An Excellent Saturday

The second Saturday at VKV was memorable to say the least. And busy. Mom has already described the visit to Sarath’s home(s) in detail, so I will merely say that Indian hospitality far outshines the Western standards, and that they made me feel as welcome and at home as a family member, but as spoiled as a princess. To say the food was delicious is an insult – it was much more, although they said they just threw something together for lunch. I asked Sarath if I could borrow his mother for a few months and take her home to cook for me. He said yes, to my endless delight. And the houses were beautiful, especially the second one, the one where Sarath grew up. You could tell it was well loved and eagerly waiting to be re-inhabited by a happy family.

Sarath’s grandmother is an exceptional, beautiful woman. I wish I could have spoken with her, listened to the stories that Sarath says she tells, just stared at her for a while. Even though I could not, however, it was very moving just to give her a hug and get a kiss on the cheek, and see her smile at her grandson and his friends. She is very old so her body is frail and we were all careful. But at the same time there was a strength radiating from her that gave the illusion that nothing could really stand in her way.

As we were leaving, I tried to think of some way to thank Sarath and to explain how moved I was by the visit to his home. In the end, I simply said, “Thank you for having me over today, even though I’m not in your class. It has been really wonderful to be in a home again after traveling for so long, even though the home is not mine.” I think he understood.

We got back to VKV at 4:15. I had resigned myself to missing the trip to see Amma when we left Sarath’s house so late, but I just made it. The car was scheduled to leave at 4:30. Of the five of us who visited Sarath, I was the only one to run upstairs, throw on new clothes, and rush back, ready to go. The others said they were too tired, although mom says she wished she had gone afterwards. I think they were worried it would be a big hassle, when in reality it ended up being fairly easy. In the end, six of us piled into the car. It took us under an hour to drive from Arunmalla to Tiruvalla. When we arrived, there was a great feeling of festivity in the air. We’d arrived early to get good seats, but the section was already full. But we were in luck. Because we were tourists and had come such a long way, and because it was everybody’s first time to see Amma except for me, we got directed to the very front and got to sit with the people who lived at her ashram. We were off in a corner, but it was still wonderful to be so close to the stage. Chloe kept saying, and it was true, how happy she was to be here because this felt like “the real thing, the real India”. Amma is a saint who accepts all people and who travels the world to share her message, but India is still her place.

The program began with various people welcoming Amma and her giving them garlands. Speeches seem to last forever when you can’t understand what is being said. After other people had talked for a while, Amma talked as well. I assume this was more interesting, but still couldn’t understand a thing. So it was a great relief when the singing started. The religious chants were beautiful, but it was Amma’s face that made it so special. She was absolutely radiant. And sometimes, as though she could no longer contain her happiness, Amma would shout out the name of whichever god they were singing to, and then start laughing. It was a beautiful sight to see and it made me feel completely and entirely happy. The incredible thing is that everybody else was happy too: 100,000 people or more, in a relatively small place, and every one of them singing and happy.

A little after 10:00 Amma began giving darshan, the hug blessing. Before she’d arrived, we had asked around and gotten tickets for the hug but we still didn’t know exactly how to proceed. Cecilia, a brazilian girl, and I decided to just jump in line and see what happened. We got lucky! Because everyone in our group except me was meeting Amma for the first time, we were in the first group. But since nobody was calling out “A1 tickets, form a cue here” and everybody else seemed to know what they were doing, Cecilia and I were the only ones awake enough and excited enough to venture into the crowds. We showed our tickets and were pushed to the front without being given the chance to go back and collect our friends. Before we knew it, we were walking up the ramp to the stage, hurrying through a minimal security check, had our bags taken, our faces wiped, and I was instructed to take off my glasses.

The closer we got, the more chaotic it was. Three ramps converged around Amma and she just grabbed the person nearest to her and hugged them. In retrospect, it was quite symbolic. The only haven from the pushing and shoving was in Amma’s arms. She pressed something into my hand and whispered a prayer in my ear. Then the brief respite was over and I was pulled away again. I got jostled into a corner, but was then invited to sit on the stage behind Amma. I got jostled back in her direction and someone gave me a hand up. Relief! I picked my way through about twenty other lucky people, Cecelia on my heels, and we sat down for a bit and just watched Amma give blessing after blessing. I opened the little brown packet that was gripped tightly in my hand. Inside was a little sweet, a piece of hard candy to suck on. Cecelia ate hers, but I wrapped mine back up. I gave it to Mom that night when we got back so she could have a bit of Amma’s blessing as well.

Cecelia didn’t stay on the stage for long. We had no idea where our friends were but thought they were probably waiting for us. So after ten minutes or so, we clambered back off stage, through the crowds of people. I got my purse back and we headed for our seats. No one was there! So we decided that everyone would have drive home in the car so that was the obvious meeting place. Just as we were about to cross the street, someone yelled. They had found us. It was nice not to have to worry anymore. Cecelia and I were still in seventh heaven, and would have been happy to wait for everyone else to get darshan, but they were tired and Leah wasn’t feeling well.

We decided to stop for dinner at a small restaurant the driver recommended, where we amused ourselves by playing with the owner’s son. He looked about 2 or 3 and was absolutely adorable and mischievous. Charlotte showed him her camera, which he loved. He took picture after picture of himself and everybody else. And he was not pleased when it was taken away. So I picked him up and spun him around a few times until he was too dizzy to find the camera. We had a lovely dinner, and I was very homesick by the end. I couldn’t help wondering how much mischief he would get into if I introduced him to Zachariah, the two-year-old I baby-sit. I think between the two of them, they could demolish an entire city!

We got home surprisingly early. We’d expected to get home around 1 or 2 in the morning because we’d expected to have to wait in line to get Darshan. So when I bounced into the room at 11:30, Mom was still awake. We talked for a bit, and I gave Mom the sweet. I think I managed to pass on some of Amma’s happiness through my own excitement.

I went to bed thoroughly exhausted and thoroughly happy. It was a good day.