When Anuragi visited Bipinbhai in Rajkot he also had the chance to meet Anand Christ, better known as Beatles.
A few weeks ago I had gone to Rajkot to meet Bipinbhai in his studio. During the meeting he mentioned his father, Dinubhai, who used to take photographs of Osho (see Early portraits of Osho) and arrange Osho’s visits to Gujarat. There was a group of five friends who usually joined him on the journey to Jabalpur to see Osho. I asked Bipinbhai if any of these five friends were still living around there – Beatles was. Could he take me to see him?
On the way, Bipinbhai explained that Beatles was one of the KK Brothers, an old family perfume business, and that Osho had given him the name Beatles because he looked like one of the members of the Beatles, the famous English rock band.
Beatles lives in the old part of Rajkot. We could reach his home only by auto rickshaw; the roads were too narrow for a car. When we arrived he immediately got up – wearing just a dhoti tied up to his chest – and offered us some sweets.
He is now 88 years old and his body is very fragile. He is also hard of hearing. But he is absolutely clear in his head and his eyes are bright with a spark in them.
Beatles never got married, and his brother and his wife take care of him and bring him food. He spends his days in this one room. There is just a bed (an old Indian style village bed), a table with scattered books, and a cupboard. A photo of Osho hangs on the wall in front of his bed.
He hardly speaks to anyone. And I don’t think anyone visits him. The entire day and night he is alone, yet he is so full of energy and mentally active.
During our visit he searched for his sannyas certificate, which he showed us. The name given to him is Swami Ananda Christ. The certificate is dated 3rd May 1971.
He then took out a big framed photo of him with Osho in Manali, which he had stored wrapped up.
Beatles also showed us a signed photo of Osho. Below the signature Osho had written, Mere ‘Beatles’ ko saprem, meaning: To my ‘Beatles’ with love.
Before we left he recited a couplet in Gujarati, which went something like this:
I live the way existence wants,
Osho is with me,
Then what is the worry?
He takes care of me.
I was spellbound meeting Beatles and quite numbed when we left. When we were back on the road he opened the window of his room on the first floor to say goodbye to us.
Just felt like sharing this wonderful experience.
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