Paros: Island of the Aegean Sea
In 2003, arriving for my fourth pilgrimage to Meherabad,* I was assigned
to a large room of ten beds with the head of each against one of three walls.
Every bed had mosquito netting over a metal frame that I tied back during the day. The pilgrim to my left, occupied with a book, kept hers fully down.
With only a narrow space separating our beds, her reserve prompted my restraint, and I didn’t say, “Good morning,” or even, “Jai Baba.”*
Called to the office to review my paperwork, I could only verify my first name. Learning that I had been incorrectly given the last name of my roommate, on my return, I took this unexpected opportunity to speak to her. For the past twenty-two years, we have had a close friendship as women who write with descriptive details, as women who write to share their feelings. Valeria and I write to be a part of each other’s lives, lives that are not distanced by the Atlantic Ocean, the Pyrenees Mountains, or even the northwestern coast of the Mediterranean Sea.
Through the Eyes of Valeria
“I am happy in Paros, which is one of the big Cycladic Islands in the middle of the Aegean Sea.* It pleases me in so many ways that are physical, visual, emotional, and cultural. It would be a difficult task to explain and express all that the island and this particular town are offering me these days, but first and foremost is a widespread beauty that comes from a very ancient culture, and a sense of harmony that is not lost and is still visible and admirable in small and bigger ways.
I walk every morning and evening to the top of the ancient Venetian Castle* of the thirteenth century, where previously a temple to Athena* had been built in the sixth century BCE!!!... a vast, breathtakingly open view onto the open sea from the top of the hill.
Steps of houses and churches are in white marble for which Paros has been, and is still, famous... houses are painted white... arches... archeological fragments everywhere... a small splendid museum... the noise of children playing, the beach close by...*”
My realization is: “An unexpected gift of friendship may begin years of sharing—crossing great land spaces and oceans in a leap that is easy for the heart.”
* Meherabad. The site of Avatar Meher Baba’s Tomb-Shrine (Samadhi) and of world pilgrimages as well as the Avatar’s early primary residence and ashram, and the headquarters of His activities until 1944; now overseen by the Meherabad Trust.
* Jai is a Sanskrit, Hindi word meaning hail, victory, glory. It is a common greeting in India when followed by one of the names of a Divine Incarnation, as in, “Jai Baba.”
* The Aegean Sea is an elongated embayment (a recess in a coastline forming a bay) of the Mediterranean Sea between Europe and Asia. Paros is a Greek island in the central Aegean Sea.
The Cyclades is a group of Greek islands, southeast of the mainland, also located in the Aegean.
Many are popular holiday destinations known for their beaches, ancient sites, rugged landscapes, and traditional blue-and-white stucco towns overlooking the sea.
* The Venetian Castle in Parikia, the capital town of Paros, is a magnificent, superb place of ancient stones and columns in front of the vast expanse of the Aegean Sea.
* Athena is a prominent figure in Greek mythology, recognized as the goddess of wisdom, warfare, and handicraft, particularly weaving and pottery. She is also the patron goddess of the city of Athens.
* Personal correspondence.