Saturday, December 26th, 2009

Culture Accepted

Havana Cuba

Diesel fumes from autos get to you after a while. There is a natural, almost gravitational pull, to go to the Malecon and sit there at the gulf of Mexico’s edge and take in those good sea breezes. Hridaya, Janardan and I trekked our way there like all mornings, yet today was different. We decided to look at our visit to the seawall not just as a physical therapy but also as the place to reflect on our guru, Srila Prabhupada, who was carried by such Atlantic waves on the Jaladutta ship to land on American soil back in ’65.

Without him I wouldn’t be a monk. I wouldn’t be chanting and leading a good life. I wouldn’t have these friends with me. I would be a part of the status quo. For these reasons and more, I am grateful to my guru for putting me on a counter-cultural track.

Our venue for the first Vedic cultural festival held in Cuba was in a former Church, now run by the Ministry of Culture. At 1 p.m. light and sound technicians came to set up. By 3 p.m. we started to warm up voice and do body exercises for the eight volunteer actors. They did work up a sweat for a last minute practice. Our narrator, Antoine, got toned up for his role in Spanish. By 5:30 p.m. people started entering the building to choose their seat (we gathered whatever old chair or cushion was in the building). The place filled up in no time. By 6:15 p.m. the show was on with an intro, kirtan (chanting), the drama “El Gita”, a talk (by myself), a mrdanga drum demo (by Jettu) and kirtan again. 2 hours of entertainment elapsed apart from applause at each item.

The audience was rather non responsive. Lo’ and behold, once we drew the final curtain, so to speak, on the show, the audience and performers mingled and the appreciation overflowed. Thank God, the hard work of three days rehearsing paid off. I saw Janardan and his mom, Chaitanya Priya, our mainstay in Cuba, were really bursting with happiness. The “Primer Festival de el Coutural Vedica” was a success. The art directors of the place thought so. They were as curious as anything to come and they had a novel experience.

It was fifty years ago that the revolution of Cuba had taken place. The local papers show photos of Cuban victory for independence. Perhaps today was a mark, or celebration of an enhanced diversity for the Cuban population. The Vedic concepts of India have been not a threat or necessarily an alien force to the Cuban population. In fact, as I suspected, ‘they want to know’. The Vedas say that we have sojourned in this world through multiple lives and now that the human body is achieved one should inquire into the absolute.

5 Km