Page 181 - FATE & DESTINY

FATE & DESTINY

“Since you insist,” she said. “You can take him on oxygen support. You must deposit a security deposit
of six thousand five hundred ngultrums.”
After everything was done, we started at 3:00 pm from Mongar. It was Daw Dangpa Losar in 2016, so
hotels and restaurants along the way were closed. At Thridangbi, I stopped by a shade selling local
products. There, I asked a woman if there was any restaurant open around there. She told us there was a
two-story house above the road, a few meters away.
The restaurant was open. We had kharang lunch with bean curry and hit the road again. Dad panted as
we scaled up the Thrumshingla pass. I sped up. For dinner, we stopped by a restaurant at Ura.
“You must be hungry, Dad,” I said. “Let’s have dinner. Trongsa is a long way. What would you like to
have?”
“I am not so hungry,” he said. “A light meal would do.”
I removed the oxygen mask and walked him into the restaurant. We ordered noodles and warmed our
hands by the room heater. Dad pouted and whistled. His lips had turned purple. He flinched and collapsed
to the floor.
Karma held Dad just on time and shook him. “Dad!”
People gathered around us. A lama at the restaurant said an evil spirit had haunted him. He exorcised
the spirits, but Dad still lay unconscious.
“Oxygen!” I rushed to the car and dragged the oxygen cylinder. “Karma, wear the mask on him!” I
released the oxygen in full flow. Dad opened his eyes a minute later.
“Are you okay, Dad?” I asked.
He looked around and nodded.
The restaurant owner said, “Take him to Wangdicholing Hospital. The old road is much shorter.”
“Lama, could you give my dad an amulet?” I said.
He searched through his yellow satchel. “I don’t have, but take this.” He removed a Buddha amulet
from his neck. “This should ward off the spirits.”
“Thank you, Lama,” I said. “If you ever come to Thimphu, visit us. We stay at Babesa, Sky Bakery
building.”
He nodded. “Safe journey,” he said.
The narrow road filled with potholes, interminably shrouded in mists. It was a great hurdle to
overcome.
“Wipe the darn vapors off the windshield, Karma,” I said. “What’s the reading on the oxygen cylinder?”
He switched on his mobile torch and read the regulator meter. “70 psi,” he said.
“Oh, no!” I said. “We’re running out of time.”
“How far is the hospital from here?” he asked.
“Maybe thirty miles.”
“You should drive fast.”
No matter how fast I drove, we seemed to be at the same place. The car jerked along the kaput road.
Back tires screeched and skidded at the bends, but we wouldn’t arrive. At 10:00 pm, we zoomed through
the Chamkhar town, but the labyrinthine above the town dithered me.
“Which one would take us to the hospital?” I said, sighing.
“Um, take that road,” said Karma. “Hurry.”
We passed by a car parked beside the road and trolled along the untarred road. I screeched to a halt.
“It’s a dead-end!” I reversed it and stopped beside the car. I could see the shadows of a man and woman in
the car. “Hello? Anybody there?”
The man rolled down his glass and craned his head out.
“Can you show us the road to the hospital, please?”
The man turned the ignition on. “Follow me.”
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