A Surprising Conversation

March , 2026

At one of the Senior Center’s big, round tables for bingo, the caregiver to my right asked me a question I’ve forgotten. But it led to her interest in my being in India (where and why). As bingo was about to start, to end the conversation I simply replied that I have a Substack. Her curiosity kept the conversation going though. “What is the name?” And before I could reply she then asked me what I did in India and where did I live when I was there. I replied to her second question first and wrote Meherabad* on the napkin that she had given me. She searched on her phone and found it. Then she repeated her earlier question. “What did I do?” I gave her my actual Substack id. She found it and showed me the screen with a photo from “A Boy Named Lakhan Part One.”* Then I went on the explain that I also had written a book. She asked for the name and told me she would order it. I smiled. By then, the caller’s voice could be heard: “O 25... 25 in the O row.”

Periodically I have an opportunity to share information about my career as a writer. This day was a good day.

My realization is, “When a feeling of pleasure comes from recognition, it has a way of lingering, prompting gratitude for one’s holding to a choice in life.”

* Meherabad. The site of Avatar Meher Baba’s Tomb-Shrine (Samadhi) and site of world pilgrimage as well as His early primary residence, ashram, and headquarters of His activities until 1944; now overseen by the Meherabad Trust.

* My Substack site can be found at www.purelyprema.com and my book reference is: A Flower for God: A Memoir, Prema Jasmine Camp (Seattle, WA: Wilson Duke Press, 2021).