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I woke up to a dreary day, such is, what window revealed from Room 747 at the Ramada Inn. “Dreary” meaning windy, overcast, cool and the threat of wet. Vallabha, Mahadev, Annapurna and I were compelled to walk through some of this. To Mount Pleasant Park, we journeyed on foot. Around the same time something appearing on my phone screen was something shared by Yogendra from Lunenburg, a way over from the east coast. It is a shloka or verse from the Panca Tantra on the subject of “friends”.

Here it is :

The days when meetings do not fail
With friends, both wise and good,
Are lovely clearings on the trail
Through life’s wild wood

Mount Pleasant Park doesn’t have much to it - some green, a magpie here and there. My walking companions and I made a U turn. For July weather is a trite challenging.

There was one more occasion where walking steps had meaning for us. With a joined few, we made our way to the Kinsmen Stadium and while stepping along we played that drum and sang over Walterdale Bridge when rain did come. Our bodies became moist, our souls did not.

 More than just being an occupant in that Room 747, I made a great connection with the general manager of the Inn, who has a good business sense and well versed in social and historic issues- a good soul. Mutually, he expressed how he respected my walking vocation.