Govinda, Govindaaaa!!

Here's a delayed update to the walk we went on last week.

Now, the regular readers of my blog would know that I am a vegetarian. And since when I have arrived in London, I haven't really been to a purely vegetarian restaurant.

So you can imagine the thrill I felt when I saw ' Govinda's- Pure Vegetarian Restaurant'- and Indian Veggie place after a long walk - yippee!!! It is run by ISKON,London. Anyway,let's go on to the food.

The menu was not elaborate and we decided to have a thali- yes!A veggie thali ,bang in the middle of Soho!! Yes, my veggie friends- there is ,after all, justice in this world! The only drawback was that there was no onion or garlic in the food.....yes....I can hear most of you go , 'oh-oh ', but it was not missed. The food was fresh and there were good portions served.

When my mom ( who is a master vegetarian) comes here, I can take her to this place for a complete gastronomic experience, complete with eggless cakes! Yes,yes, there there is equality in the gastronomic world!!! Joy to the world!

The folx who managed the place were all devotees from all nationalities. Very nice.

Through out our meal we were hearing the 'Hare Rama,Hare Krishna' bhajans so we decided to see the temple from where these bhajans were being heard from. It was on the floor above Govinda. It was basically a hall with the shrine of Lord Krishna on one side and Swami Prabhupada on the other. The devotees were predominantly westerners (!!) who were swaying energetically to the chants. It is difficult not to get into the atmosphere and, both of us were clapping our hands ,keeping the rhythm with those around us.

By the way- the name Govinda reminds me so much of the chants heard in Tirupathi in India. Memories of my childhood are peppered with the chants 'Govinda, Govindaaaa....' heard enroute to see the deity in the sanctum sanctorum of the temple in Tirupathi.

Nice way to the end the day,isn't it?

I am now off to watch the opening ceremony of the Olympics- where? At Aj's duty room!! He is working till 9pm today and I get to watch the ceremony. Great!