I Am Back

Pilgrims Bathing In The Ganges At Bellur

I have been back three weeks now, and it has taken me that long to settle down.  To settle down sufficiently to try picking up from where I left off that is.

 

But let’s start from the beginning.  As you know, Nova joined me in Calcutta for the end of the tour and I joined her at the Oberoi Grand.  And grand it was indeed!  And do you want to know something? I had no trouble whatsoever letting someone else carry my luggage; in fact it was a very welcome change. 

Oh, and I can’t tell you how easy it was to get into the elevator and just push the button to the fourth floor, instead of staggering up the stairs as I had been doing for the past seven weeks.

As for washing, well!  Instead of waiting for my turn to wash in a toilet with a bucket and a jug, I soaked in an actual bathtub.  And I scrubbed my feet almost clean.  I mean they weren’t dirty, but they had black stains on the heels and toes that would only come off with a bit of the old pumice stone.

And sleeping in a bed, a really comfortable bed, with crisp white sheets and feather pillows.  As I said before, it’s like riding a bicycle, once you learn you never forget!

 

On our last day in Calcutta, Nova and I went to see Dakshineswar, the famous Kali Temple on the Ganges.  The temple complex and the area all around were teeming with people.  Children begging for rupees, vendors clamoring for business, rickshaw drivers vying for passengers.  As quickly as we could, Nova and I walked through the heaving mass of people and, after buying flowers to offer at the Temple, we stood in line and patiently waited our turn to stand in front of the Dark Goddess, Mother Kali.  I was reminded of another pilgrimage I went on in Sicily a long time go, when I was only six.  But the throngs of people waiting for their chance to gaze at Kali did not allow me to linger and I had to move on.

Ramakrishna and Vivekananda’s Ashram in Bellur, on the opposite bank of the Ganges, stood in stark contrast to Dakshineswar.  The well-kept grounds were an oasis of peace and tranquility.  The pilgrims walking in and out of the Ashram buildings, or down to the river banks, seemed to be engaged in silent contemplation instead of urgent, desperate prayer, as they were as they approached Kali in her Temple.

 

On the way back we stopped at Mother Teresa’s centre and visited the place where she had lived and ministered to the poor.  I would have liked to have met her when she was alive, but even in death she had a presence within the walls of the mission she had founded.  Before heading back to the hotel, Nova and I spent a few quiet minutes by her tomb.  It was a perfect end to our stay and I had no trouble going to sleep that night.

 

I was sleeping so well in fact that I didn’t want to wake up when the alarm went off at five o’clock the following morning.  Then I remembered I was going home!  Home, I thought, and I leapt out of bed and into the shower.

Nova and I flew together for the first leg of the journey, Calcutta to Dubai, and then she boarded her London-bound plane, while I flew on to New York on the other side of the Pond. 

 

Nova, thank you for being a true friend!!!!!

 

(End of part one.)

Some Of The Pictures

Car Park In Benares

Esmeralda and A Sidewalk Barber In Delhi

Rickshaw and Palace In Jaipur