Mettilotsava 2010 – July 2 – 5 Laurel Hill Park, PA

Idhu bhaghya idhu baghya idhu bhagyavaiyya; Mettilotsavakke hoguvudhu idhu bagyavaiya.

Until next mettilotsava! rang everywhere. With santushta manas we were getting out of Laurel Hills.

Photo sessions were over, at least for us, there will be more for those who stay on. As the car winded

through the road with rows of trees on both sides, a breathtaking sight…bahu chithra jagath bahudha

karanaath!!! (can’t help wondering how beautiful it will be in fall with fall colors) all the incidents that

happened the past three days came flooding in our minds. It was quiet for sometime each of us immersed

in our own thoughts, brimming with joy, trying to dwell on the ones we cherish before a wave of another

overtakes it. Why did this have to end so soon?? All of us were mentally in another world, a divine one.

Idhu baghya idhu baghya idhu baghyavaiiiiyaaaa!!!

Friday:

The day & time to start, Jul 2nd

, 1 pm was here! With fresh memories of last years in our minds, a short

prayer, the car was heading towards Pittsburgh.

This time we had a different campground instead of the usual one. It turned out to be a newer one with

newer bathrooms!! The cabins were far off from the kitchen so we all would have burned lot of calories

doing justice to the food we wolfed!!! We reached around 7.30 pm. A Couple of families were already

there. Cooking for around 30 people had just begun. The ever focused Bindu already started to get the

main hall ready for the next day Aradhana function. Sashi Deshpande (everlasting cheerfulness, drive,

enthusiasm & full of smiles) picked up available volunteers and started to convert another large cabin in

to a professional looking drama auditorium. Dinner was served, kitchen cleaned & we retired to cabin for

the night. More families were trickling in throughout the night and past midnight the Houston group

moved in. Friday night was bit cold (July 4th Weekend!!!) in the cabins but the excitement of being there

with “saathvik bandhus” keep us all going forward.

Saturday: Sri Sripadarajara aradhane:

The dawn broke with birds chirping & cool breeze brushing our faces. The night was very cold & the

water by HIS grace was cool, not cold. By 6 AM one can see activities all over, jogging, walking,

chatting, and also crowding the kitchen for a mouthful of hot coffee. One had to be there to enjoy the

serene atmosphere.

Saturday we celebrated Sri Sripadarajara Aaraadhane. Lots of golden colored mums were ordered along

with jasmine. We had people not only from other states as far as Houston, Texas, Philadelphia, Maryland

and Atlanta but from neighboring country Canada too!!! Sri JV Acharya was getting ready to do the puje.

Soon we were cutting mums, washing fruits, making garlands, washing betel leaves etc. It was sheer

delight to watch Shantha Bai from Houston, a veteran in Rangoli, preparing to do her seva. Sridhar

Acharya (alias Venu) was busy giving instructions in English to whoever he can set his eyes on. The

design around the peeta looked as if it had been printed & was a feast to the eyes. In the kitchen madi

adigai was on with veterans GV, Sashi, Sridhar, SriKrishna & teenager Mukund. Five different types

sweets for alankara pankthi was to be done. Nirmalya theertha was given by 7.30 am & salagrama puje

started in full swing. Sri JV Acharya’s vistara puje was in progress & ended with shodashopachaara

puje chathra chamara sahithavaagi. After Rug veda samarpayami, stotra priya etc, it was time for

naivedya. In a small kunda, kenda (boggu…ek dham natural) was ready & vaishva deva was done.

Shanta Bai in full swing…Narayana nene manave!!

While the puje was in progress, Shanta Bai showed her Rangoli talent by drawing chithra of Sri

Mahavishnu. Looked as if “Alankaara Priya” was enjoying the entire puje that was offered to HIM.

Special mention should be made of Sri Santosh & Sri Phani, young men, who were eda bala sevakarus for

Sri JV acharya. The sincerity & humility with which Santosh & Phani carried their duties, be it making

baththis, ganda grinding, getting arathi ready, vaishva deva, devara naamas during bhojana time, deserves

accolades. Always cheerful & with either mantra or devara naama playing on their lips through the entire

time of puje & serving anna to all baktharus with the same cheerfulness was to be seen to be believed.

It has to be said that these young men along with others in their home town, are not only observing

ekadashi but jagaraNe also, making use of modern technology. Phani leads the jagarane group in

Houston. Those interested are to dial in the conference # & session starts at 8.30 pm Houston time &

taratamya bhajane goes on till 1 am their time. During any spl occasion, like Sri Rama navami or any

yathigalus araadhane, effort is taken to sing songs on them/by them. The enthusiasm with which

participants participate is extremely contagious…It does not matter if one knows not how to sing bec with

their encouragement we overcome the shyness & then its all Ananda, ananda maththe paramaananda!!!

