ON VAMANA DAY
Tavua, Fiji
Darkness attracts millions of frogs to leap about. Some are large and some just the size of a button. Some that reach the road become ill — fated flattened under car tires in motion. You can’t begin to count the number of such casualties.
Flying fish move with speed on rivers bridged over by the road. To the left of us walkers, men on horseback huddled to discuss their cattle herding plans for the day. Some pious Hindu ladies came to the road to offer their home made garlands, offer a pooja with a camphor - fed flame and then some fruit and sweets - all a traditional way of greeting a monk. Further down the road a group of Fijian Native women took the long laneway hike from their Christian “Back to Eden” domiciles. They were just curious.
“Bula! Bula!” was our opening greeting as usual. From there we exchanged words of inspiration.
Tavua is a prospector’s town where gold is mined. As we entered it we felt the heat as we dragged our feet. The old cinema hall built in 1936 is now turned into a Krishna hall for “Kirtan” chanting where I was hosted to speak in the evening.
At the roasting hour of l PM a small party of chanters hit the main street for delivering the sacred sound as we do in every significant place along the way. As usual the public goes into a pleasant freeze.
The fresh highland fed water at Turtle Creek gave the boys and I a relief of the afternoon “burn”.
How blessed we all are to have water!
As darkness crept up to make a new night, millions of frogs started to leap about.
Some became casualties. Some did not.
18 Km
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