that sometimes grace arrives in the most unexpected forms.
