Jaipur

I am in Jaipur, in a nice hotel, sitting up in bed after a nice rest. Sleeping in a bed, I think, is like riding a bicycle, once you learn you never forget how to do it. "Nice," I thought. As soon as my head touched the pillow, I was asleep. And why am I in a hotel? I ran away from the tour. Well, not exactly. Bombay was a watershed, by the second day there, our numbers went down by fifty per cent, with fever, vomit and, yes, you've guessed: Delhi Belly. On the eve of our departure for Ahmedabad most people had made a good recovery and I had escaped it altogether. I just felt tired, very tired. And I lay down in the early evening and stayed there. I started shivering and feeling nauseous during the night. Kaivalya came to see me at six thirty a.m. and by then I couldn't lift my head from the pillow. We were leaving in less than four hours. I was beside myself, I could not see I would be able to travel, nor could I imagine staying behind on my own in a place that I found so difficult to navigate in good health, let alone now that I was sick. Anyway, Kaivalya gave me an intravenous injection of something, put something under my tongue and pumped me full of I don't know what else, so that by departure time I was able to walk to the bus. She carried my luggage and kept an eye on me on the bus, making me drink, giving me more medicine. My friend Miriam also helped me during P stops and somehow I made it to Ahmedabad without "accidents." In Ahmedabad, I lay on the floor for twenty four hours and Kaivalya came to check up on me periodically. I felt better by the late afternoon and I was able to nibble some crackers after forty eight hours without food. But I could not face the thought of the two days drive from Ahmedabad to Jaipur, so when Nancy (the one who joined in Bombay) said that she was going to fly to Jaipur for the Global Peace Initiative of Women, I decided to go with her.

I have to say that I was really excited when we got to the airport, and found that we could buy tickets with JetLite for the one hour flight to Jaipur in an hour's time. Nice, nice, nice!!! At the airport we were picked up by a courteous, white-uniformed driver and at the hotel I didn't have to lug my luggage up the stairs, they brought it up. And I took the elevator. I am glad I still have a taste for comfort. I don't think that I am a hopeless spiritual seeker. I never intended to give everything up, only to learn to do without. And I have! I will rejoin the tour tomorrow night, and go with Amma to the conference where she will give the opening address, and in the evening she will hold a public program. People are really excited that she is coming. We'll leave for Delhi the day after that. I will see Nova in Calcutta in fourteen days and I'll fly home to MY FAMILY in nineteen. Let me make a small confession here; I CANNOT WAIT to see them all again.

Esmeralda

p.s. To my friend Nancy from Scranton, Pennsylvania. Nancy I hope you got home alright. The tour is not the same without you and I miss you. And that thing you told me to practice, you can see how well that is going. I toured Jaipur today. It was great. I want to come back with my family.