I have chocked a lot while writing this post, so pardon any spelling mistakes or grammatical errors in the text that follows.
“Ramya Srinivasan is coming to hyderabad, please meet her and work with her”, I got a call from my mentor priyamani, I had just started working in Hyderabad after shifiting from Chennai and heard that this very good teacher is coming from Delhi to hyderabad because she got married.
” Just meet her kull, she will really like you” , my mentor said. Out of curiosity I did some fb research and it was full of group photos of people meditating and teaching courses etc.
I thought ok must be a good teacher. Got her number and called her, there was no answer from the other side (this tradition continues till date). Somehow we coordinated how we will meet and the first time we met was for going to meet Guruji in Hyderabad.
I was told the location of her place and went to pick her up (this tradition also continues till date for all aol occassions).
Her husband was standing in the balcony and gave me a friendly smile, as usual when we meet a stranger usual formalities and pleasantary greetings were exchanged. From hanji batayie to abe chal, we have come a long way in these 2.5 years.
One thing I really appreciate in her is how sensitive she is, once it so happened that we were going through one of our umpteen travel journeys, she suddenly asked me ” Everything is fine na kullu with you?” It was out of genuine concern, and I was indeed going through some stuff in my life at that time. This I have seen a lot of times that she is just there to listen to you, a quality I deeply respect.
The faith she has is very inspiring. On another such occassion I just got momentarily scared about something bad that was going to happen, even she did not know excatly what would happen to me, but she firmly said, dont worry kullu, nothing bad will happen to you, and this statement shook me a little, about how firm one’s faith should be.
Coming to the masala stuff, she is very much into material things, loves them , enjoys them. Most of the very intense conversations we have had were around how people look, what they wear, who is dating whom ( in the real world and also reel world i.e bollywood). All these conversations happen with such humour that we dont realise where time has passed. We have both had tears of laughter while these conversations!!!
On the other hand, we also have had lot of meaningful conversations about life, where it is going, what are our goals in the organisation, what are our hurdles in life etc etc etc, all this talking used to happen during our numerous car journeys only and never I have felt like I am talking to a stranger or someone who is not family, ramya di will make u feel at home 🙂 Always.
One thing common with me and didi is the connection with the Guru, been with her almost on 80% of the courses she has taught here in hyderabad, and the connection we share with the Guru to spread his work is what I feel binds us together in this bond. One such special moment was when we were teaching a course in a college, as usual the course was awesome but when the principal came and asked the students how the workshop was, the kids shared things which left both ramya and me in tears, it will be my most cherished memory with didi and also otherwise in life 🙂
We have had times when we there were high level of anxieties, we have had times when there was so much joy, we have had times when I had lost a close one, we have had times when we had to skilfully manage life. All in all it was a ride full of laughter, fun, joy, few tears, and may be one or two fights. I was told that she is a very senior and good teacher but she turned out to be family. Here is a pic of one of our adventure together.
So you people must be thinking why am I writing all these good things now, well like all good things become better, didi also is going to another phase of her life starting her life again in a new place somewhere up north. It almost feels like a sister is going away after marriage, where you are also happy for her new life but emotional for the good times that happened 🙂 All the best didi. Lots of love to you. Thank you for coming to hyderabad 🙂
Lots of love
Gullu *Happy Tear*
🙂
OFF 