After mangala aarathi shanka nadha (Santosh & Shashi avaru….the gambheera nadha is proof of Sri

Vaayu devarus presence in them) & jangatte sahitha, alankatra pankthi preparation began. Five elite

panditha baktharus were invited to decorate the pankthi. Eye catching rangolis in color, decorated each

baale ele..yep! plantain leaf was specially ordered for this occasion. All of us made a beeline to offer our

namaskaras to them. Then it was time for regular pankthi. Through the entire duration of the pankthi,

different people sang devotional songs, still reverberating in our ears.

Devara puje by JV Acharya in full swing… Padha Puje to alankara pankthi Brahmanas…

Ladies doing what they do best…Singing! May be! Mouth watering dishes in progress….

Sri Sudhindra & Smt Poornima who sponsored the entire Aaraadhne gave beautiful framed brindavana

(2010 aaraadhne at Mulubagalu) photo to all families! A brilliant idea!! Bless their soul!! Our heartfelt

thanks to their antharyami &to them!! Finally, the lunch session was over by 3 PM and already people

were off to preparations for activities to follow. The preparations for the evening drama assumed

maddening pace with number of people pitching in to set up the audio system, stage preparation, stage

decoration, mini rehearsal, make-up for the actors etc etc all the way until 7:45 PM.

Saturday evening:

Parallel to the Drama preparations, Kids talent program was in full swing in the main hall. Participation

was total and kids of all ages from 3 years to College kids participated very enthusiastically. Mainly it

was “dasaru nama Ghana”. Cho chweet to hear tiny tots haadu in thodhalu maathu. All the young

talented children sang so beautifully, madhura geetha filled the hall.

Rayaru Karune – What a drama !!!!

All vessels washed for the night session, snacks/coffee/tea were served. As the evening was approaching,

the excitement was building up in a feverish pitch since it was time for the much anticipated drama by

The New Jersey team on Sri Rayaru’s karune. Unlike last time, Sri Prasad was MIA!!!!!!. Still he wrote

the entire script for the drama. Characters were as if tailor made to the respective roles. Sri Shashi and

his team put an all out effort to get everything ready by 7:45 PM. His Brindavana was just out of this

world. It was more than 6 ft in height & was of plywood. He had painstakingly carved the crowns & it

looked perfect mudra sahitha. The team practice was for more than three months including weekdays at

times running well past 11 pm!! What a dedicated team!

Sri Sudhindra as Gurugalu brought life to the character. His height, weight, white dhadi fit him to a T.

Sri Ramesh as nawab, Sri Ramamurthy as his assistant, Sri Kesava murthy as appannacharya, Sanjeev as

Venkanna & Mr & Mrs Raghavendra as the desai couple, Chetan as Rayarus shishya & Shashi dazzled in

their respective roles. Songs, like last time, were sung by Sri Bhatni….awesome in his majestic voice…..

Balitha Suktha Book Release:

Sri JV acharya takes regular weekend classes on Sundays for one & all interested in learning Madhva

siddhantha. While afternoon is studded with Vaayu stuthi (completed), Balitha suktha (completed),

Narayana varma(completed), evening is for Sumadhwa Vijaya. All his lectures are recorded and

painstakingly put into document form by one Sri Pramod Vittal in Houston (did not come!). As a

celebration of this effort, the first release “book on Balitha Suktha” was released subsequent to the Drama

program. Group chanting of Balitththa Suktha followed by brief introduction by Sri JV Acharya and then

Sri Gopinath Galagali was requested to release the book on Baliththa suktha. Awesome effort and way to

go Sri JV Avare!

Sunday morning: Mettilotsava:

This time few new ideas were floated. Instead of each group from different states singing songs while

walking to sanctum sanctorum according their own list of songs, it was decided to sing one list of songs

in unison with lead singers after say 25 people. So amongst conference calls, the list of songs was

decided & was compiled in English, Sanskrit, tamil, telugu & kannada!!! When Mettilotsava procession

began, all of us had the list in hand & slowly made our way to the temple. By 8:30 AM teams were at the

foot hill and men started off with Veda Parane & Vayu Sthuthi followed by groups starting the usual sang

dasana maadiko enna with lot of gusto, some emotional & teary eyed. By 10 AM the group dharshan

complete with hearts filled with image of Venkataramana the groups temporarily split with around 30

people returning back to camp for salagrama puje.

