I (Mrs Geetha Mohanram) remember that Laalgudi Jayaraman - a famous violinist in India was coming to Puttaparthi to play the violin there in front of Swami. My father (Dr Padmanabhan) used to always go from Bangalore to Puttaparthi on the weekends. And my father being a doctor also would always want to come back on Sunday night so that Monday morning he could attend to his patients. And Swami in those days would say: "Stay one more day!" And my father would say: "No Swami! I have given appointments and my patients will come so I have to go." "Stay one more day Padmanabh!" "No Swami, I have to go!" So this was a constant thing in our childhood. Sure enough after the morning Darshan my father said: "We are packing up, let's leave!" And in those days we always used to leave during daylight hours because the roads were so bad that in fact, Swami used to say: "Before it gets dark, you have to cross those 22 miles first from Puttaparthi." So he said: "Pack up!" We said: "Please, can we stay?" He said: "No! Pack up!" My mother and I were talking: "I wish for once daddy would agree and stay!" Because we were very fond of the violinist – he was a very famous Karnatic Music violinist and I wanted to hear! Suddenly we look up and there in His balcony with His bedroom door open, Swami is standing in the balcony and gesturing to us to not make a noise! He gestured: "Don't pack!" We said: 'But Swami we have to go now!" He said: "No! Don't pack!" And He showed us with gestures that the car tire has a puncture. Flat tire! We can't go! Because the 22 miles ride from Puttaparthi to Pennukonda was the worst road. If anybody had a flat tire, Swami had a rule – you had to get the flat tire fixed and only then can one leave. So while my poor father was getting the tire fixed, we were happily listening to Lalagudi Jayaraman's music! After the music got over, Swami got up from His chair and asked: "Where is Padmanabhan? Has he gone to Penukonda?" We said: "Yes, Swami! He has gone to Penukonda." He said: "He will come back at ten o'clock, you go to bed! Wasn't the music good?" Then He smacked my cheek and said: "See! You wanted to listen to the music, so I sent your father to Penukonda!" http://media.radiosai.org/Journals/Vol_05/01MAY07/07-sai-mother.html PS: Mrs. Geeta Ram comes from a family which has been associated with Swami for the last four generations. Her great grandfather, Mr. Seshagiri Rao, came to Swami in 1943 and was the temple priest of Prasanthi Nilayam for many years. Her father, Dr. Padmanabhan (Merged with SWAMI recently) was a familiar figure in Swami's ashram in Bangalore. Having come to Swami at a tender age, her life is full of exciting and illuminating experiences. This is a partial transcript of a talk delivered by her during a Sai Retreat on May 13, 2006 in Atlanta, USA. VIBHUTHI has been sent to CHENNAI, COIMBATORE, MANGALORE, BANGALORE, SALEM, (All in INDIA) SRI LANKA, MIDRAND in SOUTH AFRICA & ARKANSAS in USA. __._,_.___ . __,_._,___
