Wednesday, February 3rd, 2016

Wednesday, February 3^rd, 2016                                   
Toronto, Ontario

By Surprise

It took us by surprise when a woman walking behind us, hearing us talk about the seventy-plus storey high-rise, began to speak to us to clarify a point.

“Yes, it was from this building that, during its construction, a massive piece of glass fell from an incredible height that came crashing down onto the street level.”

We weren’t sure if the accident occurred from this building or another one.  She went on though.

 “It’s a condo building.  You have to watch it when you walk in the area, especially at 7AM when everyone in the building wakes up for work, flushes their toilets at the same time.  Can you imagine all those people creating all the sewage at once?!”

To that remark we had a good laugh.  It was my dear friends Drupada, Garuda, Kevala and I who took this walk down memory lane.  Yorkville was the place, the haven for hippies in Canada. Garuda was one of those who lived here in the late sixties.

Someone said if Haight-Ashbury is the centre of the American hippie world, then Yorkville was Canada’s hippie heartland.  I recall coming to this street in ’71 and it was a big tourist attraction.  It was packed with people.  Many musicians started their career here.  Now, it has become a high-end posh neighbourhood.  Garuda also relayed to us where he first met Krishna monks, at the Colonnade on Bloor St. Drupada met monks at Ryerson U. just a few blocks away.  And it was the corner of Bloor that I did pioneer with Hiranyagarbha, now Professor Jan Brazinski, the Krishna consciousness movement, armed with incense and books.  It is endearing to remember these places and events.

 

May the Source be with you!

 

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