Mission: Amma Tappa

The goal for our weekend trip from Hyderabad was to get to the spiritual 'fortune teller,' Amma Tappa, in the Tibetan settlement of Bylakuppe and back within 72 hours. including 36 hours of travel. 1st stop: Bangalore.

On the non-AC overnight train to from Hyderabad to Bangalore, Cate was overheating, and I was dying of thirst, with no water in sight. Luckily I think that train was on time. Once we arrived in Bangalore, we treated ourselves to a luxurious hotel. Cate worked her magic and got the price reduced and buffet breakfast included. After check-in, there was really no need to leave the room, except to see KFC and go bowling. Feeling guilty about not seeing any sights during my 24 hours in Bangalore, we hired a rickshaw to show us 1 temple, 1 mosque and 1 church. We hit them all at a good time; there were prayers going on at each.

Next stop: Mysore. We took the train to Mysore where I received a huge, loud lecture from a railway employee on how I should respect authority in India. I had to politely tell him that if I stopped every time an Indian man said hi to me, I'd never get anywhere. Ooohhh, he was so mad.

Next stop: Bylakuppe. After leaving the train station in Mysore, everything went extremely smoothly. We got to the bus station just as the bus to Bylakuppe was pulling out. When we got to Bylakuppe, everyone knew how to get to Amma Tappa's house. When we got to her house, not just 1, but 4 translators appeared.

Amma Tappa inherited spiritual powers from her father. He thought the powers would be lost once he left Tibet, but Amma Tappa realized she had them at age 13. She looks into 3 special mirrors and can answer any yes/no question. The most common question is "will I get a US visa." I asked if God already had a plan for me? I think something might have gotten lost in translation, but she told me that I would be very successful. Not this year but maybe next; just be happy and success will come. It was a really wonderful experience. Amma Tappa is in her 80's now and has a beautiful face full of wrinkles. She blessed some plastic beads for us and told us to wear them always. Then Amma Tappa sent us on to the nunnery to be prayed for, gave us a Tibetan mantra and set us up with a place to stay. Mission accomplished.