Rude Awakenings - Forest Sangha Publications

^0 L A N D I N G 06I was left alone for the afternoon. The police officer came and wentoff with Nick to the scene of the crime. The whole business about gettingour bags back seemed increasingly irrelevant. Everything seemedto be caught in the careening of a world that has lost its axis. It didn’tmatter who and why; the only true action was to get to the point—themind—and hold it steady. And here, now, there was nobody other thanmyself to take the responsibility for knowing that.N I C KI felt very low. I blamed myself for the accident. If I had not finally lostmy cool with the sub-inspector, they would not have set off in that frenziedway. As we trudged back to the vihara in silence, Ajahn Sucittolooked in the same state of despair as me. At one point he muttered tohimself that it had felt like the same frenzied energy we had seen in therobbers. He was right. And it was the same energy that resulted in theeruptions of awful communal violence that can come from nothing inIndia. I had now triggered it twice.At the vihara, the manager told Venerable Zayanta all about themorning’s events while we sat there saying hardly anything. There werelots of knowing shakes of the head from the old monk and the manager’swife. An hour later, just as we were about to start the meal, thepolice returned. I took some chappatis with me and went out to jointhem. At the edge of the forest we stopped at the forest compound tocollect a forest worker, who clambered into the back. Then we set offalong the dirt track we had walked the previous day—across the streamand into the forest. Then we stopped. The sub-inspector had spotted thesmall tree trunk we had seen being cut the day before lying beside thetrack. The chaukidar and one of the constables were ordered out tomanhandle it into the back.From there it was only fifteen minutes to where we had been robbed.The sub-inspector had me show him the exact spot where they had2 5 1