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Was there life before Xerox?
The surprising answer is: "Yes", although I can't convince Ishani of it...she was born watching (and now handling) a HP color printer cum copier cum scanner in her so-called 'toys room'. I can't also convince her about life before ATM (which she is fond of visiting, and pulling out the cash when it is emitted, rarely, in Hyderabad). Also about life before cell-phones (she has four of her own...whenever her mom and dad buy a new cell phone in the air-conditioned outlet with her, the sales guy would gift her one Samsung dummy look-alike and she would punch many buttons and call up and talk to all her friends all the time...female gossip...her parents try to protect their cell phones from her using a password they change all the time, and then forget, till she helps).
Our Telugu Pundit in school, an inveterate snuff-puller, told us early in our lives that not only was there literature before printing was invented but before even writing was. And he used to insist that our 4 vedas were emitted straight from the mouth of Lord Brahma (with 4 faces) and were mugged up by our ancient rishis and propagated orally by rote over thousands of years. I asked Father about this boast and he confirmed it. And told me that the riks (lyrical hymns) of all the vedas combined number more than a million.
I thought he was trying to impress me.
Till, at the age of 13, when Father performed my upanayanam (sacred thread-ceremony) just before I left home for higher studies...so-called. And after the function was over, he sat me by his side three times everyday (morning, noon and evening), and taught me how to do sandhyavandanam (Gayatri-jap ritual).
The first day, each session went on for about half an hour and I had to simply listen to him and repeat the mantras before, during, and after the main japam itself. I asked him if there is a text that I could read and mug it up by myself. He said there is none, and I had to listen, repeat, and memorize. I thought it would take a couple of months. But surprisingly it took just about a week or less...kids are so good at rote-learning.
The trouble is because sandhyavandanam involves not only reciting the mantras but also performing a lot of kriyas (hand-gestures) like prokshanam, arghyam, tarpanam, pranayamam, achamaneeyam, karanyasam, anganyasam, pravara pathanam, pradakshinam, raksha mantram...
I did all this religiously 3 times everyday till I went to IIT KGP where I had to eat in a hostel mess along with boarders eating fish and bird and mammal by my side...
But I never forgot it and do it in my bed even now in the morning, sans the kriyas. And I regularly offer to teach my son what my father taught me for what it is worth but he postpones it...he has to share his business luncheons and dinners with chaps eating our sacred cow.
After the Gayatri japam proper was through, Father would ask me to be extra-attentive, since he would then teach me a rik (hymn) from the vedas with the right swara (note)...one each for the 3 sessions of the day. It was the toughest part.
Three years back I bought a Ramakrishna Mission Publication in Telugu script titled:
"Saswara Veda Mantralu"
and loved the contents of its 200 odd pages. As I said, trouble with the vedas is that each hymn comes with a strictly prescribed lyrical note, and their ups and downs and longs and shorts can't be meddled with. And so, although the Telugu script, like the Devanagari, is rich enough for the text, the tone is indicated by a tiny vertical bar or two above some letters and tiny horizontal bars below some. And I can make no sense of them.
But I loved the vedic recitals by pundits (generally in groups of 3 or more in a sort of orchestra). Recently I came to know why they sing in a group...I am told it is because one or the other chap may at times forget the next line and the third comes to his aid.
I also saw an orthodox veda-pathasala (vedic school) in which no book was allowed by either the teacher or the taught. The Pundit sings and the 50 odd pupils repeat, like I did my multiplication tables 63 years ago.
It is a charming experience.
You may wonder what is there in it.
A lot.
Many of the renowned Hyderabadi pundits cum scholars cum purohits are in great demand and move about in swank SUVs flitting from here to there to elsewhere. There is also a Big Boss who commands a dozen and more assistants via cell phones to attend to births, upanayanams, weddings, funerals apart from umpteen homams and pujas and abhishekams and grihapraveshams and vratams; and yagnas and yagas (particularly during the election season)...
