So we have been here in Mayapura for 2.5 weeks and in India for a month now. Getting more into the flow of daily life now rather than the day to day festivities that the previous weeks have held. I am not doing as much Krishna.com work while here as all my vendors are in Vrindavan, but I have found a number of new suppliers of various items and have also located another "my man in India" for this area which is really helpful. I use to know this young Bengali, Sujitendriya das, when he was in the gurukula (devotee school) in Mayapura in 1986 when I was here. He speaks perfectly good English having grown in the ashram with so many American and Australian boys that he speaks like a native with a very light accent. But he is still a Bengali so he a great resource for me and will help me with a number of things such as perhaps finding a new apartment, bikes, fabric supplier and tailor and other things. He was also the married to the granddaughter of Srila Prabhupada, but sadly, in 2006 she drowned in the Ganges during the floods along with one of their 2 daughters and brother-in-law. He is such a nice and friendly fellow, but as soon as the humour or talk dies down you can see the heartache in his eyes. He is still struggling to get over his loss. He still has another daughter who is living with him and his sister.
Now that we have settled in more we have a bit of a daily schedule going on. We rise at 3.15 am - 3.30, take our bucket bath and dress for the temple. I actually heat a pot of water on the gas stove while I brush my teeth and hair. The morning program starts at 4.30 and it is about a 15 minute walk from here to there. Mangal arotik (early morning services), Nrishingha arotik (services for Lord Nrishinghadeva) and tulasi arotik (services for Tulasi devi) are all finished by about 5.30 followed by any announcements. Then it is japa meditation time until the next half of the program at 7 am, Greeting of the Deities, one altar at a time then Srila Prabhupada's guru Puja. After this, class begins at about 8 - 8.15 and lasts till about 9am. Before class, however, I will go outside to the mahaprashadam stands and buy some Calzone or pizza to take back with me after class. You can't wait until after class as it will be all gone by then. There are also many kinds of cakes, cookies, traditional Indian milk sweets and more.
It will be about 9.30 - 10.00 by the time I get home, have another bath, because by now we will be hot and bothered by walking home, usually carrying 5 litres of filtered drinking water that the temple sells for rs. 2/lt. - a bargain when the exchange rate is rs 45/$1 and then have breakfast. Check my emails and other such computer stuffs and take a nap unless Sabhita, my new servant (yes, servant as she will do what I ask for the 1-2 hours she is here), has arrived in which case I wait till she leaves. Sabhita is a very petite and sweet young thing, probably in her early 20s but many Indians don't have a clue how old they are never celebrating or even taking note of the day they were born, boys and girls alike. She sweeps, mops, dusts even the windows - remember how dusty I told you it is here. She washes the dishes, cleans the bathroom, washes the clothes and when I bring an iron from Vrindavan, she will iron for me as well. She does less than an hour a day for which I pay her rs 30/day which is a third more than she gets from anyone else. She was very delighted and giggled when I agreed to her price, knowing that it is usually rs 20 an hour. But she will stay for up to 2 hours if I need her to. Maybe if I should ever deign to cook again I might ask her to assist me. Wonder if she is a good cook......... hmmmmm.....
So there's half the day right there. Second half consists of trying not to over heat by staying inside. Our apartment is actually quite hot as it is on the top floor right under the roof which will always collect the most heat. We are trying to make arrangements to either move, as I've said, or put in an air conditioner and refridgerator. Everyday a subji walla, or fruits and veg. man comes to my door and tries, successfully, to sell me some fruit or vegetables. This isn't the best way to shop and I will have to make other arrangements with another 'temple' subji walla who speaks very good English, is on the phone and you just tell him everything you want and he will go to Nabadwip across the Ganga and get it for you, usually at a more reliable price. With this other subji walla you have to barter on the price of everything. Sigh... Actually, I won't use him again as he way over-charged me for some veggies the other day, didn't have change for rs.500 with a rs.190 bill and, needless to say, we haven't seen him since! Told dad not to do it...but to be fair, we have been out during the middle of the day for the last 2 days since we last saw him...but I don't believe he would have come back anyway!
