Russian devotees have a strong presence here, not so much in administrative posts, but physically and culturally. Every day, without fail, you are bound to see and hear a group of musical Russians engaged in kirtan for the public’s pleasure. For our drama’s opening acts, we have a group of young female dancers. Their teacher, also Russian, asked me to give a gift to each performer, a token of their graduation. Young Vanamali, who does some martial arts display, is very Russian, and is also in our play. We are also witnessing with great pleasure that the turnout for our audience is largely from east of eastern Europe.
As I mentioned, we have a stalwart Siberian lady in a japa walking team. A Croatian devotee, Vaidehi, comes every alternative day. Our japa group, by the way, made inroads into the sugarcane fields. The plants are not fully grown. The colour green is dominant here, unlike back home in Canada where record-breaking snow levels have struck – very white.
Naturally, mostly you have brown when it comes to skin colours. The local Bengalis love Mayapura. It is their vocation/pilgrimage destination. The Russians are white. Black, well, that’s half of my drama troupe.
Some of the residents of Mayapura are stray dogs. I captured one asleep in black, white, and pink hues.
Our last performance of The Age of Kali was filmed, and we look forward to the edit.
Comments