Saturday 6 March 2010

Friday, March 5th, 2010

Doug and I

Toronto, Ontario

Doug and I had slept off a few hours dealing with jet lag. By coincidence we had the same thing in mind during full wakefulness at mid-night, "Let's walk!"

We hit Yonge St. and chanted our japa meditation for the day but intermittently. Doug who moved to Winnipeg from Toronto in '68 recalled phantoms of the past.

"Oh! I remember this place. This was a club where BB King played. I came to hear him. I also came to see the band 'Rush' in this other place. The group 'Steppenwolfe' also had a start in the village (Yorkville) when I was living there."

He continued, "This is all baggage from the past. We don't need to wallow around in it do we?"

"This stuff will stay with you while you leave this body. Now that we have taken to superior music, chanting, we always have something to go to even if 'skeletons in the closet' come to haunt you" As I explained this to him I thought that it’s not the music that was so terribly wrong but the culture that goes with it. And yet it would be hard to separate the two- the music from the culture. It’s a fact that most entertainment takes you nowhere when it's mundane but sound and sights of a transcendent quality really do pick you up.

I'm glad to be back in fresh air country but sad to miss the cultural side of India. I said to Doug, "Wouldn't it be great to marry the neatness of the west and the sweetness of the east?"

"Yeah, it would be good."

8 KM

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