Five Monthly Memoirs
Guest writer: International Journalist Ramarao Malladi
July 1, 2026
I Have A Story To Share
What I intend to tell you is not from my work front. As a journalist since 1969, I have been writing stories about others – the presidents and prime ministers I interviewed or interacted with, political upheavals, parliamentary proceedings, global trade, national security, defense, insurgency, nature’s fury… the list is long. Every day of those fifty-seven years, I was engrossed in collecting and collating news and writing edits and op-eds. For the past ten years, I have been more focused on news analysis and commentaries for a think tank I was associated with as its chief editor. Now that I am in my twilight years, I want to turn my focus to my life story. Anyone in their seventies, like me, has something to say that is of interest beyond their immediate circle. What am I going to tell?
~ Ramaro
Over the years, the Malladis and I had enjoyed brief greetings of friendship without awareness that our homes at Meherabad1 were a three-minute walk apart... until while walking to Samadhi2 one day, I had chanced upon neighbors gathered in sadness and compassion as Ramarao’s wife Vani’s body lay in rest on the small front porch of their home. I could see Ramarao bent over her. Several days later I had knocked on his door and upon being invited in listened as he shared his feelings about his loss with me. I left thoughtful. After a year and three months of marriage, at age fifty-four, I had lost my second husband Stephen. In addition, I was an Amherst Writers & Artists’ certified writing group facilitator with years of experience guiding writers through the exploration of their feelings. With the thought that I might be helpful now for Ramarao, I had first let several days pass. Then arriving at arti3 one night, I noted that Ramarao was in his usual position seated on the ledge around Baba’s Cabin where he was facing the Samadhi. Walking up to him and standing close, I leaned slightly forward and said quietly, but with a gentle firmness, “I am coming to your home at 4:00 o’clock on Thursday, and I am bringing my laptop.” Then I had turned and walked away. Thus began the weeks of writing workshops that produced Ramarao’s first memoirs before my departure for the United States in mid-April. In 2003, I had introduced myself to Amitabh Mukerjee (Tito) and asked him if he would read my first writing, which twenty-one years later would become A Flower for God. Having remained friends through the years, I now considered Titu to be the right choice to read and share his impressions of Ramarao’s writings with me. Titu, the grandson of Amiya Kumar Hazra, author of The Memoirs of a Zetetic,4 had replied, “I find all those snippets tie up beautifully... Baba has so lovingly sent you as his friend at the right time as you coax him to write his memoirs.”
My realization is, “Acting on inspiration may bring our deep gratitude.”
Meherabad: The Site of Avatar Meher Baba’s Tomb-Shrine and site of world pilgrimage. His early primary residence, ashram, and headquarters of His activities until 1944.
Samadhi: The Tomb-Shrine of Avatar Meher Baba at Meherabad, near Arangaon Village and the city of Aliyanagar, in Maharashtra, a state in western India.
Arti: A ritual to express love, benevolence, and gratitude, often as a prayer to deities.
Memoirs of a Zetetic: My Life with Meher Baba: A memoir by Amiya Kumar Hazra, documenting his skeptical, “zetetic” (inquiring/investigating) journey as a disciple of Meher Baba. It highlights his transformation from a highly doubting, rationalistic English professor in Jabalpur to a devotee.