Had a very fitful sleep - took a rickshaw to Assi - dropped off my bag at Palace on Ganges and came out to find P standing outside - black waistcoat, same golden brown shirt and dark brown corduroys. He had a pair of shoes on. And the glasses.
We hung out near Assi Ghat for a bit with Soni and Durga (her sister) and then decided to head to Shiv-Ganga for breakfast. It was a pleasant walk…along the ghats - met a guy on the way who remarked that P had really lost weight. At Shiv-Ganga we went to the terrace at the back and saw Vinod, the lodge owners son with a large guy dressed in saffron. He asked P how he was doing but seemed aggressive and P ignored him. We walked around the ashram and then Ramesh Pawar the cook made P a double fry egg and some toast. He ate half the egg (gave the rest to Tommy, the bigger white dog) but had all the toast and coffee. Walked back to Assi stopping at Aum Cafe on the way - met the owner, an American woman who runs the place - P gave her an incense stick.
Came back to the ghat and sat for a bit. He wanted me to talk to Soni like I would to Anjali - then went to P's room - it was a nice time. We spoke about normal stuff - he excitedly played the guitar. His neighbor, Julien (a tabla player) came briefly to enquire about P's musical instrument collection.
I decided to raise the issue of him coming back again and he refused - even to come for half and hour let alone for a day - "Mummy and Pappa need to come here" - "tell them I'm in a mental asylum if you can't convince them about this enlightenment" - "you should be here, Benaras needs you - what are you doing in Bangalore - you are so unhappy doing all the commercial work - come here and take on this real work…I have arranged so many projects here…" I told him he should come atleast to see Mummy - a final visit - his mother to which he replied "Ganga is my mother" - "I know Soni better than I know you!". I couldn't really say anything to sway him even a bit. He finally asked me to leave - said that all this negativity is going to have a bad effect on him tonight.
Later, P called and I went to his room. He had washed up - was wearing the green army jacket and a maroon mundu (dhoti). Stepped out to a pizza place on the ghats and had a really nice time - talked of many things. He introduced me to an American/Italian writer and we had a wonderful chat about his book on an Austrian woman who worked at the Krishnamurti school and discovered Mata Anandamayee Ma - and the book deals with the conflict between the modern (JK) and traditional…nice chat. After lunch (olive pizza) we hung out for a bit at Harmony book shop. I stayed longer. P went on to his room. I quickly jumped into an auto and went to the doctors place. Dr. Gupta was late. I made a call to Dr. Thomas in the meantime and he suggested I give him three tablets once daily - OLEANZ, SERANACE & PACITANE and said it was a serious condition and that we had to bring him back as soon as possible. "Manic Depressive Illness". Dr. Gupta finally arrived - had a wonderful chat - he corroborated the diagnoses - and suggested ATIVAN instead of SERANACE - since the latter had numerous side effects which had to be monitored. I got the medicines and rushed back - late by almost an hour - reaching at 7. Told P I have a bad tummy and that I also puked - crushed the tablets in the room and rushed to Assi. He was seated next to an older man and was drinking a cup of tea - was really tempted to slip in the medicine when he left for a matchbox but couldn't do it. We stayed for the evening aarti. He said that whenever he came to the ghat the aarti would go on…? The pooja was wonderful - prayed hard for P's recovery - and the ritual concluded with all of us going to the river and throwing flowers into the river and I set off a floating candle as well. Came back to the ghat and P suggested going to Shiv-Ganga to eat Pawar's dal-chawal. I walked and P rode the cycle there - the walk was scary at times since some sections of the ghat was not lit up - managed to find my way to the lodge and told Pawar to mix the OLEANZ in anything P may order to drink. P finally arrived and asked for a banana lassi. He drank it all up and I hope Pawar got all the medicine in there. P was acting strange - repeatedly referring to the 26th of Jan - the strange thumping music - the sky lit up - Joy called him from Vashisht saying that there were indescribable white lights in the sky there - all these strange phenomena - he wonders if Bangalore too is experiencing strange weather or phenomena. Patrick made dinner for us - yummy boiled vegetables and bread - the veggies were wonderfully spiced and P ate well - left midway after the dinner - rode back and I left with Patrick (to show me the way) back to the hotel. Its 12:45… Prasanna will be here tomorrow.
