Wednesday, August 28th, 2013

On His Birthday

Ogema, Saskatchewan

I wanted to tell the world that today is Krishna’s birthday. The strange thing was that not one motorist, not one soul stopped to talk. There were the regular honks and hand waves, but no one came to a standstill to offer congratulations on the marathon trek, or inquire about wellbeing or offer some water to drink.

This registered to me that this is the way it’s meant to be. Perhaps solitude was a theme to live by on this special day until social interaction would pick up in the evening in Regina at the ISKCON centre.

In any event, solitude, I achieved, especially when at one moment at about the middle mark of 15 kms I was dragging feet with fatigue. Some pranayam breathing also didn’t help much. I just needed forty winks as I believe is the expression, or a cat nap. So where do I have such a snooze in a desert like place where there’s hardly a tree about, and where soft grasses means bugs unlimited? I’ve taken a nap on a bale of hay before, but the ones that I see that are in my purview are all too close to the road. God knows, someone will notice me lying there and honk their horn or call the police.

I settled for a space on a plowed field and tucked myself behind a clump of grass. This was perfect for a spot to nap. Yes, one of those grasshoppers did come to terminate the great doze by jumping on my chest. His timing was perfect though, I proceeded on foot. Personally, I would give anything to live like this, in the freedom of nature’s bedroom choices over the fanciest suite in a five star hotel.

The sun was hot by the time I reached Ogema, a small town that apparently wished to name itself Omega, but the name was already taken so a juggle of letters solved that problem. In fact, the sun was a blast with 35 degrees Celsius temperature. I craved for shade like I craved for Krishna. With some ground work done by Daruka and the charm of our princess parrot, the few downtowners were out to break the solitude with their individual greeting. It started with a welder who spotted me and invited me into his shop for a cold water. What a sweet experience it was given the fact that it’s a full day fast until midnight, Krishna’s actual time of His divine birth.

At the next town over, Pangman, Daruka and I couldn’t resist but to enter the local outdoor pool. No one was there except for Bernie, the lifeguard. Slowly the place filled up with dads, moms and kids, breaking a supposed solitude. Happily, we were able to tell as many as we could that it’s Krishna’s birthday.

30 KM