Devghat, Afternoon
We met A. Maharaj at the G. Ashram, where I was kindly given a room, where I sit now. I have been thinking about why I am here. The swami talked mostly of politics, travels and also said that one who is dissatisfied always develops a negative viewpoint. Bu ton asking P. Ji later, I was told that A. Swami never backs a political party. Perhaps he is dissatisfied with all of them. Right now, I am not sure why I should give him elevated respect. The only noticeable characteristics that I have seen are a heavy cough/laugh, calmness in speech, ability to make or remember stories, and the ability to get people's respect. I will have to wait until my mind is able to see more.
Saturday, January 3, 2009
Friday, January 2, 2009
Devghat...
Devghat, Late Afternoon
At 5 this morning, my eyes opened to KB's question: Bihanai niskane ho? (Are we going to leave early in the morning?)
Of course. I jumped out of bed and headed for the bathroom and did everything but shower. The food last night was so good that I was afraid it would mess up my stomach. But it didn't. No tea either, and we headed straight for the main road in front of the house.
Our first stop was Gaidakot, where we took a dip in a very swollen Narayani river, and cleaned that water off with a couple of buckets of water from a nearby well. After a change of clothing, after our'bath', we walked to the Ram Temple, walked about and back to the Narayanghat Chowk. From the bridge we saw a boy on a tube floating after a big piece of log go under us (we reached the other side before he emerged), a 10 Rupee rickshaw, 15 Rupee bowl of Tarkari (Vegetables) and a cup of tea, and a 30 minute bus ride later we reached Devghat.
KB introduced me to a man, a former big person, businessman, politician, who renounced the world and just finished repeating the Gayatri Mantra of the order of a million times in 23 months. We had lunch/breakfast on the upper wooden floor of his half wooden, half cement house (because the lower portion was Dhalan'd- that is, cemented). I packed the smaller sling bag while our host talked, and was ready to leave on my journey, just as he suggested that he show us around. So, I left everything there and went on a tour of Devghat.
At 5 this morning, my eyes opened to KB's question: Bihanai niskane ho? (Are we going to leave early in the morning?)
Of course. I jumped out of bed and headed for the bathroom and did everything but shower. The food last night was so good that I was afraid it would mess up my stomach. But it didn't. No tea either, and we headed straight for the main road in front of the house.
Our first stop was Gaidakot, where we took a dip in a very swollen Narayani river, and cleaned that water off with a couple of buckets of water from a nearby well. After a change of clothing, after our'bath', we walked to the Ram Temple, walked about and back to the Narayanghat Chowk. From the bridge we saw a boy on a tube floating after a big piece of log go under us (we reached the other side before he emerged), a 10 Rupee rickshaw, 15 Rupee bowl of Tarkari (Vegetables) and a cup of tea, and a 30 minute bus ride later we reached Devghat.
KB introduced me to a man, a former big person, businessman, politician, who renounced the world and just finished repeating the Gayatri Mantra of the order of a million times in 23 months. We had lunch/breakfast on the upper wooden floor of his half wooden, half cement house (because the lower portion was Dhalan'd- that is, cemented). I packed the smaller sling bag while our host talked, and was ready to leave on my journey, just as he suggested that he show us around. So, I left everything there and went on a tour of Devghat.
Thursday, January 1, 2009
The Journey Begins
Bharatpur, 8pm
I am hot, but the wind feels cool even when it touches the dry parts of my body. Trucks whir by on the street facing my window, temporarily drowning out the sound of crickets, and many other insects, when their brakes squeal. The room that I am in is light blue, like the sky on a sunny Spring day, and equally splattered with splotches of white. Square, a fan on the ceiling, which is completely white, and with a storage ledge also painted blue because it happened to sit just below the white band running below the ceiling, all around the room. It reminds me of RD's room in P. But there are no mosquitoes here. Yet.
My journey to study began today with my walking away from the house, anxious to be out of sight of Baba and Ama, waving in their nightgowns on the front steps, so that I could start making use of the Mala that HB gave me yesterday. The bus left Kalanki at 6am, but we arrived here only two hours ago. Krishna Bhir, and the ignorance of drivers, struck again, painfully stretching a three hour trip to a 12 hour one and forcing me to get a good nights rest here before heading to Devghat tomorrow morning.
I am hot, but the wind feels cool even when it touches the dry parts of my body. Trucks whir by on the street facing my window, temporarily drowning out the sound of crickets, and many other insects, when their brakes squeal. The room that I am in is light blue, like the sky on a sunny Spring day, and equally splattered with splotches of white. Square, a fan on the ceiling, which is completely white, and with a storage ledge also painted blue because it happened to sit just below the white band running below the ceiling, all around the room. It reminds me of RD's room in P. But there are no mosquitoes here. Yet.
My journey to study began today with my walking away from the house, anxious to be out of sight of Baba and Ama, waving in their nightgowns on the front steps, so that I could start making use of the Mala that HB gave me yesterday. The bus left Kalanki at 6am, but we arrived here only two hours ago. Krishna Bhir, and the ignorance of drivers, struck again, painfully stretching a three hour trip to a 12 hour one and forcing me to get a good nights rest here before heading to Devghat tomorrow morning.
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