Rain, Rain . . .”Go Away”

Posted on May 13, 2011 by Anita dasi 2 Comments

Manali 2011 Book Distribution

by Anita dasi

Everything is a matter of consciousness. When we tried distributing big books we realized, that neither the crowd, nor the city, nor the line made nearly as much difference as our own beliefs. As soon as we began to believe it was possible to distribute big books in Hindi or English we found we could.

Thrilled by this revolution of consciousness we headed to town yesterday. We were also pretty happy to get a few hours out of the guest house we were staying in. Our frustration that there was hardly ever water was compounded by the construction overhead. They had recently poured cement to build a floor above and as they knocked out each support beam it would crash down on our ceiling. A few times I ran out of the room thinking surely the ceiling will give in. After all . . . anything is possible in India.

We set out our cloth with books in the city center. We were enthusiastic to distribute the big books we had like the Hindi Srimad-Bhagavatam, Rasa Panchadhiya and Bhagavat-arka-marici-mala when we felt a few rain drops. Then I got a call from Jagat-mohini didi who said when she complained to the owners of the guest house about the construction they said we should all go away. We decided that Tarauni and Kunja would stay in town and distribute books while Sumungala and I would pack everything and move. As I started up the hill back to our guest house it began to pour rain. Rain and being sent away from our guest house – I thought the day was lost.

The move went pretty fast and Jagat-mohini didi and Radhika had found a new guest house a million times nicer for the same cost. Plus it has a vegetarian kitchen we can use, much to the relief of the rest of the girls on the trip. I think the geiser soup* I made for lunch might have crossed a line.

Sumangala and I headed back to town hoping to still distribute a few books despite the rain and move, Taruni and Kunja greeted us by saying, “Did you bring more books?” At first they were daunted by the rain storm, but they found a shop to store the books in and had great success taking a few books in their arms. After they finished most the small books they started taking out the bigger books. They found if you just offer it to everyone, eventually someone will take the book.

With the rain gone, we again sat out our mat and began kirtan. Slowly, slowly the books all found homes. We had only three books left when we adapted the Maha-mantra  to the Rolling Stone’s tune “Goodbye Ruby Tuesday”. Normally just by being white girls wearing saris selling books we gather a few onlookers, when we sing kirtan there is always crowd, but I think this catchy tune combined with the natural high that comes from book distribution drew a crowd of at least a hundred.By the time we ended our kirtan all the books we had were sold. *Geiser soup recipe –Combine 4 packs magi noodles, ½  a cabbage sliced finely, 2 green pepper diced, and cilantro and spices in a bowl. Add hot water from the geiser (small hot water heater found in Indian bathrooms to heat bathwater) and let sit in the sun for 15 minutes.