HereNow4U - Living Jainism Tour 2006 - 03.12 Taranagar - Afternoon In Town

21st November 2006, 11:30 - 15:30

We went back to Suranas’ house; Swami Dharmanandji had to leave for Delhi with Vinod after lunch. Our feelings were mixed, on one side, we had highly enjoyed the morning, on the other side, we had to say farewell to Swami Dharmanandji and Vinod. Such an intensive time we had together, hard to believe that it was only one day and a half! We remembered Swami Dharmanandji’s saying, “Were there is association, there is also disassociation.”

For now, we went to Suranas' home for lunch. On the way, we happened to watch cheerful association in the animal kingdom:

We were often surprised how freely animals move in India in towns and how naturally they are part of everyday street life. This donkey mother and her baby peacefully headed towards their destination and did not care for association, disassociation or us. At present they were content and life was beautiful for the little one, as his stomach was just filled.

At Suranas' home, we asked people to be positioned for photo. This was not easy, as those who had to leave were finalising their luggage.

The ladies asked Karuna how she felt with her painted hand. She enjoyed it, but had misunderstood that she should wash her hands soon after the painting, and the ladies regretted that the colour would not be as vivid as intended. One lady whispered, “We take the intensity of colour as a symbol how deep is love.”

Mr. Sushil Surana (r) said that he will take care of us after departure of his uncle, Swami Dharmanandji.

Swami Dharmanandji and Vinod left after lunch and we decided to go for a walk. Old and new houses mixed, and again we admired the flaked beauty of the old houses. The fairy tale like environment invited to dream of old times, and we wondered what kind of people might have lived there. Streets were more or less deserted in the afternoon, the main street only was peopled.

We were so occupied with admiring the witnesses of Taranagar's history that we hardly noticed Mr. Rakhecha junior who was at the door of the family seat. When the house was built, people certainly were much smaller than their 21st century descendant! Many old houses were closed and no more inhabited. The Rakhecha family was lucky that one of the brothers lived there permanently and their beautiful house was not deserted.

We happily accepted his invitation for tea and continued.

Apparently, people used the afternoon for work in the house or for relaxation, not many of them could be seen in the streets. Even the shops did not have many clients; inside people seemingly did nothing but watch time going by. The laziness of early afternoon in Taranagar was not different from other towns all over the world.

In front of Taranagar's Old Fort, casual components formed a perfect composition of life, the gentleman in front was followed by the camel chariot which was followed by the cars and all was crowned by a poster showing one girl and three young men looking seriously happy.