Going to attend classes at Maami’s place was not a simple task…..it included a lot of things…..buying some house hold articles on the way…plucking flowers for her Pooja….putting clothes into the washing machine(big time embarrassment as we were not sure how to operate it and go scolded for that inclusive)……
It was not time bound…after we learnt our part we had to sing some older songs….and then sit and listen to everyone who was learning there(kelvi gnyanam)……people used to actually get their home work from school to finish off while others were singing……kind of gurukulam…..
and after all this….what was the comment ?” karmagaandam…..yellam nyana soonyamgala yenkittaye yen vandhu serardhugalo”(Undescribable scolding(not because it is to be sensored…but because I donno how to translate a frustration to an English word)…..why do all absolute zero knowledge ones come to me always?”…of course this was due to our beautiful singing…..
Why was this the case?….
We always thought that great singing was only by prodigies……but when we went to class…we were surrounded by ones that we thought could only be prodigies….we were like the ugly ducklings in the midst of all the sweet and to top it all knowledgeable voices….
We got small little smackings included on our back for not sitting straight while singing and nice shower of words for our singing capabilities. My sister hated life for that….
I consoled myself with one vijayadasami incident….we were singing on a vijayadasami day(auspicious for learning)….we had all maami’s students around….in the group I identified one middle aged lady….she was a pro singer and had been a judge at one of the school fests that I had been to. …she was singing and she kept making some gestures in her fingers out of habit….immediately our maami went and slapped her hand….. I got a shock of my life….she was an elderly lady and was a pro in singing doing concerts in Malaysia and Singapore etc….if she could get slapped…. I deserved much more than simple whacking…..but my sister could not come to terms with the hitting…..so after 3 years or so…she quit….I lost my soul mate for my journey as could have spent more days together in the journey that we could reminiscence….!!
