AVM had a visitor yesterday. Although he was a regular at AVM, only yesterday did we find some time to be together and have a chat after the Thursday prayers and dinner was over. Balamurugan, an accountant by profession, shared many past moments of his life with us.
His story is one that needs to be told. It is a success story that of rags to riches. Beginning his life in the estates, Balamurugan was determined to come out of poverty and hardship. He started following his mother who was a rubber tapper, as early as 5 years of age. Both mother and child would head for the trees before dawn. He would pick the coagulated latex that is in the collecting cup, cleaning it as well, while his mother made fresh incisions in the trees bark. Later as he grew up, he would himself tap the rubber trees before rushing to the estate school to continue his studies.
Here is where he picked up singing the Thevaram or hymns to Lord Shiva. Balamurugan surprised us at AVM one day when he offered to sing the Thevaram. Till then we had no inkling that he could sing. We only saw an accountant, a Siddha practitioner and a Varma graduate in him. He had a hidden talent that was waiting to be exposed. He mesmerized us with his songs. Later while at the Eco City Agathiyar temple, I pushed him to sing the Thevaram there too, and he did a wonderful job. Yesterday he brought time to a standstill when he began to sing the hymns. It was so soothing and brought calm and meditation to us. Then he tells us that he had received knocks on his head from the Othuvar cum teacher while at class rehearsing the Thevaram. As a teen, he volunteered to sing Thevaram at the estate temple in Segamat, Johore.
When he was doing his Higher School Certificate he was still tapping the trees to help sustain the family. Seeing his parents go through hardship and sufferings to provide the basic needs for the family, he made a resolve to bring change to their lives and standard of living. He worked his way to complete his degree and landed a job as an accountant with a multinational company that had 17 branches all over the world and 28,000 employees. He moved up the corporate ladder fast and achieved his target in no time. He became successful.
But Erai for reasons only known to him had a different agenda in the workings. When the company shifted hands, he was laid off. All this came as a blessing, as he now had an opportunity to do some soul searching. In 2011, he signed up to follow some regulars to Mount Kailash. After training for three months at the local Forest Research Institute of Malaysia (FRIM) during the weekends, walking through the jungles and hiking its mountains some 10kms daily and climbing the 272 steps at Batu Caves some 15 times every Wednesday, he was ready to make the journey to Lord Shiva's land. With 35 of his comrades and the sherpas guiding them they started their journey to meet Lord Shiva.
Balamurugan is an excellent storyteller. He actually brought us to the place and time with his vivid description of the journey. Travelling by vehicle and later on foot they finally reached Kailash the abode of Lord Shiva. He was mesmerized and stupefied at what he saw. He had his mind blown away, realizing how small and young he was in comparison with the majestic mountains that were in existence for ages.
He had started his journey without any assurance or surety that he would be back; that he would return alive. But after several near misses crossing the dangerous terrain, he made it back in one piece to tell his tale.
Returning from Kailash and taking on several jobs, today with Agathiyar's blessings, Balamurugan has ventured to produce Pure Virgin Coconut Oil and Siddha medicinal ointments, moving away from numbers and statistics.
Balamurugan shared a pertinent point, a sound advise from the Siddhas in maintaining good health.
