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Safe in Amma’s Arms
A survivor of the 2001 Gujarat earthquake shares her experience My name is Laxmi. As a child, I lived with my family in Gujarat. On January 26, 2001, an earthquake hit our lives. I saw our apartment collapse right before my eyes. I could only see dust and debris everywhere. I heard a lot of
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Bhakti Bhakti! Where had you been?
2 April 2014, Amritapuri Since Thursday evening Bhakti’s mood is changed. When Amma was away on Ernakulam and Trissur tour till then, I saw her in forlorn mood, sitting just anywhere, and only raising brows to look up at anyone who called her, never raising the head. So forlorn! Yesterday evening Amma arrived in the
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Why don’t you stay close to me?
It was a beautiful Tuesday. As a person looking into setting up the audio setups every Tuesday, i had noted so many Amma’s children setting up a meditation spot near Amma’s peedam (seat). I had been tempted to set a position by putting up the meditation mat but had refrained many a times. A few
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A house for Vikram
We are building a new double house for Vikram on a steep slope, high above the river level. His house washed away in floods just ten months ago. Vikram, his wife Anita, and their two sons will live in one half while his parents and brother will live in the other half. It is common
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Marriage in Batwadi
A wedding is one of the top expressions of Garhwali culture, bringing together large extended families, with good food and festivities. As a cultural experience, the wedding of Harish and Pria was a fascinating day. Yes, the bride was beautiful. However, as I look through the hundreds of photos I took of this event, I
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All decked out for a wedding
I have told you in the past about Shanti Devi, the recipient of our first house, but have said little about her son Harish who will also be living there. He too shares her pain, the loss of a father, brother, and the mules that were the source of his family’s income. Today Harish was
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smoking in the landslide
07 April 2014 I am here in Batawari, Uttarakhand for the last few days to document the work of the volunteers. today land slide happened right in front of us when me and sudheer were walking with village ladies. it was just 5 meter in front of us! 2 villagers fell down, but they were
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Amma naama in Mandakini
“Hariyuva nadiya kalaravadalli kelutaliruvudu ammanaama!” I heard a brahmachari singing to himself the above lines as we some of us Amma children were trekking along the Mandakini River in deeper Himalayas. When Amma is available in Amritapuri, all would throng there; but Her children posted in Himalayas have to complete as much of Her work
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Fertile fields
The Himalayas are the youngest mountain range on earth. That is both a good and a bad thing. They are prone to dramatic earthquakes, landslides, and devastating floods like we saw last summer. But the mountains also thrust up fresh, nutrient rich soil that makes this an extremely productive place to farm. When I first
