Hare Krishna, Hare Hare

Hare Krishna, Hare Hare

Avenida Paulista is extraordinary!
I have always associated this strange feeling of melancholy and coldness and apathy to the avenue for some reason, but today, things changed for me.
I was waiting to meet up with my mother to go see an exhibit at Masp (which for the record was beautiful : link to info. on the exhibit) when I began seeing a few people dressed in dhoti's. More and more dhoti wearers appeared in a whole assortment of colors, and jewelry and make-up. Behind them was a whole crowd of Dhoti wearers chanting "Hare Krishna, Hare Hare!" Turns out it was a Hare Krishna parade. As the parade stormed through the avenue you could see everyones expression change from normal to this sudden state of exuberant happiness. It was soo strange! I'm so happy to have been caught in all that madness. I feel like we often forget about how diverse the whole word is and it's interesting to see how Avenida Paulista is like this concentration of the whole world in one place (as is many places in Sao Paulo).

Here are some photos that really don't do the "phenomena" any justice but illustrate the basic idea: