The Mormons in Spanish Fork Utah are proud of their Krishna temple with its traditional Indian architecture. Visitors come to pet the llamas and climb the steps to the temple balcony where they point to their homes in the distance.
Downstairs in the temple restaurant, bus tour kids watched Vaibhavi talk with her parrot. Vaibhavi noticed me walk in. "I was wondering when I was going to see you."
"I'm glad you're still with us," I said. She had cancer a few years ago.
"It takes a lot to stop me. Hey, tell these kids to start buying stuff. It costs a lot of money to run this place." She turned her attention back to the parrot.
"Her husband Charu, was my temple president," I told the kids, "back in 1976."
"1976?" They looked at me as if I were a museum exhibit.
"Vaibhavi and Charu are a powerful team. They designed and built a temple in Australia—then moved to the US and settled in Berkeley. Have you seen the temple there? No ...? You're going to, it's on our tour. Then they came here and built this place. They never had kids." I motioned to the building we stood in, "This is their kid, their third kid."
Vaibhavi called across the room, "I've got some llama shears." She pointed to Radha Vinode's big Afro. "We could take care of that for you."
Radha Vinode replied in his polite British voice, "Oh, thank you, Mataji, but I'll be keeping this today. Thank you, though."
"No, I don't mind," Vaibhavi said. "I'll run and get them right now. It will be a big improvement."
Radha Vinode looked uneasy.
The conversation was interrupted by Jaya Sri Radhe doing the five-clap—one, two; one, two, three—and the bus tour kids echoed her, "clap, clap, clap-clap clap.
Jaya Sri Radhe announced, "We'll perform tonight; get your costumes and makeup ready. Tomorrow we'll ride horseback through a Navajo Indian reservation. This is Vaibhavi. She and her husband, Charu, built this beautiful place. As you know, they have the festival of colors here every year. Over thirty thousand people dance in kirtan and throw colors on each other. They've asked if we can help in their garden. How many of you can help with pulling weeds?"
A few hands went up.
"That's pretty good." Vaibhavi said, "But we can use a lot more help. C'mon you guys. You have to work for your lunch."
A few more hands went up.
Vaibhavi caught Radha Vinode's eye and made a scissors motion with her fingers. Radha Vinode's eyes grew large. No one noticed or asked what I was laughing at.
***
An elderly man from India read everyone's palms. The crowd moved close to listen. "This line is your life," he said, peering through thick glasses. "You're going to live sixty-six years. You will have seven children." The crowd cheered. "And this line ... uh," he looked through a magnifying glass, "you will not have much money, but you are intelligent, very intelligent." The crowd cheered again.
"Who's next? Oh you've been sitting here, waiting ... what is your name? Do you have a man in mind, a boy to marry?"
"No", the young lady said.
"Good. You should wait ..." he looked at the side of her hand, "until you're twenty-eight. The first man you meet, don't marry him. Wait till you meet the second man. The first one will be no good." He dropped her hand, "OK, who's next?"
He examined the next girl's hand, "You're a jewel in your family!"
"Really?" She was skeptical after hearing her friend's report.
"Yes! You'll bring fame and wealth to your family. They're very fortunate to have you. See this line right here?"
"Yes."
"It's very clear."
"What's very clear?"
"This line."
"Yes it is. But what does it mean?"
"It's very clear."
"Yes. Thank you. What does it mean?"
"Your parents must be proud of you."
"Yes, I think they are ..."
I went for a walk.
When I returned, the palm reader called me over. After glancing at my hand, he happily announced I would die at fifty-four.
"I'm fifty-eight right now," I said.
He looked at my hand again. "Perhaps there was a health crisis at fifty-four?"
"No."
He looked disappointed.
"I'm sorry about that," I said, "I really am."
***
Gaura Narayan kept me awake as I drove through Arizona that night.
"What did you think of the palm reader?"
Gaura Narayan laughed, "That guy was a joke."
"I agree. He said I died four years ago."
"He got one thing right, though. He said I would accomplish anything I set my mind to. Like an arrow shot by a warrior, nothing will stop it."
"That's encouraging. I hope he's right."
"I pride myself in never starting something I can't finish."
"And I pride myself in starting projects that are so awesome and epic, no one will ever finish them."
The sound of the bus's tires roaring across the Arizona pavement was the only response.
YOU ARE READING
Krishna Bus Tour
Non-FictionI drove a busload of teenage Hare Krishna kids across North America, many of them from England that grew up in a mansion donated by George Harrison of the Beatles. We drove the Florida Keys to Vancouver and everything in between, stopping at festiv...
