Which town?

Yet through one or the other of Her aides, one could at times reach Her with some news and, when all was ready on the site of the Matrimandir for the casting of the first slab and the tops of the four pillars – all the steel rods precisely bound and crossed, all the shutterings verified and sealed, the stones crushed to the right sizes and all the machines in readiness – on the 11 th of November, She was informed of it by C., Her faithful aide, Their faithful aide, to each and to both, for the past fifty years. And it was the middle of the monsoon. The rains had to stop for the duration of the casting, which was to go on, but for two planned breaks, for nearly five days and five nights. Workers and volunteers, - from the center area, from the ashram and from other communities as well – relayed one another continuously. On the 17 th of November, at 7.25 pm, the last vibrators were turned off and, in the glare of the projectors, splashed over with fresh cement, several of the team consulted their watches.

The work was done.

In Her room, Her heart stopped beating.

*

In the night, the news spread.

Even before 4 am of the 18 th of November, Her body had been carried downstairs already and laid in an alcove of the common meditation room on a small couch covered with synthetic white fur. Her face, emaciated, leaning forward, bore an expression of formidable concentration. The curved ceiling and the sides of the alcove were clad in silvery metal sheet.

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