Great Moments in Sannyas ~ 001
When we think of what "Great Moments in Sannyas" might consist of, it most likely would involve lots of people, and be a sort of pivot-point for at least some of these people, perhaps even life-changing. Or it might be Enlightenment estriking. Well, okay, but there are other Great Moments as well, and this story is about one of them. It was sort of empowering and . . . well, we'll let the story tell itself . . .
Once upon a time in the Pune One era, a Canadian sannyasin was on his way back to Pune. He had left Pune to go back to Vancouver to drive a taxi and make enough money to "stay forever", in the parlance of the day, and now he was returning. He hadn't yet learned about Goyal Travels, the Indian travel agency with the cheapest flights to Mumbai, via Tokyo, Hong Kong and Bangkok, on decent airlines (Cathay, JAL, Swissair), with overnights in good hotels included, no, so he went on CP via LA and Hawai'i, then on Korean via Seoul and Colombo, then by train and boat and train again. Likely no one has ever gone this way from Vancouver to Pune before or since.
But the Seoul airport was where the Great Moment happened. It was a seven-hour stop-over between flights, so he went for a walk somewhere outside. He got back to the check-in for the flight to Colombo over an hour before it was due to take off but evidently this wasn't early enough for the people behind the counters.
It was like, "You'll have to go over there, to that counter over there, they can help you over there, I can't help you here". And the same story over there, and "Go and see the poo-bah downstairs", and so on. This was le serious run-around, from this counter to that and back to the first, the clock ticking, his worldly belongings already on the plane, with no flight to Colombo for another week and Korea a very foreign country. What's a poor boy to do?
Well, what else but just fucking scream! As loud, shrill and total as possible, no words Swami, just scream. All those groups he had done, Dynamic, were all very well, but this was Real. So here's this freaky guy in highway-worker orange pajama and kurta, mala and hair flying . . .
After three very loud, prolonged screams in the concourse of this busy airport, you can imagine that a bit of a crowd gathered. What IS this maniac up to? And Jesus, let's get him out of here! So now when he explains the situation, it's, "Yes sir, come this way sir". Suddenly doors are opening, his passport is stamped, and he's being driven in his own private passenger shuttle out to the plane, where they begin plying him with drinks. Well, fucking right, man! This is more like it.
And yes, it was the right plane. Ah this!
