Bombay, Osho's Ashram

Good friends,

Landed in Bombay at 2:00am, realizing that I have made no plans of where to go first. I walk outside to the nice cool air of Bombay night surrounded by the smells that define India.
After discussing with a taxi driver, I decide to start with Pune, a large city 4 hours from Bombay and the house of mister Iyengar and Osho (Rajneesh).
The driver tried to pull a trick of swapping a 1000 rupi bill with a 100 one. A few moments of talk and he agrees not to ask for extra 900...Got to start watching out in India...

A welcoming of Bollywood music in the taxi, and the chai stops along the way.

Pune has grown bigger, more people and more pollution.
Arriving at Osho's Ashram, (a day later with some extra hours of sleep), I smile at a little paradise. The Ashram, now more of a resort, or club meditation.... is beautifully created. Marble floors, lush tropic vegetation, little streams and ponds with flowing water, Buddha statues, Black structures, many pyramid like, and all people dressed in Maroon robes.
There is a Zen feel to the place, an oasis within India. A resort that has a huge meditation hall, a swimming pool, tennis courts, a book shop, and a huge white marble plateau, where many activities happen. Dance celebration every day, tai chi, Kyudo (Zen Archery), healing movements and more.
(Well, OK, its not a perfect place, but lets look on all the good points…)

I join the Kyudo classes, and the master asks me to practice with him later in the day without the class. I end up having 2 Kyudo practices a day, what a gift.
I enjoy the Osho, Kundalini meditation, Vipasana, and the evening gatherings, the white robe event.
The white robe gathering is amazing to see. Dusk arrives, and all are dressed in white robes. Walking towards the main mediation hall, which is a huge black pyramid, watching as the white dots walk the path surrounded by water, go up the black stairs and enter the huge structure. Inside there is a feeling of celebration, of prayer. I think the first time it seemed like a seen from a science fiction movie, or like a cult gathering, but now that I understand it, I see a huge celebration. Dancing as an appetizer, then some mediation followed by a screening of Osho's talk.
Walking into the quiet night, the moon never fails.