Tuesday, January 31st, 2023
Mayapura, West Bengal
A long flight from Canada to the UK, and finally India, with a super bumpy ride from Kolkata to Mayapura by taxi, landed us (we call ourselves ‘the six Goswamis’) at the international headquarters of ISKCON. This is indeed the place of bhakti on planet Earth, if ever there was one. Our taxi, a twelve-seater van, was stopped at the doorstep of the Gada building by driver, Gopal, which had been arranged by our very own Keshava, from Canada. To get more specific, Dhruva, from Manitoba, got dropped off at Mumbai and we added Jambavan, from South Africa, and Parama Karuna, from Peru.
That’s the gang. That’s the troupe. It leaves seven of us here to begin practices for a performance.
With so many stops through so many time zones, we became zombies. Yet, along this long and hard journey we hit highlights. Chris, who is on his first India trip, handed me a sweet cash donation coming from Ben Zambiasi, player for the Hamilton Tiger Cats. And throughout our travel, other passengers would come forward and break out into a chat, recognizing us as Hare Krishna people, promoters of sanatan dharma, builders of temples, ambassadors of peace. It was nice to receive such attention as it was for us to give attention to the dobs (coconuts) for the best organic water charge at one of the roadside stops.
Anyways, here we are at Mayapura for a meal, a shower, and a long sleep before leaping into the extraordinary devotions that await us.
MAY THE SOURCE BE WITH YOU!