A Nephew Remembers
-Sun, Jul 25, 2010 at 10:56 AM.
I am the youngest in the whole family and I really am not sure if i am capable enough to say all this. Right from childhood, my mother has always told me stories of Vasu Mama, of how he had to struggle to come up in his life, his indomitable intelligence, his deep religious knowledge and practice, his unparalleled love for his mother and what not! It would be an understatement if i were to say he was my inspiration. He was larger than life for me. We always have role models that we want to look upto and Vasu Mama was far beyond that to me. When Paati used to stay at my house, she used to tell me of how Vasu Mama used to read voraciously however busy he was.
I really do not have much memories when i was a child but one phase that I can never forget was when he came over to Salem in 2003/04 when Paati was admitted in a hospital. I think I was sixteen then. He had got me an Anil Kumble poster! It was when i was able to move with my inspiration (what can i do? i am forced to restrict what i had for him in this one word). He is definitely one of the most interesting personalities in my life. Everytime i used to talk to him, he used to add it into his knowledge repository. His curiosity was amazing, he used to enquire about every minute information or sight or whatever he came across. We used to roam around cracking jokes and sharing our experiences.Once a neighbour saw us walking with each other and asked us if he was my grandfather. Vasu Mama was so outraged :)
Even years after that, he can easily recall everything. Amazing intelligence, i should say. His voice - so commanding and so rich, it was the voice of a leader. And his laughter! Wow, it was so majestic, especially when they come after a Murali mama's joke!
There was one very touching incident for me. When paati was admitted in a hospital here in salem. I was standing near paati with amma. Paati was constantly saying "Vasu... Vasu.....", i guess she was expecting him a lot. Vasu mama had to come with my father in car. When he reached the hospital room, he sat near paati on her bed. Amma and me were just leaving the room when i observed this. The man with so much of "Gambeeram" at that moment with his mother became a total baby. His sitting posture and the way he spoke with Paati that moment still stands in my eyes.
From that period onwards, we had become best friends and i always would have him in my mind as an inspiration. Even today when amma tells me stories of Vasu mama i would listen with rapt attention. The way he cleared his civil services, the blessings of Narayana when he got questions about temples he visited in his IAS interview, his Hindi excellence, his oratory skills, his hard work - he used to be the only one in the library studying. My mom has told me how he had taken it a challenge to crack the IAS exam, went to a room upstairs in the Srirangam house, closed the rooms and studied nonstop coming down only for food.
I had met him after that in weddings and functions but never really got the chance to move with him that close after 2004. I hoped i could spend more time with him to just learn from his personality. But i guess i could not anymore. Yet, I am sure he remains an inspiration to not just me but to all of us. Even in the lastest short story i had written "The Encounter", the old man character is a lot inspired from Vasu Mama. He always stays in our hearts and will inspire us a lot more (definitely me).
May his Atman reach the Paramasurusha!
