[Guru Day in India]

As expected, Hampi was incredibly hot in the day but wonderfully quiet at night. The night ski was filled with stars and coupled with the cool breeze, it was just rewards after an enduring day. Then to another extreme, I went into the hill stations (Ooty) where the tea plantations are. About 2600m and I had to wear thermal fleece underwear at night under 2 blankets...in the middle of summer! Very green and lush and when it wasnt raining (reminded me of terrible Melbournes weather (in Oz) it was wonderful to take walks and be away from it all. (which isnt that far before one stumbles across another roadside tea stall)

My definition of the 'worse bus ride' has been updated. Feeling unwell after eating at a Chinese restaurant, I had a night bus down from Ooty to Bangalore. If the astute reader recalls, Ooty is the town on the big hill. Add noisy bus to 'unhappy' stomach plus lack of horizon vision due to the night (astute reader would have already observed this point) plus the irrelevant random error variable I shall define as E (every good formula has one!) EQUALS throwing up 5 times...and a most torturous, nauseas bus ride that lasted for 3 hours as I groaned around each hair pin turn the bus made, fearing another 'hurl' episode, until we reached the flat grounds past 2am.And to boast a personal record, I suffered from food poisoning twice in that week. Oh I am a proud & happy record holder :-)

And for a week now I am in Puttaparthy, (in the middle of no-where India) at the feet of the Guru called Sai Baba. http://www.sathyasai.org He teaches about love and compassion and all the 'boring' things in life. He seems to lack a real scandal (revised 17/7/04- actually there are 'scandals' or allegations galore) and he is very respected by both locals and abroad alike. In his ashram they havent let me look into the big shed yet, but I bet it contains 365 sports cars!

It is a place that has little socializing as people are concentrating on their own spiritual path and as it is an alcohol dry zone, it really is a dull village. Not much happens here, which is a blessing in itself. Basically I attend the morning prayer service where Sai Baba, looking tired and frail at 78, makes an appearance before disappearing into a building, and apart from a one-hour discourse, the rest of my day is generally unallocated. This gives me plenty of time to read an overload of books I have recently purchased and ponder on small questions like- is there really free will..... I expect to be here a few more weeks.

sai ram, as they say here
Jean-Paul

PS- in 2 weeks its Guru day in India, a day to pay homage to your favorite Guru!

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