Hare Krishna Bath In The Snow

I was taken to a communal bath house. There were several inches of fresh snow on the ground. I walked along the slushy, muddy path with the head mother to a building made of concrete bricks. The entrance had no door.  I peered around the rooms to see where I could bathe without having a person walk in. Instead I was led to a large round galvanized basin filled with cold water was where I was to bathe.  The frigid air blew through the unfinished framed window of the building. I was instructed to repeat the mantra "Hare Krishna" with each splash of water. I could hear the echo of the woman's words as I splashed the first bit of cold water on my face.
She said, "To worship Krishna, you must do tapas. Cold water is good for tapas."
I peered around the rooms with no doors after the head mother left to see that I was indeed alone while I was bathing. I was finished, and I hurried to put my sari back on, so I could go to the evening worship and dinner.