Srila Prabhupada's New American Invention

Yadubara dasa: When Srila Prabhupada first went back to India with his American disciples, he sometimes took them on tours of holy places in Vrindavana and Mayapur. One day Prabhupada was to go with a few disciples in an old American Dodge automobile to visit Devnagar, the birthplace of Bhaktivinoda Thakura. Prabhupada rode in the front seat with the driver, Syamasundara dasa, and about four other devotees squeezed into the back seat. They soon discovered, unfortunately, that the old Dodge didn't have a horn. Driving in India without a horn is almost impossible, and the journey was an anticipated two hours. Srila Prabhupada was therefore concerned how they would be able to make it. Soon after they had started, however, Prabhupada devised a "horn" of his own making. He found a metal plate in the car. Then he had the car stop and the boys got him a stick off the ground. As they rode along, Srila Prabhupada would hold the plate outside the car window and bang on it with a stick whenever there was need of a horn for passing cars and for shooing people and animals from the road. The devotees were amazed and overjoyed at the simple display of Prabhupada's horn, which he continued to operate from the front seat during the whole journey. "This will be copied by the Indians," said Srila Prabhupada. "They will think that it is a new American invention. They will also get plates and sticks and use them instead of the horn."