The World of Canals

May 2019

“I grew up near the Danube, next to the good old river fishermen...”,
an old song that reminds me of home, and always evokes a sigh. An
extraordinary song that moves me like the waves of the Danube. It
is the best when performed by Gypsy tambourine players. I had the
pleasure to enjoy it few times by the Danube itself, at the Pikec Inn
in Bezdan, not far from my hometown of Sombor. The fish stew was
always freshly prepared in pot “kotlich” and served on the wooden
tables covered with checkered tablecloths, under the shade of trees,
looking over the magnificent Danube, surrounded by the intoxicating
scents of poplar, ash and willow, listening to the irresistible sounds of
violin and tambourine made by the graceful Gypsies... a scene deeply
embedded somewhere in my mind. I cannot say I grew up near the
Danube, as stated by the initial verse of the popular tambourine song,
since the Danube and I were separated by a distance of 18 km. I fre-
quently wanted to go there, but it could not easily be done. One could
take a bus, but I did not have anyone to go with, nor whom to visit, and
I often lacked money for such an adventure. Even though the Danube
was within arm’s reach, it often proved a large enough distance for the
then green and fearless boy from Sombor who barely managed to oc-
casionally get a bicycle to use. The Danube is a river that flows quickly
and was elusive to me, like an unfinished dream. The alternative was
the Great Backa Canal which runs slowly through the part of Sombor
where I grew up. I spent most of the hot summer days of my colour-
ful childhood on this peaceful and calm canal. If anyone had told me
back then that I would get to see a much wider, longer, and deeper
PANAMA CANAL, which connects two oceans, the Atlantic and the
Pacific, and through which many huge ships pass from one side to the
other in only 8-10 hours, I would have claimed it to be an unconceiv-
able and unreachable dream. But some dreams do come true for un-
known reasons and tend to unfold one way or another. Someone up
there takes a bit of care, shuffles some cards, and with ease sketches a
heavenly map for each one of us. And, when the time comes, we get to
see the new earthly roads that we can take if we are brave enough to
make the first step, and the new sights and horizons open up to us to
reveal new pictures ready to be put in the album called “Life”.
It was a two-hour drive by a tourist bus, from the resort in Panama
where I stayed, and we arrived at the main entrance, a ramp that con-
trols the entry of all vehicles to the port of the canal. Even though,
as an organized tourist group, we had a pre-set boarding time onto a
small passenger ship to take us around the major part of the canal, and
lower/raise us between two locks, we still had to wait an additional 45
minutes. Every day about 40-45 various size ships pass through the
Panama Canal, which is the shortcut between the two oceans and one
of the major maritime trade arteries of the world. The large cargo ships
with high-stacked containers, however, take precedence because they
bring in more money, way more than a small tourist ship. We had to
wait for such a large ship to pass through first.
Our bus was parked on a small street, near a park, only about hun-
dred or so meters away from the canal. The tropical climate, wet and
warm air was splashing the windows of our bus. Inside the bus, air
conditioning units cool off the tourists that came here trying to escape
the cold weather in which they live, hungry for the tropical climate.
No one wanted to exit the bus. Few minutes passed by and I no longer
wanted to sit inside that cold bus. I came out to take a walk and smell
the tropical air. All that I could see were few streets, low rise houses,
children playing in the background, a small convenience store that was
part of one of the houses, a fire station, tropical trees, and a park. It was
more than enough! It was an unusually peaceful and quiet area consid-
ering that the canal represents an oceanic shortcut for the flow of huge
quantities of goods from one continent to another. After walking for
half an hour, I looked for shade and a suitable place to sit while I wait
for our departure time to see the coastline of the canal and the place
of our embarkment. I noticed a wooden bench in the park, located be-
tween two large trees. I sat there, relaxed by the tropical climate and
delighted by the natural silence and birds’ chirping. I observed every-
thing surrounding me in the park. I was facing the canal as a huge
cargo ship was passing through, the reason we had to wait. Between
that ship and me, i.e. the place in the park where I was sitting, was a
considerably tall tree with a broad trunk that was partially blocking
my view of the canal as was the ship which was passing through it.
Something lured me to look a bit closer at this large and unusual tree.
There were a lot of fallen leaves and twigs around the tree. It looked like
there was a little hiding place from which you could take a very narrow
path, as wide as a human foot, which resembled a mini grassless track
and then extended all the way to another tree, about 20 meters away. I
was very intrigued by this; I was sitting on the bench while watching
the little hideaway under the tree. Then, I continued to follow that little
narrow path with my eyes to the other tree, that also had a similar
hideout under it. My curiosity ran high, and I had to get up and get
closer to inspect it further. With my mouth wide open and with a sense
of wonder, I witnessed a scene whose main actors were little ants. On
that narrow path, I noticed a very busy flow of traffic, column after
column of small ants all performing their duty. It looked like a high-
way for the little ant army that was busy hurryingly transporting their
cargo from one tree to the other. From the hideaway near the tree, like
on a factory assembly, ants were coming out one after the other, carry-
ing their cargo of little pieces of green leaf which seemed to flutter in
the air, and which was five times the size of the ant. They looked like
mini sailboats with bright green sails. They transported those small
pieces of leaves from one hideout to the next. In several columns, going
in one direction were the little ants with green leaves high above their
heads, and going in the opposite direction were the ants that already
unloaded their cargo at the other anthill and were going back to get the
new load. I’ve watched all this with great enthusiasm and wonder at the
same time! I briefly turned towards the bus where my fellow travelers
were sitting, some of them were sleeping, some were yawning, some
eating snacks, some were bored, some were staring at their phones,
meanwhile not even hundred meters away from them, on their left and
right, the two great transports were taking place. Transit on both water
and land. The harmony of the two worlds, the big and the small. In one
world a huge freight cargo ship was transporting through the Panama
Canal metal high-stacked containers, and in the other, so close to the
canal, the little ants were transporting pieces of green leaves from one
tree hideout to the next.
Having observed all of this, I was a witness to both worlds; to both
transports on contrasting scales, yet neither one of them was more
important than the other! That is when I remembered a writer from
Belgrade, Svetozar Vlajkovic, who is, in my opinion, one of the very
rare and outstanding writers from former Yugoslavia, who, through
his personal experiences, has found and then wrote down in one of his
many novels: “To observe and feel at the same time is one of the ways
to fully exist. For a person to exist, it is necessary to completely forget
about oneself.”
I sighed deeply. That unique scene was interrupted by the voice of
tourist guide from the bus. He called me to let me know that we are
ready to go to the canal. The ramp opened up and the bus came down
to the coast in a minute. Tired from boredom, half asleep tourists
became alive instantly and rushed towards the ship. I found a suitable
spot on the deck. I sat there completely serene. Slightly grey clouds and
a partial fog created an ideal picture in front of me. And the tiny and
dense tropical raindrops were perfect as if they were ordered just for
this very moment. It was as if I was looking through a crystal curtain
through which you could see the Panama Canal...

Translated by Nikol Markovic