There are times when you are doing something and out of the blue something happens that arouses all your spirits and enlivens you.. Such was an experience to me yesterday night when I chanced upon this youtube link - Vaathapi Ganapathim Bhajeham of Yesudas and it brought back plenty of old memories.. The ever cherished childhood days..
This song was, and still is a favourite of mine and my dad. We had a live audio recording of this song by Yesudas which was the most played cassette in our house - some thousands of times :) Every day used to break with his mellifluous rendering of the song. The youtube link starts directly with the song, while ours had the Santhi Manthram and the first 6 stanzas of Shri Ganapati Atharvashirsha preceding the actual song. And with this started the mornings. Let me describe one such here as my mind is full of vivid images of it now..
First thing, as in every south Indian household, was the coffee.. Strong Nescafe Select it used to be, filling up the entire house with sweet aroma :) My dad is coffee-crazy, and used to have some 3 or 4 cups in the morn, starting from as early as 5 am !! Then I and dad would go to our garden to water the plants and pick flowers to offer to God. Early morning in the garden, with the green dew filled grass, juicy looking plants and flowers, with plenty of fresh air was such a lovely experience.. We had an extremely fragrant malligai poo plant from kerala (my mom's old house), the not-so-fragrant, but got aplenty nenthiyaar vettai (I am not sure if this is the malayalam or tamil name), roses and different shades of chembarathi (Hibiscus Rosasinensis) in our garden. I used to look forward to this everyday for the freshness at the start of the day and for the conversations with dad. My dad is a hub of knowledge when it comes to current affairs, mainly politics. And when he starts talking, you would just want to keep listening.. (My ex-PL Yuga also had an experience of this once :) ) These conversations in my formative years, I think, is the reason for my own interest in these fields.. I remember the saying - "I learnt a lot from a walk across the park with my dad than all the books together" here..
Now, after picking all the flowers would be the bath and pooja with placing the flowers picked, plus the extra garlands purchased in our pooja room.. We methodically arranged and decked every photo frame in the swami room and formed a layer of flowers on the floor.. On days with plenty of flowers, the kutti-kutti (small) idols would be completely covered with flowers :) Then after getting dressed up, would be the very very delicious food made by mom.. My mom is an excellent cook and the best I know of in this world!! I know that everyone will say this, but one look at me will more confirm this :) Then leave to school with me and Varun, neighbour, school mate and a very close buddy, in our cycles, chatting endlessly all along the way and racing one another.
Ah!! A sudden rush of old, sweet memories, listening to this song that I wanted to write / record it immediately. Probably this is kind of exaggerated description of something mundane in everyone's house, but something I will remember forever.
And cut to now, get up at 9, get ready, put on some clothes and leave to office. There is nothing like a morning!! Anyways, till such sweet things happen again, let these memories continue to keep me fresh :)
Have a great day!!
This song was, and still is a favourite of mine and my dad. We had a live audio recording of this song by Yesudas which was the most played cassette in our house - some thousands of times :) Every day used to break with his mellifluous rendering of the song. The youtube link starts directly with the song, while ours had the Santhi Manthram and the first 6 stanzas of Shri Ganapati Atharvashirsha preceding the actual song. And with this started the mornings. Let me describe one such here as my mind is full of vivid images of it now..
First thing, as in every south Indian household, was the coffee.. Strong Nescafe Select it used to be, filling up the entire house with sweet aroma :) My dad is coffee-crazy, and used to have some 3 or 4 cups in the morn, starting from as early as 5 am !! Then I and dad would go to our garden to water the plants and pick flowers to offer to God. Early morning in the garden, with the green dew filled grass, juicy looking plants and flowers, with plenty of fresh air was such a lovely experience.. We had an extremely fragrant malligai poo plant from kerala (my mom's old house), the not-so-fragrant, but got aplenty nenthiyaar vettai (I am not sure if this is the malayalam or tamil name), roses and different shades of chembarathi (Hibiscus Rosasinensis) in our garden. I used to look forward to this everyday for the freshness at the start of the day and for the conversations with dad. My dad is a hub of knowledge when it comes to current affairs, mainly politics. And when he starts talking, you would just want to keep listening.. (My ex-PL Yuga also had an experience of this once :) ) These conversations in my formative years, I think, is the reason for my own interest in these fields.. I remember the saying - "I learnt a lot from a walk across the park with my dad than all the books together" here..
Now, after picking all the flowers would be the bath and pooja with placing the flowers picked, plus the extra garlands purchased in our pooja room.. We methodically arranged and decked every photo frame in the swami room and formed a layer of flowers on the floor.. On days with plenty of flowers, the kutti-kutti (small) idols would be completely covered with flowers :) Then after getting dressed up, would be the very very delicious food made by mom.. My mom is an excellent cook and the best I know of in this world!! I know that everyone will say this, but one look at me will more confirm this :) Then leave to school with me and Varun, neighbour, school mate and a very close buddy, in our cycles, chatting endlessly all along the way and racing one another.
Ah!! A sudden rush of old, sweet memories, listening to this song that I wanted to write / record it immediately. Probably this is kind of exaggerated description of something mundane in everyone's house, but something I will remember forever.
And cut to now, get up at 9, get ready, put on some clothes and leave to office. There is nothing like a morning!! Anyways, till such sweet things happen again, let these memories continue to keep me fresh :)
Have a great day!!
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