The idea of writing a blog is easy. But to actually write one and that too on a regular basis is rather challenging. The two nagging questions:
1. What to write about?
2. Where do I draw inspiration from?
Irked by the nagging questions, I loiter around the campus, in an unusual state of listlessness! I am thirsting for inspiration. And then, there is a sudden flash of light! But did Professor Albus Dumbledore not once say to Harry that even if something is happening inside your head, there is no reason to believe that it is not real? So, with that flash of light still inside my head, I take on the task. Less listless. Why not (the flash advises) start at the nucleus, at the singularity? Why not commence at the omphalos from which everything begins and to which everything eventually returns in
this unique Home of Grace?
That singularity or nucleus is most definitely the place that we refer to as the Shrine; the Samadhi that keeps within itself Sri Aurobindo’s sacred Relics. As a new joinee to this place, I had requested stalwarts like Rathinda, Shayamalda and Shikhadi to tell me more about the Relics. They told me how, Champaklalji, who was personally attending on Sri Aurobindo, had meticulously and with great tenderness, preserved some parts of the latter’s body like hair and nails over several years. I have read somewhere that The Mother had subsequently invoked in them a supramental force and hence the Relics have become ‘the living presence of Sri Aurobindo’. Today, wherever the Relics are, Sri Aurobindo is deemed to be present there!

On a warm, sepia-coloured June day, the Relics were enshrined at Lakshmi’s House, ceremonially. There are some evocative black and white photographs of the day showing the journey of the Relics from the airport to Madhyamgram, then to Shyambazar and then finally coming to its resting place at Lakshmi’s House. It was 1977. The almost senior citizen who is writing this blog was just a toddler then!
I have also heard from our Principal Sir a few very interesting anecdotes about that very special day. The very important personalities who were present on that occasion, the programmes and the processions. There are riveting stories as to how, many seemingly insurmountable problems that were, till that date, persistently pulling at the organisation like a naughty attention-seeking child, simply vanished once the Relics were installed in this campus! It is therefore not very surprising that the installation of the Relics is regarded as a watershed in the history of this place.
Even to an ordinary mortal like me, who is perpetually plagued by existential crisis, the Shrine has always been like an oasis in the Atacama Desert. The Atacama is the most horrible of all deserts you know!
Nowadays, something rather peculiar happens! Each morning, when I kneel in front of the Samadhi, resting my head on the soft and fresh flowers embellishing it, Mrs. Bansari Guha keeps floating into my ‘inward eye’.
Wait, let me explain! Mrs. Bansari Guha was the Vice Principal of South End School, which I am an alumnus of. She also taught us history. She gradually became a foster mother to me, showering a mischievous and hyperactive child (on note of nostalgia, here I am referring to yours truly) with calming love.
Most mornings she used to make me sit on a chair in her not-very-spacious office and pat my head.
“You will be a good boy today. You will not be naughty and do all your tasks properly.
Won’t you dear?”
I still vividly remember the slight huskiness of her voice and the deep empathy of her pat. Mrs. Guha is no more. But strangely, every day when I rest my head on the soothing surface, I feel something similar. A patting hand on my head, asking me to be good and do my work properly!
I look up and see the incredibly resplendent smile on The Mother’s face.
Every little thing I do, must ultimately be an offering to her!
I am ready to take on another day.