Operation Barbarossa - 8

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For most of his life Father was a borderline agnostic...he being the first science graduate of his generation.

Of course he used to do his sandhyavandanam without fail thrice a day. But that was by force of habit...and to please his ultra-religious wife.

But while at Muthukur, he used to visit the famous Balaji Temple at Tirupati to have a free tonsure that saved barber's expenses for the next four months.

Balaji is fond of his devotees' hair...tonsure means surrender of the ego...men (and women) being attached to their hair mostly.

One of my retired friends here told me that he rarely visits the local barber shop...whenever needed he would visit Tirupati (all of 40 times at the last count). 

Other than Balaji's visits, complete tonsure was prohibited for Brahmin gents who were advised to keep a tuft of hair till they renounced and became sannyasins.

Among my father's siblings, only the eldest kept his knotted tuft but concealed it within his crop of hair (he was the Nellore Shakespeare and had to teach a set of rowdy students).

Chanakya, I am told, refused to tie his tuft till he dethroned the Nandas who had insulted him (he taught Chandragupta the secrets of warfare and economics among other things).

Modiji needs him now more than ever...

And Father would lug me to Balaji and have my head tonsured, which I resented. 

But after cremating his body in 2004, I asked my mom what she wished me to do with my hair (he was her husband first and foremost, and only then my father).

Mother ordered me unequivocally to visit the local saloon at Gudur and have my head tonsured, leaving a tuft.

And my youngest niece (now in the US) used to braid my tuft for fun for all of ten days till that too got cleared by the same barber...

Twenty years later, upon cremating my mom's body, I got my head tonsured once again...that being her unsaid wish. 

That evening when I was traveling in my son's AC car in Nellore I felt as if my head was in the freezer.

Hair protects us from cold....everything in Nature has its uses (including nails which we need when we have to scratch our backs as well as our bosses')...

Ogden Nash:

There was a young belle of old Natchez
Who ripped all her garments to patchez
When comment arose
On the state of her clothes
She drawled, When Ah itches, Ah scratchez.

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But during his last five years, Father turned a staunch devotee of Lord Sri Raam, and used to recite (by heart) the Daasarathi Satakam (దాశరథీ శతకం).

Of course Lord Raam was a God to all South Indians. Even the virulent Anti-Aryan Dravidian was named Raamasaami Naicker.

And our staunch Communist of AP didn't change his name from "Sitaram Yechuri"

And the loudest Anti-Modi now is named Ramachandra Guha (Padma Bhushan).

At first I thought he was a Bengali (Guha being a common surname in Bengal).

But he turned out to be from Karnataka (Guha being the Bhakt of Sri Raam).

After retiring and settling down in Hyderabad I used to get my Hindu Newspaper, in which this Ramachandra Guha ran a weekly column that I loved to read for its lucid prose. 

And when I blogged my first story about my misadventure with a sewing machine at Muthukur, I mailed it to Ramachandra Guha (it is so tough to make others read what you write).

I wanted to see if he reads it...as a test of my own English prose. 

I was dubious till I got this return-mail from him:

 Dear Professor Sastry,

Thank you for your mail and your moving piece about your school and upbringing. 

The 1950s were a special time, almost an innocent time, in the history of the nation.

With regards

R. Guha

(He is 15 years younger to me and doesn't know those nineteen-fifties first-hand)

Five years ago, for Ishani's Home Library, I bought his book: "Patriots and Partisans"

Didn't read it yet (where is the time?)

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When I was 3, Father used to place me on his tummy while on his cot and say:

"I have only one demand of you...take me to Kashi once"

Redemption of that took me all of 40 years.

North-East perhaps didn't have this Raam Culture.

But what about Bengal?

No doubt there was our Ramakrishna Paramahamsa...but that was the name he took upon himself much later...he was christened "Gadaadhar" after the deity at Gaya.

He was by and large a devotee of Mother Kali.

Indeed the only temple that came up outside the IIT KGP campus was: "Shiv-Kali Mandir"

Bengal of the 15th century was greatly influenced by Lord Chaitanya (on our way to Gole Bazar at KGP there was this Chaitanyaasram).

That saint born in Nabadwip popularized Sri Krishna Bhakti Mlovement (now ISKCON).

Today being Holi, it is the day of Dol Jatra when Baby Krishna is placed in his cradle and songs are sung throughout the night to the accompaniment of Khol (variant of Dhol) in rural Bengal.

