the unusual guide

attended local noon 12-step meeting....subject of "guides" came up....reminded of india experience concerning an "unusual"  guide.

late autumn of 97 learned that my "former" guru was travelling to india with his family.
contacted his son, whom i had come to know, asking if there was room for me on the expedition.
the answer was affirmative....it was agreed we would meet in baroda, gujurat state, on a certain date, as they were flying out of new york and i was departing from vancouver.
of course, i became very excited, as this would be the realization of a life long dream....to visit and tour india.
on the evening before departure, returned home to a voicemail, it was the voice of the old boy himself, "sorry kavi, we are postponing our trip for one month !"
gulp !...much of my feeling of excitement and confidence was related to the belief that upon arrival, i would immediately be in the safe secure company of these natives of india.

now what ?

had no cancellation insurance, so-o-o-o....off i flew....into the great unknown, not knowing a soul in india, armed only with a few contact names provided by the guru's son.
even at 50 years of age, i was quite apprehensive about the prospect of being alone in this immense fabled land, knowing it would be at least a month before connecting with a person that i recognized.

back in the early 90's while residing at the american ashram, learned about the city known as rishikesh (city of rishis or sages), as our centre had for some time been dispatching volunteers to a local ashram to work on creating a spiritual community there.
all reports were that this was truly a magical place, along the sacred ganges river, which at that point is approximately 1/8 mile wide, crystal clear water still charging down from the high himalayas towards haridwar, the next city downriver, where holy mother ganga met the flat-lands and proceeded eastward across the sub-continent eventually to the sea.

so-o-o-o....back to the maiden indian adventure of yours truly.
one of the main contact names i carried was of the head swami at the afore-mentioned ashram in rishikesh.
whatever connections to the american ashram that might have been, had dissipated since the "scandal" of '94.

after a few days of checking out new delhi, decided to head to rishikesh to hang out there til the guru and his entourage arrived sometime the next month.
hopped on an over-nighter indian bus (can say i've done it, but once is enough)....and after about 6 and 1/2 hours of bump, grind and rattle, awoke from an uneasy doze to the driver advising we had reached rishikesh.

now what ? 

the unusual guide of which i've spoken was soon to appear.