In pre-glasnost days a veteran book distributor
finds a way to get Bhagavad-gita As It Is to the Russians.
After going through immigration at the Agosto de Sandino Aeropuerto at Managua. I stood in line to purchase $60 worth of cordovas (the local currency), which is required for anyone entering the city. Having been told, inaccurately, that everything is inexpensive in Nicaragua, I had brought only $200 in cash with me.
More important, I had two hundred copies of the Russian translation ofBhagavad-gita As It Is, by His Divine Grace A C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. I had come to give them to Russian officials and professionals stationed in Managua. At that time, the winter of 1985, it was easier and safer to distribute Srila Prabhupada's books to Russians outside the Soviet Union. The book had been newly published. I felt it was important to distribute as many copies as possible, because whenever Bhagavad-gita As It Is is translated into a new language, many new devotees j of Krsna are made.
In customs, a uniformed young lady confiscated my books. She said that customs would deliver them to the Russian embassy, but I insisted I would have to do it myself. Unfortunately, the administrator of customs had already gone home for the night, so she said I should come back the next day, as it would take that long for the books to go through the clearing house.
I took a cab and asked for the Hotel Central, the largest hotel near the airport and the only one I'd heard of. I had also been told that the rates were reasonable there. It was a very dark, humid night. The short ride on the bumpy, unlit road cost five hundred cordovas, more than $20. The hotel seemed to be empty, but they said they had no available rooms. It was just as well since the rooms cost $75 a night Obviously, I had come to the wrong place, so I took another taxi back down the dark, bumpy road that led to the city.
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