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the midst of a phone conversation. When he put down the receiver, I blurted out the reason for my visit: "Professor Chhaya says that you are the best person to teach me about vastu." |
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Sudesh asked an office worker to bring us some tea. He said that he had been out of his office most of the day and his eyes lowered to go over the list of phone calls that had come in during his absence. By the time he looked up again, his reading glasses had slid to the bridge of his nose. Sudesh peered over their rim at me. His round face wore a sly expression that quickly softened into a smile. |
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I laughed before Sudesh did. I knew that my opening line was a thinly veiled question, the equivalent of my asking the President of the United States for access to the vaults at Fort Knox. Tea arrived. |
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Small talk about the neighborhood and then silence filled the room before Sudesh said that he was not impressed by most of the new books on vastu. They were inconsistent and too closely linked with superstition. Vastu, he believes, is a tool to help us achieve harmony with the universe and our particular environment. Vastu cannot prevent the troubles that occur in a life. Vastu can only cushion the fall. |
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Sudesh looked again at me as if to analyze where I fit inside this revival in vastu. He smiled, and his dark eyes were bright as onyx. His suspicion about People who took a sudden interest in vastu without even reading the ancient texts clearly extended to me, a foreigner, who now sat across from him. He said that he needed a week to think about my request, then called for another cup of tea. |
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Sudesh was easy to like. He had a generous laugh and a powerful enthusiasm that exploded out of his short frame. There was nothing false or pretentious about the man. His office was a mess, but it was obvious that he didn't care. He shuffled through papers on his desk and would marvel at the discovery of something he needed in the clutter. Sudesh also loved books. We were surrounded by part of his collectionmainly books on architecture and Indian philosophy. I longed to glance at pages that he had flagged with bright pink Post-Its, but his library was not yet open to me. Sudesh needed to get to know me. |
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