We hung out near Assi Ghat for a bit with Soni and Durga (her sister) and then decided to head to Shiv-Ganga for breakfast. It was a pleasant walk…along the ghats - met a guy on the way who remarked that P had really lost weight. At Shiv-Ganga we went to the terrace at the back and saw Vinod, the lodge owners son with a large guy dressed in saffron. He asked P how he was doing but seemed aggressive and P ignored him. We walked around the ashram and then Ramesh Pawar the cook made P a double fry egg and some toast. He ate half the egg (gave the rest to Tommy, the bigger white dog) but had all the toast and coffee. Walked back to Assi stopping at Aum Cafe on the way - met the owner, an American woman who runs the place - P gave her an incense stick.
Came back to the ghat and sat for a bit. He wanted me to talk to Soni like I would to Anjali - then went to P's room - it was a nice time. We spoke about normal stuff - he excitedly played the guitar. His neighbor, Julien (a tabla player) came briefly to enquire about P's musical instrument collection.
I decided to raise the issue of him coming back again and he refused - even to come for half and hour let alone for a day - "Mummy and Pappa need to come here" - "tell them I'm in a mental asylum if you can't convince them about this enlightenment" - "you should be here, Benaras needs you - what are you doing in Bangalore - you are so unhappy doing all the commercial work - come here and take on this real work…I have arranged so many projects here…" I told him he should come atleast to see Mummy - a final visit - his mother to which he replied "Ganga is my mother" - "I know Soni better than I know you!". I couldn't really say anything to sway him even a bit. He finally asked me to leave - said that all this negativity is going to have a bad effect on him tonight.
Later, P called and I went to his room. He had washed up - was wearing the green army jacket and a maroon mundu (dhoti). Stepped out to a pizza place on the ghats and had a really nice time - talked of many things. He introduced me to an American/Italian writer and we had a wonderful chat about his book on an Austrian woman who worked at the Krishnamurti school and discovered Mata Anandamayee Ma - and the book deals with the conflict between the modern (JK) and traditional…nice chat. After lunch (olive pizza) we hung out for a bit at Harmony book shop. I stayed longer. P went on to his room. I quickly jumped into an auto and went to the doctors place. Dr. Gupta was late. I made a call to Dr. Thomas in the meantime and he suggested I give him three tablets once daily - OLEANZ, SERANACE & PACITANE and said it was a serious condition and that we had to bring him back as soon as possible. "Manic Depressive Illness". Dr. Gupta finally arrived - had a wonderful chat - he corroborated the diagnoses - and suggested ATIVAN instead of SERANACE - since the latter had numerous side effects which had to be monitored. I got the medicines and rushed back - late by almost an hour - reaching at 7. Told P I have a bad tummy and that I also puked - crushed the tablets in the room and rushed to Assi. He was seated next to an older man and was drinking a cup of tea - was really tempted to slip in the medicine when he left for a matchbox but couldn't do it. We stayed for the evening aarti. He said that whenever he came to the ghat the aarti would go on…? The pooja was wonderful - prayed hard for P's recovery - and the ritual concluded with all of us going to the river and throwing flowers into the river and I set off a floating candle as well. Came back to the ghat and P suggested going to Shiv-Ganga to eat Pawar's dal-chawal. I walked and P rode the cycle there - the walk was scary at times since some sections of the ghat was not lit up - managed to find my way to the lodge and told Pawar to mix the OLEANZ in anything P may order to drink. P finally arrived and asked for a banana lassi. He drank it all up and I hope Pawar got all the medicine in there. P was acting strange - repeatedly referring to the 26th of Jan - the strange thumping music - the sky lit up - Joy called him from Vashisht saying that there were indescribable white lights in the sky there - all these strange phenomena - he wonders if Bangalore too is experiencing strange weather or phenomena. Patrick made dinner for us - yummy boiled vegetables and bread - the veggies were wonderfully spiced and P ate well - left midway after the dinner - rode back and I left with Patrick (to show me the way) back to the hotel. Its 12:45… Prasanna will be here tomorrow.
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