Autobiographical musings

I will be 84 this 20th Sept (2021). I feel great, and am satisfied considering the blessings God has showered on us. I cannot count the blessings Sai, our Lord, has showered on us. But still, there is a black dot in the final stage, with Rema falling ill due to some bad fate in the form of quadriplegia. But even here, He showed mercy by giving her the strength to face all problems associated with that problem. Sai gave her such strength that she never felt it as a bad fate at all, and faced all the pain and discomfort without complaint. Usually she cannot bear discomfort at all - it is a wonder how and from where she got this immense tolerance - no doubt from our dear Sai. Oh God! We are truly blessed, Baba! So far, God has always looked after me throughout my life in all adverse circumstances, even in my professional surgical experience. I have enumerated a few in my previous writings. We never dreamt that a world catastrophe like Corona will strike like a typhoon like in the present ...

The problem with the modern society is, too many desires. The more you satisfy your desires, the more they increase. Our Swami always says, life is like a train journey - the more the luggage, the less comfortable the journey is. So reduce your desires and put a ceiling on desires.  For example, when we started our life after returning from the UK in 1975, we had no phone, no fridge, no TV etc and yet, we were still comfortable. When we start accumulating things, say a TV, we want a mobile and then a laptop, and then a car and the list goes on like that. It is all right, you must have what you need, but not anything and everything to satisfy your ego. It is difficult not to have any desire at all and that is why we must have a " ceiling on desires ", as Bhagawan says. Everybody will be happier when one can cut the desires to essential ones.  We are in Puttaparthi now, without TV (which Swami says is televisham), no gas, only induction cooker, I don't use my own car - Har...

MY AUTOBIOGRAPHY - continued from the earlier post ... At the UK for FRCS   I had to go back to Kannur to sell my car, which fortunately was bought by the son-in-law of Dr Jamaluddin. That night I stayed in the RMO's quarters with Dr Gopala Menon and his wife Dr Sethulaxmi Menon who have a lovely daughter Priya. I had a few friends in Kannur - Dr Abdul Khader (surgeon), Dr Ramachandran (ENT), Dr PMK Nambiar (physician), Dr Gopi Kurup and Mrs Gouri Kurup (Gynaec), and a few others. I bid farewell to all of them.  First leg of journey to UK was to Bombay first. Then, on to Ahmedabad where I stayed to bid farewell to my little fairy Anju and Rema. Then I went back to Bombay to really leave India for the UK on 1st May 1973 by Air India. The flight had stops in Frankfurt and Paris. Frankfurt airport was a big place, like a city in itself, with elevators all over, a really nice place to see and wonder at. When I arrived at Heathrow, Murali (Chowara) had come to receive me along wit...

This is how I see people: Remesh Here is a superlative genius of the human species. He is honest, straightforward and brave, and at the same time, very diplomatic and soft-spoken. Our relationship is not like friendship, but more like a father-son or guru-shishya one. He is wonderful and pleasant in any company. He goes out of the way to help not only his friends, but anyone who requests help, not only in money matters, but in other ways too. His capacity to work for hours on end has surprised me often. He appreciates anything good and in buying things he selects only the best and costly items. He is my best student in Surgery - learns fast and executes fast, and perfectly too. When I found that I can't stand for long periods of time, he used to come for helping me in Surgery - he used to oblige me whenever I called him. I have a very small circle of friends of which Remesh is the only friend who visits us and calls us regularly and frequently. His parents are no more. He asked the...

Chechi was very close to me, even from childhood. We played together and she always bossed over me. We seldom quarrelled, and that too, only momentarily. I remember Amma taking us for bathing together to our pond and we used to play by sliding on our oiled bodies. The pond was rebuilt and rebored by father. It had water throughout the year and was nice to swim in, especially in the rainy season. Parathy amma taught us swimming by guiding us using a long cloth.  Chechi was 3 years senior to me in class also. We both studied in Vivekodayam School and later in Sree Kerala Varma College. I studied there only for intermediate while she finished her BA (Economics). She was a great singer and received laurels from College. A bhagavathar taught her classical music - after her marriage too. So both my sisters were musicians. I too had a taste for music, but only for listening to it. When Ramdas was born to Chechi, in 1955, I had just joined Medical college. Appuchettan's Devi was also born...

