A city of 13 million people. Driving across the city feels like it will never end. Our drive from the airport took about 45 minutes. A very pleasant driver from the Oberoi hotel came to pick us up in a very nice car (I think it was a brand new Toyota, something between Corolla and Camry). A Corolla or Camry may not look like a luxury car in the U.S. but believe me, in Kolkata, it feels like a limousine. We asked him to stop at an ATM on the way to the hotel. He pulled to the leftmost part of the road across the ATM machine which was located on the opposite side of the road. He came to the ATM with me because there was heavy traffic and it was dark. On the way back to the car, the traffic seemed even heavier. He figured that left to my own devices it may take me a couple of hours to cross the street, so he said "Hold my hand, I'll help you". So I clinged to him like a little child holding daddy's hand and we both ran across. I used to be able to do this by myself in Istanbul but that was over 15 years ago.
The hotel is absolutely gorgeous. The room had the most comfortable hotel bed I ever slept in. The breakfast buffet was delicious too. It is an oasis in the middle of an incredibly crowded and polluted city.
Vidura met us at the breakfast restaurant of our hotel in the morning (Tuesday March 7th) and Dave, Barbara, Brook, Suzanne, myself and Vidura walked over to the hotel where high school girls (and many others - Vidura, Durga, Santoshi, Irene, Cullen, Krishnabai) were also staying. It was about a 10 minute walk through the "real" city. There we boarded a bus and headed to Serampore (Sri Rampoor). On our way we picked up Devi (the son of Master's childhood friend Tulsi Bose) and Hashi Mukherjee from their house. Our first stop in Serampore was the YSS temple built in memory of Sri Yukteswar, located adjacent to Sri Yukteswar's home and hermitage. We chanted and meditated in the temple. We then proceeded to Sri Yukteswar's home next door. We walked through the balcony where Sri Yukteswar spent countless hours with many of his disciples. We then entered to his room and meditated there too. His wooden chair was also in that room for us to touch and meditate with. The room was filled with sweet energy. From there we proceeded to Rai Ghat by the Ganges. We sat underneath the banyan tree where Babaji appeared to Sri Yukteswar (see Chapter 36, Babaji's Interest in the West, in Autobiography of a Yogi) . We chanted there for 15 minutes or so, during which time we became the local attraction to all ages. Many of us dipped our feet into the Ganges, the braver ones went in all the way to their knees.
Durlov (Master's grand-nephew, Ananta's grandson) took us to their home for satsang and lunch. There we met Durlov's wife Bubu, their son Ishan, Durlov's sister Krishna. The Mukherjee's were also with us there. We toured the house, had wonderful satsang with everyone, had a delicious meal (including pizza!!), chanted and meditated. Brian and the high-school girls played fiddle music for everyone's delight. We spent about three ours in their home which felt like home to everyone. From there we returned to our hotel.
In the evening, Dave B. invited everyone over to dinner at our hotel's Thai restaurant. It was a fun filled evening, with lots of giggling mixed with louder laughters. The service and food was first class.
More stories to follow tomorrow...
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