Childhood story – part II-te
Swami’s Childhood Stories and Glimpses of his Love – Part II
Sathya had great talent as a poet, and the shopkeepers used His abilities to write jingles to advertise their wares. These poems were so attractive and sung so enthusiastically by the children that the sales got an immediate boost, and Sathya’s poems were in great demand.
Some of Sathya’s poems were also composed to bring about a transformation in society. For instance, Karnam who was the village accountant, had amassed wealth and with it a number of immoral and undesirable habits. He used to parade what may be described as a ‘Hitlerian moustache’; he would wear costly silken clothes abandoning the traditional style of dress, and he prided himself on his gold watch with its shining strap.
One day Subbamma came to Sathya and said smilingly, “Raju, You give advice to so many people – my husband (the Karnam) is on the wrong path; why don’t You set him right?” Karnam used to sit near a basil plant in front of his house every evening. Sathya composed a song in a pleasing tune, and taught it to the children.
The children passed by the Karnam’s house in the evening singing, “What has become of the men and women of these days? Men are wearing some kind of leather strap bound to their left hand and have become very arrogant. We cannot talk honourably about the dress of men and women or about their appearance. If one does not give up immorality, he will be driven out by the people of the community; friends will beat him with their sandals.” The song which ended with a reference to Hitler’s moustache undoubtedly annoyed Karnam who got up and went inside. Later, he sent for the children, “Who wrote that song?” he asked them. “Raju wrote it”, the children blurted out. The Karnam of course knew that it could only be Sathya who was behind the drama.
The next day he called Sathya and said, “Raju, please don’t teach such songs to the children.” Sathya said, “Sir, you are the head of this village, you are not supposed to do such things.” Karnam (now already minus his “Hitler moustache!”) promised that he would behave well in future, and Sathya too gave His word that He would not trouble him again. Subbamma was very happy.
Here is another amusing incident on the ability of Sathya to write typical poems. In those days when the struggle for independence was going on, meetings used to be held in different places. The British police used to come to these meetings and break them up. Two Congressmen came to Sathya and said, “Write whatever you want, describe the present situation in whatever manner you wish and give us the poems to use in a meeting at Bukkapatnam.” Sathya wrote the poems. The congressmen now wanted to take not only the poems, but Sathya with them as well. They dressed Sathya like a girl in a sari, and they made a small ‘jhula’ in which they placed a rubber baby doll. Sathya stood on the stage and sang a lullaby for the ‘baby’. He sang, “Do not cry baby, if you cry and show an inability to be cheerful, how can one call you a worthy son of Bharat?” Various questions were addressed to the baby in the song. “Baby, are you crying because Hitler has invaded the Russians and the Russians cannot attack Hitler in return? No, don’t cry. The time will come when the Red Army will attack and take vengeance. Are you crying because there is no unity in our country? Don’t cry. There will be a time when all of us will be united and Bharat will be able to present a picture of unity. There is a remedy. Don’t cry.” The police were enjoying the singing, they were clapping and joining in the songs. The British came there and listened —- Sathya’s rendering of the songs was so sweet and attractive that despite not understanding a word of Telugu, the British officers started clapping, keeping time to the music with evident enjoyment. The meeting was a tremendous success!
It was at the high school at Uravakonda that Sathya impersonated the well known dancer Rishyendramani. It was the occasion of the annual school day celebrations. The school wanted to collect money for the construction of some new buildings; so tickets had been sold and Rishyendramani’s performance advertised. But at the last moment the dancer for some reason had to cancel the programme. The headmaster Sri Lakshmipati was terribly flustered as the first lady president of the District Board as well as the British Collector had been invited to the function. Sathya went to the nervous headmaster and said, “Rather than disappoint the audience, I will give the same performance that the dancer was to give this evening.”
Rishyendramani used to perform quite a feat —- she would put a bottle on her head, on the mouth of the bottle would be placed a plate and on the plate there would be a lighted wick. She would then dance and bend down to pick up a handkerchief from the floor without any of these things falling off her head.
Sathya was then dressed as a dancer in a sari with anklet bells. He was brought in an old car from the village while the announcement “Rishyendramani is coming!” was made. All the audience, some of whom were asleep now got up and became alert!
To the accompaniment of beautiful music Sathya came on the stage with an attractive jingling sound that held everyone’s attention. A teacher placed a bottle on His head; then a plate was brought and put on the bottle and finally a lighted wick was placed on it. All this had to be done otherwise the people would have felt that the bottle was stuck on the head and the plate was stuck to the bottle. Sathya went through the dance performance, and finally instead of picking up a kerchief, He outshone Rishyendramani by picking up a needle from the floor with His eyelashes! There was great applause. The British Collector wanted to come on stage and pin a medal on Rishyendramani. Sathya tried to avoid this at any cost. Using His ingenuity He said, “As I am a woman this is not traditionally acceptable, please put the medal in my hand.”
The next day during the prize distribution, the president of the District Board wanted to present a sari to Rishyendramani in appreciation of the funds collected by her performance. She called out, “Rishyendramani!” Everyone was looking around. Out of the audience came a young boy wearing shorts. The police pushed Him to one side saying, “Don’t block the way, Rishyendramani is coming.” Then the headmaster brought Sathya onto the stage and announced that the Rishyendramani of yesterday was this young boy. The lady president was so pleased, she lifted Sathya up and said, “You are a great credit not just to this school but to the country.” Ever since that day she had such great respect for Sathya that wherever she went she would mention this incident.