During the 1800s there was a perennial flux of devotees and sannyasins of Bengal walking from Nabadwip to Puri, as well as to Mathura-Brindavan (where Bengalis used to banish their desolate widows).

But no one traveled to Ayodhya from Bengal.

Durga Puja is a fairly recent arrival...with her inadvertent kids traveling home to Bengal (when did Lakshmi and Sarasvati become daughters of Durgajee? Lakshmi was supposed to be born while the milky ocean was churned, and Sarasvati from Brahma's tongue where she resides permanently).

But Didi revels in Durga and considers Sri Raam as a no-good god of North Indian goons.

And gets wild when the foot soldiers of BJP shout: 'Jai Sri Raam!', which slogan is to her as a red rag to a bull (holy cow that she is, nonetheless).

Anything goes in politics...

And I?

Of course I am a 'Love Bird'

Here is Yagnavalkya speaking to his fond wife Maitreyi (Brihadaranyaka Upanishad):

स होवाच: न वा अरे पत्युः कामाय पतिः प्रियो भवत्यात्मनस्तु कामाय पतिः प्रियो भवति। 

न वा अरे जायायै कामाय जाया प्रिया भवत्यात्मनस्तु कामाय जाया प्रिया भवति। 

न वा अरे पुत्राणां कामाय पुत्राः प्रिया भवन्त्यात्मनस्तु कामाय पुत्राः प्रिया भवन्ति। 

न वा अरे वित्तस्य कामाय वित्तं प्रियं भवत्यात्मनस्तु कामाय वित्तं प्रियं भवति। 

न वा अरे पशूनां कामाय पशवः प्रिया भवन्त्यामनस्तु कामाया पशवः प्रिया भवन्ति। 

न वा अरे ब्रह्मणः कामाय ब्रह्म प्रियं भवत्यात्मनस्तु कामाय ब्रह्म प्रियं भवति। 

न वा अरे क्षत्रस्य कामाय क्षत्रं प्रियं भवत्यात्मनस्तु कामाय क्षत्रं प्रियं भवति। 

न वा अरे लोकानां कामाय लोकाः प्रिया भवन्त्यात्मनस्तु कामाय लोकाः प्रिया भवन्ति। 

न वा अरे देवानां कामाय देवाः प्रिया भवन्त्यात्मनस्तु कामाय देवाः प्रिया भवन्ति। 

न वा अरे वेदानां कामाय वेदाः प्रिया भवन्त्यात्मनस्तु कामाय वेदाः प्रिया भवन्ति। 

न वा अरे भुतानां कामाय भूतानि प्रियाणि भवन्त्यात्मनस्तु कामाय भूतानि प्रियाणि भवन्ति।

 न वा अरे सर्वस्य कामाय सर्वं प्रियं भवत्यात्मनस्तु कामाय सर्वं प्रियं भवति। 

आत्मा वा अरे द्रष्टव्यः श्रोतव्यो मन्तव्यो निदिध्यासितव्यो मैत्रेयात्मनि खल्वरे दृष्टे श्रुते मते विज्ञात इद सर्वं विदितम्॥

And he said: "Verily, not for the sake of the husband, my dear, is the husband loved, but he is loved for the sake of the self which, in its true nature, is one with the Supreme Self. "Verily, not for the sake of the wife, my dear, is the wife loved, but she is loved for the sake of the self. "Verily, not for the sake of the sons, my dear, are the sons loved, but they are loved for the sake of the self. "Verily, not for the sake of wealth, my dear, is wealth loved, but it is loved for the sake of the self. "Verily, not for the sake of the animals, my dear, are the animals loved, but they are loved for the sake of the self. "Verily, not for the sake of the brahmin, my dear, is the brahmin loved, but he is loved for the sake of the self. "Verily, not for the sake of the khatriya, my dear, is the khatriya loved, but he is loved for the sake of the self. "Verily, not for the sake of the worlds, my dear, are the worlds loved, but they are loved for the sake of the self. "Verily, not for the sake of the gods, my dear, are the gods loved, but they are loved for the sake of the self. "Verily, not for the sake of the Vedas, my dear, are the Vedas loved, but they are loved for the sake of the self. "Verily, not for the sake of the beings, my dear, are the beings loved, but they are loved for the sake of the self. "Verily, not for the sake of the All, my dear, is the All loved, but it is loved for the sake of the self.

"Verily, my dear Maitreyi, it is the Self that should be realized, should be heard of, reflected on and meditated upon. By the realization of the Self, my dear, through hearing, reflection and meditation, all this is known".

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To be continued

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