Rude Awakenings - Forest Sangha Publications

^0 O B S E RV E R 06After that we entered lower country, turning south to follow a river,where people would have lived for much longer. This area had once beenswampland, also common at the base of the Himalayas, and the reasonfor the Terai’s old reputation for malaria. Here people were growingsugar cane, which needs the water, and we passed between high wallsof leafy green stems. There were also areas of open water, dotted withlily pads and filled with water birds: grebes, moorhens, coots, and waterhens all darting out of sight into the emergent vegetation, and occasionallythe flash of bronze wings as jacanas took to flight.That night a mongoose bolted past us, a black shadow in the gloomas we stumbled about in the half-light of dusk looking for somewhereto sleep. Although they can be a problem for the villagers, taking poultryif they can, they are tolerated for all the snakes, rats, mice, and scorpionsthey also eat. We, like the mongoose, rested up in bolt-holes nearto human habitation. There was no other choice. This land was socrowded with people and they were so interested in us that we had toleave it till it was nearly dark to find somewhere to stop. Nowhere wasfar from people, and even if a small plantation looked remote, once wesettled down we would hear the sounds of habitation near by.At least by night everyone would be inside and we would be left inpeace. Having found somewhere, we would unroll our sleeping things,set up our small shrine for the evening puja, and then sit on into theevening in meditation, invariably with me succumbing first to the callof my sleeping bag. The only night I can recall being conscious afterAjahn Sucitto had lain down was the first night I had dysentery. I spentmuch of that night stumbling off into the bushes and returning to mybed only to have to do it again half an hour later.It was during our daily alms rounds that we got to see inside the villages.Indian village life is lived mostly outdoors, and we would pass byand through it all. One day we passed an old lady with crinkled, leatheryfeatures puffing at a hookah in the shade of one of the huts, andthen rounding a corner found ourselves walking toward a beautiful6 7