The Hare Krishna Festival of India and other events in Vancouver

Well my sojourn in the greater Vancouver area (covering, Delta, White Rock, Surrey, downtown Vancouver which in turn includes such places as English Bay and Stanley Park) is coming to an end .
Over the 13th-15th August there are numerous festivals put out by the Indian community and of course the Indian community also participates in other fun comunity parades and festivals . One had an open air tractor trailer which had seats for a full band playing merrily away.

The Indian Festivals take place over the 13th and 14th aug and on the 15th is the flag hoisting at the Indian consulate.

I showcased my upcoming book (see www.nobodaboda.com) and tours (see www.tigerpawadventures.com) at the HareKrishna Iskon Festival. It was set up in beautiful Stanley Park, by the sea, and small and compact and well organised by the tireless volunteers.
There was a great deal of interest and I was impressed particularly by some of the younger visitors who were very well travelled and had very insightful questions. Besides the trinkets, apparel, food and  such there were numerous stalls on yoga, meditation, spirituality and such. The ISKON group performed wonderful Indian classical dance, theatre and song to entertain all.

ISKON also served free food to huge public lineups ..quite commendable..

I a not sure how many knew or know, that the 14th aug (day of the festival) is actually Sri Aurobindo's Birthday. And that he was declared the most dangerous man in India by the British, and fought for Indian independence long years before Gandhi. That he was considered the reincarnation of Krishna on earth during his time..when in sadhna with "the Mother' in Auroville.

The other festivals were by the Punjabi community which included one called Geda Baba...da..
I received alot of interest in India and India bound trips..and plan to be a regular at the Iskon Festival.

I spent the weekend with friends in a wonderful location in Vancouver near Van Dousen gardens. These wonderful gardens about 40 years old, were the venue for an excellent musical festival. We took our chairs, hampers of food and set up along with the many others perhaps close to 2000 and watched the terrific pianist and base, dru combine from Cuba and then another group from Copenhagen...but the summer has been cruelly short in Vancouver this year...and so the beautiful people are out in force roller blading, biking, sailing, and so on.. as fall looms around the horizon...

I head now to Palm Beach Forida..and then wing home to New Delhi before embarking on the DagLang La Lake Trek in Bhutan...stay tuned!