Oliver Benjamin
“Don’t worry. I can’t even pronounce it,” I said as I kissed her
cheek. God, I wanted to do something for her. We watched the clouds
go by and I held her closer.
“What is this place were in right now called anyway?” I asked.
“This is called the Kindergarden of Eden.”
“Of course it is,” I replied. “A good place to begin again.”
Returning to the bakery early the next morning, I sat down to read
the paper and noticed another article that denounced the Omniraja.
This one suggested that he was a con-man who had actually been
English-born and put on an affected Indian accent with which to
seem wiser and more exotic. Despite the apparent vendetta that this
paper had for the Omniraja, no one really seemed to pay any of it
much heed, and most suggested that I didn’t even bother reading it.
A very old male sannyasi who was seated next to me said that the
local government feeds false information to the press as an effort to
bring shame on the Omniraja, whom they see as competition for the
leadership of the community. None of the stories, he insisted, were
true.
A man sporting a thick beard, dark glasses and a turban came up
behind me and suggested that I come outside with him. When I asked
him who the hell he was, he only insisted that he knew me from a
previous life. I found that very disturbing, but no one else at the table
seemed to think that was a strange thing to say. I followed him
outside and down the street until we came to a small, dark
restaurant. We sat down.
“Okay, now who are you and what do you…”
“This must be a great disguise.” He lifted his turban
momentarily to reveal the tell-tale scars.
“Wow! I would have never…”
“Listen mate, things are starting to heat up around here,” he
said impatiently. “I’ve noticed that you haven’t become initiated yet.
Why not?”
“Well, I didn’t think this place was for me, so I was about to
leave, but then someone talked me into staying yesterday. I’m
thinking of signing up for sannyastoday. All I have to do is get the
okay from Safora once I pass the therapy session. Why the hell is it
so important to go through with that? What’s the point?”
“It’s all psychological. The point is that once you’ve bared your
soul to them, they feel that they’ve got something on you. Once
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