In the south
Greensboro, North Carolina, USA
At the airport here, myself and a predominant Houston branch of the Pandava Sena youth group were greeted by a Mississippian bus driver for the hour cruise to an exclusive Krishna conscious village known as Prabhupada Village. While this group of passengers and I immersed ourselves in kirtan (chanting) during the drive, it was easy to peer out the bus windows to view a new surrounding. Stricken with near-drought conditions, a red soil was exposed with intermittent deciduous forest.
Bordering close to Virginia, North Carolina with its shared growth of now flowering tobacco plants, reveal a history of cultural shifts. It was in this U.S. region that Europeans got to look at their newly-found treasure which became a curse when experimenting with the perky habit of smoking.
"We are south of the Mason Dixon Line", said Partha Sarathi, a retired American soldier of the Iraqi war. Partha and I trekked a short one up and down these rolling hills where history is visually rich. Abandoned homesteader log cabins are relic in brushy tracts of land. The buzzing sound of crickets and cicadas permeate the atmosphere. It's humid - as you would expect from summer in the south.
I started sweating and panting going up the steeper-than-usual hills. Partha, twenty years my junior, had an easier time with it. Upon entering the local community centre in the temple, I was asked by co-coordinator Chaitanya, 21, who I have known since being a toddler, if I could conduct an ice-breaker.
"Why, because I'm Canadian?" I joked. In any event, I did it as a way to get everyone to know each other.
It was a marvelous day for orientation. I also had the great honour to partake in a birthday dinner for Sivananda on his 63rd. What is unique about him is that amongst his many great attributes, he single-handedly ventured to Germany when a novice monk and "tested the waters" there. He's the unofficial founding father for the consciousness of Krishna in that part of the world. What a hero!
7 KM
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