Dawa found
shelter on the outcrop of a rock. He would just sit there and gaze at the open
space in front. From the very first day of his stay there, he felt at peace
with himself and all his restlessness was gone. The cave was just at the right
distance from the temple – neither too close nor too far.
But one day
he became agitated again and missed howling and the company of the other dogs.
A dog in a sacred place must not howl, so he suppressed all sounds that formed
in his throat and came out as hiccups.
As he sat
there lost, he heard voices and eventually found three elderly women coming up,
panting, and carrying heavy baskets on their backs and aluminium kettles in
their hands. They were pilgrims. Dawa was happy to see them. Other than the
people who lived there, rarely did he get to see other people. Dawa tried to
greet them with his eyes, but they got scared and called out to the care-taker
for help. The care-taker asked them not to fear such a harmless stray dog.
As the most
elderly of them was feeling dizzy, she sought help from one of her younger
companions and holding hands, they walked along the footpath. Dawa tried not to
frighten them and pretended to be asleep. As they passed by, he smelt them, a
strange mixture of fried biscuits, sweat and incense scent.
Before
entering into the temple, they rested outside and took the baskets off their
backs. Then the care-taker came to the door and told them that the fire for
melting the butter in their kettles for lighting the butter lamps, was ready.
The women, having in the meanwhile taken their things out of their baskets,
offered him some fried biscuits, eggs, rolls of incense and lots of other
things, unseen by Dawa. The care-taker told them that there was no need for
gifts. They shouldn’t have taken the trouble really. He also asked them to keep
some for the lama. The women informed him then that they had brought some gifts
for the lama as well.
Before
entering into the temple, they asked the care-taker if it was safe to leave
their luggage behind, particularly in view of the presence of the dog. The
care-taker’s response was the greatest gift for Dawa as he said: "The dog looks
ragged, but he has a sensitive heart like a human. He never steals or bites
other people."
Dawa felt a
sense of camaraderie with the pilgrims. He was intrigued when he heard them
conversing about the cave of Gelong Ma Pelmo. Only then did he realize that it
was the very cave he had been staying in all these months. The news was too
shocking for Dawa to bear.
He came out
of it as he saw the pilgrims heading toward the cave. Dawa was trembling with
excitement when the care-taker was praising him for his sensitive nature. But
he observed them for a distance. They came with folded hands and prostrated.
They also stuck butter lamps in the crevices of the temple. One of them asked
if there was any specific mantra for Gelong Ma Pelmo as they were so used to
chanting OM MANI PEMA HUNG, while praying to her. The care-taker replied that
as long as they included all the sentient beings in their prayers, it was fine
with him.
Dawa
realized that he was there in Thowadrak due to the prayers of other people. He
was overcome with a deep sense of gratitude and universal fellowship. It being
an auspicious day, the fifteenth of the month coinciding with the full-moon day,
the care-taker sounded disappointed on finding out from them that there were no
other pilgrims coming up.
Dawa though
could not take it as mere coincidental that he christened himself and found out
the cave of Gelong Ma Pelmo on a full-moon day. All the pieces of his life
seemed to be falling into place.
One day he
felt that something was missing, amiss. Though things around him were going on
as usual – the care-taker was fetching water from the stream, the river flowing
down and the ravens cawing sitting on the trees. Then he realized what was
missing – his itching was gone! He examined and re-examined himself. All his lesions were gone and in place of the
open, crusted wounds, he had new fur sprouting.
As the lama
was passing by, he remarked that the mangy dog did not look as bad as he had
thought earlier. Phuntsho, too wise for one so young, disagreed respectfully by
commenting that it was really bad when he came there at first. But he recovered
during his long stay in the sacred place. Dawa was indeed cured of his mange!
Dawa always
knew that he would eventually get back to Thimphu, which he considered to be
his home, and regale Moley and Dampa with stories of his travels. But he felt
so content and tranquil that he was in no hurry to get back to Thimphu. Knowing
that he might not come back to Tang again, he thought of visiting all the
villages in Tang on both sides of the river. As he climbed down, he looked back
at Thowadrak and felt as if he was leaving a part of him behind. He crossed the
bridge and climbed up the hillock called Uri Ngphang (Ram’s Nose) and proceeded
toward the big house. There were some twenty households on the east side of the
house and each house had a dog, he was told. Despite the casual way he was
treated by the old black dog on the way, Dawa wondered about the dogs before moving to the
courtyard of the big house. All the dogs were gathered there in a circle as
there was a huge pile of meat and bone, possibly the carcass of a yak, on a
bamboo mat. An old man was chopping them into small pieces and spreading them
to dry. Another old man was trying to keep the dogs and the ravens at bay with
a stick. It was a scene as the ravens competed with the dogs for the pieces of
meat flying off the chopping board. He eased himself in between two dogs, unnoticed
by anyone. Suddenly an old dog with red-brown markings all around his neck,
came to Dawa and sniffed him all over, thrice. He rebuked Dawa for being there
as he did not belong to that place. Dawa had no intention of a confrontation
and was getting up to go, when the dog fell upon him, biting into his neck.
Dawa was terrified and cried out. He tried to get out of the steely grip. He
could only get away when two men came to his rescue by forcing the jaws of the
big dog open.
Dazed and
disoriented, Dawa heard the two men laughing about what might have happened if
the old dog, Markhang, was not toothless. Dawa felt the wetness around his
neck, but there was no blood or throbbing pain. All the dogs were more concerned with the bones than the incident. A dog next to him confirmed his
feeling that there was no harm done. Two men, feeling pity on Dawa, threw a
piece of meat to him. He was still all shook up and as a result, the meat was
pulled out of his mouth by a raven. It was simply not his day as things were
going haywire.
His
attention then was caught by a gawky female dog called Nimola, who kept on stealing pieces of
meat and running away. She was being given preferencial treatment as she was to be the next guard dog. Dawa was impressed with her breeding, parentage, looks and felt
that she would be a fine guard dog.
Contd on page 2/-
Contd on page 2/-
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