"Saroja Sri Sri, our mother, was born on November in Vijayanagaram. She was the 7th child in a family of 12."
"Our maternal grandfather was a school headmaster in Vijayanagaram. Our mother specialized in music and went on to earn her bachelors degree in music from the Carnatic college of Madras.
This is one woman from whom all of us got the inspiration in our lives. Her motto is "never say die". She is the reason for what we are today, especially me. I remember the hardships she underwent after our father died to bring us all to this stage. After I graduated, this woman who had not left the house since our father died, came with me to the University of Madras to speak to the Vice Chancellor and helped me get the seat for MS in Oceanography. She always intended for me to be in the USA and pushed me real hard towards that goal. Words are not enough to say how much we love her.
She had a pretty tough life herself. Started to work at the age of 8, she used to do "Hari kathas", she shared the burden of the family along with her father and was instrumental in getting many of her kith and kin married and settled. Her life long ambition was to settle in Madras (Chennaipatnam). She believed that being born and brought up in cities have their own advantages like good education for example. Going by her own experience, maybe she did not want her kids to have the hardships she had. And work to that effect she did. Again I am not very sure of the exact date and year when she moved to Madras. She moved along with her parents and sisters, struggled a lot and managed to enter the cine industry.
This was the turn of events. She met my father, and worked as his assistant in dubbing movies. She, like any Andhrite knew well about Sri Sri. They got married in 1956 and by now you already know about us! Our mother had the good fortune to travel with Sri Sri not only within India but also abroad.
After our father died, our mother worked pretty hard to get us all educated, married and settled. She learnt music from Carnatic College of Madras and started a music school in our house at Madras. She is very well versed in Veena, Violin, Mrudangam, Tabla, Harmonium and Vocals. She continues to live in Chennai, but visits my second sister and me in the US every year."
source - www.mahakavisrisri.com
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