In 1963 I was felled by a strange sickness. One afternoon after witnessing a cricket match I came home famished. Raji spread the meal for me and my brother who had come to the match with me. I asked Raji casually for some information and she hesitated for a moment and all of a sudden my mind went blank and I was blacked out. I was totally unconscious and with the help of our neighbours Raji and my brother managed to take me to the hospital and got me admitted. After several hours I regained consciousness in the hospital. In the next fortnight I was in the general ward of the Bowring and the Lady Curzon Hospital undergoing treatment for a mysterious disease. After 15 days of observation I was discharged. Those 15 days were a horrible experience for me. In the general ward in which I was admitted there were nearly a hundred others in various stages of sickness. I was sick of seeing so much suffering and wowed that I would never enter a hospital again if I could help it. Back at home I was fit to go back to work and resumed work. One day while cycling to office I felt my head reeling and immediately I realized that I would black out. I got down from the cycle and rested at a cinema theatre close by. But the attack was not so severe and without any help I reached office. On another day while at my counter I felt the same sensation again and I knew that something was going to happen. I caught hold of a friend standing close by and asked him to take me to the club and as soon as I reached the club with my legs wobbling I stretched on a bench and immediately lost consciousness. For the next six to seven hours I was not aware of my existence. My friends had taken me home and put me safe in the hands of father (who had by then returned from his South India tour). I rested for the next three days and resumed work with no apparent ill effects. For the next few months it was the same story. We consulted various doctors and every one was of the view that physically I had no problems and perhaps it had something to do with my nervous system. I consulted a well known neurologist at the famous NIMHANS hospital and he prescribed a medicine to be taken continuously for several years which would steady my nervous system. In my anxiety to find a permanent cure I had also taken treatment from Unani doctors and Ayurvedic physicians too. We consulted our family astrologer who suggested that we perform a ritual called Aana Vahana (Elephant chariot) at our village temple in fulfillment of a long forgotten vow made by one of our ancestors to perform at the birth of the first male progeny because of which there was a curse in the family. It so happened that I was the first male child in the family and hence this affliction had befallen on me. The ritual was duly performed. For a while there was no problem but the malady raised its head again after some time. An office colleague’s wife was a follower of Sri Satya Baba of Puttaparthi who was known to have cured many people of various maladies by his magical powers. He suggested that I make a visit to Puttaparthi and meet the Baba if possible. He would perhaps cure me of my unusual disease. So it was decided that father and me visit Puttaparthi during the Shivarathri festival.