Exploring Sri Ramanasramam

I enjoyed the ashram a little more fully after bathing, sleeping a few hours, eating a full meal and of course shopping a teeny bit. That always puts me in a great mood. So I caught a fairly good close up of a peacock and better yet, caught some of the strange cry on video with some preening behavior which involved opening the feathers a little, not the full on sexual display, but something worth seeing. I happened in on a bhajan singing below the huge portrait of Sri Ramana Maharshi in his diaper sitting on a tiger skin (not happy about that detail, the tiger RIP). Then another bhajan singing group which was a call and response with men and women. I snapped the photo without flash to show the hall. In the back is the shrine with the ashes of the Guruji (hence no flash).

Sri Ramanasramam

Arrived safely in Tiruvannamalai at 4:15am Monday after some hairy travel experiences, not the least of which was a small fender bender at the bus stand involving the bus I was in and another bus backing into a spot next to the one we were vacating. This happened in Bangaluru. I wasn't even mildly disturbed since I had spent the previous hour and a half anxious about getting on the right bus to the right destination with all my bags and myself in one piece. I had carefully memorized the Tamil Nadu spelling of Tiruvannamalai, or at least the shape of the last letter, and did not see it on the bus that should have been mine. I asked the conductor and he said "yes" this was the bus to Tiruvannamalai, but I'd been foolled before by an official at this very stand, so I wasn't sure until I saw my neatly typed name on his list. Whew! So once I got myself installed on the bus with all my bags wedged anywhere they would fit alongside giant baskets and bags of god knows what all from other passengers and two brand new tires placed neatly on top of my suitcase, I was glad to be on the right bus, nevermind the bump, scrape, crunch of metal, ensuing cursing and flailing by the driver. We were only delayed 20 minutes by that incident. A few minutes later, still within a half mile of where we started from, a small child emerged from the rear of the bus, crying and wanting to get off. There was some lively discussion among the passengers and the driver, he got off, followed by a man, the bus was turned off and we waited awhile. I didn't know if the kid had to pee, or had lost his mother, but we waited and then drove off without him, unless he got back on at the back door when I wasn't looking. So then we had a very long, bumpy screechy trip with deafening horn blowing periodically and slamming on of breaks and carreening back and forth to miss obstacles on the road including oncoming traffic. Arrived and was deposited by a kind but overcharging (the 8km ride cost more than the 5 hour bus here) rickshaw driver at this very peaceful ashram pictured above. I waited 3 hours for the office to open so that I could inquire about a room only to find there was no room at the inn. I spent the morning listening to a strange bird call and when it got lighter I saw the giant peafowl atop the roof of the ashram. There was also a monkey or two and several very sweet dogs, one of whom was brave enough to run right over to me for an ear and head massage. The mountain in the background is the famous holy Arunchala where it is said Ram, Vishnu and Siva were arguing about who was more powerful and Ram sent a column of light through this mountain to show his degree of power.

Last day in Miraj

Gave a small presentation with a fabulous powerpoint slideshow at the Wanless Hospital College of Nursing. It went off without a hitch once we got through the rough patches. It only started 30 minutes late and the audience was very hastily pulled together and very polite, given the last minute arrangements. There was a small snafu with communication which is quite common for me here in India, and the program was never advertised. So at the last minute we dragged together some willing and not-so-willing nursing students who were under the steady thumb of the lady- Mrs. -nurse- in- charge- hai. After the program, Nandakishore and I walked downtown twice to get a little steel mortar and pestal engraved for Timothy and the new hospice and new med room yet to be built and organized. We had to go twice because the electricity was out on the first trip. "load-sharing" they call it around here. So we passed this lovely Hanuman temple twice and turns out Saturday is Hanuman day around here and I got some valuable info about Mr. Hanuman from Nandakishore, including the small detail that ladies are not supposed to enter the Hanuman temple because Hanuman never married and did not hang out with ladies so it is considered improper, but in Miraj, ladies go to the temple anyway. Also, when Indian men marry, they are supposed to pay homage to Hanuman on their way to the wedding, kind of a batchelor devotion en-route to losing their batchelorhood. As we walked by the temple, I asked Nandakishore if he wanted to stop and pray there; he said "no" he already did. I missed it because I was looking at the temple on my left and Nandu was walking on my right. Apparently his devotional moment was brief.

Going away party at Miraj railway station

This is Mohan, our cook at Fletcher hall donning the flower garland that Timothy brought. Timothy is on the left, Monsieur le Chatigre on the right, I love that guy! Really all 3 of them. But chatigre has the best name of anyone I've met so far: He's from Cote D'Ivoire, native tongue is French, last name means "cat tiger", full name is Konan Justin Chatigre, only when you're reading it you must use a heavy french accent and correct pronunciation, otherwise, it's just not the same. At the hospital, he is Doctor Chatigre, but to me he is Monsieur le Chatigre. His English is not good, so we communicated in French/English. I really enjoyed his company and trying to talk to him in a variety of ways. He was planning to stay in Miraj for 3 months, but due to language issues, he's leaving after a month and a half.

The Big Surgery

Glad to report that Rukminibai's surgery went smoothly. She had a MVR, mitral valve replacement and a tricuspid repair. It took 5-6 hours. She was scheduled for surgery on her youngest son's birthday, Monday Feb. 16, but an emergency case came in at 5:00 that morning, and her surgery had to be postponed. There is only one heart surgeon here in Miraj at Wanless Hospital. So we were all ready to go on Monday up until 12 noon, when we were informed it had to be postponed until the next day, that's after waiting 8 days from her arrival in Miraj. She is still in ICU and will be discharged this coming Thursday the 26th of February. She'll stay in Miraj another 8 days by request of the surgeon for follow-up so that he can "keep an eye on her blood", presumably clotting factors and all. That's apparently a delicate balance after valve replacement. Dr. Pargaonkar, the cardio-thoracic surgeon is pictured above, consulting with my father. (Actually, I think they're looking at a camera, but who needs to know that?)

Bore Well for the new Hospice House in Miraj

Big news! The truck arrived 9 am Friday morning and dug 200 feet in 4+ hours, yielding water for the new hospice building (soon to be built) and the Home of Hope Orphanage next door. It cost about $200 or 10,000 rupees for the job. The exact spot for digging was chosen by a boy who was born breach (feet first) and therefore able to find water using a coconut in his upturned palm. He walked around the grounds and when the coconut tipped, that was the spot for digging. I wish I could have seen the "water witching" process. But anyway, we know it worked, because we definitely got water. They had to keep adding lengths of pipe for the drilling. At 100 feet, wet mud was coming up, so we were thrilled.

Village called Digraj

Went to a small village church to talk about Hospice. Crossed a big river on the way and stopped to observe cow washing time. Several farmers led their bullocks down to the river and in the river for a bath. I also saw some people washing their water buffaloes on the side of the road. Lot's of care for the bigger animals.