After one morning walk, we returned to our Ambassador car and Syamasundara could not get the key to work in the ignition. He tried for several minutes.
"Srila Prabhupada, something is wrong," he said. "This is not going to work. I'll go get a cab."
He left Srila Prabhupada and I sitting in the back seat of the car. After a few minutes two well-dressed Indian men opened the car doors and sat down in the front seat. I became frightened. Srila Prabhupada, smiling, appeared very calm while he spoke to them in Hindi. Suddenly, they put their key in the ignition and the car immediately started. They drove away.
I finally realized that we had been sitting in the wrong car. This is not so hard to imagine. Twenty-five years later (when the author wrote this book) the Ambassadors still look alike to me. The gentlemen insisted on taking Srila Prabhupada back to his flat. Srila Prabhupada spoke to them during the entire ride.
"We are sorry," Srila Prabhupada told them.
"No problem," they said. "We'll take you back to where you are staying."
They drove us into town. When we arrived Srila Prabhupada said, "You can come up and take prasadam."
"No, we have to go to work," they replied. "We have business meetings. Thank you very much, Swamiji."
"This is the difference between India and America," Srila Prabhupada told me, after getting out of the car. "In America they would have said, 'Hey, what are you doing. Get out of my car.' Possibly beat you. In India, still there is some culture. In India they see a sadhu and they have some respect. But in your country they kick you out. They say, 'Get out of my car.'"
It is interesting to note that even in this situation Srila Prabhupada tried to get them to take prasadam. This is something I saw on countless occasions. Srila Prabhupada wanted to see that everyone he came in contact with received prasadam.
[Ref. Book: 'Śrīla Prabhupāda Uvāca' by SP's Personal servant- H.G. Srutakirti Das
Chapter 53: Wrong Ambassador in Bombay]
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