Published on Tuesday, January 04, 2010 @ 10:00 hrs.

On this New Year evening, The Lord who is beyond Time, Lord of Timelessness was ushered into the Sai Kulwant Hall in a regal procession that was apt for The Divinity! The entrance gate at the western end, leading from Yajur Mandiram, had a huge arch with wordings "Om Sai Kalaatheethaaya Namaha!", hailing the attributeless, timeless Divinity! Festive demenour that Prasanthi wore from the Christmas days continued in the Sai Kulwant Hall as the South African decorations stayed on, while the dais wore a new look with the alumni putting up a spectacular display of decorations adorning the seat of The Divine! This was a session earmarked for the alumni of SSSIHL, an annual affair the folks eagerly await, to come back to the portal!

The New Year dawned and the waiting for the evening, for the first glance of The Lord found its fulfilment at 1910 hrs. when Bhagawan was ushered into the Sai Kulwant Hall by a host of procession by the alumni comprising of flag bearers and  Vedam Boys;  while Parasols and Venchamarams  (yak tail fans) added on to the colour spectacle granting the procession a religious flavour, in the backdrop there were sound bytes of soulful tunes of a welcome song.

Arriving on to the Verandah and blessing the cake for the occasion by the students, Bhagawan moved on stage for a round of applause from the capacity audience. The entire front block was occupied by Aluimni , turned up in sizeable numbers along with family members.

On the stage, Bhagawan lit the lamp before cutting a special cake by the Alumni. Assuming the Seat of The Divine, Bhagawan blessed the organisers for the commencement of the proceedings.

A musical offering was in the offing and announcements in Telugu and English followed. The programme got off with the Alumni Brass Band presenting an interesting musical piece, a Ganesha Stuthi , that had adaptation from one of the popular numbers.

Children of Sai they are, they would often sing Love Songs to Mother Sai during their college days. Evoking nostalgic memoirs of those golden past, they erupted with the beauty of a song, "Oh Sai Maa...Priyamaina Maa...." so meaningful for the occasion!

The Lord who played all 'games' with His students... for His students, watching them growing and glowing, came in for adoration as lavish praise was heaped unto Him when intermittent commentary pushed the session forward. Some more numbers followed including a Qawwali before they switched over to bhajans as commanded by Bhagawan. All the songs were tuned to the theme of Love, "The Bond Of Love" between Mother Sai and Her Children, "Prema Bandham!"

Bhajans continued for the next twenty minutes and the ‘White Army’ took over with blessed prasadam going for distribution. Bhagawan accepted Mangala Arathi at 2040 hrs. In between Bhagawan blessed one of the alumni with a materialised golden chain.

At 2045 hrs. Bhagawan left for Yajur Mandiram not before blessing the assembly with Abhayahastha.

Earlier, upon emerging from Yajur Mandiram at 1900 hrs., Bhagawan went into Poornachandra Auditorium granting darshan to the thousands assembled there.