The Book Distribution adventure,by Aisvarya das
Mahatma Prabhu and I have also been known to like an adventure or two. One of our hobbies was to confuse bored bank security guards. Our tactic was to walk in the door of a bank in formation and then split; one of us making a B-line for the bank tellers and the other shooting for the stairs leading to the offices. The sight of two westerners with flowing robes cruising through the doors and fanning out when inside would sometimes overload the brains of many a simple hearted, sleepy security guard. Their reactions ranged from the 'gaping open mouthed' to the 'jumping up chair toppling routine' to the 'start chasing but not sure which one to follow dance.'
On one such occasion I had hurled myself into a bank, smiled at the guard while rushing towards the closing doors of an elevator, missed it, u-turned ducked under a counter, almost walked into Mahatma, feigned a pass to the right, and got to the stairs before I think I was noticed. On an initial scan at the top of the steps I saw the Vice President, Mr. Chan, sitting at his desk at one end of an open plan office. Like many other high ranking managers he had his own personal sofa close at hand, and when I approached him he quickly utilized it by very cordially inviting me to sit down for an informal chat and a drink of hot water (! – next best thing to highly intoxicating green tea).
At this point my guard friend arrived at the scene. Huffing and puffing with a bright red face he spluttered something in Chinese only to be stopped by Mr. Chan's motioning that all was well on the western front and that he should go back to his duties downstairs.
I then took the opportunity and explained who I was to Mr. Chan. I presented him with a Bhagavad-Gita and Krsna Book and introduced some basic KC philosophy. Unlike in America where the higher echelons of society tend to be intimidating to say the least, a good percentage of Chinese higher management is very approachable. The problem is reaching them – we normally get shot-down or tackled at the initial hurdle; the receptionist. Nothing like the good old Wild West Hare Krishna approach.
