CONTENTS

Prologue................................................................................................................................................... 7

Part 1 - Departures..............................................................................................10

1.   Wanderlust................................................................................................................................... 11

       The City is depressing, choices are contracting, the lake is thawing, and I am restless

2.   Froth and Churn....................................................................................................................... 17

A pointless war, social and political convulsion, notables gather for high-minded
conversation, and America spits out some of its native sons and daughters

3.   The Dirty Dozen........................................................................................................................ 24

The whole truth and nothing but the truth about Lyndon Johnson and Indira Gandhi and
how Peace Corps-India suddenly ballooned up beyond its carrying capacity

4.   The Cave and the Frying Pan ......................................................................................... 31

Caves are explored, Shiva and I get acquainted, and I am gob smacked by a foreign and
inexplicable civilization

5.   FATSOs............................................................................................................................................... 41

A journey into the byzantine world of government application processing, predictions of
success and failure, and how the fates of certain recent college graduates were decided

6.   Briefing.....................................................................................................................,....................... 52

The once and future members of India-40 convene, make initial contact with reality, sniff
each other out, and speculate on how saris are draped on Indian women.

7.   Accessories ................................................................................................................................. 63

       Wherein Carolyn and I take a trip back to the Old Country, enjoy drinks and savories at

watering holes formerly hit by terrorists, and I engage in further palavers with Shiva
about why he needs so many arms

8.   Mad Dog Vachon .................................................................................................................... 76

       India-40 confronts an exotic language none of us have heard of, we haven’t the slightest

idea of what we are in for, we discover a fine bar, and attend a wrestling match between
two goons

9.   Intermission ............................................................................................................................ 85

We roll south to Zapata and while away our time in idle chitchat, games of chance,
general sloth, and endless speculation about everything

10. Dungpur................................................................................................................................................. 88

Fifty eager future Peace Corps Volunteers camp out in the middle of nowhere,
dig latrines, and build an Indian village that doesn’t look like anything in India

11. Winter on the Border ................................................................................................................ 94

        Chilly weather descends, we start to learn our Marathi, the mood turns bad ,
        fights break out, and the history of ancient India becomes real

12. Night of the Long Knives............................................................................................... 102

        Whereby a new type of football game is invented, stars are observed, and

        friends and colleagues are purged

Part II – Initiations................................................................................................................... 114

13. Dawn......................................................................................................................................... 115

We land on what looks like another planet, journey out from the fancy hotel,
and begin the 2-year odyssey that changes everything

14. Fact and Counter-Fact............................................................................................... 120

The difference between languages and dialects, corruption in the postal service, and
how the Konkan Kids almost saved the world

15. A Girl Named Samantha ............................................................................................ 130

For the betterment of all humanity, we carefully plan and implement the
execution of lobsters, rats, and chickens

16. Helping the People Help Themselves ............................................................. 137

Schools are built, dirty magazines are confiscated, and India-40 finds a mentor and
guardian angel

17. Gods and Demons at Ambedkar’s....................................................................... 146

       A primer on gods and ghosts under the tutelage of a philosophy professor

18. Nataraja....................................................................................................................... 155

The injured bull, intestinal parasites invade, I bobble with history in Bombay,
and acquire a Nataraja

19. The Big Hot.................................................................................................................. 163

       Heat rises, India keeps baffling us, and Harris turns into a transistor radio

20. Mrs. Harnekar’s Soup.................................................................................................... 173

The Central Intelligence Agency intrudes, “culture” baffles us, and the heat
fries our brains

21. Attrition.................................................................................................................... 181

       We learn the fate of two of our colleagues; meet more of Khed’s Big Men; speculate on a

particular rebirth for our boss; and enjoy a chicken dinner with one of our more annoying
hens

22. The Blessing of Frogs................................................................................................. 187

Monsoon descends, frogs flourish, intestinal worms flee, my hunt for Swami Ram suffers
an inglorious demise, and Shiva’s bones are discovered.

23. Halftime....................................................................................................................... 199

School and chicken work accelerates, a mid-tour conference convenes in the middle of a
lake, I meet three Peace Corps stoners, and Rox ends it

24. Night Journey to Alibag ............................................................................................ 207

         An unexpected and inscrutable death

25. Pondering Bloom........................................................................................................ 213

We try to make sense of what happened to Jack, fail miserably, and wonder
about it for the next forty years

26. The World Trembles................................................................................................. 220

      The nicer side of Shiva, I buy a suit, and love appears when its least expected

27. Moksha............................................................................................................................. 233

       A medical miracle: John Bayne dies and is reborn on a U.S. Navy ship in Ceylon

28. Leon and the Vinayakas................................................................................................ 244

       How Leon Newman’s chickens came home to roost

29. Out of the Frying Pan..................................................................................................... 258

       Chickens die, Thanksgiving is celebrated, a new game of poker is played, Dangerous Ed gets plastered
and tells the best joke in the world, we all say goodbye, and then we head home.

Part III - Returns......................................................................................................... 266

30. Amerika................................................................................................................... 267

Amoebas thrive, old friends are different, the draft board calls, and I get excellent advice
on how to survive the return journey

31. Food, Memory, and Trickery............................................................................... 270

       A visit back, food and recollection, a tour in my ’64 Corvair, then thugs and

        Gundas from the Pakistan border

32. A Warp in Time....................................................................................................... 278

       In the marketplaces, restaurants, and churches of the big city

33. Shivaji....................................................................................................................... 291

     How the great Maratha warrior made his bones, won his wars, and bred a generation of lunatics

34. Back to Khed........................................................................................................... 298

       In which we learn you actually can go home again even if everything is different

35. Peace Corps Turns 50............................................................................................ 312

       A birthday party and India-40 finds a new adventure

Coda: Truth and Consequences.................................................................................... 318

Acknowledgments........................................................................................................... 322

End Notes.......................................................................................................................... 323