Tuesday, December 22nd, 2009

Cast, Cars and Cassava

Havana Cuba

While waiting for rain to subside during our morning walk Janardan, Julan and I squatted under an awning by an eatery when a man offered me a coffee. He was very dark in complexion and he slid his index finger from the back of his wrist along to the back of his hand while saying in Spanish,” if you take this coffee your skin will get dark.”

“Muchos gracias,” I said, “but no!” It was said by him as a friendly gest and one I couldn”t take offense to. I could have said, “ I liked the way my parents packaged me,” but how could I when he meant no malice and was only trying to break ice.

In the afternoon our group took to serious practice of the drama “El Gita” in the hall where we will perform on Saturday. In the basement of this venue break dancers moved to the blaring sound of “Thriller” while we were getting heightened thrills with our work out. The art director of the place, Alejandro, a young fellow, spontaneously decided to join our group. His movements were great and hence, he got cast as Arjuna. That’s one way to make friends and expose folks to Vedic culture.

The food can be a little bland in Cuba. Thanks to Mr. Mandala whom we saw at the Indian embassy. He gave us a present of fresh curry leaves taken from a tree on the grounds. Indian spices are hard to come by in Cuba. Mandala has ginger and cumin sent in from Trinidad.

Our evening ended with a meal at the home of a sympathizer. She has been chanting the Maha-mantra. Her food was packed with devotion and starch - sticky rice and cassava. To complement the whitish preps she served fresh water cress and organic tasty tomato juice. Yummy to that! Somehow or other my stomach took really well to the meal which I topped off with slices of local and flavourful Papaya.

On our drive home Jettu and I were guessing the year of each vintage car we saw along the way. We were spot on with the decade but off with the year according to our cab driver.

8 Km