Monday, October 5, 2009

New York Donuts In India

My Trip So Far (unedited, posted quickly to save on internet charge :)  )

    The fun in India began at the Airport- in America. Boarding time was a glimpse into the coming months in the east. As the flight attendants called for passengers in the business class, a crowd of people gathered at the front to board the plane, only to be turned back over and over again. “please wait until your seat number is called for boarding; do not crowd the entrance to the gate.”
Customs had some computer problems but we ultimately got through and met some unexpected friends at the airport who had flown in from Los Angeles. While driving through Delhi we stopped at a red light with some slum kids, and after begging for a while, I decided to give one boy one of my New York Donut Prasad bought from the Donut plant in Manhattan. These Donuts are world famous and apparently Oprah orders them and has them flown to Chicago. With my broken Hindi I let the boy know that these Donuts were from America and his face lit up as he shouted to his friends “ America!”
As he happily ate, his friends crowded the taxi to ask for more, but I only Had seven and was saving them for some friends. ***** DONUT STORY**** 45 minutes before my shuttle pick-up I race from the Bhakti Center with Vasudeva  to the Donut Plant to get some. It was Ekadasi, so I couldn't enjoy them till next day. We got back right in time to board shuttle and get to airport.

Vrindavan
    I didn't stay in Delhi as I had planned to, and arrived in Vrindavan at 1:30 AM. Wired like a person on crack for a month, I showered, chanted my rounds, and attended Mangal Arati. I finally fell asleep at Nitai's flat around 2 PM, twelve hours later, and woke up in the dead of night, awake and alert. I knew I either shoulda gone right to sleep or stayed up until 6PM or so. Now I was awake and the rest of Vraj was asleep. We did Parikrama the next day and I noticed how the western world is rapidly flooding Vrindavan. I practically chanted my rounds in anger, but these simple people are not to blame. Providence and time will tell. Vaisesika prabhu advised me to soak my feet after the walk and I kinda procrastinated, waking up the next morning to an allergy attack- my immune system was trying to fix ten things at once; jet lag, aching muscles, insomnia, etc etc. Yesterday I finally soaked my feet and poof* things started for the up slope. Its also been raining a lot, but that's good since Vrindavan got little rain this year during the Monsoon season.

Internet is of course hard to come across, but I'll be posting once a week, at most, once every two weeks. I'm off to Govardhana tomorrow to be of some service to the swamis and senior devotees. Pray for me :)
Keshi