We arrive in Odessa at 6:00 a.m., and are met by Raghava Pandit Prabhu. We walk along the platform to the exit where a large sign proclaims: "Welcome to the Hero City, Odessa" — a reference, no doubt, to the Great Patriotic War (World War II) where some 30,000 Odessites defended their city against 300,000 Fascist troops.
We pile into a taxi and are driven a short distance to Yasoda Mayi Devi Dasi's apartment where we will spend the next three days. After a nice warm shower and a change of cloth, we sit down to a Ukrainian breakfast.
I am scheduled to give a talk at two o' clock this afternoon at a venue downtown. I am still a little tired from the train journey, so after breakfast I take a short nap.
In the early afternoon, we drive to the city center, to a cozy little dance academy where Sunaina Devi Dasi teaches dancing. I speak about Krishna consciousness to a small, intimate group for a couple of hours. It is a nice, informal gathering, with everybody making themselves comfy on cushions scattered on the floor.
After the program, while the devotees and guests browse our book-table, we distribute prasadam and inform everyone that we will have another program here in this hall tomorrow evening.
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