After teaching Narayaneeyam to two groups earlier, my wife proposed starting a fresh class. I was a bit skeptical that it would be a strain on her, but dared not share it with her for fear of being frowned upon.
Fourteeen members, two from outstation, registered their names. The strength could have been more by six to eight if only the days and time suited them. Classes began on 2 March 2023. And today, 26 Dec 2024, she completed the session.
To the two earlier groups she just helped them to chant the slokas correctly with proper intonation and diction. The present group was lucky in that she explained to them the meaning of each slokam. Precisely why it took her 22 months to complete. (The composer himself took just 100 days to write Narayaneeyam at the rate of one chapter a day.) The silver lining is the enthusiasm of the students with no dropouts - a great moral booster to the teacher.
The corridor news is that some participants could not help wiping their tears when she explained the last slokam of the book, after which it is said the composer, Shri Bhattarathiripad, was cured of his serious ailment.
For the uninitiated, Narayaneeyam is the condensed form of Srimad Bhavatam which has 18000 slokas. Bhattathiri summarized it in 1034 slokas in 100 chapters. Over the years Narayaneeyam has become increasingly popular.
At the end of this morning’s class, the members asked Aunty if they all could meet her in our house at 6.30 in the evening. She okayed it assuming they had consolidated their doubts and wanted clarifications. No, they had come to gift her a heavy metal vigraham of Udupi Sri Krishna, among a host of other things. As each one began pouring out her/his (yes, a sole male member, Sashidhar) profuse gratitude to Aunty, I ‘interviewed’ them at random on the strengths and weaknesses of Aunty’s teachings. While Padma Mami, Dr Gayatri, Sushma, Sunita, Krishna, Lalitha Ravichandran, Vani, Rekha, Jayashree, or … were very lavish in their praise, nobody pointed out any weakness.
“After all, it is the teacher’s husband asking, and you are in their own house now - how could there be any statement against?” I told them. Upon this, like a flash-flood they responded: “Yes, she should be more rigid, she should not be so lenient, or patient, she should not wait till the last minute to announce she has a doctor appointment,” and the like. Moral: Never under-estimate people’s talent to present strengths in the garb of weaknesses.
To be fair to both the taught and the teacher, I asked Lalitha the same question – the strengths and weakness of her students. “No weakness, whatsoever. Only strengths. They were very regular in attendance and with total devotion; not missing Ekadasi-chanting assignments; they put up with my liberal use of Tamil words whenever I am stuck for words while explaining the meanings in English…"
The group got down to discuss a joint visit to Guruvayoor and other places of interest nearby. Some suggested hiring a Tempo Traveller; others felt it would be tedious. One said the inter-city train would be the best. They tentatively agreed to organize it in February or March 2025. One member said she knew someone who would arrange everything in Guruvayoor, and she would take charge.
Aunty entertained them with coffee and wheat-halwa prepared at short notice – luckily it came out well. Everyone paid obeisance to the teacher, and in the process to her hubby as well. Aunty paid her respects to Padma Mami who was elder in age. All of them stepped out causing a commotion in the corridor till they managed to get into the lift in instalments.
Seeing them off at the lift, a beaming aunty returned to door 3195, telling herself: All is well that ends well.
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