Our last full day at Arunachala

The "special" rice meal at a hotel in Tiruvannamalai town. For an a/c room and some extra dishes, it cost a total of a whole dollar.



I confess to a twinge of guilt as I have introduced Cathy to a habit forming drug - of sorts. It is the infamous Chikki - a habit forming delicious South Indian peanut toffee. I knew an American once who went by taxi out from his hotel in Bangalore to see Sai Baba every day at Whitefield, about 20kms. Every day he was ignored, and every day he went out to the bazaar afterward and bought a piece of Chikki before returning to his hotel. Then one day Sai Baba stopped and seemed about to materialise some ash from his fingers which he did several times daily for someone or other, and when he waved his hand for the American, out popped a piece of Chikki! We called in to see Wendell Field a couple of days ago. Wendell has lived here for most of the past 40 years and is a painter of exception talent; he can hardly keep up with the commissions. He often said his best friend here was the remarkable beggar saint Yogi Ramsuratkumar. One day I noticed a sadhu at a small roadside temple who had a real Light about him. I slipped him some rupees for food and thought later it was just not enough. I later saw him at the Ramanashram and slipped him enough to buy food for a good while. There are many around here who wear the orange cloth which Narikutti Swami derisively called the beggars' uniform. Maybe one in a hundred is one like the one I saw. Later on he saw me a smiled a wonderful smile of deep happiness, then a few minutes later I came upon him at the corner of our road - how did he do that? Anyway, he gestured to me to put out my arm and he tied a small red woven cotton band around it, then gestured to ask Cathy's whereabouts (she was in the room) - I went and brought her down and he gave her one also, as well as a Rudraksha bead around the neck. Expect the unexpected around here. It has been a strange time of reconnecting with people I know. This morning we again walked around the hill and checked the bus timings on the way past. Tomorrow morning we will catch the bus to Pondicherry. It has been a wonderful time at this holy place and Cathy has said she can't wait to come back here. Talk about a duck taking to water.