He lives alone in a small hut beyond the small temple at Kolpeshwar, which in turn lies beyond the small village of Urgam in the Indian Himalaya. He has a Masters degree in engineering and speaks impeccable English, but these simple facts are not the remarkable things about him.As we left on the long walk back to the road, his last words to me were, "You’re always welcome here. Come whenever you like. Stay a few days."
All content © 2009 Pete McGregor
Beautiful. I especially like the grey hair against the grey background. It emphasises the wonderful skin.
ReplyDeleteI'd go and stay with him any time!
I have no doubt you'd both greatly enjoy it, RR. The conversations would be wonderful.
ReplyDeletejeez.. he has such an engaging face, there must be a billion stories in there!..
ReplyDeleteWatercats, yes, full of humour, calm and intelligence.
ReplyDeleteThats a great pic. Thanks for sharing. We studied Engineering together. Gem of a guy. Here's a collection of video clips of him and his abode.
ReplyDeletehttps://dai.ly/x5ehcog
New Buddha, thank you so much for the comment and the video. I remember clearly my brief visit, and the video looked very much like those memories. I hope he's well. I've been back to India three times since that journey, and each time I've wondered whether I could find a way to visit him, but I thought he'd probably be gone from there. When you see him again, please let him know I remember him and I hope one day to meet him again. I don't know if he'd remember me, though — it was November 2006!
ReplyDelete'Gem of a guy' is such an apt description.
Pohanginapete, he is fine and still stays there. I stayed with him for a couple of nights in 2017. He has been able to built a new hut adjacent to the old one. So now has enough room for a few guests. 2006 is quite some years ago but I am sure he'd remember you. He does call me once in a month or so when he finds connectivity. Shall surely ask him about you next time.
ReplyDeleteNew Buddha, it's good to know he's OK. Yes, please ask him if he remembers the guy from New Zealand who visited with Mr Gupta (former schoolteacher), Dr Mohan, and another friend. My last visit to India was just before Covid started spreading worldwide, and I was sure that visit would be my last. Now I'm not so sure — I'd love to return when things settle down.
ReplyDeletePete :-)