Thursday, March 13th 2008

Thursday, March 13th 2008 – Johannesburg, South Africa
I’m glad to have landed. My extra overweight baggage (costumes I came with and more acquired) meant that I had to change my Canadian notes for rupees. This involved four trips back and forth from the airport wicket in Kolkata to the security and finally to someone who could exchange. It took four airline assistants to do this after I checked in. After the exchange was finally done and I made my way to the immigration customs line someone tapped my shoulder. It was the foreign exchange man who said “I gave you 100 rupees too much!” So I dug in submissively into my pocket without questioning him due to the fatigue and gave him his required note. The only consolation to the inconvenience from lack of efficiency was the smiles officials gave at the end of the ordeal and the gesture of a happy “Hare Krishna!”
Sometimes the public views monks of the Krishna order to be compatible to airports, as Hollywood films have portrayed, but I will choose to refrain from any comment on that.
I ventured on two walks today, one on Nirvana Drive to the Lenasia temple and another in section 3 of Lenasia neighborhood. Upananda my host who accompanied me on the second walk remarked how it has been years since he set foot in this region where he grew up. Everything, “all travels happen in a car,” he said.
“Why don’t we change that and start noticing the world around us at a speed where we can comprehend our surroundings?” was my response.
“I’ll try” he said sincerely.
The evening hours was spent in the atmosphere of youths (60 plus) engaged in kirtan, chanting and drumming. Bhakti Chaitanya Swami, New Zealand born, is the spiritual leader and mentor of South Africa. He is guest speaker along with myself to address these young enthusiasts. For them being caught in the shelter of meditative mantras is the safest place to be and that was one of the major points that the two of us monks made.
9 Km.