New York Times Headlines: “New York City Hospitals Report Marked Rise in LSD Cases Admitted for Care.”  “Protest Against U.S. Participation in Vietnam War Mounts.”

The weather grew cold, but there was no snow in December.  On Columbus Avenue shops were selling Christmas trees, and the continental restaurants were bright with holiday lighting.  On Seventy-second the Retailers’ Association erected tall red poles topped with green tinsel Christmas trees.  The tops of the trees on both sides of the street sprouted tinsel garlands that spanned the street and joined in red tinsel stars surrounded by colored lights. 

Although Srila Prabhupada did no Christmas shopping, he visited many bookstores – Orientalia, Sam Weiser’s, Doubleday, the Paragon, and others – trying to sell his Srimad-Bhagavatams.  Mrs. Ferber, the wife of the Paragon Book Gallery proprietor, considered Prabhupada “a pleasant and extremely polite small gentleman.”  The first time he called she wasn’t interested in his books, but he tried again, and she took several volumes.  Prabhupada used to stop by about once a week, and since his books were selling regularly, he would collect.  Sometimes when he needed copies to sell personally, he would come by and pick them up from Mrs. Ferber, and sometimes he would phone to ask her how his books were selling.

Mrs. Ferber:  Every time he came he would ask for a glass of water.  If a customer would make such a request, I would ordinarily say, “There is the water cooler.”  But because he was an old man, I couldn’t tell him that, of course.  He was very polite, always, very modest, and a great scholar.  So whenever he would ask, I would fetch him a cup of water personally.

Once Prabhupada was talking with Mrs. Ferber about Indian cuisine and she mentioned that she especially like samosas.  The next time he paid her a visit, he brought her a tray of samosas, which she enjoyed.