with Sri Ganesh

young and erect and fraternal and watchful at the same time, his whole appearance tinged in blue.

Kusum used to say that Ganesh was happy when I was there. I was not taking this very seriously; I felt she meant that she herself was happy, but I too felt that spontaneous ease. As Kusum became a full member of our team, and as our own relationship matured and deepened, she recovered a zest for life, became again interested in colors and songs and beauty and progress. She would often suddenly recall another song she had known when a young girl in Gujarat, or slokas she used to recite along with her husband in the years of the struggle for India’s independence, and practice it again so as to sing for us near Lord Ganesh, when we would sit there after our gardening work – I would take once a week to the temple my two “angels”, Bhaskar and Anand, and we would do as much as possible for the developing garden, while Kusum would clean or sweep or read or rest a little, and later we would all share the sweets and tea she had prepared and perhaps also, sometimes, do a little “Homa” fire and chanting for Agni. During the last 10 years of her life, Kusum had to struggle with various ailments; she was robust and had worked hard her entire life, but she also suffered a lot; she was diagnosed – wrongly, it later appeared – with tuberculosis of the intestines, and always refused surgical intervention; she had had her uterus removed before joining Auroville and did not want to go through any other such procedure, but sought to open her physical consciousness to the Mother’s help and force of harmony; yet, assailed by numerous advices and entreaties from her friends in the ashram or her family, she accepted to follow various treatments, which helped a little but also tired her. She was not a person to complain easily; she would rather carry on with her work and duties and offer the disharmony with trust and quiet. And it mostly served her well. However, when the situation for our team at Matrimandir became more and more precarious and the political pressures to have us, Arjun and me especially, evicted, she found it more difficult to cope; she felt sad and disappointed in Auroville. She was always good-willed towards each and all, but she was also straightforward and spoke her mind with dignity and a strong ethical sense, for she was also a born fighter. Her entire life, she had made her own choices and borne the consequences proudly, always upholding the values that were dear to her. She had married for love and run from her whole family when she

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