Friday Fun
Berbice, Guyana.
As the party of processioners moved themselves slowly along with drummers playing a hot beat people lie in their hammocks only to adjust themselves to see what’s going on. What pops out is an arm or a head ; a wave and a smile . Children scurry with excitement. Even a calf goes frantic upon hearing the “ring” of hand symbols. It is these back residential streets that due find all the people; some of which live along dead end or cul-de-sac road ways. Such a quaint parade dosen’t frequent such one-lane dirt thoroughfares.
People are struck b y such novelty. It may never come again; Happy faced ladies in gorgeous sarees, men in dhotis slapping out a beat and kids dodging p0t-holes and mole dung.
There was no sound system today. Only the raw, organic vibration pulsated as Chaitanya himself would have known it. By default we pushed our voices and wiggled our bodies through these narrow street-ways along lotus-flowered and plastic-bottled canals. It was Friday night and everyone felt a kind of devotional fever.
At the outdoor stage venue for the evening the sound system, now present, gave us problem. I was asked to deliver my 30 minutes talk. For openers I said, “The only feedback problem we should be having is the sound of a burp after eating some of the prasadam food.” That set the tone for some carefreeness. I was really touched however, to hear Bhutadi when he spoke. As the first pioneer to bring Krishna Consciousness to his native Guyana this long time friend did indeed speak from the heart and the concern to adjust cultural habits.
Guyana’s minister of Agriculture, Robert Persaud, came with his words adding another dimension to the event.
There is much more to tell about the Padayatra of Friday held at the popular Supermarket but I must call it quits for now.
I thank our guru, Srila Prabhupada, for landing me in this festival-driven culture.
8 Km
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