Page 36 - FATE & DESTINY

FATE & DESTINY

The mini-truck scaled up the mountains, and through the Kharungla pass. The crisp wind whipped across our
faces. I breathed into my hands to warm my numb fingers. Trees and mountains reeled before me. “Hell no, I am
dying.”
“Almost there now,” said Darjay, crouching down. “Stay down and go to sleep.”
I closed my eyes, but my motion sickness worsened.
Miles later, the driver pulled over the truck beside a restaurant. “Get down, boys.”
I staggered to the window. “Thank you, Dasho.”
Dasho nodded, and the driver waved at us and drove away.
“Oops! I am sick, buddy.” I grimaced, pressing my head. “Everything reels before my eyes.”
“Wait here,” said Darjay. “I will find the police camp.” And he returned soon. “Come, it’s way up there.”
I trudged up the hill after him on my numb toes.
The dusk crawled in. A group of men, about six, were playing darts in a tiny ground below the police camp.
Darjay said, “There he is, my brother-in-law.”
A mustached man waved and scurried down to us. “Darjay?” he said, beaming. “What a pleasant surprise.”
Darjay waved back and turned to me. “He’s Nidor.”
“What brings you here?” said Nidor.
“Just accompanying him to his brother’s place,” said Darjay
“Where?” said Nidor.
Darjay looked at me. “Name of the place, buddy?”
“Um, I think it’s Tsangpo,” I said.
“Tsangpo is over there,” said Nidor, pointing at the tall mountain in the west. “At the bottom of that mountain.
Can you see it?”
I squinted. “Really?”
“You look tired. Come, please.”
We lumbered after Nidor into his room. I went to bed straight out.
After breakfast, Darjay and I resumed the journey. We tracked down the well-trodden path and soon trudged
along the riverbank.
Darjay wiped the sweats from his head. “Oops, how far do you think we should travel?”
“May not be far, buddy,” I said. “Keep walking.”
The journey never ended. At sundown, we met a bevy of women carrying bamboo baskets.
“Hello?” I waved at them. “Where’s the Basic Health Unit?”
A woman said, “Over there.”
“Thank you,” I said.
“You must be a doctor?” she said.
“No, no. We’re paying a visit to my brother,” I said. “He is a health staff here. HA.”
“Oh, really?” she said. “He should be at home.”
“Thanks.”
Sister-in-law opened the door. Her eyebrows arched. “Where are you coming from?”
“From home,” I said.
“Who is it?” asked my brother from inside.
“Dorji Wangdi,” she replied.
“Oh, really?” He came out. “What brings you here?”
“Just thought of visiting you all,” I said.
Early the next morning, we strolled into the immediate vicinity of BHU, brushing our teeth. It was a perfect
morning with a cool breeze. The countryside landscape took my breath away.
The ward was half complete. The construction workers poured in soon. They comprised youths—mostly girls.
After breakfast, we strolled into the school premises below the construction site. We sat on the ground and
watched the workers schlep up stones to the construction site. After a while, a young girl wobbled up and rested her
bamboo basket on a rock. She glanced at us, so I beckoned to her.
I derived great contentment as I fooled around with girls, but it was a different situation this time. Her natural
elegance beguiled me. She held the basket down and walked toward us. My jaw dropped.
With others, I styled my hair or tucked into the collar of my shirt to show I was spunky. I didn’t care if my hair—
which I hadn’t combed for days—looked fine.
She stood before me. She was lovelier than I saw from the distance. Her dark eyes sparkled. As the breeze ruffled
her glossy hair that had cascaded down her shoulders, she resembled a princess in a fairy tale.
Mesmerized, I plucked a dainty rose that adorned the garden and offered her. “A beautiful rose for a beautiful
girl.”

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