Over the course of a week, we get quite a few calls from the public with news tips.
Some of them turn into actual stories but, in all honesty, most of them wind up as snipe hunts.
So I'll admit to being more than a little bit skeptical when I got a call last week from a man saying that he thought he had a news story for us.
The skeptic meter got cranked up to high when this same gentleman followed by telling me he was travelling across the country with a monk and a parrot.
"Is this a joke?" I asked.
Turns out it was no joke. The man on the phone's name was Daruka, and he is journeying across the country with Bhaktimarga Swami or, as he is better known to his many followers, the Walking Monk.
Bhaktimarga passed through southeast Saskatchewan last week, and his arrival in the area created quite a stir as reports of a man in robes walking on the highway began to circulate over social media.
After our initial conversation, Daruka said he would call when they reached Estevan and that call came Friday morning as the trio were relaxing at the Soul Hideout on Fifth Street.
Upon arrival, Bhaktimarga wasn't hard to spot with his flowing orange robes. Daruka was equally easy to spot because it isn't every day you see a man with a parrot perched firmly on his shoulder.
Remarkably this is Bhaktimarga's fourth walk across the country. A Hare Krishna monk, Bhaktimarga joined the monastic order in 1973. After many years of commitment, he hit what he described as "some bumps on the road," and felt a change in his life was needed.
"The next year our Guru (Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada) would have been 100 years old, had he lived. So it was going to be a big celebration time," he explained. "I started doing quite a bit of walking - I'm from southwestern Ontario, Toronto. I started to walk the ravines, and I started to like that very much. I was remembering my hitchhiking days from prior to being a monk and I thought I would love to see it the same way with the adventure of when I was hitchhiking but let me do it the way Yogis would do it, which is to just walk. So I thought, let me do that and do it as an offering to my Guru."
His previous trips took Bhaktimarga along routes such as the Trans-Canada and Yellowhead Highways, but this time around he decided to take a more southerly path. Through Saskatchewan he is walking Highway 18 and will eventually reach the Crowsnest Pass.
"Each walk gets better," he said. "I guess you get more comfortable with the elements, what is to be expected when it comes to weather, what kind of reactions people are going to give you. I think the more you get comfortable with the road and the people around you, the more they get comfortable with you. And I think the world is just becoming more open minded now."
Bhaktimarga's current walk began in the spring in Cape Spear, Newfoundland and will wrap up in the fall when he reaches Victoria's Beacon Hill Park. With Daruka and his parrot Billy following behind in a car, he typically walks 30 to 35 kilometres a day. They camp each night as well.
As one might expect, Bhaktimarga has had some incredible experiences during his walks. He said one notable moment happened near Lake Superior when a semi hauling lumber crashed behind him.
"It sounded like a bomb went off," he said. "I turned around and there was this man climbing out of the cab and he had blood on his face and his timber was strewn all over the Trans-Canada. I ran back to him and said 'are you OK,' and he said 'Am I really here? Am I seeing all this?' Maybe he thought I was an angel."
Another experience of note came when he was confronted by a bear.
"I offered a little prayer. I said 'please, my dear absolute could you show me yourself in the form of a bear. It's my third walk across Canada, and I haven't yet seen a living bear.' Twenty minutes later a bear showed up and he was pretty serious and if it wasn't for a tractor-trailer coming along on that really quiet stretch of the highway, I might have been toast."
Asked about how he came to the Hare Krishna faith, Bhaktimarga said he was a fine arts student named John Vis when a group of monks visited his school and spoke to a number of students. As someone greatly influenced by the Beatles and their interest in eastern religions, he was open to listening to the monks and liked what they had to say.
Although he does a number of speaking engagements while on the journey, Bhaktimarga isn't attempting to raise funds or promote any type of cause.
Instead he is simply promoting physical fitness, neighbourliness and simplifying one's life.
"The message is more walking, less squawking. We need to take some time to actually smell the roses simplify. The message is to enhance your appreciation for what is in the world."
Bhaktimarga said that message has largely been well received by those he has come across. Thanks in large part to social media, many have been following his journey and have stopped to speak with him. In fact, so many people have stopped that he's had to politely move them along so he can get his walking in each day.
"One young woman, she and her boyfriend came out of the vehicle and said 'we heard about you, we saw you on Facebook, we love you guys,'" he said. "It's kind of a problem sometimes because you are trying to get your timeline in or trying to get to this town where the campsite is. People keep stopping and I say, 'I really want to talk but I have to keep moving.' It's a nice problem."
When he's not walking Canada, Bhaktimarga travels extensively, having visited and walked in such countries as Ireland, Israel, Trinidad and the Fiji Islands. He also attends festivals and is a playwright who has written plays on Indian epics.
"My life is fun."
