Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
that is true science. Observer must merge with observed to know
what is observed. You must leave this place. But you will return
when what I am saying to you starts burning in your heart. Yes, you
will come back when you are ready for me.'
He pressed his palms - the gesture was promptly returned - and
moved toward the door by which he had entered the room. Suddenly
he turned back, pointing a lazy finger at me. 'You will stay, my
Rumi Swami. I will see you tomorrow. This is now your home. I
am your father. I am your mother. You are my son. Is this not what
you came to hear? Hmmm?' He laughed out loud and was gone.
'Get
him
outta here,' the New Yorker ordered her hit men,
indicating Otis. Turning to me, she added, 'Happy boithday. I wanna
see you at 3:00 p.m. -
sharp
. Goddit? You need clothes. Whatever
Bhagwan wants you to do, you get to hear from
me
, 'kay?' She
knotted her brows, running through a mental list. 'Yeahyeah! Ya
do
realise ya pal 'ere can't come back inside the ashram, right?'
I nodded.
'Yeah?' she said absently. 'Rightrightright! We're all so fuckin'
blessed, ain't we?' She spun on a heel and shot out.
Outside, I tried to console Otis. But he wasn't bothered. 'See? He
vass too scared ov being caught out, vassn't it?'
'What a fucking asshole,' was my assessment.
The doctor in Otis diagnosed paranoid schizophrenia without a
shred of doubt.
'Mad,' he muttered. 'Mad and quite dangerous. I sink that, yes.
That iss my opinion.'
We ate a very bad meal in a restaurant that imagined it served
Western food. White sauce coated almost every dish and we were
grateful that it hid what we were eating.
In his hotel room, I finally got a look at the Kirlian photographs.
They resembled gasoline stains in puddles. Ones showing fingertips,
however, were more easily recognisable: four little stains in an arc,
with a slightly larger fifth stain slightly below them and to one side.
Otis knew all about the varying colours and shapes, and I had to take
his word for it. Kirlian photography? Who knows?
It was already two-thirty as I packed my bags, wondering, while
