SHHH, LET'S GO

 
During the Blue Bus Tours and afterwards, Irene often shared a room with Margaret, and recalled, "Margaret's bed, wherever we went, was always full of things — her books, her comb, her clothes, or whatever — all strewn on the floor or on her mattress. I don't know how she could lie down on it. It drove Rano crazy."

About the rivalry between Margaret and Rano, Mani commented: "Each of us never thought alike or liked the same things. Margaret was by nature happy-go-lucky. She didn't mind if a thing was crooked, if one shoe was on the bed and another was under it, or if the broom was on the table. Margaret was more concerned with the essentials.

"The way of life of Rano, the artist, was that everything had to be in its place. Everything had to be precise. For example, no matter how tired Katie came from her work in the kitchen, after she washed her face in the bathroom, the face towel had to be left absolutely straight. If it were one centimeter off, Rano would notice. Somebody kept it crooked just to tease her. Rano was finicky about keeping things neat. Margaret was just the opposite."

Katie too was particular about the way things should be done, and she and Rano were especially bothered by the haphazard way Margaret slung her clothes on the line in her corner of the room, instead of neatly hanging up everything.

"Baba loved practical jokes," Mani continued. "One day in Hyderabad, when Margaret was out of her room, Baba put his finger to his lips and said, 'Shhh, let's go.'

"We all tiptoed into Margaret's room. Baba disorganized everything and added a few things to the accumulated junk. We put the things from her bed on the table, and the broom on her bed. Baba even put a little pebble in her dance shoe, something that would make her notice and realize that something was different.

"Then we all came away, as Margaret was coming. We waited and waited, peeking around the corner — but not a peep out of Margaret. She didn't notice, and if she did notice, it didn't make any difference.

"In the end, it was so funny. Baba and we went back, and Baba was practically asking, 'what's all this? How in the world do you ever sleep?'

"'Baba, it's fine, thank you.' Then she realized something was up and laughed, which she always did."