The Foreign Service Journal, July-August 2010

28 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / J U LY- A U G U S T 2 0 1 0 man. He told me he had circumvented a governmental blacklisting by dressing conservatively and crossing via the land border fromPakistan, rather than coming in at the air- port. He was headed back to Rishikesh. I shook my head, no. They found him in the cave a couple of weeks later and gave him another “Quit India” notice. For the second time, he had only 10 days left in the country. “Are we going through the whole thing again?” I asked wearily. “Haven’t made up my mind,” he admitted. He was smarter now, he said. If he headed south and kept out of the way of the immigration folks, he was sure he could stay in his adopted country indefinitely. I reminded him of the folly of crossing Indian officials a second time. He smiled enigmatically and headed toward the door, then paused, looking back. “Pretty,” Smith said, referring to a small bouquet of wilt- ing wild flowers in a vase on my desk. “Let me knowwhat happens,” I said, as my guest turned once again to leave. “I’ll send you a postcard,” he promised. “The Taj Mahal if I stay here. The Statue of Liberty if I don’t.” A fewweeks later, I received a card (no date or message) from New York, and concluded that Smith had ultimately acceded to authority. His time in India was over. I was wrong. In a very odd coincidence, I recently met his brother Paul in California. He told me that Eric did, in fact, return for a third time— it was after I had been transferred to my next post — and that he had died in India, presumably fol- lowing a severe bout of hepatitis. His ashes were placed in the Ganges River. You know what? I was sorry to learn the man was gone. But to end his days in India seemed so fitting. Eric Cameron Smith was an obsessed but sweet man who loved this ancient land. I am sure his spirit is still hovering over that cave in Rishikesh. ■ F O C U S