Getting to know things
Belle Mare, Mauritius
I asked Chaitanya, 13, what he thought
about this morning’s walk. He didn’t want to comment on the walk but he did say
something about the swim that followed the walk at Belle Mare beach.
“My friend (also with the same name) got
attacked by a butterfly fish and had to go to the hospital.”
Actually I saw him after the attack. The
kid was in great pain since the venom penetrated into his left leg.
The temple at Bon Accueil was our launching
spot for walking when a meagre few began to trek with me. The entourage grew as
the sun rose and this included a group of kids, most of whom have a school
break at the time. Chaitanya was one of them and secondly Chaitanya who had to
go to the hospital.
The ocean is full of surprises. So is the
land. As we made our trek from Bon Accueil once again I became educated by my
co-walkers. I was particularly looking at the exotic fruits.
“Oh, this is goyave-de-chine.” It was a
small version of guava. Then we came
upon jamblon, a cherry or even olive type fruit, slightly pungent in flavour.
Vikash told me, “This will cure diabetes.” There was one more fruit that had a
green plumpness to it like a grapefruit. At least alien to my eyes this one fruit
which was drooping over a property wall goes by the name pamplemousse and the
way one of the younger girls described it was quite acidic and to be eaten with
salt.
I really had to marvel at the wondrous
edibles provided by the Intelligent Design.
For
an evening program I was slotted into a new devotional creation. Every Thursday
the Phoenix ISKCON center had chosen a “Gauranga Sanga.” I was asked to lead
a chant by author Narottama Das Thakur and then to give an explanation on the
song. From reading first the song’s purport by our guru, Srila Prabhupada, I
could glean the most important aspect to making spiritual progress; it’s the
devotional company you keep to bring out success.
By the way, Chaitanya who got stung by the
fish is recovering. He’ll be ok.
15 KM
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