It was a relaxed Sunday morning and Mythreyi’s Tata tuned in to the radio, thus played the song “vandanamu raghunandana” in ragam sahana by Sri T N Seshagopalan. Mythreyi hummed along as she sipped her morning dose of piping hot filter kaapi. “Did you note the bhakti rasa of this composition, kanna?” asked tata to Mythreyi. Mythreyi took a random guess. “tata, given the beginning of the composition, hmmm… is it vandanam?” asked Mythreyi. “That’s right da kanna, it can be defined as offering humble prayers, prostrations, and reverent obeisances to the Divine. Through this composition, Thaygarajar pays his salutations to lord Rama, the one who built the setu across the ocean. There is one other composition of Thayagaraja’s in the ragam balahamsa, dandamu bettenura, where he pleads with his Rama saying ‘I salute to you Oh Kothandapani! Please look at me!’” thus explained tata to Mythreyi. 

Mythreyi picked up the phone next to her and called Advait. 

“Hey Vaithu! Happy morning! Wassup?” Asked Mythreyi. 

“Goooooood Morning, Mythu! Just chilling with family over our morning cup of elixir” Said Advait and giggled. 

“Ah! What are you giggling about? You and your black coffee! I just can’t handle its bitterness! Alright, how’s your Sunday looking like?” asked Mythreyi. 

“I want to go to the central library later today. Care to join me?” asked Advait.

“yeah, sure, but today is a half working day, right?” questioned Mythu.

“Yes, it is. Let’s start in an hour from now and be back by noon. Won’t you pack some breakfast for me and pick me up on your way?” asked Advait. 

“Excuse me! No way! When did I ever say that I am at your service? I have to wash my hair and have some errands to run for amma. You better cycle your way to the library, I will see you there.” said Mythreyi with a touch of sarcasm. 

“In the punnagavarali composition, Thyagaraja himself has sung ‘tava dAsaH-ahaM tava dAsaH-ahaM tava dAsaH-ahaM dASarathE’, meaning ‘I am your servant, oh son of Dasharata’. Look, such a great saint approaches life with dasya bhava and you are not even ready to bring breakfast and pick mre up!” said Advait with a sarcastic sigh.

“In the mudra charanam of the same composition Thayagaraja says ‘Agama vinuta rAga virahita tyAgarAja nuta dASarathE’ meaning ‘O Lord extolled by Agamas! O Lord bereft of attachment! O Lord praised by this tyAgarAja! O Son of King daSaratha! I am Your servant.’ Are you bereft of attachment? You are neither Lord Rama nor am I saint Thyagaraja. Can you please hang up this call and get ready my friend? I will see you by 10:00 at the library.” said Mythreyi with a touch of mockery in her tone and hung up the call. 

As they were getting ready to go to the library, they received a message from Abhaya-ma, asking them to come for class at 11:30 AM. They decided to drop their library plan and meet at Abhya-ma’s house for class. 

As Mythreyi and Advait walked in to Abhayama’s hallway, they were welcomed by the tone of the perfectly tuned tampura, whistling of the cooker in the background and the smell of the cooked rice filling the air. 

“Can you please put off the stove, kannama?” requested Abhayama.

Mythreyi did as told and together with Advait prostrated before their guru and sat down to sing. They revised some of the compositions learnt earlier along with some manodharmam exercises. 

“What would you like to learn today?” asked Amma.

“Ma, we had a silly conversation about dasya bhava some time ago. Can we learn some composition on that theme today?” asked Advait. 

“Alright, here we go…. upacAramu jEsEvAr(u)nnAr(a)ni maravakurA……” Abhaya-ma started teaching the Pallavi of the Bhairavi composition of the saint composer. 

After several rounds of repetition, they moved on to anupallavi and later to charanam and completed learning the composition.  

“vAkiTanE padilamugA vAt(A)tmajuD(u)nnaD(a)ni, Just because Anjaneya, son of vayu is present by you, SrI-karulagu nI tammulu cEri(y)unnAr(a)n, just because your brothers are at your service, EkAntamunanu jAnaki(y)ErpaDi(y)unnad(a)ni, just because janaki is anointed in your privacy, SrI kAnta parul(E)l(a)ni SrI tyAgarAja vinuta (upacAra), thinking so, oh Srikanta, praised by this Thyagaraja, do not forget me” Abhaya-ma explained the meaning. 

“One of the popular kritis that we often listen in concerts at an electrifying speed is also of the dasya bhava. baNTu rIti koluvu-iyyavayya rAma O Lord (ayya) rAma! Give (iyyi) me the privilege of being in Your service (koluvu) as (rIti) a royal guard (baNTu).” said Abhayama with a smile on her face as the kids listened with full attention. 

The class came to an end and their tummies growled in hunger. As always, they sat down to enjoy their meal with their guru’s family. Today’s spread was vengaya vetakozhambu, kovakkai fry, rasam and a variety of home-made pickles that included vadu-mangai, mahali, more milagai, takkali thokku, avakkai and puli inji made with love by Abhaya-ma. While Advait and Abhaya-ma indulged in vetakozhambu, Mythreyi and Ambarish, Abhaya-ma’s son, would eat several small portions of thayir Sadam just to relish these pickles one by one. After the sumptuous meal, they all sat together for sometime, satified, and bid good bye until next time, with a tight hug from Abhaya-ma.