Lunch is served between 1-1.30 and 1.30-2.00. We will usually try to make one of these times if we are hungry, which Bhas almost always is. Lunch is a mini-feast served on plates made of dried round leaves held together with small twigs and are usually 2-3 layers thick and will have a swerving of pickles and salt sitting there. 2 kinds of rice, dahl, 2 subjis one with curd, chappatis, chutney, and followed up with sweet rice and rasgullas are served everyday.
Bhaskara will go over to the office around mid-day, before or after lunch and today I was asked if I could work in one of the offices as a secretary and entering data into a database. I don't know when I'll start or if as I still have a bit of traveling to do before I am more settled here...plus I want to avoid the really hot months of May and June but we'll see.
4pm will see most of the devotees head to the Ganga to take bath and cool down. It is always such a relief and calming whenever we get it together and go. We may go back home or over to the temple if I have business with some one or need to pick up some supplies. There are a bevy of shops, both inside and outside the temple campus, all along the temple wall. There is even a health food store of European origin. There are actually 3 different temples within the temple compound, or campus as they say here and we may attend one of the evening arotiks at this time. If we are hungry, which I'm not usually, but Bhas almost always is! we can either get evening prashad from any of 3 kitchens or go to the Govinda's restaurant here. No shortage of eating places here and virtually never a need to cook. And since writing this post, I have discovered another 4 eating places, including a bakery, also within the campus.
Usually tired at this point and don't feel like walking so either take a rickshaw or a flaat which, like a rickshaw, is driven like a bike, but instead of seats for 2 it has a wooden flat bed that can carry many passengers as well as items. We pay about 10 rs for the pleasure. I tend to prefer the flaats as the seats on the rickshaws are very uncomfortable and for some reason always slope downward maybe hoping you will slide right off.
I brought my camera down to the Ganga this afternoon. Here are some pictures:
He started out cranky...
...along with others...
...having a good time...
...still more good times...
...a beautiful sunset...
...
... still many many more good times...
(yes, you need to have seen the famous series of cookbooks from the 'Daughters of Hawaii Civic Center' of a similar title to understand in grammar/humor')
.... ... worshiping and being grateful for
...and cricket with the Indian team, Dad was happy once again! Next post I will tell you about how Bhas gets on with the locals...who would have thunk?!
Now that we have settled in more we have a bit of a daily schedule going on. We rise at 3.15 am - 3.30, take our bucket bath and dress for the temple. I actually heat a pot of water on the gas stove while I brush my teeth and hair. The morning program starts at 4.30 and it is about a 15 minute walk from here to there. Mangal arotik (early morning services), Nrishingha arotik (services for Lord Nrishinghadeva) and tulasi arotik (services for Tulasi devi) are all finished by about 5.30 followed by any announcements. Then it is japa meditation time until the next half of the program at 7 am, Greeting of the Deities, one altar at a time then Srila Prabhupada's guru Puja. After this, class begins at about 8 - 8.15 and lasts till about 9am. Before class, however, I will go outside to the mahaprashadam stands and buy some Calzone or pizza to take back with me after class. You can't wait until after class as it will be all gone by then. There are also many kinds of cakes, cookies, traditional Indian milk sweets and more.
It will be about 9.30 - 10.00 by the time I get home, have another bath, because by now we will be hot and bothered by walking home, usually carrying 5 litres of filtered drinking water that the temple sells for rs. 2/lt. - a bargain when the exchange rate is rs 45/$1 and then have breakfast. Check my emails and other such computer stuffs and take a nap unless Sabhita, my new servant (yes, servant as she will do what I ask for the 1-2 hours she is here), has arrived in which case I wait till she leaves. Sabhita is a very petite and sweet young thing, probably in her early 20s but many Indians don't have a clue how old they are never celebrating or even taking note of the day they were born, boys and girls alike. She sweeps, mops, dusts even the windows - remember how dusty I told you it is here. She washes the dishes, cleans the bathroom, washes the clothes and when I bring an iron from Vrindavan, she will iron for me as well. She does less than an hour a day for which I pay her rs 30/day which is a third more than she gets from anyone else. She was very delighted and giggled when I agreed to her price, knowing that it is usually rs 20 an hour. But she will stay for up to 2 hours if I need her to. Maybe if I should ever deign to cook again I might ask her to assist me. Wonder if she is a good cook......... hmmmmm.....
