The next morning we went to see ChinaJeeyar Swamiji, a religious leader. I didn't, of course, understand the Telegu and knew nothing about the swamiji, but Jagadish regarded him as a charismatic speaker and a genuine religious leader Swamis, like TV evangelists, don't all live up to their words; the swami who had spoken the previous evening had been to jail. With everyone else, I crowded around the bottom of the steps on the side of the stage when he descended. He saw me and asked questions: Where was I from? US. What state? Texas. What city? Austin. Why was I there? I live here. Where? Bangalore. What did I do? High tech. Software engineer? Technical writer. How long would I be here? Jagadish answered that we were leaving that day. The swami gave me a pomegranate as prasad³ and as we left Jagadish explained that I would be lucky because swamiji had spoken to me.

    We headed back to Shailaja's parents' apartment to spend our last few hours before train time. The Telegu newspaper, Eenadu (Today) was there, and indeed, there was an article about me in it. It began, "Although she's a foreigner, . . ." and described me as "i2 software engineer Lorre" (a slight error, but that's to be expected given the language difference). I was

Notes:

Chinajeeyar Swamiji

1. A lingam is a phallic form. It is the symbol of Siva and therefore commonly found in temples and worshipped.
2. A crore is 10,000,000.
3. Each person who goes to a temple is given prasad. It can be fruit or a flower. The point is that nobody leaves a temple empty-handed.