Preface

As I was growing up in Andhra Pradesh a Southern province in India, I did hear about Baba. In the 50's, he came to my native town of Nellore. My family was talking about the visit. I sneaked out and went to Mr. David's house ( the Chemistry lecturer of the local college). From his upstairs terrace we could see the college grounds. His daughter was my school mate. Anyway, it looked like millions of people were gathered in there. Being very short, I could not see Baba from the terrace. I returned home. Later on, when I was in my 11 th grade, my eldest sister who joined the teaching staff of that college in the Botany Department asked me to deliver her one day sick leave note to the principal. I went to his house which was walking distance from our house. He took the letter and asked me to follow him upstairs. There was a huge hall and the walls were covered with black and white photos of Swami. He told me that they have bhajans on Thursday nights and asked me to come and join. All those photos looked very odd to me. He and his wife Dr. Lakshmi had no children of their own. They had two adopted sons and they used to help any and all in need. I nodded my head in reply but never went to the bhajans . And, I never mentioned this to anyone until 1961 at which time, he mailed Vibhuti to my hostel (dorm) address in Tirupathi just before my M. Sc exams and I shared it with all my room mates. (By then, he knew me very well as a student in his college and he was an English professor also). This, at that time was done not because of my devotion to Swami, but out of my respect for the fatherly figure that sent me the sacred ash. Others also felt the same way. Later on, after Mr. Pillai passed away in 1962, I heard that Dr. Lakshmi moved to Puttaparthi and served there as a Doctor.

Then, in 1965, I read an article in the Illustrated weekly of India and it was about Baba with many photos. After reading the article, I declared to my friends "if I ever see this Baba, I am going to ask Him two things". One - to help my younger sister (who was my soulmate) walk like all of us (she had Polio as a baby) and two - why He is allowing my maternal uncle borrow money from all the relatives for his visits to Puttaparthi to see Baba. When I first saw Him in March 1974 .......... OOPS!!! I should write it in a separate post when I come to 1974.