Aja (maternal grandfather) ! this is for you.
My earliest memories go back to the small, idyllic and beautiful village Palli, which we used to refer as Aja Ghara. Whenever we used to visit Aja Ghara during holidays or any festivities it used to be such a noisy and yet joyous commotion. There would be Aja, his band of loyal servants and even other village folks to welcome us - usually 2-3 of Aja's six daughters, their husbands and their children! The commotion would only increase, servants would be out and climbing the tall coconut trees to get tender coconuts for all of us to drink, mother and her sisters would get busy in deciding the menu for lunch, dinner with the cooks and chatting among themselves and other folks gathered around. We children, mostly living in towns and cities, would grab the opportunity and run around in the large verandas, streets, gardens, small temple of the Divine Mother and coconut fields of Aja. There was also a small pond in Aja's backyard which contributes to the first story here.
Rather than washing my feet near the well in the verandah, I took my younger sister and went to the pond to wash my limbs - in the lap of nature you see. I slipped and fell into the water. The water was deep and I was struggling for life. Thankfully, my sister rather than trying to help me, started shouting that "brother is drowning". Meanwhile, Aja and Maa, not finding us around the house, had already started to look for us. Hearing my sisters cries, they rushed to the pond and both jumped straight in and pulled me out. I was on the brink and while going up and down in the green water, I remember praying and visualising a picture of Lord Jagannath which was in Aja's room. The Lord did help in the form of my Aja, my mother and my sister who saved my life that day. I never learnt swimming; mother being terrified if ever I got near water and Aja was always extra watchful for the rest of my visits to Palli.
After marriage and my even after birth, my mother spent quite some time at Aja's place and finished her training (B.Ed). Hence, I was part-raised by my adorable, loving and doting mausis (aunt). They keep telling me many stories which I save for another day; but each one of them had a name for me, which in turn was the name in which I called them. So, there was Kandura (which means a cry baby), Papabaya (the crazy Papu), Balunga (naughty one), Shandha (the bull).
Then about giving. We always got such much from him. There would be elaborate preparations while we were about to go back to our homes. Aja would summon extra people and special sweetmeats, dishes would be prepared for us along with a big sac of coconuts, fruits and other gifts to take with us. In our homes, we would eagerly wait for Aja around the Savitri and Prathamasthami time to come with gifts, clothes and eatables for us. He would start from Palli and cover his daughters one by one, going to each daughter's place, staying for a few hours or overnights, giving the gifts and then moving on to the next one. He never missed to do this, until his health failed him towards the very end of his life. That he would do this on public transport, mostly bus and shared cabs/vehicles, in his old age and for six of his daughters was something we were thankful all the time. We would always pray - may god keep him healthy like this and he be able to travel and work independently.
Towards, his later years, he stayed at their townhouse in Jagatsighpur due to Aai's (grandmother) ill-health and the Super Cyclone and other cyclones, which ravaged their village. Born into a family of zamindars, Aja chose to work as a professor in a far-off town of Rairangpur, Baripada. This was not easy and he would stay away from family for most part of the year leaving the young children, his only son and daughters in the custody and care of Aai. Aai managed the household, affairs of the village, collected rents from leased out shops/homes and raised the children. Aja believed and told me often " I am only a custodian of all this (land and wealth), we don't know where it came from and why, so why get attached to all this..". "Simple living and high thinking" is my motto, he used to say.
On to a more personal aspect of my relationship with Aja. His visits to our home had become more frequent during my graduation, when we were at Bhubaneswar, due to his may official matters relating to his pension and land records. I would immediately shift my base from my own room to the guest-room where he was staying. He would ask us to caress his chest or legs and start sharing stories, anecdotes and works from Odiya literature which he taught at the college. I was also his official pilot, getting him from one office to the other, visiting markets other people etc. But the best part was our visits to temples. Bhubaneswar being a city of thousand temples, there was never a shortages of temples to visit and re-visit. Mornings would be to Lingaraj temple, other temples in Old Town areas, evenings to ISCKON and Ram Mandir for aarti and darshan. And there were the trips to Puri. He and I would travel to Puri, do the customary darshan of Sri Jagannath, Bada Thakura and Maa at the temple and then proceed to Saraswat Sangha Ashram (of Shri Nigamananda Saraswati - who was Aja's guru) which was near the beach. We would usually have our lunch with the Ashram residents and school children. Then we would lie down and chat with the sanyasis of the Ashram. Aja would make a donation and then we would move towards the beach in the evening, before heading back to Bhubaneswar. On a few occasions, some of my friends had also accompanied us on these trips to Puri and enjoyed the company, stories and life of my Aja more than the fun at beach.
In between all this Aja and I used to share and discuss all that we had read and understood about spiritualism, God and Man. I had begun to read the Complete Works of Vikeananda, my guru Shri Paramahansa Yogananda, Ramcharit manas, Shankaracharya and other masters and was happy to clarify my doubts from him. Aja would share insights from years of life spent as a seeker. He would also share his books with me to read. I remember some of his books, his underlinings and translations of difficult words vividly. He would share all this in the true spirit of empathy, never preaching or prescribing anything but understanding, appreciating my struggles and even sharing his very frankly. Again, the details of all these are very personal and detailed; would save them for another day. He would quote verses and passages from the rich Odiya literature, which I had unfortunately no exposure to, and explain them lucidly to me. We would discuss, debate, share points and counterpoints all the while in the spirit of true satsang or shashtarth. He was my first and true guru-bhai (spiritual companion).
Aja, I miss you in more ways than one.
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