up to 1994-03-14 - Monday - Swami came

Trayee Brindavan in 1992, photographed from the water tower by one of the students. From my "Swami albums"

Condensing multiple days into a single page, since the content may be of limited interest

1994-03-11 - Friday - 3:30 AM tea + biscuits. At 6, after Arati (concluding the Mahashivaratri bhajans throughout the night), boondi. Breakfast at 7, then slept till 12:45. Brushed teeth before breakfast, bath at 6:20 pm just before bhajan. Was late for practice of welcome song as Venkat came for standing mic and I stayed to test it for him. "Dil jhoom jhoom nache". Between lunch and music - recordings in AVC, Math 401 (meagre). Night Lingashtakam and Night Prayer live, music boys in AVC - so, setting up mics etc during study hours. Recorded both, Pai's night prayer as group night prayer was not recorded. Mixing not bad for a beginner - using headphones on BPL, thru 125 and SSB60 (amplifiers) as a mixer. It - music boys' presence - continued till I made as if to go, then returned to put the place in order and set cassette (for tomorrow's early morning wake-up music). Then made a sort-of time-table for studies - quite ambitious, but giving 5 hours a day excluding college hours! 

1994-03-12 - Saturday - Yesterday's prepared timetable fell to pieces. I didn't get up at 4:30; shaving, sweeping, dhobi, Math class at 4 pm - cumulative effect. So, must run everywhere to reduce loss of time - army recruit style. Math 402 one more class tomorrow, still not over. Sant Tukaram Hindi B&W movie - some 50 boys watched. Songs good, Jain Sir wanted me to record.

1994-03-13 - Sunday - Tried to make up for yesterday by trying hard in the morning and forenoon, but very much out of mood. Many people came to AVC - Ajay + C. Karthik for VCR + TV for testing their hospital video, Venkat for giving me 8 + 8 cassettes for recording, Sai Giridhar Sir for cleaning SRH AVC (the amplifier room behind the Sai Ramesh Hall stage), found double RCA cord here, got from college for video show, BK recording songs from Tukaram film on BPL, SGS irritated. Finally I wrote him an apology for the RCA cord and kept in his place. Slept for half an hour after lunch, BK woke me up. Semiya Payasam. Felt very good - finished off a lot. Then Commerce boys informed us no Math class, as Sir had too many classes from the morning. But I had to go to SRH cleaning after drinking watermelon juice instead of tea - soldering and fixing plugs my job, others cleaned, tested mics and speakers. Then, music time (when music is played over the PA system in the Hostel just before evening bhajans) - left SHARP running and arranged for Hospital video show - quality of technicalities - picture quality and commentary audibility poor, selection and taking of shots, ideas etc brilliant. The Warden congratulated after the program - very apt, best ever except for technical snags. Sanjay Sahni Sir, before the video, read out Swami's words on Darshan - Sit in a quiet corner, "Much is expected of him to whom much is given."

1994-03-14 - Monday - Ramzan - So, Swami came on Ramzan day. Math zero hour - till then, studies nil - was in AVC with the soldering of SRH cables. Finally, Maths over. Then, no classes except Sanskrit, that also is declared over. "Best of luck" said by teachers --> no more classes. Only Jain Sir's one hour part of Geometrical Optics is left. One week for exam. 

To Trayee after lunch. Venkat, Chaitanya, Balaji + first years arranged mics - 125s (amplifiers) and Hostel mics! Swami came around 2:45, seemed tired. The practising of songs "Joy to the world" and "Dil jhoom jhoom nache" was accompanied by much noise from music boys - shouting etc. I was "not required", so I only took back some stuff (back to Hostel after the program), didn't sit near the amps. Evening darshan - went at 4:30, Swami came around 5:45, a few bhajans directly, that's all - go and study. Till then I hadn't - recording songs for home from AVC etc. As I slept waiting for Swami (my line no. 9 was last to go to Sai Ramesh Hall), was fresh, and could really do so (i.e. study). 

But much time wasted in trying B'chettan (Father's cousin in Bangalore) to tell him Swami's come - 7:40 and 8:30. So, decided on telegram tomorrow. SG Sir wanted me to solder one socket to EP - as I was doing that after night prayer, he came in, and was garrulous. Mahadevan doesn't want to give mics, find out who asked Chaitanya to come to SRH mic room, don't waste time recording for anyone, Swami's staying till Ugadi, so what plans. That means I can record after exams. Achan's (Father's) letter - A3 are not coming, only Achan, by bus, on 1st. 

Next: referring to Swami as "You" 

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