Sunday 8 December 2019

Friday, December 6th, 2019


Etobicoke, Ontario

With My Modest Backpack

A fresh and pretty snowfall blessed the city of Toronto in the morning, leaving a cover of whiteness.  By mid-afternoon, the under layer was being melted by a follow-up warm sun.  The conditions were favourable enough to do that walk in a westerly direction toward Etobicoke.

I donned pants, t-shirt with the OM insignia, and a jacket, while my devotional apparel was tucked inside my backpack.  (The Western wear was to protect my devotional clothes from snow wetness and possible salt.)

I'm proud of that backpack; had it for twenty-four years since my first power walk in '96.  Sewn onto this modest backpack is the image of a maple leaf, a map of Canada and footprints stretching across.  I was hoping people would notice—at least one person.  But soon sunset and darkness prevailed during my four-thirty-start walk.  Who really could even see it?

Once the sun had left us, the running and melting snow became still, before changing its constitution into a hard and slippery dynamic.  Careful footing was necessary in spots.  Although a possible fall was a reality, I still felt much more safe than any of those motorists whizzing by.  Of course, it is Friday afternoon, and traffic is really more like a snail race.

By 6:30 p.m., Jay Ling had found me at Dufferin and Castlefield, at a shop called California Sandwiches, and then driven me to Gaurav's home.  The occasion?  A sangha of sorts.  He and his wife have a 2 &1/2  month-old baby, Partha, and a gathering of families had come to see, eat, read and chant.  I showed off my backpack.

May the Source be with you!
7 km

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