Another routine aspect was cooking for some 30 people after the program. Srikrishna had the brain wave

to get up at 4.30 am & cook bele so we all can eat by 2 pm. He slept around 1 am the previous day. Just

like Santosh/Phani, Srikrishna deserves kudos for his selfless service, devara naamas in his majestic voice

& humble attitude. Soon people were enquiring how old he is!!! yep! we can give 100% guarantee that

he will be one of the most eligible bachelors in two years!!

Sunday evening:

Then it was youth’s turn. It was impressive what Deeptha & Sindhoora came up with. With help from

Vijendra, another eligible bachelor, who has an all round personality, we were dumbfounded by their

presentation. All this was spearheaded by Sri GV Srinivasan or GV uncle as he is affectionately called.

Professional presentation was followed by distribution of E-Letter and commitment to have Youth

quarterly conference calls etc. All were convinced the future of Mettilotsava is in good hands! Out of the

blue, Sindhoora’s younger sister Vaishnavi, made her mark, with mike in her hand, quipped “ for those

who do not know, Vasu Moorthy also has a second daughter besides Sindhoora” This was hilarious!

Youth having fun too! Ladies busy paan preparing….

A brief but quality (blame it on time, moves too fast!) philosophy discussion was followed by the most

anticipated pravachna by Sri Achaya Galagali’s at 6 pm. Krishnana smarane through His guna chinthane

and Gopi Gheethe were the “take home message”. As they say “the proof is in the pudding”, no one

needed proof for the quality and the versatility of his pravachana, when most of us wiped joyful tears

away. His delivery in one word….masterful. He transported the entire hall to Gokula. If Kalinga

mardana Krishna was dancing in our minds, it was Krishna as a dutiful person in Pandavas house, another

time & as navaneetha chora in another. His pravachana was studded with loukika jokes as the hall roared

heartily blinking away tears all the time. Why did he have to stop?? Was it 2 hrs already…wow! Gopi

geetha & Venu geetha made us feel like we were with HIM.

During dinner, the young and ever obliging Sri Bhatni started off with devara naamas and was going on

and on with most of us enjoying it in its entirety. His melodious rendition of “Jagadhodharana Aadisidalu

Yasodhe” was simply breath taking!!! We are a gifted VMS family!! After dinner & cleaning, it was time

for campfire which the kids & youth enjoyed.

It was around 10 pm & we were in the Kitchen & there was a mini Q&A with Sri JK, another stalwart in

veda vichara. We joined the group & he patiently explained the queries. Unbelievable that this intense

philosophy session lasted till 1:30 AM! Poor JK still smiling after all this! For those who would like to

know more about his style, please join VADAVALI where vichara is thrown open to one & all.

Extremely interesting, the way discussions are analyzed.

Time flies & it was 1:30 AM when we trudged to our cabin. I was shocked to find a mini party (talk

only) in progress. What started as confusion in names snowballed & branched into more confusion and

laughter all the way. We were laughing so loudly & shamelessly that….ok! let me tell that we had the

whole Houston group including two elderly ladies, in ours, & a New Jersey family with elderly couple in

a another room. Sri JV acharya, jolted from his sleep, burst open the door (2nd

room) & pin drop silence

followed. We, including my cousin’s son, his fiancée & her cousin & the rest of Houston stared at him

speechless, ready for the worst. Poor acharya was in shushupthi state when he was rudely awakened by

our laughter. “Ondhu nimisha ondhu yugavaagi thoruthidhe” was how we felt. It was him vs us, I

guess..plain & outright outnumbered…just smiled & joined us in the party!!! Like they say, “if u can’t

beat them, join them!!!!” Soon all of us pounced on his brother Sridhar acharya for conversing in English

all the time. It was one of the youth pointers that kannada should be spoken at home & here he was,

Mettilotsava leader, going against the very root. Let’s say that we made a bajji out of him that he might

have very well forgotten that English language even existed! This is when his name changed to Venu.

On coming to know nirmalya will be ready by around 7 am, we slept, if I may say so, at 3 AM only to

wake up at 6 am!!! Positive no Pragnya namaka bhagavantha that night for the lot. Unforgettable night!!

Monday morning: The thought that we have to bid good bye in a few hours weighed heavily in our minds & it was a quiet

morning with pooja. Girija, Sri JV acharyas dharma pathni, in 9 yard saree( all 3 days for pooja) did the

cooking for around 15 of us. I have to learn a lot from this young lady. Always with a smile playing on

her lips, honeyed talk, she is a pillar of strength for her pathi. Her devout service, catering to all his needs

during puje is laudable. In tamil there is a saying “eLLu endral eNNai” akin to English saying “when he

says jump, she doesn’t ask why but how high”!!!!!!