So there's half the day right there. Second half consists of trying not to over heat by staying inside. Our apartment is actually quite hot as it is on the top floor right under the roof which will always collect the most heat. We are trying to make arrangements to either move, as I've said, or put in an air conditioner and refridgerator. Everyday a subji walla, or fruits and veg. man comes to my door and tries, successfully, to sell me some fruit or vegetables. This isn't the best way to shop and I will have to make other arrangements with another 'temple' subji walla who speaks very good English, is on the phone and you just tell him everything you want and he will go to Nabadwip across the Ganga and get it for you, usually at a more reliable price. With this other subji walla you have to barter on the price of everything. Sigh... Actually, I won't use him again as he way over-charged me for some veggies the other day, didn't have change for rs.500 with a rs.190 bill and, needless to say, we haven't seen him since! Told dad not to do it...but to be fair, we have been out during the middle of the day for the last 2 days since we last saw him...but I don't believe he would have come back anyway!
Lunch is served between 1-1.30 and 1.30-2.00. We will usually try to make one of these times if we are hungry, which Bhas almost always is. Lunch is a mini-feast served on plates made of dried round leaves held together with small twigs and are usually 2-3 layers thick and will have a swerving of pickles and salt sitting there. 2 kinds of rice, dahl, 2 subjis one with curd, chappatis, chutney, and followed up with sweet rice and rasgullas are served everyday.
Bhaskara will go over to the office around mid-day, before or after lunch and today I was asked if I could work in one of the offices as a secretary and entering data into a database. I don't know when I'll start or if as I still have a bit of traveling to do before I am more settled here...plus I want to avoid the really hot months of May and June but we'll see.
4pm will see most of the devotees head to the Ganga to take bath and cool down. It is always such a relief and calming whenever we get it together and go. We may go back home or over to the temple if I have business with some one or need to pick up some supplies. There are a bevy of shops, both inside and outside the temple campus, all along the temple wall. There is even a health food store of European origin. There are actually 3 different temples within the temple compound, or campus as they say here and we may attend one of the evening arotiks at this time. If we are hungry, which I'm not usually, but Bhas almost always is! we can either get evening prashad from any of 3 kitchens or go to the Govinda's restaurant here. No shortage of eating places here and virtually never a need to cook. And since writing this post, I have discovered another 4 eating places, including a bakery, also within the campus.
Usually tired at this point and don't feel like walking so either take a rickshaw or a flaat which, like a rickshaw, is driven like a bike, but instead of seats for 2 it has a wooden flat bed that can carry many passengers as well as items. We pay about 10 rs for the pleasure. I tend to prefer the flaats as the seats on the rickshaws are very uncomfortable and for some reason always slope downward maybe hoping you will slide right off.
I brought my camera down to the Ganga this afternoon. Here are some pictures:
He started out cranky...
...but after a beautiful bath in Mother Ganga...
...along with others...
...having a good time...
...more good times...
...still more good times...
...(where did he go?)...
...a beautiful sunset...
...the great views...
...still great sunset...
...still many more good times...
...
...
...and more people having...
... still many many more good times...
(yes, you need to have seen the famous series of cookbooks from the 'Daughters of Hawaii Civic Center' of a similar title to understand in grammar/humor')
.... ... worshiping and being grateful for
.... the cooling waters...
...along with a quick dip...
...new friends...
...and cricket with the Indian team, Dad was happy once again! Next post I will tell you about how Bhas gets on with the locals...who would have thunk?!
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