Letters from India

1. Arrival in India - November 14, 1984

Arrival in India - November 14, 1984

Prasanthi Nilayam

Dear Family,

Since I'm such a nice person I’ll write you of my activities. Read this letter second if you get two on the same day.

Arrival in Madras; was windy and raining. I heard the day before there was a hurricane or something. Anyway, I felt baptized by water and Indian wind. It was frantic at the airport, so sorry, no time to get a postcard. We ended up making an earlier flight to Bangalore at the very last minute. The flight was short and sweet. Got to see the Blessed Indian countryside when we flew low, because of bad weather conditions. Isn't this great, I still haven't experienced a real, live Indian hot day.

Bangalore: beautiful, wonderful!! This is India! It’s just how I imagined it: the poor, the poverty, the temples, awful graffiti and movie posters everywhere, small shops (1/4 size of my former bedroom, norm), the wondering dogs, goats, cows and chickens.

Bangalore hotel: got there late at night, because Yash’s relatives entertained us at their house: eat, eat, sing bhajans, etc.

The hotel room: now this is more like it! We got a sit-down toilet, but no washcloth, toilet paper, shower or bath (you wash yourself Indian-style). This isn't so bad. I fit rite in.

Ride to Puttaparthi: lots of neato small villages, dirty, small and poverty-stricken.

Puttaparthi: moan, we couldn’t see the ashram rite away cuz all the delegates for the Seva Conference stay at the Hostel of Baba’s High School. It’s about ¼ to ½ mile outside of the ashram. Got a nice look at the village tho: the contrasts! On one hand, we have a poverty-stricken village, wondering dogs everywhere. On the other, we have Sai’s huge, palace-like schools, which are just outside the ashram.

And on the other hand, we have the Baba memorabilia shops, just as I thought it would look like. Tiny shops, absolutely packed with Baba pictures, necklaces, etc., etc. And, the names of shops that don’t have Sai stuff: Sai Silk Shop Sai Electronics, Sai Shoe Repair, Sai Cool Drinks, etc., etc., etc. Funny, eh?

Finally, everything’s settled. Our room is on the 3rd floor: 1st, men; 2nd, married couples (on opposite ends of the hallway, but on the same floor); 3rd, single women. Our room is packed: 13 people. One bathroom per floor: all squat-type toilets. (Hey, it may sound bad but when you actually try it, it isn't bad at aaaaall…!)

Ate lunch, 1 PM. The most sacred food I’ll ever eat, in my entire life! Tried to walk up to see the Mandir (temple), where Baba stays. I was the only one walking up. A volunteer came running out of Sai’s house and said to me, “He said no,” meaning no one was supposed to be there. The first Darshan is at 4 PM.

SAI RAM!

Eileen