Report on Terrace Bay
Although the 4 kilometre walk with Ananda and Datta was memorable, with the flow of the Saskatchewan River next to us, I would like to highlight a response that was e-mailed to me, on the success of our Festival of India; an article by Gail Johnson, a freelance writer in Terrace Bay. Thank you,, Gail. In many ways, her writing sums up the show of our group, “Vedic Mace.”
Here it is:
On July 19thTerrace Bay was treated to a Festival of India. The amazing performances in this variety show took place in the evening at the Michael King Hall. Tickets for adults were $10 each and young children got in for free. It was a full house. Director of the show, Bhaktimarga Swami, known as “The Walking Monk,” introduced all the acts, took part and recited a poem he wrote. This amazing guy has walked across Canada four times, the United States once, and six other countries.
The first wonderful act introduced was Mukur De from Calcutta doing classical Indian dances. Her movements were graceful and filled with beautiful rhythm. The gestures and facial expressions conveyed the music in a special way. When she returned later in the show the children joined in on it by dancing below the stage in time to the beat of the music.
Before the next act, everyone took part in warm-up exercises led by “The Walking Monk” which involved doing stretches with the arms and fingers. An unbelievable magic show followed by a guy known as “Data” which means master of magic and magic tricks. He used rope to do a few tricks and then made the knot disappear. With an audience participant, he did a disappearing Kleenex trick, then ate one and amazingly pulled out a whole long strip of them from his mouth. Then came a comedy skit, ‘Satire on Yoga’ about two first timers at a Yoga Studio. One person kept doing silly antics that made the other person mad. She was trying to remain calm and keep him under control but it wasn’t working. He just kept doing silly, annoying stunts. She showed compassion for him near the end when he got hurt and she called for help. Turned out he was faking. This skit was funny and the audience loved it.
The last performance was Raga instrumental music, using western and eastern instruments, by some incredible international musicians. Then a few more instruments were added and the audience began clapping to the beat. After that, anyone who wanted to was invited to take part in some dance steps. The music rhythm picked up and more people joined in. At that point, there were more people participating than there were in the audience. When the show ended, Dr. Jani, the main organizer of the event, thanked everyone for coming and those who took part in the evening festival. He then invited everyone for Indian food snacks set up close to the book display in the room.
Dr. Jani is a pathologist at the Thunder Bay Regional Hospital. When spoken with later, he said, “The festival of India has been going on in Thunder Bay at the Marina for nine years but what took place here tonight is only part of what will be presented in the city on July 21stand we also have a parade….”
Good luck to all of you and thank you for stopping in Terrace Bay to put on such an amazing festival.
May the Source be with you!
4 km
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