A small world¹⁷

The day before yesterday I was in a boutique in Woodstock, which is my most favourite town. As soon as I entered the store, the young girl in charge said with wide eyes, “Sri Chinmoy? Sri Chinmoy? I know you! I saw you for the first time when I was three years old in Flatbush. My mother lives in Brooklyn, and she has come to your meditations many times.”

She gave me the store card and asked me to autograph it.

I said, “What is your name?”

She said, “You don’t have to write down my name. Just write your name.”

I said, “Yes, but I would like to know your name.”

She said, “Ayesha.”

So I wrote, “Dear Ayesha, with my good wishes,” and I signed it. She was so happy.

This world is so small. She used to live in the Flatbush area. I also used to live there. Now she is 16 or 17 years old and lives in Woodstock, which I have visited so many times over the past 24 years.