Did Guruvayoorappan make a fleeting appearance in MPH2?

They say the proof of the pudding is in the eating. Given this to the Sampoorna Narayaneeyam chant yesterday in Club House, there can be no better truth. 

Lalitha Mami, or Guru, (I deliberately avoid the expression ‘lady of the house’ this time because that was far from the role she was at, then) had hosted jointly with one of her students Usha, the chanting of Sampoorna Narayaneeyam yesterday in Club House, lasting seven hours, with two breaks - 15 and 10 minutes.    

About thirty ladies and our solitary but solid male Sashidhar chanted in unison - achieving near-synchronization - reverberating MPH2 and bringing forth exalted moments to both chanters and onlookers. One wondered if Lord Guruvayoorappan descended to MPH2 for a fleeting moment to bless the proceedings. Yes, that is what you tend to surmise when you spot someone immaculately dressed, known to none around, arrives, makes a brief appearance and departs. That said, give me a week and I shall confirm if he is one of the mere mortals of SFV like us if I happen to cross shoulders with him. Till then it is Lord Guruvayoorappan.

For the uninitiated, Narayaneeyam is the condensed version of Vedavyasa’s Srimad Bhagavatam which runs into 18 000 verses in 335 chapters. Melpathur Narayana Bhattathiri (1560 AD), the author of Narayaneeyam, who suffered from paralysis and arthritis severely crippling him, sat on the side of Guruvayoorappan temple (the place is marked on the left of entrance) and prayed to the Lord in these lines in probably 41 days, got both darshan of the Lord and cure from his ailment. His composition runs into 100 chapters in 1036 verses. On her limited part, Lalitha Mami helped 60-odd members, mostly of SFV, to learn chant them. 

In order not to be left out and be part of the proceedings, each member volunteered to bring befitting prasadams for such chapters as Narasimha avataram, Rama avataram, Krishna avataram, etc. It was very nice to watch/visualize miniature versions of these milestones.

Prasadams that members brought included mysore pak, coconut burfi, maa laadu, nei appam, jaggery-avil (for Kuchela charitam), panakam (concentrated jaggery water), dry fruits, butter and milk (for Krishna avataram), pal payasam - not to speak of bananas from left, right and centre.

Kaleeswaran, of Ebony, performed what function our Naveen Kashyap does for pan-SFV functions - pujari. Viswanathan replaced him when Kaleeswaran went to do his daily puja at home. Muralidharan, of Cedar, helped with odd jobs assigned from time to time. 

Among the co-hosts, Viswanathan and Usha jointly did all the legwork. Mami attended to the nitty gritty to ensure that we miss nothing to the extent possible. while I did my role – look busy, do nothing.

Shekar Natesan, yes, my co-brother, is very helpful – if he and when he wishes so, that is. Otherwise, he gives directions – do this, do that. But this time seeing me move around with a walking stick, he took charge of most of the dismantling work – the one harder than assembling.

Normally the Hall is thrown open for use only at 8 am. But since the function had to start at 6.30 am the MC member in charge made sure it was open. And chairs and tables were in place on time. MC deserves compliments. Rest assured, I am not on any Vote of Thanks spree.

Luckily the ready-made prasadam-lunch that we had ordered on the caterer, such as sambar rice, curd rice, Sakkara Pongal, potato curry, raita, vadam, curd rice, pickles, etc., turned out well, and were in plenty. Normally there are shortcomings on occasions – less salt in one dish, too spicy, or quantity was found wanting, etc.

With everything going so well for both Usha and Mami, their sole grouse was that they had to confine the invitation to students – no more, no less. But then there is always a next time.

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