The ordinary ways of enjoying TiruppAvai - 6

[Guest guest]

Dear friends,

 

Some years ago I was returning from a business trip from the Far East and had to

alight in Dubai for the most part of a day before I was scheduled to board a

connecting late-night flight back to my resident-base in Kuwait.

 

I took the opportunity to get out of the airport and call on a good old friend

of mine, a college-mate who lived and worked in Dubai for many years.

 

He was a devout practising SriVaishnava--- daily " bhagavath-tiruvArAdana " at

home and an ardent lover of TiruppAvai too. He had a loving family, a wife and

two little daughters, all of whom shared his piety and godliness. The parents

had taken great pains to see that alongwith a modern education at school

their children also received a bit of a traditional one at home. My friend and

his good wife arranged for them to attend the local community cultural-centre

(there are many in Dubai!) where they were well instructed in important

religious lores and scriptures of the SriVaishnava faith. I was amazed to hear

the children recite near perfectly some of the the sacred hymns of the

" divya-prabhandams " , the " gadyams " , select " shlOkAs " from the Gita, and

" stOtrAs " of Sri RamanujAchArya and Swami Desikan. And, of course, the two

little angels had memorized the entire TiruppAvai and could recite any stanza at

will! I was so pleased by the precocious little

chidren that I wholeheartedly congratulated my friend and his wife on the way

they had reared their daughters.

 

When I landed at their doorstep, I was warmly welcomed into my friend's home.

The family lavished me with all the kindness and hospitality that even in this

modern day one can come to easily expect and enjoy in a true SriVaishnava home

anywhere in the world.

 

We had a light but lovely dinner that evening after which, since there were

still a few hours to pass before I left to catch my flight later that night, we

had time hanging on us. So the little children insisted that their father, my

friend, take me out in the family car to take a quick drive-by tour of the

" brand new mall " in their neighbourhood -- the famous Emirates Mall that had

only very recently opened. It was a splendid idea and so we all stepped out. My

friend took the wheel while I sat beside him and the two children settled

themselves at the back.

 

After driving a few blocks down the great city of Dubai, the great new mall came

into view and what I witnessed simply took my breath away!

 

The Emirates Mall was a grand sight indeed! A massive monolith building, with a

facade all sandstone, marble and granite, it rose like a mighty Roman

amphitheatre right out of the desert sands, dwarfing everything else within

sight. Dusk was falling rapidly and we noticed that the mall lights were all

being turned on one by one and the whole building seemed to suddenly leap alive

as if it were some gargantuan extra-terrestrial spaceship landing on planet

earth--- it was so surreal, so mesmerizing...

 

The spectacle seemed to cast a spell on me as I began to feel I was watching

some giant sprawling football stadium illumined and enveloped all at once by a

thousand flood-lights, strobe, neon and laser rays, spot and sodium beams here,

there, everywhere...! It was a fascinating sight indeed the mall -- a glowing,

phosphorescent apparition with its backdrop: a fading Dubai skyline with tall

towers, high-rise structures all slowly mutating into grey, ghostly silhouettes

vanishing into the gathering darkness....

 

                             *************

 

After driving around the block a few more times just to feast our eyes on the

glorious sight we turned back and drove home.

 

On the way back, for some strange reason, all of us in the car grew silent.

Perhaps we were all a little awe-struck, overwhelmed by what we had just

witnessed. I did not doubt that I had slipped into some kind of silent trance:

" It's truly a sight for the gods " , I was thinking to myself even as I struggled

within to find adequate words or parallels with which I might be able to compare

the magnificent spectacle I had just seen.

 

And then quite suddenly from the seat at the rear, I heard one of the children

say out in a loud and clear voice as if making out an emphatic public

announcement:

 

            " thu mani mAdatthu suttrUm villakk-eriya! "

 

For a moment both my friend and I were a little nonplussed by the childish

outburst, a spontaneous but obvious non-sequitor. I was just about going to

silently ignore it when the child leaned forward, tugged at my shoulder, giggled

and repeated to me:

 

" Uncle, did you enjoy the glittering sight! Did you like it? Oh, we see it every

evening,you know, as we drive home from school and it always makes me want to

think of AndAl's words... But don't know why, uncle.. " . And she repeated the

words loudly:

 

            " thu mani mAdatthu suttrUm villakk-eriya! "

 

I was a tad taken aback by what the little child told me.. It did seem a rather

odd if not utterly bizarre comparison to make but I sensed that as far as the

child was concerned the phrase from the TiruppAvai, " thu mani mAdatthu suttrUm

villakk-eriya " (the first line from Stanza 9) seemed to perfectly capture and

evoke, at least within her childlike imagination, the wondrous image of a " grand

structure glowing like a splendorous gem in a swathe of flashing lights " (which

of course is, more of less, the literal translation of the TiruppAvai phrase in

question!).

 

I laughingly and rather half-heartedly agreed with the child, complimenting her

more for the fanciful turn of her mind than for the improptu and unusual

comparison with the TiruppAvai.

 

                  ************************

 

Many hours later on the late night flight back from Dubai back to Kuwait, I kept

recalling for some strange reason I couldn't fathom, the way the little child

had so spontaneously chosen to allude to the lines from the TiruppAvai to

describe the feelings of exuberance aroused in her by the sight of a glittering

mall under a sprawling night-sky in a modern metropolis. " What an

extraordinarily " ordinary " way " , I said to myself, " what a strange but

extraordinarily " ordinary " way to enjoy the  TiruppAvai! " .

 

The curious remark of the child also made me realize that perhaps there was

hidden in it an important lesson for me too: That, no doubt, it is very

important to learn to be able to see the beauty of the " TiruppAvai " through the

eyes of the venerable " vyAkhyAna-karta-s " of yester-centuries; but then perhaps

it is also equally important to retain within us the child-like capacity to to

be able to see the beauty of the " ordinary " world at large all around us, filled

as it is with Life's sumptuous glories both great and small, through the eyes of

AndAl. 

 

More in the postings to follow.       

     

Best Regards,

Sudarshan MK

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The INTERNET now has a personality. YOURS! See your Homepage.

http://in./