Art of Living Silver Jubilee

I lived a lifetime in Bangalore when I went to the Art of Living international ashram for the advanced course in January. Never wanted to come back but I did. Never thought I’ll go back for the silver jubilee celebrations within a month. But there I was! So, here goes...

Reached Bangalore on 15th, looked left nor right, just rushed to the prepaid taxi counter and eagerly bought a ticket for Rs 235. More about that later. Emerged jubilant from a longish, slow-moving queue to see the Art of Living desk right behind me and, of course, the volunteers asked me earnestly, “Didi, why did you buy a ticket? Give us an opportunity to serve you.” They informed me that they had arranged for cabs/shuttles to my hotel. I tried to look intelligent and showed them my prepaid cab ticket. Got a beautiful welcome befitting a pilgrimage…they put chandan tilak on my forehead and showered me with flowers :)

On 16th afternoon, haggled 45 minutes in the sun for cab fare and landed at the AoL ashram in 30 minutes flat for the satsang. Sang and clapped with all my energy. It was awesome – as always.

The next day, we started early for the Ganpati Homa, haggled again indefinitely and managed to reach Jakkur Airfield from somewhere near Mallya Hospital in less than half an hour.

The Bangalore traffic police really, really deserve a standing ovation. Two and a half million people and no traffic jams whatsoever, whensoever. If they all get transferred to Bombay for at least one year, this city will change its definition of heavy traffic! Then again, that’s not a fair comment because Bombay is a traffic nightmare at any given time of the day and on weekends even at 3 am. And, if a couple of millions land here for 3 days, nobody will move an inch anywhere! The city is saturated beyond all bardasht.

Another one for the volunteers. Teeming enthusiastic millions and no stampede, no injuries, no damage whatsoever, and almost no police – in fact, the uniforms were all huddled in different places with nothing to do!! The only time their faces sparkled was during the satsang and the programs. It were the volunteers who handled everything – from VIP security to the chair arrangements. Hats off to you guys. You have the blessings of God, Guruji and millions of people for whom you made life so easy before, during and after the silver jubilee.

Of course, on 17th chaos reigned. For the morning puja, we were clutching our VIP passes and begging for a side entry but the volunteers were unrelenting. Everyone was equal in the face of sweat, dust and grime. Mom is a strong woman. She gave me one look and I gave up my brattishness in an instant. Now, I have the confidence and the capability of barging into a Virar fast Mumbai local – I hope I never have to do that though ;) For the evening celebrations too, VIP passes proved pretty useless but we got seats right in front of the screen. So, we were like happy puppies – clapping, swaying, hooting, howling and jumping.

The next two days were totally awesome: we had no clue about the hierarchy of pass colours until we realized that people with light purple passes were being given the best seats. And, God bless the soul who got us those passes. (Seema, you’ve been a godsend every time we’ve met) Guruji somehow takes care of us all in his own way.

So, thanks to Seema, mom and I were right up there in the first 10 rows close to the stage and close enough to the right screen :) We had a nice view of everything we wanted to see and since four people were allowed on one pass, we took along two 'perfect strangers' on our passes. Now we’re friends and well wishers!

Saw VIPs relinquishing their comfy seats, crossing over the enclosures and sitting on the carpet right in front! Also, some of the international delegates were sitting with us instead of the adjacent area marked for them. Some people with the same passes as ours had to sit further off because they came later - by 4 pm, the VIP enclosure was packed and brimming over. To secure good seats on the 19th, we reached Jakkur at 3 pm and got nicely baked in the sun ;)

On 17th we turned pink, on 18th brown and by 19th, we were blackish brown. On other days, from 15th till last night, we've been shuttling from the city to the ashram. The cabbies looted us big time, our heels are cracked and sore, and our complexions are a non-descript shade of darkness!! Our souls are glowing :)

Have to admit this: during the mahakriya, I opened my eyes to see the screen - saw Guruji doing Bhastrika and a sea of people doing Bhastrika in completely synchronized movements. The synergy was tremendous. Cannot cannot cannot describe it!!!!! The image of millions doing Bhastrika in tandem is imprinted on my mind forever. You have to see it and feel it to believe it.

Some of the speeches were scintillating, especially by President APJ Abdul Kalam, some dignitaries from Pakistan and some of the religious leaders and even some of the politicians. But, there were so many presidents, prime ministers, kings, dignitaries, religious leaders. Uffff!!!! Some others were so boring that people used to get up and go. We were begging them to take the boring ones away with them ;)

After the events at Jakkur were over, we went to the ashram the day after. Guruji waved to us from a red chopper while coming back from somewhere while we were resting in Sumeru Mantap after lunch. In the satsang, Guruji regaled us with funny accounts of utter chaos before and during the SJ. He was chuckling and rolling back with laughter after telling every anecdote and we were all in splits. Just the way he said it sent us all in raptures. If you were not there, here are some snippets:

"Politicians wanted to talk! In the last 2-3 days, we have heard enough politicians for the next 25 years.

Volunteer committee heads were telling me how they managed the egos of all the dignitaries. They had to bring together three most egoistic people – religious leaders, artists and politicians – and then pacify them and keep them pacified! If we put all these incidents in a book, it’ll be such fun to read!!

Everything was so utterly chaotic till the last moment. The stage was not ready the day before the event. Hans said, if this happened in Germany, we would have cancelled the event! When the domes arrived, the stage planners said this will fly away. It weighed 150 kg each! So I said, ok I’ll sit on it, it won’t fly away. Finally, a hole was made on the inside of the dome so that air could pass through and keep the 150 kg dome from flying away!!!!! And how happy everyone is despite the chaos!

A large part of the schedule was hanging because Bill Clinton didn’t confirm till the last moment that he’ll come or not. Kept dilly-dallying, finally confirmed and then never showed up! So that was Bill Clinton’s story.

Where we had arranged for 10 people, 40 came! Some people were staying in camping tents on roofs and in the lawns and classrooms. And there were 3 and 4 star rooms booked for VIPs who never showed up! There were empty rooms!"

I usually give my 100% in satsangs – but missed singing on the last day there -- too much sun followed by chilling nights in the open got the better of my immunity. Can barely speak without coughing but what an astounding experience! It’s a good thing I’m writing this.

Last night, I realized that the hotel-airport auto rikshaw fare is about Rs 50. Mid flight, I nearly choked blue in a coughing fit and an angel offered me all the candies from his pack to soothe my sore throat. Had a good dinner, watched TV and kept hovering over Bombay for half an hour because we didn’t get landing clearance – good!!! I always take the night flight jus to look at Bombay in the night - beautiful. Reached home just before midnight and have been smiling to myself since then!

All of you too: keep smiling :-)