2. Report - 5/11/21 - Out and about & Accommodation

It's raining. It feels comfortable under the large umbrella. One last time I walk the beautiful path through the Jesuit coffee plantations down to Perumalmalai. On the way I buy a large plastic mat for the overnight stays.  

There is more traffic than expected on the quiet road to Palani. And there is a lot of honking. Nevertheless, being mindful works and my path feels good from within.

After half an hour, four young motorcyclists wave at me from across the street. They have found shelter from the rain under a temple-like building and invite you to take shelter there as well. A fun bachelorette party. Their English is reasonably good and they seem to understand most of my answers to their questions.

When the rain subsides, we say goodbye. Someone who appears to be the oldest exudes a fatherly warmth. I ask him if he will put his hands out to bless me. He does this with a maturity that goes without saying.

The rain stops and I keep walking. Another person comes towards me. I stop: It's a woman, something my age, European appearance, that's Petra, my friend! But that can't be. Yes, just like her! - Only when the woman is very close does it become clear that it is not Petra.

But I still know the woman. It is Isha who attended the great meditation week in the Bodhi Zendo at the end of March.

A happy exchange with her. She has to laugh because she just met another pilgrim like me from Kerala on the same street. As?? I stop. Yes, there is a young man who is traveling with almost no money and who wants to develop spiritually. He's sitting around the next corner on the side of the road and I should get to know him.

She invites me to tea (she is the master of tea ceremonies), but the timing doesn’t fit. So we say goodbye.

After the next bend, I see a young man sitting on a large stone at the side of the road. I ask him up close if he is from Kerala. He says yes and I sit down next to him. On the other side is the Osho meditation center. He actually wanted to go in there, but it's only Friday and the house won't be open again until Monday.

I try to squeeze out something about his pilgrim motivation. But there is not much coming. It seems to me that it is still a real greenhorn. He has read some articles on the Internet that interest him spiritually, he even pans around on Nikola Tesla's views. Since his face also seems distant when telling the story, it gets boring for me.

It starts raining again. I spread the great umbrella over both of us. We sit still for a few moments. Can I still help the boy somehow? Then I see that my luggage is already getting wet and I decide to continue. I wish him all the best.

It's raining harder now. After half an hour there comes a covered bus stop, under which I move in and take a break to eat. Then the boy reappears. I share fruit and chocolate with him. I'm starting to feel sorry for him. Something seems to be wrong with him. Apart from a very small backpack, he doesn't have anything with him either. His name is Adarsh. Since the Osho meditation center is closed, he doesn't even know where to go. I'll give him some money. And - maybe that's for a good cause too - I ask him if he would lay his hands on me to bless me too. He does that too.

In the end, the two of us move on. He sets the pace for a while - then I do it. Around 4:30 pm there is a "New Jerusalem Church" sign on the other side.

We go over and I ring the doorbell on the first house. Nobody opens. Another way leads a little closer to the church. A few people are standing and working in front of the house. A happy-looking man answered my question about a hostel with an outstretched finger on the house beyond.

A young woman opens the door there. I explain to her that we are two pilgrims and that we need shelter for the night; we had mats and only needed a dry place to sleep.

An older woman appears behind the young woman, presumably the mother. I repeat our request. She looks at us carefully - and then invites us to a cup of tea. We could come in and that with the sleeping place?

A little later the husband also comes back from his walk. He accepts that his wife has let us in and I suspect that it will possible to stay overnight stay in their house. Wasan is a pastor or preacher in a broad Pentecostal church; Umar supports him in word and deed. They do their ministry entirely on a voluntary basis and rely entirely on the providence of God for what they need. - It becomes clear to me that the two - also in responsibility for the daughter - live a different, higher existential risk than I did on my pilgrimage.

They talk very openly about their devotion to God and about their challenges: The younger parishioners would no longer come to the services; Wasan had a stroke from which he recovered reasonably well, but not very well. And the effects of the pandemic, of course. But they are positive. Umar gives a credible assurance that whenever they need money for something, they will bring their concerns to the Lord - and then money will come from somewhere.

Then they turn to Adarsh. In Kerala they speak Malayalam, which is similar to Tamil. In this way you will learn a lot about his background. And it turns out that Adarsh ​​ran away from home. - An "ideal" challenge especially for the pastor's wife. She speaks properly to his conscience.