Animal Stories - Nepal

Socrates (Sox)

by Hootoksi Tyabji, Kathmandu, 2003

Soon after we arrived in Kathmandu, I began scanning the notice boards for a dog that needed a home. Imagine my joy when I found this advertisement: ‘wanted a good home for a loving, black Apsoo male. Good with children and ready to move in immediately’.

Robert and I love Apso's so I hot footed it over to the advertiser, an American couple, and was met at the gate by this blob of matted black fur with four white-tipped paws, a tail and a wet black nose! The owner was on his way to Zimbabwe and seemed anxious to hand the dog over to me, but I had a few questions. How old was this animal? Oh, about 7 or 8 (his vaccination booklet revealed he was 11!)  Was he house trained? Well yes, kind of (we soon discovered he wasn’t and liked to lift his leg on furniture around our house!) Did he have any strange habits, any likes or dislikes? Not really, but he did have a colourful history and would I care to hear it? Here is what I learned…

Many years ago, there lived a German gentleman in Kathmandu who owned and loved a black Apso dog. The two were inseparable and were seen together in the town’s markets and sometimes in bars and restaurants. The dog traveled frequently with his master to Germany. On one such occasion, customs officials detained the gentleman and searched the dog box, which turned out to have been stuffed with drugs! There was a law that said a passenger may not be arrested at the point of entry but should be returned to the country where he boarded the flight.  So, the dog and German were sent back to Kathmandu and went straight into jail.

While they languished there, a kindhearted social worker doing her rounds of the jails, became upset when she saw them. Certainly, the man deserved to be there, but why the poor dog who had committed no crime? She had a female pooch at home and since the jailed beast was female too she decided she would take it home! Little Lucy was delighted to have a new friend and there would be no puppies to worry about so all was well!

The two animals adored each other and soon Lucy was glowing and putting on weight. Imagine her mistresses shock when the extra weight turned out to be puppies! How was this possible, since Lucy never left the house and no male dog was ever let in! This could only mean an Immaculate Conception had occurred! But that did not happen in real life, so the vet was called in. After a long, close and through examination it was discovered that the dog from jail was a hermaphrodite. This is rare but even more so is that this hermaphrodite dog fathered puppies and the old dog Socrates who we were about to adopt, was one of those puppies!

 


Sox at home in Budhanilkantha

Letter to Jigme

Hootoksi Tyabji, En route from Hille Koshi to Kathmandu, April 2003

Robert retired from UNICEF having served for 30 years, Nepal was our last posting and we had decided to retire in Malaysia where my parents lived.

The hardest part of the move was having to leave my beloved dog Jigme behind. Fortunately, we found a wonderful home for him with friends on a tea plantation in Hille Koshi in eastern Nepal. Andrew and Anu were dog lovers, they had two dogs on the plantation and Jigme with his fluffy coat would be a lot more comfortable in the cool climes of Nepal than in Malaysia; but the pain of separation was intense and I was beside myself at the parting, so Robert decided to take a detour and drive through the Koshi Tappu wild life forest reserve to calm me down and cheer me up.

Just as we got out of the car, there was this lump of fur on the lawn in front of us. It was a baby Albino fawn. Some people had found it abandoned in the forest just minutes before we arrived. I have no words to describe my feelings as I held its trembling body in my arms and loved it for just a few moments in time, and it was just the balm I needed for my pain.

This letter was written to express my feelings on having to part with Jigme. He was the love of my life and parting with him was yet another lesson in life and living!

17^th April 2003                                    Royal Park Hotel, Royal Chitwan National Park, Nepal

Darling Jigme,

Just to let you know that last night we checked into a beautiful place, the Royal Park Hotel which is just outside the Chitwan National Park.

It is 5 AM and I am sitting on the balcony looking out on the beautiful garden and listening to the cacophony of a host of birds each trying to outdo the other with a warble, a song, a call or a trill!

Most people would find this crazy, writing a letter to a dog, but that is because they have never been fortunate enough to communicate with living beings outside the scope of the human form. To them the notion is “ridiculous”, but you and I know better, for we feel each other’s joy and pain and presence.

Parting with you was a test for me and tangible proof that attachment causes sorrow. Yet, I could not let you go………..but I knew I had to leave you with the Gardeners in Hile because you are happy there and they all love you as we do! Andrew will take you to bed with him if Anu allows it Anouksha and Akshath will fuss over you and brush you when they are home from boarding school. I have told them you enjoy that brush with the pokey bristles especially on your tummy and under your chin. Narbada and Shakuntala will feed you well and Bud and Sparkle will eventually include you into their gang. Watch out for Bud, he is teething, and Sparkle might get jealous now and again. The cool, fresh mountain air will sooth and comfort you and every time you feel the soft caress of the wind on your beautiful face, it’s me come to kiss you.

Yesterday on our way here we stopped off at Koshi Tappu, a Wetlands Reserve and home to many exotic plants and species of birds, fowl and beast. There have been sightings of dolphins in the river and we hoped to see some. The boat was there but the boatman was missing so we were not permitted to leave. My heart was heavy, I was missing you so much focusing only on your fluffy cuteness and missing out on the beauty of my surroundings; and then right there before me was this white ball of fur on the lawn. What was it? Just the night before, a shepherd found a day-old Albino fawn abandoned by its mother. He brought it to the Sanctuary and as I held it in my arms it closed its pink eyes and seemed so completely at peace. I held it close and then I gently laid it on the ground. It was wobbly on its long delicate legs which could not support it properly, so it just folded them under its body and curled up to sleep - a bundle of white fur. Alone and seemingly content.

We drove on, along the East – West Highway. On three occasions we found ourselves behind trucks carrying water buffaloes to the slaughter. What magnificent beasts they are! They stood tall and proud even though they were tethered with ropes that were mercilessly drawn through their flared nostrils! They held their heads high and one old beast had the most beautiful horns that stood out on his head like the branches of a tree! They had this plaintive, expressive, faraway look, accepting and content.

The Buffalo, the baby deer and you live each moment of your lives in the present and reflect the majesty and might of the Great Spirit that dwells within you. That same Great Spirit abiding in me and every other sentient being has once again set me free, to feel and experience the power of Love – shining, living, pulsating, being, beating, living, dying, Everywhere, everyplace, all the time, eternally…. 

And you and I, the fawn and the buffalo, the birds and the trees, the mountains and the seas, the good and the bad, the meetings and the partings are no more than a flash in the realm of time which is eternal.

Love abounds everywhere, everyplace, all the time, eternally in every living thing – I know this and feel it again. I feel joyful and at peace. How can I lose you when you live with me in my heart?