Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
I offered the banana again and asked in English what the best
route around the mountain was.
'
Tat Twam Asi
,' he repeated, turning and motioning me to follow
him into the hut.
It would have been hard to refuse.
Inside I found an animal-skin rug and a kind of altar fashioned
out of three smooth rocks with several small branches tied together
on top of them. From the twigs dangled dozens of bones, dried
flowers, and chunks of coloured quartz, all clumsily knotted to
ribbons of faded red cloth. He propped the pole with the orange flag
against one of the two beams holding up this hut, then indicated
that I should put the banana on the altar. I did so gladly. He sat down
on the hide rug, pointing to a spot beside him. I nodded more
gratitude, sitting down and flicking through my Hindi phrase book.
It was full of phrases about getting the wheels on your bullock cart
repaired and various ways to ask questions about someone's relatives
-
My sister has a red sari, what colour is the sari of your aunt?
- but there
was nothing about mountains, routes, or thirst.
The
sadhu
was now sitting erect in
padmasan
, legs folded like
arms, soles facing up.
'Arunachala,' I tried. 'Tapas, me . . . Yogi Ramsuratkumar darshan
. . . and the bastard told me to walk around it instead of up it, see?'
His eyes were half closed. He actually seemed more like a statue
than a person, sitting here like this probably for years just repeating
his mantra. He showed no sign of hearing a word I'd said, and no
sign of reciprocating my attempt at communication with one of his
own. He'd probably offered me the only thing he had, now I consider
it: the opportunity to sit and dwell on the meaning of
You Are That
for the next fifty years. I'm not sure anymore that this would be so
odd a way to live.
'Well,' I said, clapping my hands briskly. 'Thanks
so
much . . . for
everything.' I stood, looking down at him. 'You take care, and if the
mantra works, do let me know, OK?'
'
Tat Twam Asi
,' he suddenly said, not moving, his eyes still half
closed, half looking at this world, half gazing into another.
I felt ashamed of having barged in on him uninvited. Whatever
he was doing did not need company, and he was not
obliged
to offer
