had arrived at Barh, quite close to Patna, I left the train at once. Putting my hand into my pocket I found that there was not the least cause for anxiety, for I had a two-anna piece and two pice.[1] Pleased with the discovery, I sallied forth in search of a shop. I found one and soon spent half of my funds in making an excellent meal of flattened rice, curds, and sugar. Nor did I grieve at my extravagance: one has sometimes to be extravagant in life, and it is cowardly to feel sorry for it.
I set out on a walk through the village. Within an hour I realized that, in spite of my sumptuous repast, I was as hungry as if I had fasted for a week or two. I had just vowed that no decent man could live in such an impossible place, when suddenly I noticed smoke issuing from a mango-grove not far from me. 'Where there is smoke, there is fire,' I reasoned; 'and where there is fire, there is a pot set on to boil', and I made for the grove.
Splendid! whoever could have thought it! It was a real sannyasi's ashram.[2] Water for tea was being heated in a big metal pot over a fire. The Baba[3] was sitting before it with half-closed eyes; around him lay the paraphernalia of ganja-smoking. A young sannyasi was milking a she-goat; the milk would be useful for the tea. A pair of camels, a couple of ponies, and a cow with her
- ↑ One anna is, roughly speaking, equivalent to a penny, and a pice to one farthing.
- ↑ Ashram: a mendicant ascetic's 'asylum' or temporary camp. The sannyasi was of course a charlatan, as so many of the wandering mendicants in India are.
- ↑ Baba: a sannyasi is often called this in Northern India; it means 'father'.
141
