How small issues give us BIG happiness

Went to the Greater Baltimore temple to say ‘Good bye’ to the colorful, Gracious Gods as I will not be seeing them again for sometime. I am leaving for Vancouver and from there come back to US but go to Florida. The Saturday bajan was going on and enjoyed the last part where the NAMASIVAYA in chores filled the air. Murali Vaadyar tells me that 17th, there is an Ayyappa pooja with Rudrabhishekam, padipooja, thalppoli etc, all the steps we follow in our Thiruvanthapuram or Hyderabad. So, I am missing another sasthapreeti sadyai.
There are not many Malayalees here and  how Ayyappa pooja came to Baltimore ?. Probably because of the Telugu population.  Anyway, wherever we go we carry with us our culture and tradition.
Murali vaadyar also told me that the day I am leaving for Vancouver is Karthikai. I was delighted to hear that. You know why; My first sister to whom I have not given her karthikai gift as an elder brother for the past several years, is in Vancouver with her son Dr. Ramu. I will be reaching her house on Karthikai night and I can give her my gift. Some cash and clothes. It is nearly two decades since I gave her some  ash for karthiakai and she along with her spouse is the longest living pair in our family.  My trip was not planned but it so happened that I am reaching there on an ideal occasion. As I used to tell my children, HE knows what is good for me.
My children are joking, ‘Appa, how excited you are on such a small issue ?’  ‘Small’ issues sometime give us big satisfaction. The four anna coin Appa used to give , after guiding me  to sit before the Vishukkani,  was exciting; the thousands I earned later in life, was only an income.
Love and regards,
sperinkulam
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Thanks for sharing my feelings, VVR. When it comes to finer sentiments, we are all one.
Your Kutty pattar is not a new face to me. The aroma of your appam, pori has reached me crossing the oceans to rejuvenate me and remind the flavor of the past.The God has given you that gift- ‘to touch the chord’ – How great a Gift!
Let me share with you some more . Ammu, my sister,  around  seventy, grabbed the clothes I had brought for her, as if she was seeing woolen jackets for the first time in life ! Her artificial knee caps prevented her body to bend when I handed over the Karthikai smabavanai, two or three dollar notes, but her warm ear drops fell on my feet. The memory of my hugging her to my chest, at the kalyana mantapam of the Perinkulam Krishnaswamy temple, some fifty years ago, when she prostrated before me along with her just -joined life-partner would have emerged from her inner pool. Or could it be the hug I gave her when I returned home after cremating my father’s body ?
“After living with  her husband for over fifty years, sharing his unstained love and enviable plenty, how excited she is to meet her brother  and receive a small gift !” I asked myself, lying in the lavish bedroom of my nephew.
“every hair of our women  stands erect and every blood vessel vibrate faster, when the memory of their ‘poranthaam’  which they left long ago, raises its head.
Our women are great !
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