I am in Tirupati and I get a call from sai brother T.V. Hari Haran that he will be in Chennai for a devotional singing session in Sathya Sai Nivas, Perumbur. He said “Since Tirupati is not too far from Perumbur I thought I will let you know of this event. If you can make it, that will be wonderful. We can have a satsang and I will bring some of my CDs with me that I’d like to give to you.”.
I have been running flu and feeling a little drained so I said “I would love to but I may not be able to make it because of the flu”. He said “I have flu as well but I am going to sing”. From his tone I could sense that sometimes you just have to put the “I have flu”, “My neck is paining” excuses aside and go do it.
Anyway, I hopped on a bus next morning, arrived in Perumbur at 3 pm. To my utter surprise, I was greeted by brother Hari Haran at the restaurant next to the hotel he was staying. I had never been to this part of Chennai but it felt like homecoming.
The miracle that Sathya Sai Baba has performed a few million times over is the way he has sculpted his “students” right from the first batch which brother Hari belongs to.Instead of sitting in the hotel room and waiting for me to come ring the doorbell, he was waiting near the restaurant. First glimpse of what Sai Baba used to call the “Character”. Then he takes me to the restaurant and buys me lunch. Second glimpse of the character of a learned person.
He then introduced me to something that I don’t recall tasting before, Sukku Coffee. It is made with dry ginger (Sonti in telugu) and Dhaniya (Cilantro seeds). There is no milk or cream added, it tasted so good I felt like licking the cup!
In the hotel room brother Hari shared a few wonderful glimpses into his student life in Brindavan College, his proximity with Sathya Sai Baba in Puttaparthi and how some of the Bhajan compositions came to him right on the spot in front of Baba in the Mandir or in the Poornachandra Auditorium, like the Kripa Samudram Alaap for the Bhajan Bhasmabhushitanga Sai.
I will do a much detailed writeup of brother Hari Haran’s experiences and music compositions at a later time but for now enjoy some of his melodious, meditative and energetic compositions from the Album Oneness Volume – 1.
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