Hare Krishna!

My temple visits in the US have become what beach visits in Goa used to be - the default choice when we want to do something different. Temples are a great place to take Addu. He can freely exhaust his athletic and vocal capacities. We usually find other toddlers up to similar antics and I can hide among their parents when elders or authorities throw us disapproving glances.

The Hindu temple closest to our house happens to be a Hare Krishna temple. Our American handyman is a Hare Krishna follower. He sang praises of the local temple, drew us a map, brought us tasty prasad and called my mother-in-law "mataji". Now we had to go. I successfully diverted our piety to other, more distant venues for months, but finally gave in.

I had never been to a Hare Krishna temple before but experiences and reading combined to make me file Hare Krishna followers in roughly the same corner of my mind as I place Amway folks and telemarketeers. My first encounter with a Hare Krishna follower was many years ago. He was cordial, extroverted and in every way the sort of person I'd want to hang out with. The only gotcha was my name (yes, again). All the words in my name - Jagannath Gopal Krishnan - are Krishna's names. The follower decided this was adequate proof of my devoutness and perhaps that bringing me into the fold was his divine duty. I enjoyed our subsequent exchanges about as much as visits from Jehovah's witnesses. Why don't the proselytizers of the world believe in freedom of choice? I would love to learn about a religion or sect if I'm told, "Hey, here's this wonderful thing that I want to share with you. Yakity yak... Ok that's all - let me know if you ever want to know more".

Then there's the dancing. Back in India, my most vivid memory of Hare Krishna followers is that of foreigners with their heads shaven and wearing ochre robes, dancing in large groups with an energy and abandon that I've only been able to envy, not emulate. It's hard for me to picture dancing in a place of worship; I'm just not used to it.

I was thus less than enthusiastic when Charu decreed that we'd go to the Hare Krishna temple last weekend. I hadn't even practiced my dance moves yet (none of them go with a large paunch anyway).

I was mistaken about the temple. It buzzed with activity, people were friendly and the place was welcoming. It was like any other Hindu temple - we were left alone and could choose how we wanted to participate. There was dancing during the Aarti, but it wasn't, as I imagined, a reckless expression of joy on beholding the lord. That would be hard to match. Or feign. The dancing was coordinated and rhythmic. Most people swayed or moved gently. It had the pull of a dance or party where the music is good, you see a bunch of people dancing and pretty soon you can't keep yourself from moving to the beat too. It was similar to the garba and even that seemed boisterous in comparison.

If my Amway radar picks up even the slightest bit of solicitation, I am transformed into an unsocial, unfriendly person. Even the anticipation of such an interaction is enough to make me assume such a defensive stance. I therefore regarded any overtures of friendship with some suspicion but overall the evening went well. I spent most of my time in the outer hall preventing Addu from pulling down two giant curtains that extended all the way from the high ceiling to the floor.

The visit was thus thankfully uneventful. Addu didn't do any major damage other than occasionally screaming his lungs out in glee. Charu added to our mirth by walking up to the follower who manned the prasad table and shocking him in all innocence by asking - "Is this all vegetarian?"