Three devotees from South Africa arrive today. They are old friends of mine from my old hometown in Durban: Shyamali Devi Dasi, her brother Ramanath Prabhu, and his wife Indumukhi Devi Dasi.
Shyamali Devi Dasi is a devotee from way back: she took (ritvik) initiation from Srila Sridhar Maharaj in January of 1984. Ramanath Prabhu and Indumukhi Devi Dasi are sincere disciples of Srila Gurudeva who are always looking for opportunities to increase their service. This is the first time that they have come to India.
We send somebody to the domestic airport to meet the party from South Africa, but they manage to get an earlier flight from Mumbai (Bombay) and arrive an hour earlier than expected. Shyamali Devi Dasi has been to India enough times to know how to get to the Math here in Dum Dum Park and how to negotiate a fair price for the taxi.
When they arrive, I take them upstairs to see Srila Gurudeva. He welcomes them warmly, and tells them how pleased he is with their service in South Africa. He asks how long they will stay, and they say one month.
Later, I show them to their rooms so that they can rest for a while after their long journey and freshen up before coming down to take lunch prasadam in the big hall downstairs.
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