So a relaxing Norway holiday seemed just the place to discuss things. Insead, Amelia met Gideon van der Tolck- and his company became increasingly appealing.

     Swami Akhandananda, more familiarly known as Gangadhar Maharaj and as Baba, was a direct Sannyasin disciple of the Great Master Sri Ramakrishna. From 1887, a little after the Great Master’s demise, till about Swami Vivekananda’s return from the West in 1897, he was for almost about ten years a wandering pilgrim visiting holy places. The intrepid pilgrim that he was, he crossed the Himalayas and visited Tibet thrice besides stopping at almost all the important Himalayan pilgrim centres. From 1890 he travelled extensively in Rajputana, Gujarat, and in famine-stricken parts of West Bengal, coming into intimate touch with all ranks of society. The Swami was a talented speaker and writer in his mother-tongue Bengali. In the later days at the earnest request of admirers and disciples he had written memoirs of his travels which were partly serialised in the Basumati, a monthly magazine in Bengali, and in the Udbodhan, the Bengali organ of the Ramakrishna Order. They were published later in book form under the name Smritikatha. The Swami had desired, that the whole or parts of his writings should be translated into English for the benefit of a wider public. Thanks to the help rendered by some disciples of the Swami, we have been able to publish in 1979, important sections of it dealing with his travels in Rajputana, Gujarat and West Bengal, under the title From Holy Wanderings to Service of God in Man. The book has received very enthusiastic reception from the English reading public. For, the Swami’s writings give not only informative and thrilling accounts of men, countries and events, but also the reflections of a philosopher and a lover of God, man and Nature, so that they are educative in the highest sense of the term. The present publication, a companion volume to the earlier one, gives the Swami’s experiences and reflections on the Himalayas and the great pilgrimage centres located on that holy mountain. Swami Akhandananda commanded a beautiful diction and an inimitable literary style. The present book was translated from Bengali into Marathi in 1959 by Dr. Narendranath B. Patil, and was published by the Ramakrishna Math, Nagpur. Dr. Patil has now again translated the original Bengali book into English. In 1980 he was the Joint Director of Languages, Government of Maharashtra. The spirit of the original has been kept intact and the translation retains its freshness of expression. More than 90 years have elapsed since Swami Akhandananda visited the holy Himalayas. Things have changed a great deal. Possibly the topography has also undergone much change. That will probably be an additional attraction to present-day readers, as the descriptions of this book will give them an idea of the pristine charm of those regions before human interference had begun to mar the beauties of Nature with the passing of days. Many of the places which were inaccessible then, are now reached by means of motor vehicles or planes. But it is hoped that the book will still convey some inspiration to all those who long for something sacred in this humdrum world.