#0003 | krishna in disguise
Submitted by Steve from Denver, Colorado.
Steve’s story:
“My partner and I were in New Orleans recently at a cocktail conference (seriously) and while we were exporing the French Quarter one morning, wandering aimlessly down Bourbon Street in a daze of heat, humidity and blaring, reeking bars that never close, we were stopped and ‘ticketed’ by a an attractive, smartly dressed woman for “Not having a good enough time” (cute), then shamed into donating $40 “to feed the poor” in exchange for some souvenir ballcaps and a paperback cookbook. After looking at the cookbook we determined that she was really a Hare Krishna evangelista.
Is it just us, or don’t you agree that all Hare Krishna peeps should be appropriately dressed for clear and unmistakable identification by otherwise happy-go-lucky tourists? Or are we complete and total rubes — is this like a common hit-up that everybody in the world knows about but us? “
5 folks have left comments on this post
They must be brightly labeled in yellow with jangly bells, so you can see when they’re sneaking up on you….
i’d settle for just the bells. i forgot to mention that the ball caps are really crappy
When I worked in Laguna Beach, CA I had witnessed, on more than one ocassion, Hari Krishna parades. They would sing, jangle their instruments, pound drums, and have a great time as they would jaunt, slide, mozey, dance, glide, and move from their Temple to the forrest-green Pacific, then back to their Temple. It was a sight to see, real genuine entertainment.
They are certainly persistent. I first met them in NYC in ’69 and then O’Hare airport in ’73 and even in Thailand in ’74. People still fall for the cults.
I am familiar with the New Orleans area Hare Krishna devotees, and they are legit. The funds they gather goes to feeding the poor and needy; it is not a scam. The devotee you met didn’t want to scare off people before she had a chance to interact.