This
morning when I got into my car to drive to work, I saw that a bottle of water
that I had left overnight in the car had frozen to ice. Make no mistake, I love Canada, and, live
here by choice…however, I was all the same happy that in exactly two weeks’
time the only place I will be able to find ice is in the kitchen, in the refrigerator…
I shall be
in Singara Chennai or what I still prefer to call Madras, Nalla Madras … and then, amchi Mumbai before starting the New Year in London (which thanks, to Geetu is becoming an annual family tradition)The once a year trip to India (and London) falls somewhere in between an annual pilgrimage and a lovers’ tryst…
From the
time I can remember, which goes back in this case, to age seven, a trip to
India was always something that caused tremendous excitement. The mind would start churning up images
galore, of friends and food and fun.
There was this fantasy that life would suddenly become less objective
driven. Even if by force of habit I
still got up at 4am, I could go for a walk on Elliots’ Beach, instead of drive
to work.
(At the same time, I must give
thanks that I have a job to drive to…even if it is in the snow)
In the days
Ramesh Balsekar was alive, my day while in Mumbai, would start with idlis and
chutney at Ram Nayak’s in Kings Circle and the satsang at Ramesh’s house. And as I travelled back home after the
satsang, a stop at the Motilal Banarasidas bookstore near Mahalakshmi, browsing through Sanskrit and old Hindi texts…and all the while, the
closing bhajan of the satsang,
saguna mhanu, ke nirguna re
Tu ahe
govindu re …
Does it
matter that some think you are with form and some think that you have no form ?
For me, you are just Govindu (God)…
By chance I just checked YouTube and find that there is actually a clip of this song being sung...thanks to Balsekar I realise that my finding the song when I am writing this is no coincidence...there are no miracles, no coincidences...things happen, there is no doer...
And, Ramesh
Balsekar’s last admonition to me, ‘…if you already have the answers why do you
ask me the question ? … come back when you don’t have answers and we can talk …’
And,
friends…people I knew as a teenager, all now grown to Golden Age status. It is wonderful to see how the absence of
years bring you to understand people who you had problems with. I recall the days I worked in Mumbai, when
there was a government ruling against having HR positions filled by ‘non
locals.’ Not being born of Marathi
speaking parents, that ruling applied to me.
There was a particular Union leader who used to be difficult with me
just for this reason. On a visit two
years ago, I saw him at the Dadar-Pune taxi stand. We recognized each other, and, after half a
second of hesitancy, rushed to talk to another.
We ended up having a masala chai at a nearby chai stall. It was great to get his perspective on how
life at my old workplace has changed.
Everytime I
see a face that looks familiar, I walk up and ask ‘Are you so and so ?” Eight times out of ten I am correct, and, the
next few minutes are a rush of feeling and catching up.
As I sit
enjoying the rush of feeling, with tears pouring down my cheeks, the song that comes to my mind is one composed
by Dwijendralal Roy … dhano dhanya pushpe bora…the best rendering is by Hemanta
Mukhopadhyaya, who, for a few weeks,was my Bengali teacher ,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDiXDHGvGHM
