Before moving on to the diary contents, some observations in hindsight.
I had been to Kodai earlier with parents in 1991-'93 and had sat for darshan "on the other side" at Sai Shruthi. At that time, You were the spry Sai who looked to be in Your 40s even when You were in Your 60s. I had the opportunity then, to sit outside the Sai Shruthi front entrance when You had the evening "before dinner" sessions with the students You had brought with You. Which were quite similar to the Trayee sessions which I also had the good fortune to witness, in the early 1990s. D. V. had been taken by You to Kodai also in the 90s - maybe 1999. This Kodai trip was quite different, since now You were on a chair most of the time, and physically frail. D. V. shared that he enjoyed this trip more than he had enjoyed the previous trip, because the previous time he had been a lot more scared of You popping up all over the place unexpectedly and giving (perhaps stern?) lessons. In short, this Kodai trip had a lot less interaction between You and us than in the earlier years, though we stayed in the same house as You, being right next to Your door for many hours. Even so, we were in Your physical presence for some 4-5 hours every day.
Darshan, standing in front of Sai Shruthi
It was 4.45 am when I was woken up by Sai sir. We had to be careful about not swallowing the bath water, since it was known to cause tummy upsets. When I was just coming up the stairs after my bath, You had come on Your chair to the landing. Seeing the room there with the luggage stacked up, You commented, "Uncomfortable" or something like that. Sai sir covered up, saying that we were all very happy, hot water was available for all, and so on. Satya showed You the guest house from the window. Then You went back into Your room upstairs. After hanging washed underclothes outside the upstairs bathroom, we sat upstairs in the landing from 6 to 7.45 am when we were told to go for tiffin at the "Canteen" - idli, dosa, vada etc. We returned after breakfast and sat upstairs till 8.15, when You went downstairs - by the lift. At 8.25, we were called down to the entrance lobby, the "sitting room", and You started distributing things. Towels and soap. We went up one by one, semi-kneeling, and took from Your hands, as You sat on the wheelchair.
The soap given by You.
Around 9 am, You asked about devotees. V. Srinivasan said they were outside. You chided him when he asked You for 'permission to send them inside' - 'It is cold - why do you need to ask Me ....' We boys went and sat on the verandah, You came out walking with Satya, down the ramp to where we sat, and asked, "Didn't you eat anything? Sing bhajans!". Mics were extended all the way there, bhajans started, You came and sat near the singers near the door. You were not happy with the sound - there was no speaker next to You. Bhajan went on for half an hour. Then, You went inside.
You were seated on the wheelchair near the side door inside. After some time, at 9:55, we had a session with You in the "sitting room". You asked for new songs - kottha paatalu. OmP started with Telugu, and when Aswath sang a Hindi song, You asked for Tamil and Telugu songs. Then there were the "Meera songs" by the "Meera boys" and You asked Sanket to gargle hot water. You asked OmP to sing a song with Swaras. I didn't record, as I was not ready with the MiniDisc recorder in hand.
At 10:50, You sent us for lunch at the "Canteen". When we returned, You were still downstairs, but we had to wait in the corridor leading to the bhajan hall till You went up at 11:45. Then we were declared to be "free". Some of us sat upstairs next to Your door from 1:30 onwards, and all of us sat there from 2:00 pm onwards. At 3:45, we were asked to go for tea, again to the Canteen. We returned to resume waiting. At 4:20, we were sent to the bhajan hall next door. At 4:45, bhajans inside the bhajan hall. Ten minutes later, You came in walking with Satya's support from the connecting door, and sat on the chair. After ten minutes more, You got up, and with OmP holding Your hand, walked ten rows down the aisle. Poor OmP seemed very nervous and uncomfortable. Bhajan was for half an hour. After that, Arati, and You walked back. This was my first recording session with the MiniDisc recorder, which looked somewhat like the pic below,
This picture was taken from an Ebay listing, for illustration only.
I also recorded the next session we had with You, with the mic and not line-in. The recording was quite OK, since there were no fans. You distributed a camera, two film reels, a torch rechargeable by hand-pumping, and a shirt, to each one of us. We came up to You one by one, and took one item at a time. It started by You asking, "Who among you doesn't have a camera?" - quite a few raised their hands, and the session got underway. There were 26 of us including one warden, and two relatives - grand nephews.
The camera You gave us at Kodai.
Around 6.45, You asked about dinner. We asked if we can have it with You, and You agreed. But Mr. G. K. Raman told Mr. C. Srinivas, 'The food there will go waste...' So, You told us, "Go there and have food, I will only have sangati. On Thursday, I will have food with all of you."
I was up till 12 midnight, setting up more speakers, along with a speaker for You also, with Sai Shravanam, Sairam and Balaji of Sundaram.
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