The Chillum Den

On the edge of Charsi Cliff
above the Beas River
sat The Chillum Den

Through a long passageway
carved through the rock
at the top of Charsi Cliff,
Rohit walked
slowly

♫ ♫ ♫

Welcome, sir
Good to see you again

 And you, m’lady

 And who are you now, sir?

 I am

And where are you?

Here and now

Welcome back
to The Chillum Den, sir

Thank you, Anji

Please leave all your electronic devices here

Yes, ma’am

Rohit placed his phone and his iPod
in a soundproof drawer
and then made his way through
a short tunnel on the left
to the Tea Room

♫ ♫ ♫

Good evening, sir
Nice to see you again, sir

Good evening, Joy
It’s good to be back

Rohit then walked over
to window overlooking the river below
and sat down

♫ ♫ ♫

What will you have to drink, sir?

A pot of lemon, honey and charas tea
would be most welcome

Yes, sir
An excellent choice, sir

I see you have brought your own chillum today, sir
A beauty she is, sir

Been in the family for three generations
One of the first ones Marco made

The Bently of chillums
And she’s in perfect condtion

A clean chillum is a peace chillum

Respect the chillum

And as the maître d’ walked away,
Rohit continued
to sync with the vibe

♫ ♫ ♫

The tea arrived
and Rohit drank
until the moment came
to choose a room

There is an ensemble from Japan
playing in the Quiet Music Room tonight,
the Room For Laying Down is full at the moment,
the Ganjaredi Room is nearly empty
and the Silent Sitting Room is about half full
with chillum babas

I would like to smoke
in the Silent Sitting Room tonight

A fine choice, sir
The cushions have just been refilled and recovered
with Himachal hemp
laced with the finest of Nepalese embroidery
May this day be the best day of your life, sir

May this day be the best day of your life as well, Joy

Rohit then made his way down
a stone stairway
to the Silent Sitting Room

♫ ♫ ♫

Good evening, bowed the chillum master
maintaining the sacred silence

Good evening, bowed Rohit

He handed his chillum
to the chillum master
and then took a seat in a corner
of the purple, elegant and soft
Silent Sitting Room

And then the chillum ceremony began:
The crusher and the filler
prepared his chillum
with Manala Cream,
first rub,
the best in the Parvati Valley

Rohit said, Boom Shiva,
the chillum master lit a match,
Rohit boomed his chillum
and then he smoked
for a little while

♫ ♫ ♫

The chillum master took away the chillum
and brought it back clean

Rohit closed his eyes,
turned his head to the right
and melded with Shiva
for a while

♫ ♫ ♫

The chillum babas sat in a circle
as straight as could be
and fully focused
as they passed their chillum around
with their right hands
to the right

♫ ♫ ♫

Ten rupee Varanasi
or Italian clay,
nothing else is worth a try,
said Mandeep
over in the Ganjaredi Room

Except for homemade by my grandfather

Your grandfather does make a nice chillum, Sai

And Manala Cream
is the charas of choice

Lapas Jungla is not bad

And this Idiki Gold we’re smoking
is pretty good

Kerela’s finest

The chill out dance
is going to begin soon

Let’s smoke one more chillum

Good idea

They signaled to the chillum master,
and his boys came over
to crush and fill
again

♫ ♫ ♫

A door in the floor
of each of the rooms
opened at nine o’clock
And those who so desired
made their way down
to the Dance Den,
lured by the rhythms
of Indian classical music

♫ ♫ ♫

Hi, Rohit

Hi, guys

Rainbow Turban is DJing tonight

Cool

Let’s dance

And so the charsis and ganjaredis danced
the chill out dance
as the rhythms changed
and flowed

♫ ♫ ♫