Episode 9: From An Idea On Paper To The Physical!
(If my memory serves me well this is the thoughtful and generous lady who would send big luscious mangos down to Venkata and myself in the afternoon while we labored under the searing Calcutta sun to build the Rath cart. Thank you again mataji 38 years later! )
“O son of Kunti, I am the taste of water, the light of the sun and the moon, the syllable Om in the Vedic mantras; I am the sound in ether and the ability in man.” - Bhagavad Gita As It Is, Chapter 7 “Knowledge of the Absolute”, Text 8.
“In the proper discharge of duty, one has to learn to tolerate nonpermanent appearances and disappearances of happiness and distress. According to Vedic injunction, one has to take his bath early in the morning even during the month of Magha (January-February). It is very cold at that time, but in spite of that a man who abides by the religious principles does not hesitate to take his bath. Similarly, a woman does not hesitate to cook in the kitchen in the months of May and June, the hottest part of the summer season. One has to execute his duty in spite of climatic inconveniences” - Bhagavad Gita As It Is, Chapter 2 “Contents of the Gita Summarized”, Text 14.
Once the lumber order was placed it was shipped to the site we had selected for construction and the work began. I was excited. I was in India. I was in Calcutta and with the help of Lord Jagannatha I was going to build Him a big huge chariot for a big huge parade. I was in my element and it was all coming together nicely. One thing I had overlooked was how crippling the heat could get in Calcutta as the weeks ushered in the summer blaze. The average day was 85° but it was not uncommon for it to go over 90° or even occasionally as high as 100° Fahrenheit. Venkata and I worked side by side with the hired men every day and we sweat buckets. Several times during the day we would walk about 100 feet across the lot to a water tap on the construction site to re-hydrate, bath and cool off. However by the time we got back to where we were building the cart we would be completely dry and had started sweating again!
I don't recall the name of the very nice man who allowed us to build the Rath Cart in the corner of his construction site as his high-rise building went up. His wife was also extremely kind and she would watch us work under Surya’s firestorm from her 2nd story window. As the project moved forward she would send down her servant with two very large chilled mangoes for Venkata and myself. At first I felt awkward to accept them as a brahmachari but she was so insistent we could not refuse and we both eventually came to look forward to that treat as a part of our mid-afternoon break.
I had to periodically check the progress of the work I had contracted out which meant to physically go to the various places of business to be sure what they were making matched what I had drawn up. In the case of the wheels, axel, telescope and winch that meant taking a 7 paisa tram from the Intersection of Theater Road and Syed Ahmed Road to Howrah Station on the other side of the Hugli river. From there I would then have to take a bus for 50 paisa into the back streets of the Pikhana industrial district, where the wheels were being fabricated in a small shop. I could have easily requisitioned a Taxi, but I did not feel it would be appropriate to spend over 100 rupees for something I could accomplish for two. I knew how Srila Prabhupada was careful not to waste even one paisa and how he would often walk long distances to save pennies so who was I to get chauffeured around like some type of pithy Raj?
The man I had contracted to fabricate the big 7ft. steel wheels chewed so much paan (betel nut)with lime that his teeth were very badly rotten and his whole mouth was permanently stained a bright phosphorescent red! I must confess it was quite repulsive when I had to speak with him because little pieces of un-chewed betel nut would drop from between his teeth when he talked. I embraced all of this as part of my equi-vision training because other than that horrid visual stigma, he was otherwise an extremely nice man who was respectful to me in every possible way and he had a very pleasant and endearing demeanor!
As the weeks went by the Rath cart rose out of the dusty corner of the construction site that is now marked on the map of Calcutta with the name “Krishna Building” (Located a half mile to the East of the Calcutta temple along Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose Road.) During that time devotees would occasionally pop in to see what we were doing but for the most part it was a service that consisted of long hot days. We would get back to the temple in the evening and took our prasadam in the back hallway, which was usually pretty dingy. While eating 3” long cockroaches would regularly scurry around us and sometimes try and snitch a morsel of khitchri from our banana plates.
Occasionally I would see the life member who offered to install the brakes at the temple and I would inquire from him when he would come do that. He reassured me that he considered a great privilege to be asked to equip Lord Jagannatha’s cart with brakes and that I need not concern myself about any of that. This was his personal service and he would fit the cart with breaks that would work really well! But about three weeks before the parade he had still not shown up so I got the address of his shop located somewhere in Jan Bazar on the other side of Park road and I went to see him. He was quite surprised to discover that I had come to his place of work but he received me nicely and again reassured me that all would be well and he would come the following week to hook up the brakes. We shared some sugar-cane juice and I went further down into Calcutta to a warehouse on Strand Bank Road where the Canopy was being sewed.
(This is the drawing I provided to the boat sail-manufacturing tailors so they could fabricate the top to the Rath cart.)
(This is a drawing given to the welders in the Howrah district so they could fabricate the large manual two-man winch used to lift the canopy. The rath carts made today use an electric winch hardly bigger than the size of a large shoe box!)
For more details E-mail at : mdjagdasa@gmail.com
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