Nagarathar community is aware of M.A.M Palaniappan Aiya of
Rayavaram – 105 years old chettiar who resides in Rayavaram. In 2014, though I was
at Bay area when Aiya visited California
and I missed seeing Aiya since I had booked tickets for whale watching. I felt
guilty of missing a golden opportunity and from that point was looking forward to meet him and my luck finally
came in 2018 when I personally made efforts to meet him in his place at
Rayavaram. Aiya was aware that guests are bound to come and seek blessings from
him. I went along with my mom, wife and kids. We introduced ourselves and
nagarathar community is like solving sudoku puzzle of level one. Third minute
into the conversation we will realize there is whole lot of mutual friends
between two families.
We took blessings
from Aiya and spent few minutes chatting with him. Aiya gets up very early in
the morning and reads Devaram and other religious books. He watches Cricket and
an ardent fan of Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Aiya also does Stock Trading every single
day and has the habit of writing accounts. Aiya maintains a balanced diet and
has the habit of walking. These facets of his life are familiar to many
nagarathars. I would like to illustrate few more …We were served Biscuits and
Aiya was particular my maid also has some. Not just that when we all took our
seats Aiya noticed my maid standing and insisted her to sit. Now that is
humanity. Humanity has to be part of your system ..it is basically your
behavior through your instincts. I asked Aiya one question “What should one do
to be Happy?” Aiya replied ...”Don’t worry about anything…What is bound
to happen will happen…” . One other things which is so impressive about
Aiya is his positivity towards life. It is very common to see people of his age
or even closer to his age say “I would like to leave the world without disturbing
anyone” ….Though we can comprehend the sentence but still hearing this sentence
from people kind of disheartens us and disturbs us emotionally. Unfortunately
we live in a world where Tit for Tat is the order of the day – You attend my
event and I will attend yours, You make a dish for my pot luck and I will make
a dish for your pot luck, You ‘Like’ my photo and I will ‘Like’ your pic …etc.,
But here is a man who never misses any Invites and always makes sure he blesses
everyone. It is very easy for him to turn down the invite citing his age instead
have the bride and groom come to his place but at this age he makes sure he physically
attends the marriage. One such marriage he attended in Rayavaram today and was
lucky enough to get blessings from Aiya second time. He entered and sat on the
chair and suddenly army of people start lining up to get blessings from Aiya.
Life on its course
throws lots of surprises every now and then but eventually life comes only
once. I grumble so much about Indian summer but Aiya lives at Native which is
burning hot …..Aiya does what he likes and likes what he does….Aiya’s humanity
is what makes him a great person. Apart from indulging in quite a lot of philanthropic
activities and donating so much for charity, Aiya treats and respects every
single person as a human being. Aiya is a celebration of life. In a world where
Psychiatrists and Priests (except Mr.Kamal Haasan everyone is turning to be
religious these days) are ruling the roost here is a man who can rub positivity
over you and make you understand love and empathy towards fellow human beings
is the way to lead life. Palaniappan Aiya – We all Love you !!
