1-30-09

This morning we got up around 7:30 with plans to meet Alverro at his house between 8:15 and 8:30. (This means to Mom, by the way, that we must be waiting on his doorstep by 8:10, although wait to knock until the appointed time.) There was no time for breakfast because we had to walk down the ghats to get to Alverro’s house. This was Patrick’s first long walk down on the ghats because he’d been working so much. I think he enjoyed it, although he did not walk slowly enough to take it all in and the two youngsters were constantly waiting for their parents. Of course, we all feel our best walking and observing at our own pace and it is more or less impossible to take it all in the first time anyway, and who am I to pass judgment? I am still getting accustomed to Varanasi myself. After four walks one would think I’d be an expert but, sadly, this is not the case. I was rather thrown, personally, when a man called out “Madam, Sir - Snake?” and pulled open a burlap sack to reveal the rather large, sinuous curves of a python’s body. It was probably illegal, but what can you do? I wanted no part in it, anyway! Ugh! I am not particularly fond of snakes although I do feel a certain disgusted fascination, but only if they are safely caged, or on TV, or are small enough to be crushed under my heel should they prove nasty.
The meeting with the Jagadguru of the North was wonderful. Alverro had, in our conversation yesterday, discussed how some successors are vessels which can hold a divine light and pass it on, while others shed a light of their own. To my untrained eye, it seems as though the Jagadguru of Kanchipuram is in the former category while the Jagadguru of the North is in the latter. I do not say this to belittle the Jagadguru of Kanchipuram but rather to impress upon you the greatness of the man I met today. I believe Dad also wrote about this and I am finding it difficult to express in words the joy I felt in my heart upon meeting this man, so I will leave it at that.
In the afternoon, Mom and I went shopping (again – I’m in paradise) and I got to have The Real Bangle Experience! It was just as much fun as I imagined it would be. Mom went first; she had her sari with her, so the shopkeeper matched the bangles perfectly. Mom, after a few tries, ended up with a considerably less ornate set than the one originally presented to her, but it was lovely nonetheless and better suited to her. It is alternately turquoise and gold with two big bangles on either end. My set is much the same, only the main part is orange and silvery-gold and the ends green and gold. This may sound a bit crazy and overly-colorful, but it goes with the orange sari I bought in Kanchipuram, which has green embroidery on it.