i began to realise that i
was just naive and stupid
unprepared for the realities of money and the world
i was already miserable with the american culture and environment
no real food for vegetarians
i withdrew into my shell and wanted to leave as soon as possible
two months in san diego learning about the cost of food living and
travel
oregon was out of my reach
not wanting to overstay my visa
and lose all possibility of ever coming back to america
i returned to india and planned to prepare properly and come again
it took one year
this time i had spoken to my relatives who arranged for me
to directly go to my mothers sister usha aunty near chicago
she had promised to take care of me and get me to live
and work in her two motels in waukegan illinois
this way i would be financially able to go to oregon atleast for
festivals
as i could not afford to be a resident in the commune
i land in new york 9 january 1983
usha aunty was kind and understood that the only reason i was working
day and night in her motel was because i wanted to save up money
to go to oregon every three months
i soon realise her gujarati husband only wanted to have me working
they fired the cleaning women and the manager
and soon i began to manage the sixteen bedroom motel all alone
the laundry and toilets and rooms and checkin and checkout
all a one man show…with not even an hours break
to make it worse this motel was only frequented by marines
who had a training base nearby…always rowdy and drunk and messy
all the rooms were constantly upside down
i was just running around cleaning the rooms and preparing for the next
drunken marine to enter and trash the room again
sometimes cleaning rooms in minus 30 degrees windchill at 2 am
i never complained and was content as long as they
allowed me to go to
oregon for ten days during the festival celebrations
the first opportunity i got i called and arranged to go for the july
festival
at which my uncle blew his fuse asking me as to who would take care of
the motel during my holidays
the promised pay that i was accumulating of just 300
dollars a month
never came to me…he said that if he gave me my salary i would only go to
oregon and waste it with that sex guru bhagwan
all this was too much for me…i just packed my bag and left for chicago
to go to new york to meet another uncle there
my aunt rushed after me and paid me 800 dollars for the four months work
i had done there…apologising for the way my uncle behaved…he never
respected anyone always overworked underpaid and threw out the best
oregon was not to be
on a greyhound on the road again…i arrived in new york
in the plush manhattan apartment of another uncle vijay and aunty kiki
who were extremely loving and kind towards me
they were perhaps the first who actually sat and heard my whole story
but
suggested that i work…grow up before i set about my wish for sannnyas
my uncle was vice president of the oberoi group in new york
and not wanting me to become illegal in america
was arranging for me to go to india and work for them in delhi
i told them i felt i needed to go to london where a
rich and famous
uncle of mine lived…perhaps he would give me a job
they lovingly bought me an air ticket for london
the first time i had actually received something from anyone in my life
i promised to pay them back…which i eventually did a few years later
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