Posted on: 10 Jul 2022
[By Shri Anil Antony]
Padanamaskaram Swami
Swami I would like to share some of the experiences I had in the recent week. Shall I proceed Swami?
Two weeks ago, by Swami's grace, I received a chance to visit France to attend a workshop as a part of an official assignment. Before proceeding I asked permission from Swami. He replied to me that I should proceed. I went to the airport and they issued the boarding pass and I put the checked-in luggage on the belt. Next, the person sitting at the counter asked me for the Covid vaccination certificate, I showed it to him. To my surprise, he told me that it was done in July 2021 and as per the new guidelines the vaccination should have been done within 7 months.
I told him that before starting I had already checked all the norms from the France airline website and I had not seen any such notification regarding the validity of the vaccination. He then replied that it had come yesterday only and that anyone traveling without a valid vaccination certificate on the plane would be penalized. So, I replied that, I should have been informed about the same in advance. However, I was asked to sit outside and wait. They told me they would enquire with the counterpart in Paris and let me know about it. He took a snap of my passport and sent it to Paris.
I was waiting and waiting. My tension cropped up. The person who took the snap was not seen anywhere close. After some time, I again approached them, and they told me that they had not received any reply so far. So, I continued to wait. I again approached them, and by Swami’s intervention, the person told me that he had not received any reply from them so far. However, since I was traveling on an official passport I was allowed to proceed and they said there would not be a problem. Thus, Swami resolved the first hurdle.
Later, I had to change the flight at Bahrain and take another flight to Paris. On the Bahrain to Paris flight, by Swami's blessing and grace an Indian was sitting next to me. He worked in France. He guided me on how to proceed from the airport to the train station which was within the airport. I was tensed about anyone asking me for the vaccination certificate at the Paris airport. Luckily, after reaching Paris airport nobody asked for the vaccination certificate! Here again, I got help from Swami.
My final destination was away from Paris. I had to take 2 trains to reach that place. I was waiting for the first train. After some time, I just looked at the train schedule. I noticed that the train which I was waiting for, was late by 40 min. If I had traveled by that train, I would certainly miss the connecting train. So I went to the office and told them the situation. Since the person was not able to follow English, he couldn't understand the message I was trying to convey to him. Time was ticking away.
Somehow by Swami's grace, he finally understood the matter and told me in his broken English that I would be guided if I went to the other side and explained my problem to them. I rushed to that place and explained the matter. By Swami’s grace, they spoke English and understood what I said. So, they asked me to wait for the next train. Normally unless we reserve a particular train, we cannot travel on that. So, they sent me along with an assistant to the next train and briefed the matter with the manager on the train. The manager said, “Do you speak English?”, I said, “Yes”. He said, “No problem, it is great pleasure that we will accommodate you in this train and your stop is the next one. Thus, with the miraculous intervention of Swami, I could reach the next station on time and catch the next train which took 3 hrs. to reach the destination. From there I had to take a bus to the city center.
I got off the train and asked somebody about the bus station. They told me that, they had no idea. Then I went in one direction and came out of the station by following the direction board. But there was no sign of any bus. So, I started walking in the opposite direction. Once again by Swami’s grace, a person directed me to the bus station (he spoke with a mix of French and English). He asked me to reach the other end and go down. So as per his direction, I went ahead and the moment I reach the basement, the bus was standing there and was about to start.
Due to my overconfidence, I did not take the international roaming, I thought I would manage it myself. But it was not so. On the first day, I had to reach the venue which was a 5-star hotel. While in the hotel, there was Wi-Fi, I had traced the route to reach the hotel. Thinking that I knew the route, I walked, but in fact I was walking in the opposite direction from the venue and after walking for a long distance, I asked few people, but it was of no avail. They have no idea about the hotel. Then finally I approached a person, and he put the Wi-Fi on the phone and told me that I had to go in the opposite direction to reach the hotel. Finally, I reached the hotel on time by the grace of Swami before the meeting started.
Being a 5-star hotel coffee and lunch was arranged in a grand way and vegetarian dishes were arranged as I had requested them in advance. But there was no rice. I aspired for it. Then the mess in charge just approached me he asked me: “Sir do you want anything special for tomorrow?” I was shocked, how come he could read my mind? I told him “Yes! Can you please arrange some rice for me?”. Then he told me that it was his pleasure. The next day the rice was put on the menu. Then he came to me and told me, Sir see I did not forget your request. Even for food Swami, cares.
After the workshop, I went to Paris by train and after getting down, I had to reach the hotel. But I had to take the right bus from the right station. So, I was looking for that particular bus with so and so route number. To my surprise, there was a taxi Walla who was speaking in Hindi. I approached him. He asked me if i knew Urdu.
I told yes and finally, he showed me the route to reach that bus stop. The bus came and I rushed in and went towards the driver to take the ticket. But there was no facility there. Then someone told me that it was not possible to take a ticket from the bus. Rather, the ticket had to be taken beforehand through passes or online. Immediately to my surprise a lady took out a ticket from her bag and told me I could use this ticket. I was literally shocked. Even though she was unwilling to take the cost of the ticket, I gave her the money.
Then I went towards my luggage, I asked the co-passenger about the stop at which I had to get down. He was an old man. He told me that he was also getting down at the same stop. After getting down he told me to show him the address of the hotel. I showed him and he directed me to the hotel.
Thus, by Swami’s blessing, everything went well and I could visit the Eiffel tower. It was a great experience to watch the scene from the Eiffel Tower that too without spending any penny from my pocket due to the funding of IAEA.
I would like to conclude this miracle with the last experience.
When I checked out from the hotel in Paris; I locked the bag but somehow the setting of the number changed and it got locked. Just before locking, I looked at the numbers. But I remembered only the first number. However, after just 2 tries, the bag opened with Swami’s grace.
Like this, it was a full tour package given by Swami to me helping me throughout the tour in many different ways.
Thanks a lot for all the help You have given to me Swami.
At Your Lotus feet Anil