Wednesday, June 12th, 2013

The Grey Dot

Altona, Manitoba

The grey dot was very tiny. It was in the distance far from where I was located. As I approached it coming closer on foot, it still remained a grey dot. In fact, all images on the prairie horizon appear far away and stay that way for a long time, even as you forge ahead.

Finally, after some time, and what seemed like forever, the grey dot became a larger dot, and then revealed a new manifestation. There to the side of the highway in front of me, it sparked a light of joy.

It's the van!

Doug, who is a devotee of Krishna for many years, is a driver and owner of a silver grey van. The Grey Dot is the name he chose for his van. Doug is there to see that I get his support. In a type of leap frog fashion, Doug checks up on me with the grey dot. I'm grateful.

I'm not alone here in the prairie. While Doug is further ahead in the wake of my reaching him I've got company. There's the mantra that I'm constantly chanting as I step along, also birds are persistently around me, it seems I arouse them affirming their territorialism. When I tread along the red winged black bird goes frantic and so do the swallows whose nests are situated at the ceilings of the bridges. When they hear my footsteps or feel the footvibes they go hysterical. There are fierce flight attacks against each other, often times small birds after a larger one who got too close to the nesting area. It's quite exciting, like a Mahabharat battle in air.

Speaking of attacks, a large dog came at me. I first attempted friendship, but he insisted on barking. I pulled over to the other side of the road, I thought I'd be safe with traffic now between us, but no, he crossed and almost got hit by a car. Uh oh, now I'm in trouble. He's on my side of the road. The funny thing is he kept dashing in the same direction and making a dip through the ditch, and then charging towards something in the field. "What's he going after?" I thought. Then, I could see in the distance a moving black dot. As the dog kept moving forward away from me he was about to become a dot himself and then the first dot revealed himself to be a bear. But a small dot in a big field. The dog's master came out of the house and called him back.

It's rare to see a bear in the prairie but they have been sighted. I'm glad this bear came and distracted my assailant. I moved on and became an orange dot in the eyes of the motorists.

One motorist, Greg, pulled over. He spotted me and wondered if I needed help. "No, I'm okay, I'm walking to BC (British Columbia). It's a 4th trek across Canada." He expressed that he was a Christian. I could see that he was an open minded one, thank God.

"I put my mother to rest yesterday," Greg said, "she struggled for a whole week before passing. I spoke at her funeral."

Greg seemed not sad and remained upbeat. "There's two ways to be in this life I often say, up beat or beat up." My guru was always upbeat and that's why I love and revere him so.

Greg had to move on to see his aging father who is missing his wife very much. "Nice meeting you Greg."

After 7 hours of walking, Doug came to get me in The Grey Dot. From that spot near Altona, The Grey Dot disappeared on the horizon and will reappear tomorrow.

32 KM