**********************************************************************************************************
Was there life before Xerox?
The surprising answer is: "Yes", although I can't convince Ishani of it...she was born watching (and now handling) a HP color printer cum copier cum scanner in her so-called 'toys room'. I can't also convince her about life before ATM (which she is fond of visiting, and pulling out the cash when it is emitted, rarely, in Hyderabad). Also about life before cell-phones (she has four of her own...whenever her mom and dad buy a new cell phone in the air-conditioned outlet with her, the sales guy would gift her one Samsung dummy look-alike and she would punch many buttons and call up and talk to all her friends all the time...female gossip...her parents try to protect their cell phones from her using a password they change all the time, and then forget, till she helps).
Our Telugu Pundit in school, an inveterate snuff-puller, told us early in our lives that not only was there literature before printing was invented but before even writing was. And he used to insist that our 4 vedas were emitted straight from the mouth of Lord Brahma (with 4 faces) and were mugged up by our ancient rishis and propagated orally by rote over thousands of years. I asked Father about this boast and he confirmed it. And told me that the riks (lyrical hymns) of all the vedas combined number more than a million.
I thought he was trying to impress me.
Till, at the age of 13, when Father performed my upanayanam (sacred thread-ceremony) just before I left home for higher studies...so-called. And after the function was over, he sat me by his side three times everyday (morning, noon and evening), and taught me how to do sandhyavandanam (Gayatri-jap ritual).
The first day, each session went on for about half an hour and I had to simply listen to him and repeat the mantras before, during, and after the main japam itself. I asked him if there is a text that I could read and mug it up by myself. He said there is none, and I had to listen, repeat, and memorize. I thought it would take a couple of months. But surprisingly it took just about a week or less...kids are so good at rote-learning.
The trouble is because sandhyavandanam involves not only reciting the mantras but also performing a lot of kriyas (hand-gestures) like prokshanam, arghyam, tarpanam, pranayamam, achamaneeyam, karanyasam, anganyasam, pravara pathanam, pradakshinam, raksha mantram...
I did all this religiously 3 times everyday till I went to IIT KGP where I had to eat in a hostel mess along with boarders eating fish and bird and mammal by my side...
But I never forgot it and do it in my bed even now in the morning, sans the kriyas. And I regularly offer to teach my son what my father taught me for what it is worth but he postpones it...he has to share his business luncheons and dinners with chaps eating our sacred cow.
After the Gayatri japam proper was through, Father would ask me to be extra-attentive, since he would then teach me a rik (hymn) from the vedas with the right swara (note)...one each for the 3 sessions of the day. It was the toughest part.
Three years back I bought a Ramakrishna Mission Publication in Telugu script titled:
"Saswara Veda Mantralu"
and loved the contents of its 200 odd pages. As I said, trouble with the vedas is that each hymn comes with a strictly prescribed lyrical note, and their ups and downs and longs and shorts can't be meddled with. And so, although the Telugu script, like the Devanagari, is rich enough for the text, the tone is indicated by a tiny vertical bar or two above some letters and tiny horizontal bars below some. And I can make no sense of them.
But I loved the vedic recitals by pundits (generally in groups of 3 or more in a sort of orchestra). Recently I came to know why they sing in a group...I am told it is because one or the other chap may at times forget the next line and the third comes to his aid.
I also saw an orthodox veda-pathasala (vedic school) in which no book was allowed by either the teacher or the taught. The Pundit sings and the 50 odd pupils repeat, like I did my multiplication tables 63 years ago.
It is a charming experience.
You may wonder what is there in it.
A lot.
Many of the renowned Hyderabadi pundits cum scholars cum purohits are in great demand and move about in swank SUVs flitting from here to there to elsewhere. There is also a Big Boss who commands a dozen and more assistants via cell phones to attend to births, upanayanams, weddings, funerals apart from umpteen homams and pujas and abhishekams and grihapraveshams and vratams; and yagnas and yagas (particularly during the election season)...
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