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Celebrating someone's birthday two old
sannyasins meet beside the churning dance floor.
"Hey man! You
too?"
"Woa!
Swamiji."
They hug for a long
long time.
"I thought you
were in Bali."
"Hawaii."
"I'm sure this
girl said Bali."
"Who?"
"I bumped into her
in Amsterdam."
"Not
what's-her-name.?"
"Yeah. What's her
name? . . . She was hanging out with someone who's ex-girlfriend was with the
guy who runs a clothes business out of there."
"Who?"
"Oh you know him.
He was with the girl who got together with that drummer guy in Poona One."
"Who's got a
commune in Brazil?"
"No. The one who
sometimes played in Sufi Dance. Drove Back-hoes on the Ranch."
"Was he the guy
who twice dug up the power supply cable? And lived."
"And fell off a
town house roof!"
"No that was the
Italian guy. This guy was a tarot reader in the Mystery School."
"And wasn't he
with that girl from Munich who was in Publications?"
"Right. And she
got together with old . . . um . . . the guy who set up as a builder."
"Yes. Lived out by
the river."
"The River House?
"That big block of
flats. "Behind . . . what's its name?
"Prems?"
"No! Go out of the
ashram, turn right and then down that little road where the guy had the bike
rental business. What was his name? My god, who does not exist, are we getting
old or what?"
"Did you hear he
got arrested?"
"What for?"
"Who knows? The
usual I expect."
"The Ghats! Near
the burning Ghats."
"Oh Popular
Heights."
"Popular Heights!
Of course!"
"What?"
"That's where the
builder guy lived. The one who got together with what's her name?"
"It's getting
serious man. Too much sitting round watching the grass grow by
itself."
"You'd know him if
you saw him."
"Who?"
"The guy who set
up as a builder in Poona 2 and lived at Popular Heights"
"What about
him?"
"Wasn't he the guy
who got together with . . . Oh no we've done that. Where was I?"
"A girl in
Amsterdam."
"She's giving
Satsangs now."
"You bumped into
her in the street?"
"Not literally. He
always said they'd be springing up like mushrooms when he left the body."
"What was her
name?"
"Oh man! S. Her
name begins with an S."
"Was she in Poona
One?
"Okay. You
remember the tall Krishna Guard who went to Japan to teach English? Well his
first girlfriend, who he came to Poona with, set up a cleaning business in
Alaska after the Ranch. She made a small fortune . . ."
"Hey! Do you
remember that one? How does a sannyasin get a small fortune? Eh? Start off with
a big one!"
"Yeah. Reminds me.
On the Ranch. In the Trailer Homes. How does a Swami know when his girlfriend
is coming?"
"I don't remember
that. How does a Swami know when his girlfriend is >coming?"
"He hears her
cries through the partition wall."
"We were all too
exhausted for that sort of thing."
"Or we were
suffering from a bad back."
"Osho always said
it would be hard."
"She was a
gardener in Poona two."
"Who?"
"The one you were
asking about. The one who's boyfriend's ex is hanging out with the guy in Bali
who does clothing."
"I've never been
to Bali."
"Mary! That was
it! Prem Mary! Wasn't that her name before she went and changed it . . .
?"
The other Swami is a
blur of limbs amongst the dancers.
"Who was he . .
?"
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