Sunday 22 November 2009

Thursday, November 19th 2009

The Wave of George

Conception Bay, Newfoundland

Sea water heaved up to a curve and pounced upon the boulder beach, then again, and still again, incessantly each wave coming down as a wet crash. Rikin my host has his condo set just a few meager feet away from the rhythmic scenario. With the Atlantic sound effect in the background I completed Joshua Greene’s, “Here Comes the Sun”. It’s a good read especially for those who lived during that post war era when times were a changin’. It captures the life of George Harrison’s musical and spiritual journey.

George did many of us growing up in the sixties a great favor. Because of his music our listening drew us to the attention of Bhakti (devotion). In 2003 I walked along this Conception Bay for my second time under a rainy mess with Benjamin who was George Harrison’s son’s best friend. At that time I asked Benji what he recalled about George when he and Dhani, George’s son were hanging out at their home, the Friar Park estate.

“George would see me in the house and say something like, 'just remember – you’re not this body'”, said Benjamin. He also remembered seeing George meditating under a shelter at the garden while rain poured down. He was a master gardener and took great pride in upkeep. Benji and I were drenched that day as we also were absorbed in talks of his past at George’s. I considered Benji a lucky boy for having some cherished memories. He kept regular contact through e-mail with Dhani as we walked the eastern coastline, a mere 200 nautical miles from where the titanic was downed by that fatal iceberg.

Benji is a film maker. He took a lot of footage of those days when we walked this brutal but beautiful terrain.

I flew back home with good thoughts of Benji, of Rikin and of George, of course.

3 Km

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