49th birthday … the calm after the storm !

On 6th April, I turned 49. The day started with Yoga and a walk… and then a deluge of wishes starting with Nachi and Kousalya’s call early in the morning. Then the KV Happy Valley gang called on top of each other.. Adeeti, Javed and Hemamalini’s (Geetu) calls overlapped :). Finally at 10 am I put the phone on silent and decided to atleast take a bath and change into my new sari.

I bought my first Ajrakh sari from Lakshmi’s Kalpavastram. Its Ajrakh on Mashru silk. An absolute stunner. In memory of my beautiful friend Raji, who passed away ten days back, I wore the neckpiece made by her daughter Nisha. Raji would remind Nisha that it was my birthday even before any reminder popped up. I miss her so much. Just feels unreal that she is not around. We met her last on March 2nd and its already 12 days today since she is gone. I could almost hear her wishes …..

Read more about Ajrakh – https://www.india1001.com/blogs/news/10703197-ajrak-printing-the-story-of-ajrakpur.

We ordered Lunch in since we didn’t feel like driving all the way to Pragati Maidan to Cafe Lota which was suggested by Kabir. Will have to visit it on a weekend soon. We were planning to go and visit the Osho Rajyoga meditation centre at SDA as we returned from lunch because we wanted to buy some books and also see the upcoming meditation programs. On a lark, I pinged Swami Chaitanya Keerti, Osho’s sanyasin since 1971 to see if he was in Delhi and whether I could meet him and take his blessings. He instantly replied saying he was in town and could meet us at 4 pm at the Osho Rajyoga meditation centre. I was overjoyed !!!

Swamiji would wish me on every birthday and I would feel as though Osho himself was wishing me. For Krishnan and I the connect with Osho is deep … as soon as you enter our house, we have a 6’X4′ black and white poster of Osho’s. We bought that poster in 2002 from the Osho World store in Ansal Plaza which has been shut down subsequently. I have glimpsed Swamiji at the store once but never went up and introduced myself. It was reserved for this birthday.

We reached the Osho Rajyoga meditation centre exactly at 4 and there Swamiji was. I got a priceless hug from him and over tea I chatted away sharing our journey up until that point. For Krishnan and I it was like we were meeting a very dear friend after a gap and we just had to fill him in on all the happenings. The energy was so positive and uplifting. We left around 5 and Swamiji said he may be able to come home the next day (7th) as he was coming to Zorba the Buddha in Ghitorni. He wanted to see Osho’s poster and our collection of Osho’s books, besides the filter coffee. We were thrilled. We took an Uber and started back home.

The weather had turned grey by 5 p.m and it looked as though it would rain. By the time we took the turn near Cyber Hub, it was a dust storm and a huge squall. I called Amma to see if she was ok and to ask her to close the doors and windows. She told me that she had already closed all the doors and windows but she was hearing loud noises from both the balconies and it felt as though the awnings had broken. We reached home and looked up at our balconies and saw that the awnings had indeed fallen. We rushed upstairs and when we stepped out into the balcony it had started to rain. Krishnan and I just secured the remaining parts of the awnings to the best of our ability and then we called the security control room to ask for help. One of the security guards came up and with his help, I cut out the awning sheet and Krishnan and he took the aluminium frame outside. In one of the balconies, the aluminium frame was broken from one side so we secured just the frame and cut the sheet off. The security guard and both of us were drenched.

We quickly shut the doors and heaved a sigh of relief knowing the awnings couldn’t fall down anymore and they couldn’t swing and hit our glass doors either !! Well, for me it was a repeat of what had happened when I was born. There was a storm and there was lightning and rain … the lights went off and mom went blue. Guess, nature was welcoming me with loud music and it was an encore 49 years later.

On 6th I managed to only reply to all the WhatsApp greetings… I couldn’t get to the FB ones. I managed to respond to all the wishes only today.

On 7th, we took help from Ashish, a car cleaner-cum-handyman in our condo complex who is my mother’s favourite. He has a bright smile that lights up his face and he is ready to help with any household chore. He infact had come on the 5th and cleaned up both the balconies of all the pigeon droppings. He came back on the 7th and cleared out the awning frame and cut the sheet out fully. He also cleaned up both the balconies again.

After lunch, I sent a message to Swamiji with our address and promptly took a nap. I woke up at 4.30 as the intercom rang and was thrilled to hear the security guard saying “Swamiji aaye hain”. I then saw that he had pinged me over whatsapp to say he was coming over. We spent time going over the Mongolia pictures, looking at collection of Osho books and having coffee and dosas. Again, his positive and calm energy permeated the whole house !!

Then Kannika dropped in as per plan and was thrilled with the opportunity to meet Swamiji. What an energy shower it was… We are still feeling blessed. Amma was quite surprised to see Swamiji being as normal as any of us … she was used to spiritual leaders being different, but she quickly warmed up to Swamiji and made awesome dosas for him.

I sense the Master of Masters Osho is reeling us in and it is high time, that we are reeled in and who better to hold our hands on this inner journey than Swamiji. Pranam Swamiji and Thank you Osho. Feeling blessed and happy. Sanyas beckons.