171009:Diwali Subhakanchalu:)

17th October'09@2300

Morning got up at 6am,grabbed my new greenish kurta and hit the shower.The only thing that I lacked was a good oil bath:(Then,I was and still am in Diwali spirit,switched on my favourite tracks on my playlist consisting my Hero Krishna's songs and holy chants.I begun to clean up and get my cute little altar all ready for my special prayers today.I trimmed down a bouquet of chrysanthemum which I bought yesterday down the Surikova Street from an old lady who appeared so thankful when I bought her flowers:)In the mean time,I let the rice boiled with milk on the stove(yeah,was trying to make ponggal),and sevvanthee too helped by keeping an eye on it when I was back into the room,preparing the altar.

At 9am,I was all done and I did my prayers.Deepavali is my very much anticipated day.As for me,Deepavali is all about the brightness and eye glaring illuminious lights(diyas) which have the penetrability ability into ones mind and soul ,to become a better human in life,just how The Sacred Gita and Vedic sculptures dictate.

Because the connection sucked to a greater height today,I could only talk to mum dad and ragu via skype,I miss webcaming with them today.Glad all is going fine there:)Then,I assembled all my love(my cookies sent by mum via parcel)on a plate,went around to share my Diwali delicacies with my floormates.

Helped sevvanthee to fry the puris then at about 11am,nana,pearly,zaid,jia lynn,emmy,xiang bin,hafiz,maalini ,sevvanthee and I gathered in Kiran's room to 'buka' our breakfast.It was really fun spending time with my buddies today.Something different from what we usually do previous years.

Returned to my room at 3pm,there was a knock on the door and it was suvin came with his greetings on diwali.Later, sevvanthee told me "hey,karan and suvin will be going to this Krishna's temple which is before the bridge"Wanna go?"..Me: "ermm,are you sure we can go with them?where is it?" Sevvanthee :"it's their first time too to go there,the juniors also will be following"..after much thoughts,I was all set go,guess Krishna wants me to visit him,yeah:)

Reached there,and it's located in a house.I have heard of ISKCON worldwide branches and this one in Russia is another one of it!! I was really thrilled when I entered the door and to my great suprise,an old lady in her early 50s and a young lady were managing the place.They are Russians with Hindhu names: Laksmi,Maharani.We were ushered to the second floor where Krishna and Radha stood there ever elegantly.The lady in her 50s started singing and chatting Hare Krishna manthra and explained on The Bhagavad Gita in russian language.At certain points,we were lost..she knew more than what we,the HINDHUS know about our Hindhuism.Now,isn;t that simply astonishing?We were served with 'prasadham' by the woman.I bought a cd on Lord Krishna-14 tracks sang by the famous artistes for an example:Sting.As we were ready to go,we were reminded consistently to join them on Monday at 6pm for Govardhan's festival which is one of the biggest festivals celebrated.We yanked opened the door,and here you go Acharya Seva came inside.Now,he's not an old priest but a Russian guy in his err..less than 30s?Clad in his denim,jeans and jacket,he has a tiny pony tail,clean shaved face and head,Hare Krishna beads around his neck,I was struck with awe once again!

I know most of ISCKON's devotees are from the US and EU but RUSSIANS?they too?Wow,that's really cool espcially Acharya Seva asked us "Who is Krsna?" and continued "He is THE ONLY ONE,THE ORIGIN OF EVERYTHING"..Krishna,you're the heartbeat of our souls.

Acharya got immersed into Hare Krishna manthra,happily chanting away whilst playing the musical instrument.We sang and clapped our hands.It was really something today for me after so long,being able to visit A KRISNA's Temple here in our very own Nizhny Novgorod.I bowed infront Krishna and Radha,prayed,snapped a photo of Them and made up my mind to visit the temple more often,actually I was thinking of going back on Monday and joining with the rest for the Govardhan's festival.Will decide by tomorrow since monday I will be having my russian class.

Upon reaching to 410,sevvanthee and I had our dinner,chit-chatted and here I am now,all satisfied on how blissfuly my deepavali'09 went by/will be ending in 20 minutes time.I enjoyed it very much.My routine rituals on Diwali,having had blessings from Lord Krishna,mum and dad,received sms-es and greetings on diwali--all of you certainly made my Diwali more meaningful.Thank you.

2340