Sunday, February 22

Sunday morning I went for a japa walk with Govinda.  He had put a Amy's pot pie in the oven so he had to head back when we got to Main Street.  I called AV to tell him I was walking and to let me know when he was arriving at my house. "I'm at your porch," he said.  "Want to come pick me up?" I asked.  "No, I'll meet you half way."

So, I headed back and saw his form coming down the hill on SE 2nd Ave, just West of 7th Street.  As I got a little closer I saw that he was in his constitutional form- on the cell phone.  I walked toward him and then heard a cry to my right "Gargamuni!"  A car pulled up from across the lane.  I stepped closer and squinted to see Satyahit replete with sun glasses and looking cool at 66.  He asked me where I lived and I invited him over to check out the homestead.  We called AV over and he jumped in.

As I gave Satyahit the obligatory tour, I laughed, thinking of Larry David refusing to see the tour of Susie's new home on the show "Curb Your Enthusiasm."  "What's the big deal?" he said. "You sleep here, you eat there.  I already get it."  Of course, Susie was insulted.  "Yu're skipping the tour?  Get the hell out, you four-eyed-fuck."  A lot of men I know don't like her foul-mouthed psycho-bitch character but I think it's hilarious.

Satyahit hung out with us awhile, plucked on the guitar and said nice things about our house.  I asked if they wanted to go for another walk.  "Let's go to Maude's, I'll buy," I said.

I praised Satyahit for all the nice service he was doing at Krishna Lunch.  "You lift a lot of heavy buckets," I said.  He said he appreciated it but admitted it gets monotonous sometimes.  

Satyahit and AV were meeting for the first time.  On the way there they talked about a mutual friend they had who lived in Vancouver.  He was one of AV's best friends growing in the gurukula and they traveled all over with each other.  He also roomed with Satyahit.  Instant connection. Emails were exchanged and a nice discussion ensued.

I ordered a hot choclate.  AV got a Mocha, which dwarfed the size of mine.  Satyahit already had a coffee, so he ordered a water which never came.  We sat next to an artist, working on clay and he heard everything with interest- The relative and absolute instructions of the guru, the child abuse that happened at the gurukula's, all the traveling, the old friends, book distribution, etc. I kept glancing over at the artist to see his response.  On the surface he was given access to a fascinating sub-culture, warts and all.  He especially widened his eyes when the talks turned more spiritual.  

Suddenly Trey and Kelly appeared.  Trey on his skateboard and Kelly on roller blades.  They are both part of the seminary program at the Krishna House in Gainesville.  They are young and enthusiastic about Krishna consciousness and they're enthusiasm is contagious.  

They discussed that the current seminary students will be moving out of the ashram soon to make way for more candidates.  It is a wonderful program where students live for a year and learn about Krishna.  On Thursdays, they cook, serve, lead the kirtans and give class themselves. I think the program is awesome. Kelly said she's planning to bike across the country in March of 2010 and stop in Krishna temples along the way.  For the artist, I imagined it was as if an idea for a great novel was coming to his mind.

AV bought some software for $8 so he could transfer my 20,000 plus songs from my iPod onto his iTunes.  It worked surprisingly well.  It took about a day to complete.  I called him up and said "You're the proud new father of 20,000 diverse tunes."

At Shyam's game Muki appeared to hurt his knee very bad late in the second half.  I was sitting next to his cousin Mathura, Kana, AV and Trevor when we all heard the loud "pop" from the sidelines.  I saw his knee bend the wrong way.  Apparently his knee capp popped out of place and didn't go back for some time.  Muki, a tank of a young man, was rolling in the box holding his knee and writhing in pain.  A bunch of firemen from the local fire department carried him to a wheel chair and wheeled him to his car.  His girlfriend drove him off.

I went to Alachua that evening to pick up Radha at Kesi's house.  We stopped at the temple and the place was packed because they were celebrating Shiva-Ratri at the Sunday Feast.  I couldn't stay because Radha felt she wasn't dressed properly.  So, I ran in to buy some prasadam from Muhkya's table.  I couldn't decide on what to choose and started flipping a coin to get an answer.  I get very strange when I'm indecisive.  I left with two plates full for the family to sample, including pizza, lasagna, calzone and cheesecake.  It set me back $11.

We watched the Oscars while I tried to do my homework.  Finally, I had to cloister myself in another room, unable to think straight from the repeated "jai ho's" during the Bollywood-like production from "Slumdog Millionaire."