My Memoirs of the '69 Darshan

     When Barbara Bamberger Scott was writing The Empty Chair, she asked me via email, to give her a memoir of my experience of being a child at the '69 Darshan.  Of course, there were a few other children, and at least two that I know, also gave her memoirs, which they wrote about it.  Unfortunately, I went by a nickname 'Sage' for ten years, and now go by Leslie again, my birth name, so my memoirs are published in the index, and in the book, as Sage Ott Walsh, rather than Leslie, but that is alright.
     So, I thought I would tell you what I remember.  First my father, mother, brother, who was nine, and I, seven then, traveled to New York city, with Dolly Lux, met my half sisters there, who were living with their father in Woodstock.  They came, as well.  
     I recall arriving in Bombay, no terminal then, you arrived outdoors.  I recall the heat, and the unique aroma of India, diesel and curry, I suppose.
     Darshan was held at Guru Prasad, in Pune.  Eruch, Meher Baba's interpreter said, "you have all kept your appointment with God."
     There was a chair, 'an empty chair,' which everyone bowed to.  There was a children's Darshan.  Eruch had myself, my brother, the Riley kids, and Shelley Smith, come sit around Baba's chair.
     I recall distinctly, but not exactly when, I first saw Mehera with Mani and the other women mandali.  Her head was covered by her sari.  She was in mourning.  I went home to draw pictures of Indian women mourning Baba, and covering their eyes with their hands all around Baba's chair.  I liked to draw then.
     I was introduced to Mehera.  She gave me a Baba button, with a gold background.  I still have it.
     We went to a Baba meeting in Pune, where Baba's brother, Jal, who I thought was handsome then, played drums, and people sang in Indian, and played other eastern instruments.  It was a concert.  We watched the entombment film.
     We stayed at the Amir Hotel, in Pune.  My mother freaked out, because someone told her they had seen me eating a salad.  We were not to eat raw stuff like that, for hygiene purposes, so as not to get sick, but when she arrived, she found that the salad I was eating was cooked, and I never got sick, at all, that I remember.
     We went to Ahmednaagar by bus.  I fell asleep on an Indian man's shoulder.  He smiled at me, when I woke up, and looked up at him, realizing I was sleeping on his shoulder.
     We went to the tomb.  I put my hand in the dirt, which was not covered yet, by any stone.
     On the way home, we went shopping in Bombay.  My parents bought me a gold metallic dress, with embroidery.  
     When we returned, the kids on the school bus were happy and surprised to see me back.  I brought an orange sari to school, for show and tell, and my second grade teacher, Miss Simpson, I think, helped me stretch it out, and show it to the class.
     I am sorry I did not have an earth shaking spiritual awakening, or anything, but I was only a child.  I mean, I am not sorry for me, just sorry if you were expecting a big, amazing, earth shaking experience.  I will say, though, that I enjoyed myself, with the presence and mindfulness, that only a child can possess.