Dancing at the hints: a photo album re-discovered

Ageh Bharti meets by chance an old fellow-student with whom he’d taken photos of Osho in the Jabalpur days

Maybe you remember the story I told in my book, Blessed Days with Osho, (which story was also reproduced in Osho News under the title, Child-like simplicity), where I recall how Osho followed with such grace the instructions we gave him while taking photos. When asked to do gardening, he plucked dead leaves from the plants; when asked to pose as if sleeping, he lay down on the bed and closed his eyes; when asked to read, he took up a book, and so on.

So, what happened? One of my younger brothers, a retired Director from the Defence Research Development Organisation in New Delhi, told me that one day when he met a group of friends, from the time he was studying at the Engineering College in Jabalpur, they happened to talk about Osho. My brother told them that his two elder brothers and one younger brother were Osho’s disciples.

They then remembered that Mr Ashvani Kumar from Maihar was an Osho lover too, and that in the meantime he has now retired as a Colonel from the Indian Army. When I heard that, I remembered that it was this very Ashvani Kumar Saini who had arranged that photo session I was talking about. I asked my brother for his mobile number and called him. We were both overjoyed to hear each other on the phone, and next day I went to his town, where we enjoyed talking about Osho ‘too much’! All the photos that had been taken that day, 53 years before, were collected in an album which Ashvani showed to me.

He confirmed that the year was 1969, and not 1970 as I had remembered. He also recalled that we students had visited Osho with a professional photographer, Mr. Sachin, who took the snaps. He also remembered that the photographer had asked Osho to speak, and that he had said these words: “When I talk of revolution, I don’t mean that what I am saying is the last. It should go on and on. It is a continuity.”

There is a photo of the three friends and myself together with Osho, and one photo which is very dear to me where I rest the palm of my hand on Osho’s foot. I had forgotten about that one. And also one of the group of five with Osho. The tall fellow is me, then comes B.C. Jain and Osho. Behind Osho it’s Ashvani Kumar Saini, and to the right of Osho two more students of the Engineering College in Jabalpur (click on the photos to see them fullscreen).

This a photo of 1957 of Raipur. Osho’s first posting was at Raipur in Govt Sanskrit College Snapshots with Osho Group of five with Osho

It was a great surprise to see all these photos reunited in Ashvani’s album, and to be reminded of that special day. And to remember how graceful Osho was ‘dancing at the hints’ of the students and the photographer, without fuss, and assuming the poses they wanted. With such simplicity!

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