I've Just Seen A Face

I've Just Seen a Face-10

India

It was all arranged. No backing down my ticket was paid for and I was going to be joining George and the band in India very soon.

I packed lightly, George had explained the heat, flies and simple way of living that would be ours for what could be 4 months. Having absolutely no light airy clothes Pattie and I travelled around the shops with Jane Asher one afternoon in early February 1968.

"Ohhhh!! Look at these" Pattie had found dresses but they were not suitable for the trip she bought two anyway making me roll my eyes at her "What! Well we won't be away forever!" she smiled across the dress rack at Jane and I, we had found some sarongs and feather soft cotton cover-ups.

"What do you think? Suitable?" Jane was lovely she had concerns about the trip being so long and so far away but she had accepted go to be with Paul and experience India and the Maharishi Mahesh Yogis learnings. "Do we have to call that bearded guy all those names or can he have a nickname?"

"I think to us in our rooms we could call him Yogi, but in the compound...." Pattie was tapping her finger on her chin her pink nail polish was complementing her pink and green dress she wore.

"We will be in a compound like an army camp?!" I was visualising Stalag thirteen German War camps.

"No silly it's just that its fenced don't want any tigers to get us. Grrrr!!" Pattie laughed and put her hands out, fingers clawing, pretending to be a tiger.

"Yogi Bear" Jane piped up having selected 3 outfits and popping another 3 in my arms.

We all grabbed what we thought appropriate and not so in Patties case, dumped it all on the counter, paid and fell out of the shop laughing at her reference to Yogi the cartoon bear being the Maharishi.

"...Or Marsha" I managed to drop another nickname in the mix that we all thought was good, we could even use it to talk about the Man in question, referencing him as a Marsha, we could nearly get away with chatting about him in public.

***************

The only down side of the actual trip was that I would not be able to travel out there with George and Pattie as they were leaving a few days earlier.

I arrived by cab at Paul and Janes house early morning, the fog was thick and hadn't lifted creating an eerie feel as we plied our way through the town to, firstly Ringo's and Maureen's, then the airport.

"Morning campers!" Ringo poked his head in the taxi taking in the occupants.

"Who do we have here then, a sacrifice to feed hungry tigers?" Ringo shuddered then smiled warmly at me his eyes sparkling blue. I was so nervous to meet them all, I was glad it was, in the end, going to be one by one. Having met Paul and Jane at Georges wedding, now Ringo and Maureen. John loomed large on the horizon his personality and character preceding him mainly through letters from years before, newspapers and Georges conversations with me. I would need my wits about me when I was about that one.

"Maureen, Richard. Good morning a glorious not so sunny day, this is the fabled Kasey or Kassandra. Ringo, you know, Georges 'friend' from forever ago" Paul quotation marked me.

"Oh 'Kasey' hmmmm" Ringo pinched me!

"Hey hands off scrubber!" I poked him in the arm as he sat down with Maureen beside me. "Hi Maureen, I'm Kas, Patties told me so much about you"

"All good I hope"

"Yes, yes except your appalling taste in men" everyone fell about laughing except Ringo, who was jokingly leering at me. He perked up quickly though.

"I LIKE her!!" Ringo finally smiled and shook my hand furiously.

The flight was sooooo long.

I was trying to go sober but I was now on a plane with free booze.

And I was in agony; as the stewardess served those in front of me, I shook a little fighting my craving.

Ever closer she slowly pushed the cart, the left wheel wobbling as it moved.

Pause, chat, grab a beverage, move along.
Pause, chat, smile, provide a drink move along.
Pause, chat, smile, look ahead, chat again, dispense a scotch, move along.

Just as she was about to pull the cart to a stop beside me Maureen asked a question, she was sitting behind me, I turned, answered and went back into a forward position. Where's the stewardess?!?! The cart was past me now all the way toward the back of the plane.

I didn't get a drink.

Did the girls know? Did George tell the guys to keep it away from me?

It was my first trip and the others thought it a great joke to scare me now and then. Paul was the worst culprit and Jane, in the end, had to basically leash him to her at the back of the plane.

"What was that noise!!!!" Paul screamed out as he walked toward me from behind, grabbing the chair and shaking it.

"Good God Paul I will have your bloody fingers chopped off if you don't stop scaring me" I was smiling, nervously, and trying to maintain my composure. If I let him see my tension he would only continue like the pubescent schoolboy that he seemed to be. A cute pubescent boy granted.

"No, please I beg you anything but my fingers" Holding up both of his hands in horror, the thought 'terrifying' him. I went on to make him squirm more.

"Anything????" Lifting an eyebrow and casting my gaze southward he caught my drift and quickly covered his 'privates' a flash of feigned panic on his cute face.

Jane and Maureen lifted their glasses toasting my roasting of Mr McCartney.

*************

"150 mile of this! Goodness" Ringo was sitting in the back with Jane, Maureen and I. It was, to put it mildly,  squishy and it was so hot we looked like fresh beetroot.

Once we touched down in Dehli. The real adventures began. Still well known in the foreign city the two Beatles and party were beseeched by mobs of teenage boys and young men, which had the boys nervous and us ladies giggling.

We grabbed the first taxi available as the hands and bodies of the Indian fans greeted us. The taxi was ancient and had no windows in the back so as we left hands were still poking in and grabbing at our hair, Richie was not amused. It was overwhelming and I could see I had made the right decision back in the day when George had wanted me travel to America!

"Move over a bit more Richard" Maureen groaned "So Kas doesn't get to know you too personally!"

I sat on the edge of the backseat holding onto Pauls headrest leaning so half of my bottom was only on the seat.

'Sit on my lap then"

"It's too hot"

Jane tried to change the subject, her hair was windswept from the air rushing in the window "Ringo what in Christs name is in your suitcase by the way?" We were all wondering because when he was lugging it to the car the handle broke he then had to drag it the rest of the way.

"Oh you know clothes, drumsticks, toiletries, pics of the kid's, baked beans, normal stuff"

We all called out "Baked Beans!" in unison, Maureen was nodding in agreement.

"Yes Heinz of course, the best ones" Ringo deadpanned. "My stomach won't stomach all these Indian delicacies you know, so I thought I'll bring a stash of beans just in case, hahaha 'in case' get it!?"

"How many cans" Paul tossed the words over his shoulder not bothering to turn around.

"Oh I thought half a dozen then ended up with 63"

"63?"

"Well I went to the shop and they didn't have 70, hopefully that's enough"

"No one will want to be hanging round you then!" I let the words filter through the car, the penny dropping slowly on each of the occupants.

"OH my~ yes! Mister Stinky pants" Jane uttered, all spoken in her upper-crust British accent which made it even funnier, then she sat holding her nose smirking; the car virtually shook from laughter.