Yesterday I finally got into see Vice Chancellor Maharaj.  I saw him the day after I got here briefly, and then he went to New Delhi, so only now was I able to actually talk about what's going to happen with my life for the next three years.  Up until now I've only heard murmurs about what VC MJ's was planning on doing with me.  So I got into his office and sat there for like a half an hour while he talked on the phone.  Then we dealt with some business and he started talking about my program.  First off since I'm a good candidate for Sanskrit I'll keep studying that, with more of an emphasis on reading than on writing.  And starting on July 3rd (Guru Purnima an auspicious day) my studies in Indian philosophy will begin.  At present I have to be tutored privately, because in spite of everyone in America thinking that the entire world speaks English, the average people in Bengal do not speak English, in fact only 40% of them can even read Bengali with any proficiency.  Fortunately the monks at this school do speak pretty good English, some very good English.  But it's even a little hard to understand the best English speakers here sometimes, they speak their own brand of English and communicating more complicated things to them is virtually impossible in many cases. The faster I learn Bengali the better in this country.

Anyhow so everything is still fine here.  I'm set to move into the hostels Sunday still, Arupeshananda leaves tomorrow, but my training wheels are pretty much off anyway so I don't think I need him.  Ayon Maharaj and Shivum Maharaj, two westerners who work at VU are coming back tomorrow so it will be good to have them here.  Shivum Maharaj is from Argentina, he lived in the US for some time though I hear, and Ayon Maharaj is an American Indian with a PHD in English.  Prahlad Maharaj (Swami Atmarupananda) will be coming at the end of August too, so my world will not be totally devoid of American English speakers.

Thanks for reading!
Kamal