I know it has been long since Utsav Hyderabad got over. But immediately after Utsav I got busy in house hunt and then left for Bangalore ashram to attend Navaratri puja. So let me see how much I can jot down of those beautiful four days.
Coming back to Utsav…well finally the day (Sep 24, 2008) had come for which so many people had worked so hard.
Though we were expecting Bawa earlier (at least by a day) in Hyderabad but he actually reached on the day 1 of Utsav (i.e. Wednesday, Sep 24, 2008) itself. That morning after doing my sadhana, I was planning to leave for office (and then was planning to leave office early so that I can be there in Utsav) but right then I received a call from Shravanth who told me that he was going to pick Bawa from airport and asked if I would like to accompany him to airport. Now I knew that if I go now I won't be able to leave office early and hence would certainly miss the day 1 of Utsav but then I just could not deny and left for airport. We reached airport just on time. We waited for a few minutes. While waiting Shravanth was guessing what Bawa would have put on. There was a different sense of pleasure in this wait. Soon Bawa came and we started back. Not to forget… Anoop and Harshal bhaiya were accompanying Bawa and I was seeing both of them first time. I was feeling so great to be with Bawa when we were driving back from airport. It was amazing seeing Bawa painstakingly managing so many things on his phone. After reaching the place where Bawa was supposed to stay, we had our lunch and then, unwillingly, I left for office. Harshal bhaiya was saying, "now that you have spend half day out of office why don’t you take full day off". But my office work didn't let me go for that option. And that I had spent first half out of office I could not attend the day 1. I lived Utsav day 1 vicariously from my office. In the evening around 10:30 PM when I got free from office, so thought of calling Shravanth to enquire about day 1. While I was talking to him he told that he, Bawa along with other volunteers are having dinner and I quickly left my place to catch the cab so that I can join them. And I did make it. After Bawa and others finished their dinner, Bawa left for the place he was staying. Suddenly Tapan bhaiya told that Bawa is asking everyone to come over to his place and we all chased Bawa to his stay and spend some more time talking to him. We also get a chance to say 'hi' to Dinesh bhaiya who was on line from Oslo. Bawa asked all of us to do our sadhana daily for around 1.5 hr. It was an amazing day for me and I am sure that it was same for others including participants as well.
I went to attend the day 2 of Utsav and did my long kriya there. It was simply a wow experience. It was fun watching Bawa answering participants' questions in his trademark style. While we all were waiting for saplings that were to be distributed among participants (a service project that Utsav Hyderabad undertook as part of mission earth green), it gave participants some more time to interact with Bawa.
I could not visit Utsav venue day 3. But I went to meet him where he was staying. Then came the last day of Utsav which was a Saturday and hence a holiday for me. I was with Bawa since morning. Around noon Bawa asked all the volunteers present there if they all had planed their respective plants and we could have answered anything, Bawa asked all those who had not planted their plants to go and return only after planting the saplings. He also asked us to take pics so that the same can be uploaded to www.itsmytree.net. Now it was time to get going. We went straight away to nursery, picked the saplings (Shravanth picked mango sapling while I picked guava sapling) and both me and Shravanth planted our saplings in his garden. Time to be with Bawa again so we made a quick move towards his place. In the evening we left for venue with Bawa. While going to Utsav venue we spent some time talking and then it was time for meditation…my first meditation in car…:). Well, when Bawa is around, everything is a possibility. It was an amazing day there at venue. We had satsang and then souvenirs were distributed. Some asked Bawa for his autographs on their souvenirs and soon after everyone was asking for his autograph. Like any other good thing this also has to come to an end and hence Utsav concluded. I could see the smile and happiness on participants' face (which was well testified later when I consolidated the comments written by participants on survey forms). After some work at venue, I along with other volunteers chased Bawa to his place of stay. I got a chance to leave venue a little early as I was supposed to pick dinner for Bawa. Those who reached early got a chance to do a meditation with Bawa. After dinner Bawa asked me to pack his clothes and then we all sat around Bawa. He advised all of us to think of doing some business rather than our regular jobs (In his words, once business is established you can spend your time elsewhere which is not possible as long as you are in a 'job'). Soon after this we started requesting him to stay with us for some more time and leave for Bangalore next day evening rather than in the morning as per actual plan. But none of our requests was entertained…:) Well, Bawa had better reasons to be in ashram next day because next day Guruji were returning from his Norway trip. And who won't like to be in ashram when Guruji is there. So there came the trick from Bawa to send all of us out of his room. He asked to switch off the lights and then talk but as soon as the lights were switched off he said "Now you all can leave". We all, said 'Jai Gurudev' to Bawa and left his room, of course, unwillingly. We bade good bye to Anoop bhaiya and Harshal bhaiya and left the place.
Next morning Bawa has to leave for airport around 7 am so Tapan bhaiya preferred not to ask Shravanth for this (Shravanth is known for his sleep and not picking up phone calls when he is in his dreams…:)). With sweet memories of this wonderful time I sat in Shravanth's car and we left for his place.
Hence came an end to wonderful time of four days with Bawa.
