The tragic death of the white horse of Ramlal Bomjon

This is a copy from http://archive.is/agicQ#selection-402.6-1065.486

by This website | Feb 16, 2015

It is an event that I have witnessed with my own eyes, the kind of event you’d wish never to have seen. It’s the account of the tragic death of the white horse of Ramlal Bomjon.

Saved to die

It is an event that I have witnessed with my own eyes, the kind of event you’d wish never to have seen. It’s the account about the tragic death of the white horse of Ramlal. Somewhere in august-september 2013, many preparations were on-going for moving Ramlal and the monks to a new site. Things were organized in a sort of half secrecy typical with most of the people surrounding Ramlal, which is to say: “It’s a secret, I can’t tell you, but I will tell you anyway just don’t tell anyone”. That’s how most pseudo-secrets really quickly circulate and in the end most people know about those secrets. The secret then was the organization of a helicopter trip to Sindhupalchowk, and all the preparations of making a path through from the mountain top all the way down to where the next settlement would take place. There was a request to collect donations to pay for that helicopter trip, but up to the last moment there wasn’t enough money collected. When at the last moment, somehow money was found and the helicopter ride for him to Sindhupalchowk could take place.

I was in Katmandu then, and I receive a call from Dawa who asks me to go in town and buy some food for the horse of the Guru. As all the animals were to be ‘moved’ from the old site to this new site of Sindhupalchowk. I searched for dry rye knowing how they feed them with a lot of freshly cut herbs, that lack the minerals needed in a horse diet, bought carrots and apples, for both the monks and the horse and sheep and goat. And we are all preparing to get to Sindhupalchowk.

It’s a bit north-east of Katmandu, there is an easy part of the road until you reach a big river, cross its bridge and get on the foothill of a first mountain that requires a 4 wheels drive to cope with the tortuous terrain. Even with a 4 wheels drive, the journey is rough. We kept being thrown all over the place in the car, I hit my head against the top of the car quite a few times. And the drive is pretty long, as the road is alternating fairly correct parts with big holes, or a total washout part of the road. And then you start climbing and climbing, for what seems to take for ever. And we arrived around the time when darkness started to step in. We were almost at the top of the Badegaun hill or area, when the car had to stop. Ahead of us a truck seemed to block the road, a construction bulldozer was there on the side too. It looked like just a blocked road. When moments after that on our left side, I see a horse, attached with ropes around all his 4 legs, to poles planted in the ground. The horse had wounds all over the body. His eyes were so wounded he could almost not open them up to see through them. When I say the body and legs were covered in wounds, I literally mean this. My guess is that his bones were probably broken, which would explain why they tied him up to poles, to keep him upright standing. We ask what happened to the horse of the Guru? And we were told that the horse got wounded because he was in this truck and they had driven that same road we took with that truck and the horse behind.

What can I tell you? No wonder the horse got banged all over while in that truck. It’s not a transportation vehicle designed for carrying horse on tracks in the mountains. I couldn’t believe can be as stupid as this as to not even check along the way if something went wrong. But to get at the top of the mountain and just then realize they almost killed the horse. I am writing here ‘almost’, because at that part in the unfolding of events the horse was still alive. We discharged all the food and carrots we brought for the horse and gave it to a guy, who was by the horse and trying to make him drink a bit, or eat something. The horse of course, had probably no desire at all for any food. Food was the least of its worries.

The place is far from everything, it’s the night, I didn’t even think of taking a picture of that horse, I was so much under shock, I wanted to figure out how to get a veterinarian there. But as we couldn’t continue with the vehicles it was decided we go on foot from there to the house of Techu. We spent the night there, and the next when we reached the ‘Dharma Center’, we learned that the horse had died. Given the circumstances that’s probably only then that it was better for him.

Conclusion

It all started from an order of Ramlal Bomjon to get all the animals he is ‘saving’, to Sindhupalchowk. The end of the story is the tragic death of a beautiful horse, that was not properly taken care of. A horse meant to be ‘saved’, that encountered the most tragic possible death, due to the total inability of most of the people around Ramlal Bomjon, to recognize their own lack of skills, and to ask from people who have the skills to be helped. They are all in a frenzy to execute each and every wish of their leader, not even able to apprehend the magnitude of their limitations.

After that I heard some of the most stupid comments like the ‘horse was meditating before dying’. It was his karma. And the list of justifications that were given is endless. Not even worth relating. But never ever do I encounter within the people responsible for the most dramatic events around Ramlal, wonder what they themselves did wrong. What is their responsibility? All the energy of the group is deployed in covering up, finding super-natural reasons to plainly stupid actions.