Now - when I met John, sitting on his perch, there was a girl drawing a sketch of him as he squatted there. I joined them and started a conversation. John hopped down from the pedestal when the drawing was finished and the three of us went to a lassie (a yogurt drink) shop and got acquainted.

The girl was Joanie - newly arrived from Africa where she was working on a development of a village. She had a Masters degree from Sarah Lawrence University. I was impressed. Me, a high school drop out in the 10th grade. She was a neat gal and I took a liking to her right away. We hung out in Bombay for a short while until the John thing turned up and I went to the caves from the previous story.

After we looked through the caves and were appropriately impressed we left the dry town the events took place in and I headed for Varanasi. The Ganges, the Holy City, as if I hadn't my fill of cremation, I was going to see lots of it.

John and I parted ways and I stayed on in Varanasi. I found a hostel to stay in for a couple of nights and wandered around the city. It is OLD. Eventually I found a guest house type of hotel and set up to read the Bagavagita - the poem of the pantheon of Hindu gods. I also came down with a terrific case of dysentery and discovered sugi (Hindi for cream of wheat) that finally was the cure. During one of my sitting at the ghats (cremation site) I saw a sadu (quite dead) floating his way to the ocean without being cremated. It turns out that the sadus (holy men) and babies can be tossed in whole without being ashes first because they are without sin.

As I sat there day after day, meditating on life and death a women began to bring me a slice of cantaloupe every day. I never could figure out why. I wandered through the city and ran into Joanie of all people. We got reacquainted and I regaled her with my tales of John and the Ajanta Caves - with the cremation of the poor couple. We really hit it off as friends that for some reason or other would last.

After about a week or more in Varanasi, I was getting close to my visa end of six months. I decided to head for Kathmandu, Nepal. I made it to New Delhi and got a visa, got on a plane and set out. A young Nepalise guy plunked himself down next to me on the plane, with a deep sigh that said alot. We chatted on the flight ,which wasn't very long, and he was my guide to Nepal.

He was a very good looking guy and easy to like. He dealt cards at the casino - so he even had a job. He led me to the hotels where the foreigners stay and I got a room. I will finish the Kathmandu story another day.