Paddayana - 1 (As narrated by Vasu Kaka)

Some thought Padda was a product of the times – He was born when the country was under the rule of the British with a set of people admiring it with Laws and Legislations in English and therefore admittedly appreciating everything ‘foreign’ and another, a set of nationalists who believed in everything which is ‘indigenous’ and opposed anything imported. It was also the times when dogmatic religious belief was slowly giving way to ‘modern’ scientific thoughts and outlook. It was the time when gurukula, system of education was giving way to formal class rooms producing graduates with standard degrees. It was also the time when formal awards for excellence was standardized and made more objective and transparent. There were thus pulls and pressures for a child born in a middle class family to prove oneself with what is ‘recognized’ than what one actually is.
A male child born on 11 Oct 1930 under the star ‘Krittika’ was the pride of theYasaka family with a fair complexion, dark hair and dark blue eyes. His near relatives enjoyed the very look of him and Ram Kaka once taunted his wife (Sitabi Kaki) on seeing the baby that she would not have seen such a beautiful child with lotus-like red feet in all her life time. The parents soon did the jata-karana casting his horoscope and to their delight found a couple of planets exalted and the debilitation of bad planet resulting in Neecha-Bhanga Raja Yoga, an indication to them that the child would grow up into a Ruler of sorts. Later Padda learnt Astrology from the great Guru (Appusamy, our father’s cousin) Shri L Narayana Rao. Earlier under the advice of the Astrologer Appusamy, the Parents had visited the shrine of Ananta Padmanabha at Thiruvanantapuram also known as Anantasayanam and sought His blessings for a child and later after a year when the child was born they christened him after the Lord of Thiruvanantapuram. The boy was called Ananta Padmanabha or Padda for short, a nick name which stuck to him for life..
Our father Raghavendra Rao soon recognized talents and skills in his prodigious son. Father would sing Sanskrit slokas as lullabies and soon the child started repeating the lines with the parent and sometimes the lines ahead to show his memory. - This practice of singing lullabies of Sanskrit slokas continues as a tradition in the family even today.- This was normal for a bright child but what puzzled our father was the child’s ability to compose his own short lines. Once when he was singing marathi song
Me.. tujaa.. padaa.. (Oh lord, I am at your feet)
the child would continue the next line
Tu.. majha.. baapa.. (you are my father). The father was perplexed if he was referring to him or to the Lord !. Father taught him longer poems. The boy was keen to observe his mother doing Paaraayana (daily readings from Shankaracharya’s Arya shatakam, Mooka Panchshati Soundarya lahari, Anada lahari and started reciting them to her surprise. She soon started telling him mythological stories which practice she continued with her all children and grand children and earned the nick name ‘The story teller’. This then formed the traditional backdrop of a middle class joint family. The family noted with pride his intelligence and memory.
Father was keen to test the lad in his analytical skills. He would collect a few children from the neighborhood which included Vittal and Pandu and give mathematical puzzles and simple arithmetics to develop analytical skills. Padda usually outscores others and set new benchmarks for himself. Father then dreamt of his son going to a college, a privilege to a few elitists in those days that too the St Joseph’s College at Trichy. Nothin less than Physics Honors – the Science honors.
The father dreamt of Scientists and as first step starting chanting the mantra Gold Medals and other laurels for excellence in science education. Encouraged by the parental ‘demands’ for high standards and amidst chanting and cheering from other elders to win, the young boy measured up and came up with ‘ace’ in his Physics B Sc (honors) of the then Madras presidency. The vision and dream of the elders was matched by exacting and rigorous standards the boy set for himself in his studies living in a typical lower middle class Brahmin joint family in South India with 10-12 adults and a few children living ia single room ‘store’ : a name for a dormitory type of small apartment with common facilities for bath, open air lavatory, water source and recreation. He invented ingenious ways of memorizing acronyms like ‘R-square sine theta de-theta de-or de-fie’ which soon the children of the family started chanting little knowing the significance of the unit volume in integration formula used in polar co-ordinates. His enthusiasm soon caught up with the imaginations of the younger ones and they learnt simultaneously mythological stories and parables from Mahabharatha often reciting Sanskrit verses. He set standards for himself and let others to outshine him, a challenge in a healthy way!