Durban, South Africa
Back On the First Flight
In some way, I try to entertain myself on planes. This time, enroute to Durban, I immersed myself in a book, Karma Nation, by a devotee friend, Mohan Ashtakala (aka Hari Mohan), published by BWL Publishing Inc. Mohan gave me a signed copy of his hot-off-the-press book, which is actually a love story. A white woman, raised in an ashram in India, meets Sam, a young black man in Boulder, Colorado. They hit it off immediately, and explore that they were soul mates in a previous life during slavery times in America's deep south. It's a good read. It's Mohan's second book. https://www.amazon.ca/Karma-Nation-Mohan-Ashtakala/dp/022860639X
Despite relative entertainment on board, when landing at King Shaka International Airport, in La Mercy, north of Durban, everything went rather crazy. An official at the airport said he can't let me in. "You have no pages left for stamping on your passport."
"I just came from Istanbul and they stamped," I said in respectful defense.
"You have to go back to Canada on the first flight. You will have to pay for the ticket. I will fire the three people who in the past stamped on your emergency visa page. And the airlines you came on will be fined $15,000 for stamping your passport when it's full."
I was left bewildered. I pleaded, on compassionate grounds, that here, in Durban, on my twentieth-consecutive-year visit, I was to attend a festival, work with teens from the Zulu community: black kids, brown, and white. Fortunately, a member of my welcome party was able to come in to talk; several calls were made, and then the Minister of Home Affairs called to let me come in, just before showing my boarding passes. With my checked-in baggage taken off the aircraft, I was free to enter.
I was entertained.
May the Source be with you!
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