If the world suddenly
came to an end, I could not be more astonished than by the sight
of my sister's taking food!"
We chuckled together over the improbability of these two cosmic
events.
"Giri Bala has never sought an inaccessible solitude for her yoga
practices," Lambadar Babu went on. "She has lived her entire life
surrounded by her family and friends. They are all well accustomed
now to her strange state. Not one of them who would not be stupefied
if Giri Bala suddenly decided to eat anything! Sister is naturally
retiring, as befits a Hindu widow, but our little circle in Purulia
and in Biur all know that she is literally an 'exceptional' woman."
The brother's sincerity was manifest. Our little party thanked him
warmly and set out toward Biur. We stopped at a street shop for
curry and LUCHIS, attracting a swarm of urchins who gathered round
to watch Mr. Wright eating with his fingers in the simple Hindu
manner. {FN46-5} Hearty appetites caused us to fortify ourselves
against an afternoon which, unknown at the moment, was to prove
fairly laborious.
Our way now led east through sun-baked rice fields into the Burdwan
section of Bengal. On through roads lined with dense vegetation;
the songs of the MAYNAS and the stripe-throated BULBULS streamed
out from trees with huge, umbrellalike branches. A bullock cart
now and then, the RINI, RINI, MANJU, MANJU squeak of its axle and
iron-shod wooden wheels contrasting sharply in mind with the SWISH,
SWISH of auto tires over the aristocratic asphalt of the cities.
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