I boarded a bus and the ticket cost 10 rupees. I had exactly 9.25 rupees along with a few five hundred notes in my pocket. It was very embarrassing on my part. The bus conductor was kind enough to give me forty nine ten rupee notes for a five hundred one. That one coin I offered in the temple was the reason for this. I guess this is a lesson meant to be learnt this way.

We said yes, but didn’t have much time for advertisements. So, we decided to call up few interested students who, we thought, would surely take part in this. So, guys like Sudarshan [Boss], Parthasarathy, Sona ‘n her sister and few other foundation course students showed up. It was a tournament for 19 players. We didn’t have round robin leagues, rather we had draw ‘n pick rounds as Murali sir suggested.

Players having equal points at any stage would be playing against similar ones. It was fair. We planned for 6 rounds. That would make 57 matches. These had to be scheduled in 3 days roughly. We did and successfully were able to get 4 good players out of the lot for the semis. No tourney will end well without a knockout phase. The four were Murali sir, Nambi, Raja sir, Sudarshan [the Boss]. The semi between Nambi and Sudarshan was won by Nambi comfortably as Sudarshan resigned after his king got busted. The other semi was an easy go for Murali sir as he claims against Raja sir. He cleaned him up in a 5 minute attack once Raja sir lost his minister [Queen!].

The final between Nambi and Murali sir was an apt climax as the best players of the tourney were playing. Both had different strategies. Murali sir didn’t mobilise his pieces much, concentrating only on mistakes of Nambi [there were very few], while Nambi’s pieces were moving through squares and making circles. The only move made by Murali sir’s queen was to save his king from a check from counter queen and Nambi exchanged piece to piece. Both had equal pieces for a fair amount of time and none seemed to be dominant. At certain phase, Murali sir was able to tackle Nambi and it turned out to be the pawns which are more important. Murali sir scored more there tackling his pawns well and had the upper hand. He was the deserving winner for the tourney which was first of its kind for Seekers. Hope to have more…

Hmmmm, all he was able to do was to say to himself not to worry about what was in front of him, but what was behind him! He was on a moped and his colleague Mr. Y was sitting behind him and pushing X for the ride. The next day, the schedule changes due to some unavoidable reason and X was now supposed to go to Kumbakonam first and then to Neyveli and from there to Trichy [This is why we never reserve tickets for our travel]. Y and Mr. Z had started for Neyveli that day, because Kumbakonam was only starting the next day. X had a nice dinner at home, what’s more – he came to know there was no class in Kumbakonam the next day. So, he waited in Trichy for one day, went to Kumbakonam on 25th of April. It was then it started, the hectic travel.

25th, he was in Kumbakonam, returned back to Trichy the same night. 26th, he again went to Kumbakonam, went from there to Neyveli. 27th, 28th, 29th and 30th of April, he took classes in Neyveli and returned to Trichy the same day. This marked a small break in his schedule, a 4 day OFF from the work. He plans to go to Tirupati first and then to Chennai for two days each. But, Y was also travelling to Chennai. So, they decide to go to Chennai first. This was on the night of 30th of April.

1st of May, the day was normal. Again a couple of travels within Chennai – one to his sister’s house and other to Y’s house [Names are undisclosed on request of the author !!!]. Next day [2nd of May], X went to Tirupati in the afternoon and reached by the evening. He had rest in Tirupati where he didn’t travel much. The day of return to Trichy was on 4th of May. He was initially informed that he would have a class in Karaikal and was given a choice to go Chennai for a course startup. He chose Chennai and went there on 5th of May. The Chennai center is in Anna Nagar east. He then went to Karaikal from there via ECR and Pondicherry. Had class on 6th of May. Returned to Trichy by night. 7th of May, he again went  to Karaikal. Back by the night of 7th. This is where, he got a brief relief from traveling. Not just him, but his colleagues also had relieves from their respective travels.

The twenty-four spokes in this chakra wheel represent twenty-four virtues:

1. Love
2. Courage
3. Patience
4. Peacefulness
5. Kindness
6. Goodness
7. Faithfulness
8. Gentleness
9. Self-control
10. Selflessness
11. Self sacrifice
12. Truthfulness
13. Righteousness
14. Justice
15. Mercy
16. Graciousness
17. Humility
18. Empathy
19. Sympathy
20. Supreme knowledge
21. Supreme wisdom
22. Supreme moral
23. Love for all beings
24. Hope, trust, or faith in the goodness of God or nature.

The schedule for the month had been so hectic and physically demanding, that I even tried to avoid going home in the afternoon sun for lunch. I had been lucky enough that students or colleagues always had something to eat for me. Finally, it’s over. The day started with a full length test, the last one of a series of tests they had to write and ended with several photo sessions.

The next academic year starts…………. TOMORROW! A new schedule once again. Classes start for all long-term students in Trichy, Neyveli, Kumbakonam, Karaikal, Chennai.