In my childhood, I hadn't gone out of Thrissur . The first trip was in a train with Rajappachettan, I think, to Thrippunithura . Padmachechi was there in Banglavil Kovilakam as she had married into the Cochin royal family to Banglavil Thampuran. Rajappan (Rajagopalan) and Vijayalekshmi were their children. Rajappachettan was 3 years and Vijayachechi was 11 years elder to me. Rajappachettan showed me  all around that place, enthusiastically. We went one day to Ernakulam to see the beach - I was seeing the sea for the first time and was thrilled. We had darsan at Poornathrayeesa temple and also a speedy look around the Hill Palace where my parents had stayed and worked for 14 years a long time before that. Thampuran had food separately made by a Kuttysami (a Brahmin) and served separately, and separate bathing arrangements, too. A very aristocratic style. Thamburan would wear Poonool ( Yajnopavita thread ) as a Kshathriya. My sleeping arrangements were with Rajappachettan and Vijaya...

POP Nambiar is Padmanabhan Nambiar - my daughter Anju's father-in-law. In Arcade apartments, he was our immediate downstairs neighbour in " NALINAM ". He is from Othayoth family and was working in Indian Air Force. Joined quite early and so college education was denied. He is a store-house of interesting military stories. His wife Nalini died early due to Ovarian Ca wnen Anoop was in XIth std. They are two children - Anoop's elder sister Sreekala is in Hyderabad - she is an anaesthetist, married to Subramanyeswar Rao, a surgical oncologist. They were classmates and have two daughters - the elder one Aiswarya getting married in this June, younger Jojo now an army medical officer. POP's family is in Kannur - his sister is there. We had been to his place in Kannur, and wife's place in Cherukunnu. A side story is that when we were in Calicut and started to attend Sai Samithi, we heard about Prof Padmanabha Kurup - a great Malayalam orator. He was publishing a book...

I had worked in Thalasseri General hospital also for a few months just before going to Kannur. It was an in-between posting - an adjustment posting by the Government. Dr Mathai was there - lots of complaints against him from the public and so he became a victim. No one liked to work in Thalasseri where there was a lot of political interference, especially from CPM. One person was the usual complainant, who regularly used to take rounds in the hospital. He was responsible in throwing a petrol bomb at a minister - Mohammed Koya if I remember correctly.  We had a good selection of doctors there. For the first two months, I was shuttling between Thalasseri and Kannur Chovva in my 4 door Herald. On one occasion, immediately after car servicin,g I was going to Thalasseri and just escaped from an accident when my car went under a lorry - I was going behind it and it suddenly stopped. There was no major injury to me or to the car, except for a line on the bonnet. Soon after that, I got tr...

Life was miserable after Rema fell ill . My daily routine was have breakfast at Nalinam . Appa made tasty crisp dosas and I used to eat five of them. On other days, puttu and kadala, or noolpittu with curry made by (Appa's housekeeper) Bhavani. Bhavani would make dinner and keep it on the dining table at Sairam. I would go to Nirmala Hospital at around 10 am, remain there up to 12.30 have lunch in the canteen there - satisfactory food - and then return to Arcade. I would eat the dinner, made by Bhavani and kept ready to eat there. This routine continued till 2nd Dec from 14th Sept 2020. A slight relief was when Anju visited for 2 weeks in September. She didn't have much leave. The great consolation was, the Hospital management was very friendly and gave us all comfort. We were on the 4th floor of the Emergency block. Hari had the full-time duty of looking after his Amma. She got excellent treatment and Physiotherapy (Rahul, mainly) and started to show improvement. Full marks ...

