Ashram hopping

So we had our final meal at 'Mother's' said our goodbyes...and 5 adults...3 with big arses...did I say mine was big....all piled into one little tuk tuk to pick up our luggage from the hotel and leave for Puttaparthi. Didn't realise 2 Spaniards were also sharing the taxi....less money for all of us. This particular tuk tuk had bhangra rap blarring from a speaker, and we all were shouting yo guru mother meera....which was the release after having had a completely silent meal. I was being told off constantly, as I sat next to Nicholas the Zimbabwe guy...and we were comparing idly ( a rice thing!) to Sudza...(an African thing!)...We were finally on our way 10. 30 pm....was this road for real...I have never been through so many potholes...the trees were amazing, sometimes we were travelling through avenues of trees like you do in France....but the roads were the worst I have ever experienced. So I had a bumpy silent trip...Italian being spoken in the front and Spanish being spoken in the back, and a driver that kept on touching the Italian girl's leg when he changed gear! We arrived in Puttaparthi....I can't tell you what I thought, it was dark, there was still garbage around, but there were huge posters of Sai Baba everywhere. We dropped off the 3 others and Kiara had invited me to stay at her place for the night. She lived just outside the city in the Indian area...what does that mean we ARE IN INDIA...anyway where no westerners stayed. Climbed up the stairs and it was magic, a palm tree in the middle of the building with thousands of birds in it and chirping away"welcome my dears to Puttaparthi"......her flat was pretty basic, she gave me a thin mattress, a thin blanket and a thin sheet......lit a joss stick and said goodnight. I woke up early and squatted a la Indian style...when she woke up she gave me a towel for my cold shower and made me coffee. "If you want to stay here till I go to Sri Lanka on the 3rd you are more than welcome, the flat is free"..."free?'' "yes of course everything is virtually free when you are with Baba". "Ok thanks" I was going with the flow......we got ready and walked to town...after having dropped our washing at the nearbly laundrette ( 5 Indians and 5 Buckets)....It was like going to Disneyworld....Huge coloured buildings, the music school had giant instrument sculptures outside....lots of spiritual signposts DESIRE PLUS LIFE IS MAN..LIFE MINUS DESIRE IS GOD....I was walking around completely spaced out, slightly gobsmacked..Mandanaplli....had mosquitos and chai shops......The walled city within the city is the Ashram.....she stopped to buy a flower, no 2, one for me and one for her to give to Ganesh...as you enter the gates. The ashram is huge, the chances of meeting someone you know as you walk through the gates is rare.....but there was the Canadian woman who came with me to Rishi Valley and she was off to meet Hernan my Argentinian friend.....WHHHHHHAAAAAAT.....this is crazy...I was told nothing is crazy when you are with the divine. I told her I would come and find them in Blue Lagoon after Kiara had showed me around. It is a bit like arriving in heaven....lots of people in white all going somewhere...lots of silence....lots of people sitting on the grass reading...the Southern Indian canteen , the Northern Indian canteen and the Western canteen...where we would eat tonight. I then went to find 'my buddies'...oh to see their smiles...we laughed, we drank lemon juice and we went back to Jean's 'western apartment'...quite fancy compared to Kiara's....the sexual tension between me and Hernan was as before....but it was really lovely to see him. They both asked me how long I would stay, and when I replied 3 days, they laughed and said "ok you will see...here in this place you cannot make plans"....Divine Intervention. Now I am off to darshan with Baba......thousands of people will be queing for 3 hours...woman are separated from men........this all feels like a movie...I will let you know which part I play!