On a quiet day for the Run, we gathered at Tomato Lake in Belmont for the inauguration of the 'Sri Chinmoy Harmony Run', a one-mile (1.6 km) loop to run or walk around this beautiful lake.

The Mayor of Belmont, Glenys Godfrey, dedicated the sign, freshly installed just a few hours earlier. Many 'Peace Miles' around the world have been dedicated in honour of the World Harmony Run founder, Sri Chinmoy, but this is the first one linking Sri Chinmoy's name with the World Harmony Run itself. It joins those Peace Miles in a global garland of over 1000 Sri Chinmoy Peace-Blossoms, significant places in over 140 nations that serve as focal points for peace, reminders from our everyday lives to keep the flame of peace constantly alive in our hearts and minds.

The ceremony was attended by the runners as well as students from two local schools. Fifty children from the Islamic College walked to the park, joined by some of the athletic kids from Carlisle Primary School.

It was great to see these two schools together, sharing the Torch. Though they claimed they rarely met, they seemed to be mingling like old friends.

After the dedication, everyone ran around the Sri Chinmoy World Harmony Run mile.

The children’s joy was palpable, even as the rain (which had been threatening to make its presence felt throughout the ceremony) began first to gently fall, then to pour down on us from the skies.

It was a sudden and absolute torrent that left us all completely drenched, looking like we had all just thrown ourselves, fully clothed, into a swimming pool. The surrounding trees, while beautiful, provided us with very little protection, having shed the bulk of their leaves for the winter. Yet even as the rain seeped through, everyone – children and adults alike – seemed to be having too much fun to care.

Some of the kids started a game of football, while Misha Kulagin from Russia was laughing heartily.

“Finally some real rain!” he smiled, spreading his arms in the open air. “First time since we came to Australia.” Though some days had been overcast, and others had offered some light rain, Misha said that this was the only day that the rain truly blessed us from above, taking no prisoners. It was a truly special day.

For dinner, our entire team drove to One World Cuisine, in the southern suburb of Kardinya.

This wonderful little restaurant, run by keen volunteers, is a great place to eat. Since April, it has been offering complimentary vegetarian meals to promote the health, moral and environmental aspects of eating vegetarian. As the World Harmony Run team is full of vegetarians, we were eager to pay a visit.

The smorgasbord was superb, with a wide variety of tastes and colours.

We also presented the staff with a certificate, in appreciation for all the work they do to help promote personal health and the environment through dietary practice. We chatted with them for a while, until, before we knew it, we were providing the staff and patrons with a floor show: a rendition of the World-Harmony-Run Song, performed with gusto.

Most of the patrons were happily intrigued, and the staff was extremely gracious – so gracious, in fact, that (as if the free meals weren’t enough) they gave us all free T-shirts, promoting the vegetarian way of life. Most of the T-shirts had a pictures of lovable animals on the front, with the phrase “Love me, please Don’t Eat me.”

Thanks to manager Lee Lin, and the other staff, Nigel, Anthelme and Ruby, for the great dining experience and kind gifts.

But our culinary joy wasn’t over yet. Nearby there was an ice-creamery, which was a perfect chance for Colm Magee to fulfil his kind-hearted wish to buy ice cream for the entire team.

After being with the team since Sydney, he will be flying back to Dublin in a couple of days, so he was eager to shout ice cream for everyone. He explained the World Harmony Run to the managers of the Baskin-Robbins – and they were nice enough to give him a special deal. Thanks to Colm’s generosity, we once again ate to our hearts’ content.

Colm has been a fantastic team member – not only for his strong and eager running capacity. He will be especially missed in our school presentations, where his friendly manner and charming accent never failed to create an easy and instant rapport with the kids.

Tomorrow is another easy day, in which only a little running is planned. However, with such wonderful food (served in generous quantities), many of us will certainly want to go for a morning run – before we are no longer able to fit into our new T-shirts!

Another member leaving us in Perth is Shapathanal Daly from New Zealand, who has been with the team since Adelaide. It has been fantastic having his photographic skills along on the Run as well as his contributions to the daily kilometre total – a budding excellent runner – not to mention his skate-boarding skills!

We wish Shapathanal all the best as he heads to Melbourne to assist with the new management of a leading vegetarian establishment on Bridge Rd, Richmond.

– Noivedya Juddery (Australia)

Team Members:
Uddyogini Hall (Australia), Vidagdha Bennett (Australia), Jacqui Uppal (Australia), Kylie Williams (Australia), Friederike Makowka (Switzerland), Nataliya Lehonkova (Ukraine), Angela Muhs (Germany), Elke Lindner (Germany), Prabuddha Nicol (Australia), Noivedya Judery (Australia), Pushpendra Uppal (Australia), Shapathanal Daly (New Zealand), Misha Kulagin (Russia), Dima Lehonkov (Ukraine), Standa Zubaty (Czech Republic), Edi Serban (Romania), Sandro Zincarini (Italy), Runar Gigja (Iceland), Prabhakar Street (Canada), Colm Magee (Ireland), Veeraja Uppal (Australia), Prachar Stegemann (Australia)

Harmonemail:
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