Page 102 - FATE & DESTINY

FATE & DESTINY

Mr. Kaka, the principal of Rangjung Primary School, gave me a lift. All along the way, I recalled
Grandpa’s sacrifice for the family. Though cantankerous, he did everything he could to keep us happy. On
our business trips, Grandpa and I would travel on foot, selling ornaments and utensils. I enjoyed traveling
with him. It was adventurous, exploring new places and people.
Every year, he took us on a pilgrimage to Gomphu Kora. It was about eleven miles away from Chazam
on the way to Trashiyangtse. Gomphu means a meditation cave and kora means to circumambulate. And
there was a temple below the cave. Three- day festival would be held there, in honor of Guru Rinpoche,
the prodigious saint from Tibet. Guru Rinpoche was born from a lotus in Dhanakosa Lake in Pakistan, but
how come Guru Rinpoche was at Gomphu Kora? How’s that possible?
Here’s a story about how Gomphu Kora came into existence as my dad’s narration:
A saint and his disciple pass by a lake in Arunachal Pradesh, India. The temperamental lake shudders,
producing a cloud of vapors. The great saint tells his disciple there lies a golden grinder at the bottom of
this lake. The disciple asks him to get it for him.
The saint agrees and tells his disciple to anoint holy water on his head when he resurfaces from the lake.
The ground shakes as the saint battles with the nymph. Rings of waves spread across the lake in great
height and the roars. Half an hour later, a serpent emerges with a golden grinder in its mouth. The disciple
whimpers away in fright. The serpent drops the golden grinder back into the lake and devours his disciple.
It kills whatever comes its way.
So, local people invite Guru Rinpoche from Tibet to subdue the serpent. Guru Rinpoche chases the
serpent along the riverbank downstream. At a confluence, below Trashigang Dzong, the serpent slithers
up along the bank of the river. At Gomphu Kora, it enters a hole inside the cave. Guru meditates there,
waiting for the serpent to come out. Days later, the serpent thumps him from behind. Startled, Guru
bumps his head on the ceiling of the cave, leaving the imprint there.
Later, people named this place, Gomphu Kora.
Back then, Gomphu Kora was a two-hour journey from Trashigang, but Grandpa didn’t stop vehicles.
We walked us. So, my cousin, Phuntsho and I nagged him all along the way.
“Okay, let’s see who can find numbers first,” said Grandpa. “See that number there? Go find out the
numbers and keep count of those!”
We rushed and counted the numbers written on the walls with charcoal.
“There,” I said. “One.”
“It’s mine,” said Cousin Phuntsho. “I found it first.”
“No way,” I said. “I did.”
“You didn’t. I saw it.”
“Hurry, find the rest,” said Grandpa. “There are many to count ahead.”
By then, we would arrive at Gomphu Kora.
Another reminiscence of Grandpa made me chortle amid my sniffling. Well, it was late summer and the
corn plants were taller than me.
“Dorji, we are receiving a guest in the evening,” said Grandpa. “You have to kill a chicken.”
My jaw dropped. “Me?”
“Get help from Darjay,” he said. “Hurry or we’ll be late.”
“But we killed nothing before.”
“Go ahead. Catch the plump one.”
I called Darjay and caught the plump chicken. Butterflies tickled my stomach as I seized its legs. Darjay
throttled it. After flinching a lot under our knees, it stopped moving.
“Stop it, Darjay,” I said, releasing its legs. “Alas! It’s dead.”
Darjay sighed. “Alas!”
The chicken flew away into the cornfield and clucked.
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