Monday, April 22nd, 2013

Shortly After

 

Vancouver, British Columbia

 

Shortly after arriving at the ISKCON center in Burnaby, BC, I was greeted warmly by a bag pipe band.  Balaram, 14, and his younger bro, Venudar (12 I believe), have been practicing the pipes while their dad referred to as CC (Chaitanya Chandra) beats on the drum.  Their younger bro, Keshavasya, is not quite there yet.  At greeting time he was transfixed at the Anna Maya platform – eating snacks.  He was just being a kid. 

 

The number they played, Black Bear, is a Scotsman’s favourite, as I understand it.  800 years ago, black bears did exist in the upper section of the British Isles. “Their pelts were used for hats,” says CC. 

 

Now, the real force behind the bag-blowing preoccupation is the mother of the boys, Manoharini.  Parental smart as she is, she had, some years back, observed all this unbridled energy the boys had.  At one point she decided that while she had her own self obligation to control the senses, there was also the need to harness the wild horses (senses) of her three kids.  I’ve known her since my first walk across Canada in ’96, before she was a bride and a mom.

 

CC, who showed up in kilt attire, has been the other natural disciplinarian for the boys.  Somehow between the two of them, some great by products came out of this highlander music playing. 

 

Did I catch them also playing a tune to Narasimha, the half man half lion avatar as they finished Black Bear?  “They’re learning,” said CC, and they are priming themselves for more full on popular pieces.  Even Jagannatha Ashtakam, in praise of the wooden icon of Krishna, is being considered for the summer festival at Vancouver’s English Bay – The Chariot Festival. 

 

The formula is working in terms of helping the boys to become men/Vaishnavas (or devotees of God).  They seem to like what they’re doing.  It’s engaging and the end result is very gratifying to the ears.  The bagpipe sound rings like a cousin to the shehnai, a horned instrument so much loved by our guru, Srila Prabhupada.  “Hmmm, maybe I could steal these guys for a week or two and they can play next to me on foot when I begin tackling a stretch of the Prairies, that would be a boost.”

 

0 KM