Auspicious Exit

Well, we did it.  We entered the New Year with a new plan and course of action.  By January 2nd, we were on our way to Bangalore, and early next week we’ll be on our way home.  It’s strange how quickly things move once you make a critical decision.  In this case, we were motivated mainly by health concerns, which when you get down to it, trumps everything else anyway.

Leaving a place always makes you appreciate it more, and makes you realize the quality of the connections you forged.  We had spent one night and morning packing up our belongings, and then the staff gathered around us to carry it all down to the car by the gate.  Maryamma, the cook, was there tearing up, and Kumar and Muthu and Ravi, the trio of strong men on the farm.  We said goodbye to Ravi’s wife Lakshmi and their toddler son Sebastian, who grabbed my finger with a two-toothed smile and then turned to hide his face behind his mother’s shoulder.  Their other son Augustine clung to the globe that Matt and I had just given him, after we pointed out where we were going, and how far it is from India.  The maverick Lakshman shook our hands and flashed his wide smile at us, red betel-stained lips framing shiny white teeth.  And Lauren, our partner in crime, our base of support, and our American community, who we were leaving behind.  Just as we were about to drive off, we leapt back out of the car and snapped one final picture, probably the only picture I have of Mojo Plantation’s staff.

In the car, we met Ganesh, our driver for the day, and began to rattle down the potholed road to Madikeri for the last time.  Ganesh turned up his Murugan Devotional Songs CD, and I settled into the ride, watching coffee and spice plantations blur past as the sitars and wailing Indian voices soothed me.  Along the way Ganesh hollered out the window and a flower-walla jogged up, throwing a rope of jasmine flowers into the car in exchange for a rupee or two.  Ganesh settled the pile of fragrant white petals around a statue of the elephant god, his namesake, mounted to his dashboard.

In Hindu etymology, Ganesh is the remover of obstacles.  He’s one of the most popular gods in South India, and it’s hard to avoid going a block or two in Bangalore without happening upon some likeness of him.  So it felt auspicious, getting a ride from Ganesh out of a place that had borne many challenges for me, propelling me in a new direction.  I hope I can carry that energy with me as we head home and into, in some ways, a greater unknown.