Dearest Friends and Family,
Well, the good news is that Almost ALL the music and singing has been recorded for Anni’s Album. still have to get Rishi’s bass, and percussion…Yesterday, Link was able to get the sound of the wind-chimes blowing on the prayer hall roof where the five horses pulling Arjuna and Krishna in the Chariot are. Anni’s Album has been under the excellent care and guidance of Director/Producer Nirakar, Karthik Shah. Karthik came again from Bollywood, Mumbai, for the third year in a row, for a marathon 10 days of non-stop, round the clock work on the album. Working selflessly along with him was another of Anni’s big brother’s, Br. Iswar. Karthu has taken all the tracks, and these will all now be orchestrated and ‘mixed’ by Karthik in Mumbai. He plans to have Anni’s Album finally finished by December to present to Amma.
For the 100’s of people and friends of Anni who have consistently worked on the songs over the years, and the stalwart group of over 50 for the last 3 years, it has been a joyous experience, helping us, I think, to recognize that Anni is found in joy, not sorrow, that she is always with us…because this music has a very divine element to it, it touches beyond the mind and intellect, sometimes beyond emotions…and, we are actually beyond all of these.
On the last morning, before he left, Karthu, Ammu and I were in the flat, talking of Anni. Somehow, it felt very much like she was right there with us…reminding me of that biblical saying, “Where two or three are gathered in my name, there I be.”
Ammu - Aparna Ashok of Trissur, a dear family friend, who is also a classical Karnatic music vocalist, was recalling the difficult days of Anni’s admission to AVVP the University run by the ashram. Anni had wanted to study medicine at AIMS. She had finally got admission, after two years of ridiculous politics, when, the finances for that education were pulled out from underneath her. It was dastardly, there is no other word for it. From there, to a person who loves life, plants, animals, biology, Amma told her to shift her attention to Information Technology. IT was such a totally un-Anni field, we all felt very badly for her. But she braced herself, Amma had said to study IT, and she made up her mind to do it.
Ammu accompanied her several times to the sanctum sanctoriums of admission in AVVP. The colonial legacy of red-tape, is honoured to the fullest degree possible in India. On one day, as Anni made her way to the halls of learning, she was feeling rather glum about it all, then, turned to Ammu and said, “Happiness is a conscious decision.” And changed her attitude completely from inside herself. Ammu has always remembered this teaching.
This reminds me of an analogy that Amma gave in satsang a few days back, that we can either be self-identified with the tail that is wagging, or be the dog that wags the tail. We should have the control of our mind in our palms, like a remote control for the TV. Anni had this self-control.
Then, Ammu recalled how when were were at AIMS, right before we left to the USA, where Anni entered the fire of sacrificial suffering (again, no other words for it), Ammu was in Pune. She wanted to come very much with Karthik and Suresh who flew down from Mumbai for three hours with her, before we left. It was then that Anni gave Karthik the words to Green Grass Blue Sky, and sang the tune into a recorder for him. We plan to have that little bit of her beautiful voice on the Album as well. Ammu was in a state of agony. She kept on calling Anni and talking on the cell phone with her. Right before we went through security, and handed the cell phone over to Rishikesh, Anni SMS’ed Ammu this message:
“Where the hand cannot reach, the heart is always there.”
OM, OM, OM
Loving you,
Aunty Kamala
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