I want to put in words what comes to my mind. I love my children as my life and used to be proud of their achievements, their lovable nature and would speak to Rema telling her how fortunate we are to have such BANGARUS (Swarnakkattakal - nuggets of gold - in Swami's words). Both are brilliant in their fields. Anju is a consultant in Radiology and an examiner for Royal College of Radiologists in the UK, the highest she can climb till now. Hari is a PhD in physics from the prestigious world famous Sathya Sai Deemed University. Swami Himself selected him for working in the Sathya Sai Space Theatre. He went step by step from plus2, BSc, MSc to PhD and was a topper always. What else one can aspire to. He is honest, straightforward and perfect in every way. So we are on the top of the world and cannot pray for more. I admire Hari and tell my friends that I consider him as my Guru. Many staff and some teachers often consult him for help and he is wanted very often. Hari gets irritated at...

We got married in 1965 and didn't have children till 1972 when Anjali was born. And we left her with her grandparents to go to the UK. Hari was born in Maidstone, Kent on 8/8/1974. Anju is Poorooruttathi and Hari is Revathi. Anju entered the Medical field and selected Radiology. She is now a consultant in Aberdeen Royal infirmary and an examiner in Royal College of Radiologists, UK. Hari studied in Swami's institutions from plus 2, BSc, MSc, and PhD - in physics - specially selected by Swamy for His Space Theatre as manager. So both have reached a position anyone can be proud of. Now I am with Hari in PSN ( Prasanthi Nilayam ) since last Dec 2nd. I didn't have to worry about anything. He has completely taken over all my tasks and I just obey him - all Bank dealings, tax returns, medicine buying etc. I have accounts mainly in Canara bank, HDFC, and Calicut City Service coop bank. Hari had 2 room-mates - Nagaraju and Srinivasan. The latter has chronic renal failure and is get...

My routine for long, even before reaching PSN (Prasanthi Nilayam), had been to get up at 4.30 AM, bathe, shave, etc and then light a lamp, chant Omkaram 21 times aloud, Ganesha namaskaram, original Soorya Gayathri followed by Sai Gayathri 21 times, Sathya Sai Astotharam, Praanaayaamam, Two Devi Manthras (Amma's advice), walk a little, then finally Aadithya Hrudayam facing Sun, wherever I am. I submit every prayer to Sathya Sai. Whenever I visit a temple and pray, I try to see Swami there - whether it is Guruvayur or Vadakkunnathan or any other place. For us, Swami is Sarvadeva because He is truly Parabrahmam. I do evening sandhyaavandanam too on a smaller scale. Lunch usually around 12.30 pm, have a short nap and then some time on the laptop writing something like this - this writing process started only a few wks back - see something on Youtube, mostly comedies, online news and channels - there are plenty now. Astrology - mainly making charts while I was using Windows, now no mo...

Bangalore has many of our friends and relatives. My cousin brother Baleshettan and family were there from the time we knew about Bangalore. They have one daughter and three sons. Eldest Krishnadas is in US with Ambika and they have two sons. Mohan is second - a real estate man - has a daughter, who is a dentist, recently got engaged. Bharathan got married late in Yelahanka. Wife is an English lecturer there. A very decent family. Mohan is staying in their original place, Banaswadi. We used to visit that place frequently. Their house is adjacent to the Bus station. Whenever we went to PSN (Prasanthi Nilayam) we always stayed here for the night.  Later, we shifted this stop-over to Jaya's place in Indiranagar. Jaya has now shifted to Richmond area - more posh and busy area. For a long time we haven't been to B'lore . Both Jaya and Thammu have retired from active practice now. Recently, they came to see Rema in Nirmala hospital, recovering from Quadriplegia due to spinal defor...

Kannur I have lots to write about my wife and children. After our marriage, we had no children for seven years; partly our fault, because Rema wanted to go for PG (D.O) and so went to Madurai for the course and then after that, hunting for a job in various Government hospitals. Just to get postings together we had to go and see the minister, and that too in the unearthly hours - 1-2 AM. That minister was decent enough to keep up his word and we got posting together. That Minister was Wellington. Later on, we came to know that he was a Sai devotee and he was with us when the Kerala Trust members went for darsan and interview ( in the 1990s ). And then suddenly, Rema was with child. We were doubtful and visited 2-3 doctors to confirm. So, we were happy. Rema took leave for maternity care and never joined back. We were in Kannur then and staying in a rented house called Happynook near the Army Cantonment area. I was the third surgical unit chief then. Oh My God! The amount of surgery I h...