Toronto Again

TRANSCEND MEMBERS, 2 Sep 2024

Dr. Ravi P. Bhatia – TRANSCEND Media Service

27 Aug 2024 – I have been living in Toronto — the important and popular city of Canada, for about a month now and plan to stay here for about ten days more before returning to India.

As we all know, this city Toronto is one of the most dynamic and attractive cities of the province of   Ontario  of Canada. Canada’s population is about 40  million and Ontario which is one of ten important provinces of Canada —its population is about 16 million. Toronto is a big, vibrant city with a population of about 6.5 million. The capital of Ontario however is Ottawa, not Toronto.

In Toronto, many people have personal cars in which they move around. It is good to see that people drive their cars carefully —- not risking any collision. They also allow pedestrians to walk safely in the city. There are many pedestrians — young and old, male and female. Usually they walk wearing shorts and loose shirts.

Among other features of Toronto, It has many educational institutions  — Universities and Colleges along with student residences where students from different countries come for studies and research. There are several  other charms to which large number of people are attracted. There are vast number of people visiting Toronto from different countries — China, India, Myanmar, Philippines  etc. In fact there is a section normally called  China Town in Toronto.

Among religious institutions —  one can see several churches, Hindu temples, also a few Buddhist temples in the city. Some churches are Catholic, some are Evangelical, some are Pentecostal.

Recently, on the festival of Janamasthami (catering to the popular Hindu God Krishna) on 26 August, many Hindus went to the large ISCKON  temple in downtown of the city, to celebrate the festival. There was the traditional  Aarti  in the honour of the deities of the temple. Some traditional   religious Bhajans   (songs) were also sung by the devotees in worship of Ram, Krishna and other Hindu Gods. The large number of devotees were also offered  some sweet Prasad to eat, at the end of their visit.

A young man of about 25 or 30 years who was dressed in simple white clothes, remarked that there should be an unwritten dress code among the devotees when they enter the temple — not the varied coloured clothes that people were normally wearing in Toronto.

All told, a spirit of peace, amity, harmony, friendship pervaded the large Hindu temple. Many people felt that such happy occasions should be celebrated often to usher a spirit of peace and oneness among the people.

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Dr Ravi P Bhatia is a member of the TRANSCEND Network for Peace Development Environment, an educationist, Gandhian scholar and peace researcher. Retired professor, Delhi University. His new book, A Garland of Ideas—Gandhian, Religious, Educational, Environmental was published recently in Delhi. ravipbhatia@gmail.com


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This article originally appeared on Transcend Media Service (TMS) on 2 Sep 2024.

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One Response to “Toronto Again”

  1. Wenzie says:

    Thank you for your lovely article about my city! I’m glad you’ve enjoyed your visit. Come back soon!

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