A BEAUTIFUL VIEW OF KULU VALLEY

 
We had been in Dehra Dun a little over a month when Baba took a few of us to Katrain in Kulu Valley. From the women's side there were Mani, myself, Meheru and Rano; and from the men I think only Dr. Donkin, Kaka Baria, who did the cooking, and Baidul. As we were always quite separate from the men mandali I never quite knew who was with Baba from the men's side.

On the journey to Kulu, Rano became very ill. One of the places at which we broke our trip was Mandi, where we stopped at a dak bungalow. Rano had completely lost her appetite, and Baba, who was usually very kind and loving when we were sick, told her to eat a huge plate of curry and rice. Poor Rano felt so awful. She was almost in tears, but she obeyed Baba and ate the food, and then immediately left the room and was sick.

When we reached Katrain Dr. Donkin told her she had infectious hepatitis, so she could not stay with us. Nearby there was a cowshed with two little rooms over it, so Rano stayed there and had a beautiful view of Kulu Valley while she was recuperating.

Rano then remembered that as she, Margaret and Kitty were on the bus passing through Delhi on their way to Dehra Dun, each of them had ordered a sugar cane juice. A fellow passenger on the bus had warned Rano not to drink hers, but she had not listened to him. Sugar cane juice is a well-known source for hepatitis, and that must have been where she had picked up the infection.

Rano recovered very quickly, and Donkin told her that it was the lightest case of hepatitis he had seen. At that time there was no special treatment for hepatitis, and many people died from it. Baba then reminded Rano of the meal He had made her eat in Mandi, and told her that, because she had obeyed Him and eaten it, her illness had been lightened.