The galata Gang in our Cabin…. Until next time, see you, bye etc …

Sripad did mouth watering vegetable avalakki in two giant sized pan which disappeared in a jiffy! Paan

was served on both days after lunch & munched eagerly by the lot. I felt very guilty & ashamed & sought

the couple to express my apologies regarding our party night. On sensing that (6th sense??) they (separate

occasions) didn’t even let me finish. Just brushed it off saying they were just happy that even in far off

countries aradhana was celebrated with sincere devotion. And that they were blessed to be a part of the

same. I learnt a lesson here.

Last but not least, no article is complete without mentioning our camera man Sri J (or Janardhan)!! He

was asked to go the grocery store like a hundred times which he did willingly & smilingly! (can’t accuse

him for not taking snaps the morning session of first day) I guess the participants are to be blamed. Well

before the event, emails were sent requesting to fill up the spreadsheet for participants count. 160 turned

out instead of 80 based on the list. Three cheers for the huge turnout but NOT RSVP!! Strongly

discouraged!! Let’s have some courtesy for the cooks who have to manage everything & the 2nd

pankthi

people who don’t get savories!!! amongst others & J who has to race against time to get stuff needed!

We missed Kesava rao, Sripi & other regulars. Kesava Rao went to India as the father of Prasanna & is

expected to return to States as father in law of Padmini. Have to pick a nice saree for reception!!

Great news is this time new people from Maryland, Philadelphia, New Jersey, Houston, Toronto, North

Carolina and Atlanta participated & all of them voiced the same thing. We will be permanent members of

Mettilotsava! Surprisingly newcomers outnumbered the repeat visitors this time!!!

Tid bits:

Kudos to Ms Seethalakshmi who had successfully completed “dharane paaraNe vrata” not once but twice

besides Vishnu panchaka vrata for a whole year. I always thought such vyakthis existed only in books.

To clarify, the former is a vrata (for a month) where one partakes food for one day & fasts the next day &

if it coincides with ekadashi its two days fasting…..mind boggling! That too to be observed during

chaturmasa first month, shaka vrata or last month, dwidala vratha!!!The latter is fasting 5 days in a month

…2 ekadashis, hunnime, amavasya & shravana nakshatra day, for one full year. All I could do was close

my wide open mouth & offer my namaskara to her antaryami & her.

Harshala Rajesh was one of the persons along with Sujatha from Toronto. Since she had communicated

via emails we knew her name. To the question “Where are u coming from” & hearing the reply

“Toronto”, our immediate response was “oh! U should be Harshala! & she would answer” I am Sujatha &

pointing a finger across the room “that is Harshala”!!! This happened, at least three or four times …Poor

Sujatha but she did take it in stride! Harshala’s brother was another person who gave his all in lending a

helping hand in everything, making Srikrishna a beaming person.

This is embarrassing. On Friday, due to some prior confusion, it was felt we were in dire need of huli

podi. “Chinte yakke maduthiddhi chinmayanidhaane” is a proof of the following. At that particular time

we were four of us in the kitchen including a new comer. He agreed & followed up on our request & lo

& behold…fresh gama gama podi reaches on Sat before noon. Embarrassing bec I forgot the baktharu’s

name but I remember part of his wife’s name… Anu. So Mr & Mrs Anu thank you very much for the

timely help.

Our sincere thanks to all who pitched in & made this a grand success! May Sri Hari, Vaayu & Gurugalu

bless our VMS family for more such a get together!

July 2nd

Friday:

I got up early, since it was Friday, completed puje & was ready by noon. Checked all items in the list &

checked the checks!!!! Nervously, switched on the TV to watch Wimbledon Semi finals. My kids & I

were rooting for Nadal while my better half was for the other person. Can u believe it!! Well all I could

see was, Nadal was close to winning his first set when it was time for us to leave. My son did update me

as & when needed. Later, as soon as the Mettillotsava was over, Called up son and it was time to

celebrate the champion…yes! Nadal won his 8th title. With joy overflowing (for me), we eagerly returned

back to Pittsburgh’s Laurel Park with more energy!

P.S: I sat down to pen the article lest I forget the incidents, on Tuesday itself & being dashami, there was

no work after lunch. I jotted down format & began with His grace. Ram came home in the evening &

asked me if I had checked my email. On hearing my reply in the negative, he rattled off “ you have to

begin like this & the style should be this”…etc..etc… all said & done he is my best?? critic! & wow! It

was how I had exactly written!! Are we made for each other or what!!!!

BharathiramaNa Sri MukhyapraaNaanthargatha Sri KrishNaarpaNamasthu.

Chitra Ram