Monday 2 December 2013

Thursday, November 28th, 2013

On the Roads in Cuba
 
Havana, Cuba
 
A man promptly trailed along the street with one of those famous Cuban cigars set in his mouth. I had expected more of this type of image in Cuba. I see few young folks smoking them. They resort more to cigarettes.
 
According to one of our Cuban members here, Raja Guyam, ´´Cubans are not so big on drugs as they are on drinking, and gambling is out of the question. In ’59 it was outlawed and you get penalized quite heavily if found doing so.´´.
 
When we conducted our second initiation on the island on this trip, the candidates who made their vows, have no qualms about abstinence towards gambling and for the most part intoxication. When I looked into the eyes of those initiates as they expressed their commitments, I wished with an optic discharge that they would do well. I said, “Be an inspiration to others.”  Being quite young, Claudia is a young mother to the first Vaishnav baby boy in Cuba and has a good chance to succeed with a supportive husband, who is now in Spain on a scholarship. Alex the other initiate is only 20, with a promising future could easily be swept away given his good looks, so we wish him well. Stay in spiritual company and you are safe.
 
Hayagriva and I, along with two female devotees, took to the charm of streets in Rodas. We compare life here to the villages in India: simple circumstance with modest homes and basic needs being met. Walking in such a neighbourhood is heart-warming.
 
Opportunities to walk came in doses. On the autopista, an eight lane highway, en route to Habana, for washroom breaks I vied to walk a stretch of it. I figured people need to get used to the robes. I’m going to be coming regularly.
 
The final trek was along the Malecon, the sea walk, where the road was actually closed to the traffic. The Atlantic seemed angry with blasts of water spraying over into the several lanes. We kept our distance from these water walls which have the potential to totally knock you out. Danger lurks at every step.
 
Alex is now Adidev. Claudia is Chaitanya Lila. Congratulations!
 
May the Source be with you!
 
7 KM

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