Rude Awakenings - Forest Sangha Publications

^0 T H I R D M O O N 06regretfully said we couldn’t stay, we had to get to Bodh Gaya, and wehad just eaten and were expected for the meal. Negotiations began.Eventually we settled for a very large glass of special creamy tea andsome biscuits in his front room; then waddled out some twenty minuteslater, with a deadline frenzy pulling us toward our planned destinationa few miles south.Nick was in front, his body bulging out of the small T-shirt, the backseam of his trousers split open; I was behind. With the effect of the foodand the heat and the traffic, it was difficult to feel composed. It shouldn’tbe this way; all those sacred relics that I had brought from England tooffer to take to the Holy Places had been stolen ... those robbers had leftme nothing to offer except some composure, and now I couldn’t evenmake that. Maybe at least we could look a bit tidier...“Nick, maybe you could put your wrap on, just to cover your backside,at least while we’re in the villages.”N I C KAs so often the case, I was in a contrasting space: enjoying the walk thatmorning. The day was not that hot, and the small road out of Gaya waslined with big trees casting pools of shade over the road. Bodh Gayawas only ten kilometres away, we had already been fed well, and therewas no need to hurry. After all this might be the final lap of the pilgrimage,so why not just relax and enjoy it. The road ran beside theRiver Phalgu, which at that time of year is a wide expanse of undulatingsand, with the river, reduced to the size of a brook, winding throughit. Between the road and the bed of the river lay grazing land dottedwith trees. Looking between these, and across the open expanse ofsand, we could see a line of low hills—another outcrop of bare rockyupland, a familiar feature since we had left the Rajgir hills. These hillsran north-south with the river at their base.It was all very beautiful, and I felt at ease with the world. We went2 6 6