Heights of Alpathanam

I thought twice before writing this post. This will project me as a “pakki, alpam etc”. But its ok because most of us would have been like this at one stage or the other :-p.

When I was in sixth standard, I used to have “Vishnusahasranaamam” classes once every week in which we need to recite the whole sloka. After reciting fully, the master whose recital we follow, would distribute the prasaadham(“kalkandu”). He would ask one person from each class to bring a cup(none of us would have a cup, the lid of our waterbottle which had the shape of a cup was used) and put the prasaadham in the cup so that it can be distributed to the class students. So whoever had the cup would race to get the prasaadham from each class so that after distributing the prasaadham among his/her classmates, he/she would have lots left(adha amikikalaam la). I was feeling really bad since I didn’t have such a lid for my waterbottle. It was sixth annual holidays and my parents had taken me for purchasing new uniform for the next year. They asked me if I wanted anything else. You would have guessed my answer. I wanted a new waterbottle which had a big cup like lid :-p. Avlathaan, both in seventh and eighth standard no one could beat me to get the prasaadham(because I was the class rep and I used to sit right in front of the master :-p). You should see my face when I triumphantly get the prasadham in my cup and also the look on my face while eating the remaining prasaadham which obviously would be a larger amount compared to the amount I distributed to my classmates(romba alpamaa iruku I know, but I enjoyed the fun).

In fact during one of these classes they announced that a person called “Sukhi Sivam” was going to give a “sorpozhivu” on Ramayana. They wanted a Ramar Pattaabishekam picture which I got from my house. Generally we might not like these kind of long,boring speeches. But this was very interesting. The way he handled the intricate details of the epic and the timely jokes in between were a treat to listen to. I remember one of the jokes he had mentioned. It is a very old one but it was new to me then. It seems that a villager had come to the town and was watching t.v. at a place. A football match was going on. For a long time the villager was watching the match and making all sorts of faces at it. Then when someone asked him what his problem was, he replied saying that why should everyone fight for the same ball and why cannot each have his own ball so that they are satisfied??????!!!!!!!!! We were laughing real hard at this joke at that time. It was a very interesting experience. At the same time we got to know many minute details of the great epic which lead me to admire and respect Lord Hanuman who is my favourite till now and will be forever.