Rude Awakenings - Forest Sangha Publications

^0 C Y C L E S 06The land we were passing now would be very productive, the soilsfertilized every year by the silt left by the flooding Gandak, and withwater readily available from the river or from a water table near to thesurface. It all seemed very green and prosperous, looking down on itfrom the bund. The only wildlife we saw though were birds: a few smallbirds in the trees, and little egrets and paddy birds in the wetter fields.Both of these are small herons that stalk the rice fields of India huntingsmall fish. The little egrets are all white, while the paddy birds look a dullbrown in the fields, but when taking off, their white wings give the sameeffect as those of the egrets—a flutter of white looking like large whitehandkerchiefs suddenly caught in a breeze.Walking on the bund was enjoyable, but I could not get out of mymind the idea of the Great Gandak so near by. I kept looking for aglimpse of it but to no avail. The idea of this big river I imagined full ofwildlife was calling me, and on the second day I could not resist anylonger. I suggested we try walking by the river; the excuse was that thebund took a couple of turns and by cutting across to the river we mighttake a shortcut. The suggestion did not go down well, but Ajahn Sucittoreluctantly agreed. We set off across the fields on a path that was goingjust the right way...at least initially. After a bit it took a turn, and then awhile later a couple more. And slowly, creeping up on me, came this feelingthat we were lost. I could find neither the river nor our way. Unlikerivers in England, the Gandak’s edge was undefined. There were wetlands,grassland, and sandbanks, but no path wandering along the bankas I had imagined. Eventually, with me suitably chastened, we had todouble back to the bund having lost half a day’s walking.The third day on the bund we stopped at sunset to do our puja andmeditation before dark. We sat on the grassy bank with a view acrossfields to some vultures that had collected near the carcass of a dead cow.Village dogs were at the carcass, snarling at the vultures if they came tooclose. So they stood, stared, and waited, hopping backward whengrowled at. Thus ends the lives of all farm animals in rural India. In the1 3 9