Not 24 hours after we arrived home from our amazing trip to South Africa, we had a wonderful evening kirtan at our friend Gopi’s Radiant Heart Retreat. Jagai Nitai played mrdanga and Syam Kishore strummed the sitar. Continue reading ‘The Radiant Heart Retreat’
Here they all are, over 20 GB of MP3s for your downloading pleasure. Many thanks to our good friend from Slovenia, Krishnapada das, offered us his collection of MP3s to host for free download. He is also managing the Community section of GauraVani.com and has given us even more Aindra Kirtans which we are sorting through. Continue reading ‘Download 604 Vrindavan Kirtans!’
Our last concert completed, we woke the next morning to face our final day in South Africa. As with every day, the sun rose high in the clear blue sky. One of the best things about such reliable good weather, is being able to do so much outside. As a final farewell, our hosts were going to introduce us to one of the most popular South African outdoor activities - the braai! Basically a barbecue, but with a much more catchy Afrikaans name, we’d been anticipating it for our entire trip. Gaura spent a few moments each day practicing shouting ‘BRAAI!’ with just the right macho Afrikaner intonation (with success)! Continue reading ‘Time to say good Braai! - Final Day in South Africa’
The day before we left South Africa, we had our final kirtan concert at the Bikram Yoga Studio in Randburg, another suburb of Johannesburg, not far from where we were staying. This concert was quite different from the others. The setting was less formal, and the audience was made up of a more varied crowd, many of whom loved kirtan, but weren’t necessarily part of the Hare Krishna community. For Gaura and the others, the setting of a yoga studio is perhaps the most common for their US kirtan performances, but for me, this was a first time experience. Continue reading ‘Kirtan at Bikram Yoga - Randburg, South Africa’
Our penultimate concert in South Africa took place at the Gandhi Hall in Lenasia, a suburb of Johannesburg. The ISKCON temple is also situated in Lenasia, so much of the audience was made up of congregation, friends, family and supporters of the temple. However, our hosts had also been hard at work selling tickets and advertising in local shopping centres and in other small businesses. Considering it was a week night, the turn out was very good, with a great deal of the 1000- seater auditorium being filled.
Continue reading ‘Kirtan at the Gandhi Hall - Lenasia, South Africa’
A couple days before we were scheduled to leave South Africa, we had a day free to just spend time with our hosts and see some of the city sights. Many of us had family members eagerly awaiting a little taste of South Africa upon our return, so first we headed into the centre of Johannesburg to do some shopping at the African craft market.
Walking through the shopping centre on the way to the market, it was slightly disorientating to see wreaths of snow sprayed pine and Christmas lights whilst the sun beat down outside. For most of us, this was our first experience of the reversed seasons of the Southern hemisphere - it made a welcome change to the clouds of home!
We spent a good couple of hours browsing in the market. If you wanted something stereotypically African, it was here. Brightly beaded trinkets (’You choose first, then I give you best deal’), handmade drums (’I can tell you are musician, I give you a special price’), tribal masks, bread baskets with rhinos trotting around the edge (’You like? I make myself - you see how good!’) - every corner presented a new plethora of souvenir options! The stall owners were curious to know about our slightly unusual group, walking around chanting on our japa beads (’Excuse me, what is in the magic bag?’) and uncannily picking out all the items ‘Made in India’! I even got a few queries about which airline I worked for!
Eventually, we bought everything we needed, honing our bargaining skills in the process. Some us were practised already, after many trips to India. Fortunately for the rest of us, we had the expertise of Raji, who helps in running his family’s market stall.
It took us over four hours to get back to the temple, where we arrived to find the Sunday program in full swing. Our arrival had coincided perfectly with the serving of the feast, and though we were all a little groggy from traveling, we thankfully ate the delicious food offered to Sri Sri Nitai Gaurahari. Afterwards, already feeling the need for a kirtan boost, we sang and danced together for a few hours as the rain began to pour down outside.
Sadly, the retreat passed in a flash. Only a day and a half after we’d arrived, it was almost time to leave again. After a morning program and class outdoors with Bhakti Caitanya Swami, Kartik prabhu began the closing ceremony, calling up each of the main organisers so that everyone present could vocally show their appreciation. As each person shyly made their way to the front, we all clapped and cheered. It was wonderful to hear Kartik prabhu give a description of what they had specifically been responsible for, as many had worked behind the scenes for the duration of the retreat. Some of the hardest workers, the kitchen team, continued to slave over their stoves right until the last moment, sacrificing the whole experience so that we could all enjoy tasty meals three times a day.
Continue reading ‘So Long, Sun City - Krishna Balarama Youth Retreat - Final Day’
Eventually, there was movement! Though we were a little behind schedule, we nevertheless gathered in the makeshift temple at a nearby hotel, and had a dynamic morning kirtan led by Ananta. After five minutes everyone was dancing away their morning sleepiness, and we ended feeling energized and ready for the full day ahead.
Continue reading ‘The Holy Name Rises at Sun City! - Krishna Balarama Youth Retreat - Day Two’
We spent several days at our home base in the suburbs of Johannesburg, getting to know our hosts and preparing for the weekend retreat to come. Since it wasn’t vacation time, everyone juggled school and work, calling in sick or telling quite outrageous lies in order to spend time with us and take care of anything we needed. Kartik prabhu even confessed that he told his boss he had food poisoning, after eating something his mum had just brought back from her pilgrimage to India! In between looking after us, and making ‘blink and you’ll miss it’ trips in to respective offices and campuses, the core team of retreat organisers were working flat out to ensure everything was ready for the weekend. Continue reading ‘Bhajans in the Bush- Krishna Balarama Youth Retreat - Day One’
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