Diwali

[smokingboot]

It has been 14 years since I entered Kathmandu during the time of Diwali/Dipawali, festival of the great goddess, when they painted the cockerels and the dogs with silver stripes and pink spots, and cows were looped with flower garlands which they wore with grace and eventually ate.

Diwali is a long festival. Mine started in the city and ended in the mountains, candles flickering in windows, men exuberantly gambling for coffee beans, matchsticks, coins, anything, for the goddess smiles on those who chance their luck and trust to her.

So many sights, little girls with foreheads covered in red cochineal and petals, a devotee of Shiva by the river, naked save his loincloth and his briefcase in which he kept a portfolio of all the articles he had written, published in newspapers across the continent. A dog training centre called 'Kujo,' a Robin Reliant full of freshly killed chickens, the smell of paraffin from all the hostels, me being made an honorary man with the curse of my left handedness excused by the courtesy of my Newari hosts - who then proceeded to unman me beyond redemption with Nepalese 'whiskey.' They serve this stuff in liliputian terracotta cups; should you be faced with it, appreciate that tiny mercy, cos its the only one you get. Wuggh!

Most of all, an eagle coming down so close to me, imperious and beautiful, alighting on a tree to converse with me in fluent raptor. I saw her on a hill in a gompa, where students were transcending. In that moment I knew I could never be a Buddhist. I didn't care if she was part of the Great Illusion; I'll transcend life when I die, til then I'll live in its throes, and if I do that shrieking like a passionate she-eagle, well, that's probably more dignity than I've managed so far!

14 years. I barely remembered it until today, when I saw a sparrowhawk on the garden fence, very little, very English. Then I recalled the she-eagle, and then I recalled the rest.

Happy Diwali; May fate and fortune smile on you through the coming year.

Comments

[andsoitisso.livejournal.com]

"cows were looped with flower garlands which they wore with grace and eventually ate."

How convenient for the holy cow

"A dog training centre called 'Kujo,'

I can only imagine, how the dogs turn out! :grin:

Happy Diwali to you too.

[binidj.livejournal.com]

"Most of all, an eagle coming down so close to me, imperious and beautiful, alighting on a tree to converse with me in fluent raptor. I saw her on a hill in a gompa, where students were transcending. In that moment I knew I could never be a Buddhist. I didn't care if she was part of the Great Illusion"

Paraphrasing a koan mercilessly:

"The untutored person will look at a mountain and say 'That is a mountain.'
The student will look at a mountain and say 'That is illusion.'
The master will look at a mountain and say 'That is a mountain.'"