Winnipeg,
Manitoba
At 3AM,
ponds had formed. Snow and ice accompanied the thaw. The street and not
sidewalks were safe as I ambled my way through Winnipeg’s ‘granola belt’ along
Westminster Ave. I dodged the rare car. All but newspaper delivery boys and
bakers are asleep.
At the corner
of Canora St. I saw sparks flying from the hydro post. It was postered to
death. I saw transparent tape flapping in the wind and its adjoining poster
just ready to release themselves from their anchor, the post. As I inched my
way close to the odd pole, it was clear that my eyes didn’t deceive. Someone
had likely stuck a cigarette behind a poster which had been sparked. It was a
prank.
I called
911. They put me onto the fire department. With efficiency like nothing else
within 3 ½ minutes two fire trucks arrived. But in the meantime two police
officers on patrol honoured the stop sign at Westminster and Canora. I alerted
them. One of the officers pulled out his extinguisher and released his chemical
smoke; the flames and sparks were now dissolved.
The two
departments, fire and police, were happy to have met an early dawn monk.
The late
morning time slot brought Daruka and I to Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish.
The local priest facilitated a small meeting of parishioners, one of whom had
invited us two to the discussion. We had great exchanges. The priest lived as a
Trappist monk for a time.
In the
downtown residence of Winnipeg, ponds had expanded into lakes by 6PM. Traffic
made inaccessible for pedestrians. Here was a sure way to get feet wet. And at
108 Chestnut St., ISKCON’s home, our evening was wrapped up with songs from
Bhaktivinode, the most celestial of songwriters. He beckons for Krishna to send
him in the body of a lonely worm so long as he is in the home of a Vaishnava
where he is guaranteed future spirituality.
10 Km
No comments:
Post a Comment