Re: Swami, How I love ya [was Re: a signature question
citycabn (citycabn@gateway.net)
Thu, 21 Oct 1999 09:45:50 -0700
Cecilia,
Many thanks for the beautiful gift of a glance of the sea.
regards,
Bruce & Frederick
-----Original Message-----
From: Baader, Cecilia <cbaader@casecorp.com>
To: 'bananafish@lists.nyu.edu' <bananafish@lists.nyu.edu>
Date: Wednesday, October 20, 1999 11:31 PM
Subject: Swami, How I love ya [was Re: a signature question OR:"The Littl e
Clues"]
>"That's the plaque that commemorates the swami-swam," she tinkled at us,
>pointing out a small tarnished plaque on the wall of the museum.
>"Apparently, he's very famous. He came to the museum in 1893, gave a
>speech, and they put up the plaque because people kept asking where he
>stood."
>
>I crept closer to the plaque and read the name inscribed upon it. "Yes,
>Doris, he's pretty famous," I remarked.
>
>"Oh," she looked at me, surprised. "So you've heard of him? I always
>point this out to everyone, since volunteers at the museum need to know
>where to direct people. Some people come to the Art Institute simply to
>stand in the spot where he stood."
>
>I nodded, pausing a few more moments in front of the plaque while Doris led
>the rest of the new volunteers into the gallery containing African Art.
And
>when I ran into the homeless man selling copies of _Streetwise_ while
>standing under the sign denoting the section in front of Michigan Avenue
>immediately in front of the museum as Honorary Swami Vivekananda Way, I
>clapped for his song and bought a copy of his paper.
>
>So no, the streets of Chicago do not yield chance meetings with ancient
>swami, but you can stand in the spot where he once stood and perhaps bump
>into his ghost. Between finding torn books in DeKalb and plaques in
museums
>on Michigan Avenue, we may be small frogs in great big wells, but every so
>often we chance to see the sea.
>
>Regards,
>Cecilia.
>> -----Original Message-----
>
>> Date: Mon, 18 Oct 1999 13:28:55 -0700
>> From: citycabn <citycabn@gateway.net>
>> To: bananafish@lists.nyu.edu
>> Subject: Re: a signature question OR: "The Little Clues"
>
>> Walking west, through the sister-park of Golden Gate Park,
>> headed toward the ocean's shore (where I often walk with my better half
of
>
>> twenty years), I thought of the heartwarming posts about where to find
The
>Way
>> of the Pilgrim and The Pilgrim Continues His Way.
>>
>> As for myself: Of all places, it was in Hollywood, CA, c. 1971, at the
>> Vedanta Bookshop adjacent to The Temple. As fate would have it, while
>> browsing and amassing a stack of books much larger than my
>wallet--including
>> a paperback volume of the Pilgrim books--, the ancient swami walked
>through
>> the shop. (He was, among others, Christopher Isherwood's swami, and
>> Isherwood wrote a book about him titled, I think, My Guru.) What a treat
>to
>> see him (granted, not Swami Vivekananda on the busy streets of Calcutta
as
>> all you Hapworth readers know--but if I am not mistaken, Swami V. at
the
>> end of his life did initiate the old man I saw before me as a very young
>> boy) and offer a namaste in his direction.
>>
>> Frederick just peered over my shoulder and demanded, since the computer
is
>> now off limits to him, that I add:
>>
>> He, Frederick, once almost found the Pilgrim books in their *pea-green*
>> editions. They were, of all places, in DeKalb, Illinois. As he was
>> standing at a bin of books, a woman next to him took them into her hands
>> just as the titles caught his eye.
>>
>> regards to all,
>> Bruce
>