![\"\"](\"https:\/\/lh3.googleusercontent.com\/-NfybCeG_ilI\/VofMuuvZx3I\/AAAAAAAAYQw\/eZooY3vKLT8\/s0\/2016-01-02_14-12-26.jpg\")
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By Madhavananda das<\/strong><\/p>\n Today in the news I noticed that this last Thursday the famous Jazz legend, Natalie Cole passed away. She was the daughter of the famous singer Nat King Cole. Today in the news I noticed that this last Thursday the famous Jazz legend, Natalie Cole passed away. She was the daughter of the famous singer Nat King Cole. I had a short, but memorable, meeting with her some years ago at the airport in Zurich Switzerland. When Krishnakund and I were visiting Budapest Hungary (in 2012?) I noticed during some of our drives around town some posters advertising a concert by Natalie. I don’t usually notice such posters, but somehow these caught my eye. A few days later I had forgotten about it and we were on a flight to Zurich. I struck up a conversation with the man sitting next to me on the plane. It turned out that he was a professional piano player from America. He told me that he was playing and traveling with Natalie Cole. He pointed out someone in a seat behind us, “He is the drummer in the band.” Pointing a few seats ahead he said, “He is the guitar player.” And then gesturing towards the front of the plane, “And there is Natalie.” We had a very inspiring discussion about music, ragas and bhakti. He gave me his card and asked me to stay in touch. When the plane landed and we disembarked I lost sight of him. Following the crowd I went to the baggage carousel and retrieved our bags. I decided I should give him a gift of one of our magazines and got a copy out of issue 8 about Lord Shiva.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23121","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23121","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23121"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23121\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23123,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23121\/revisions\/23123"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23121"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23121"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23121"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nI had a short, but memorable, meeting with her some years ago at the airport in Zurich Switzerland.
\nWhen Krishnakund and I were visiting Budapest Hungary (in 2012?) I noticed during some of our drives around town some posters advertising a concert by Natalie. I don’t usually notice such posters, but somehow these caught my eye.
\nA few days later I had forgotten about it and we were on a flight to Zurich. I struck up a conversation with the man sitting next to me on the plane. It turned out that he was a professional piano player from America. He told me that he was playing and traveling with Natalie Cole. He pointed out someone in a seat behind us, “He is the drummer in the band.” Pointing a few seats ahead he said, “He is the guitar player.” And then gesturing towards the front of the plane, “And there is Natalie.”
\nWe had a very inspiring discussion about music, ragas and bhakti. He gave me his card and asked me to stay in touch.
\nWhen the plane landed and we disembarked I lost sight of him. Following the crowd I went to the baggage carousel and retrieved our bags. I decided I should give him a gift of one of our magazines and got a copy out of issue 8 about Lord Shiva.
\nLooking around I still didn’t see him. Then off to the side I noticed Natalie standing by herself. I thought, “Why not?” I confidently walked right up to her, and with respect and a little eagerness in my voice, I said, “Are you Natalie Cole?”
\n“Yes” she said looking at me.
\n“I was just speaking to your piano player on the flight. Also I noticed some of your posters while I was in Budapest.” Reaching out I warmly grasped both her hands in mine and enthusiasitically said, “I just want to thank you for what you are doing! You are making such an important artistic contribution. I’d like to give you a small gift, this is a magazine about traditional Indian art, philosophy, and culture that I produce”, and I gave her the copy of Sri Krishna Kathamrita.
\n“Well, thank you”, she said appearing to be genuinely touched. “What are you doing here in Zurich?”
\n“I’ve come here to give a seminar.”
\n“On what subject?” She asked.
\nI quickly thought that trying to explain to her about my talk on Lord Jagannath might be difficult to explain. I said, “It’s called the crying of the soul.”
\nHer eyes became big and with feeling she said, “Oh I love that!”
\n“I hope you like the magazine”, I told her, “All the best for your tour.”
\nAnd we parted ways.
\nIt was only as I walked away that I remembered that I was dressed in a dhoti and kurta with a shaved head and tilak.
\nIf Natalie had noticed my unusual appearance, she didn\u2019t indicate it. It was a very warm and genuine exchange. It made me realize that your appearance is not what’s important, it’s your feelings that count.
\nAll the best to Natalie on her latest tour. I hope that some of the mercy of Mahaprabhu touched her.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"![\"Hare](\"https:\/\/lh3.googleusercontent.com\/-BGYNxevZDq8\/VofM3ovAYWI\/AAAAAAAAYQ4\/Kiq_7TBn89A\/s0\/2016-01-02_14-13-03.jpg\")
By Madhavananda das<\/strong><\/p>\n