Returns
Montreal, Quebec
It usually happens. After New Year’s, winter comes on in full force. Today is no exception. I took the economy mode of travel, car pooling it to Montreal on $30. A snow storm doesn’t look at your poor man’s way of going from point A to B with sympathy or cast any mercy. Mother Nature can be ruthless.
It is because of weather that I ended up late for the reunion of early Hare Krishna converts from the Montreal district. In 1967, the year of Canada’s centennial, some American Krishna followers came north of the border to initiate or start a chapter in Montreal. In the following year, the founder, Srila Prabhupada, came to deal with immigration visa issues. Without presenting details, a rich history started – a history about a surging form of spirituality.
On this evening, some of the early Montreal pioneers of ISKCON of that period came to tell of their experiences to a full house at the ISKCON centre on Pie IV Blvd. A number of these souls come rarely for various reasons. Life gets busy I guess. Nevertheless, it was a great idea organizing such a reunion. It’s nice to see some golden oldies coming back for a return.
Once the program was completed, I was successful in recruiting two people to a late walk with me on quiet residential streets followed by a quick glance at a wildlife magazine. I’m a fan of the wild and I couldn’t help being struck by an article on “The Return of the Black Foot Ferret.” It has been my own experience from trekking through the prairies that prairie dogs (a type of gopher) rule these grassy flat plains. Ferrets, which vanished 70 years ago, were predators and controlled the prairie dog population. Apparently a plague, yersinia pestis, was the culprit.
Thanks to the Toronto Zoo, this cute creature has been bred for purposes of releasing them back to their natural habitat. This past year, stocks of these whiskered, slinky rodents were let loose to do their thing in Grassland National Park in Saskatchewan. It’s another one of those ecological victories.
By the time I rested, I was content on two counts – the return of the ferret and the return of the Vaisnava pioneers.
4 Km
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