Opportunity of this Lifetime

Jampa headed straight into the market area where he would trade his lentils. Gedhun followed his grandfather in a different direction down a narrow dirt way lined with merchants on both sides. Green and blue tarps were haphazardly strung overhead to block the sun or the rain, whichever decided to show up. Underneath there were new tarps of various sizes for sale. Rope was strung everywhere with all kinds of things hanging from it. They passed by locals selling blankets, bags, clothes, vegetables, and grains. And there were many things Gedhun did not recognize. 

Pyramid shaped piles of spices in brightly colored shades of crimson and saffron rose out of small wooden barrels. Alongside, small baskets overflowed with dried chili peppers. Defeathered carcasses of ducks were laid out across large metal pans. There was a small truck loaded with bananas. They were piled twice the height of the truck. 2 men had set up small fires nearby. Each of them had a wok and were selling food. One was peeling, cutting and frying the bananas, the other one was making omelets. A goat, tied up nearby, ate the banana peels and eggshells. The goat’s owner was selling white cloths filled with cheese that were hanging from a rope. 

Gedhun’s attention was being pulled in different directions at the same time. The vegetable merchants were yelling about their produce, how it was the best, the freshest, organic, the best price. The blanket merchants patted and folded  and turned over their blankets, repetitiously telling whoever was listening or not that winter was on the way and everyone needed more blankets and these were the blankets you needed. The folks selling rice extolled their virtues of being expert rice driers. The banana man competed with the omelette man for people who thought they were hungry. The woman selling the ducks was pretty quiet. She had no competition. If you wanted a duck here they were. All ready to go. She had done all the hard work for you. 

Gedhun’s family is vegetarian. He stared at the dead ducks with all their feathers missing. He didn’t know what to think. He was just about to ask the woman what happened to the ducks when his grandfather grabbed him gently by the upper sleeve of his jacket and coaxed him away. They walked a little further and met up with Jampa again who was now holding a few small sacks. He pulled a handful of candles from one of the bags to show to Pemba and Gedhun. He told them someone at the market was selling these pre-made candles.  James was going to experiment with them to see how they worked back home. If all went well the family would not have to render beef fat into tallow to makes candles anymore.

Gedhun and his grandfather took some of the other bags from Pemba and prepared for the journey back home. As they walked back near the man selling the fried mozzarella balls they saw 2 monks sampling his food. They stopped and bowed toward the monks and the monks returned the gestures. One of the monks offered Gedhun a mozzarella ball. Gedhun looked to his father, who nodded with his approval. Gedhun thanked the monk and ate the treat. His father offered the monks one of his new pre-made candles. The monks accepted and thanked him. 

Jampa struck up a conversation with the monks about them being at the market as the closest monastery was maybe 20km away. The monks told them they were just completing the overseeing of the construction of a small Buddha stupa nearby the market as a gift to the local people of Chusul, and that their monastery was actually much further away, perhaps 60km toward the South. The monks told Jampa and Pemba that they also had a small educational campus at their monastery that housed and educated dozens of girls from poor areas. There were also 3 or 4 young boys on campus who were provided an education in English along with religious training in the Buddhist tradition. Room, board and tuition were free. The children stayed there 10 months of the year and spent the other 2 months with their families. Jampa looked at Pemba. Then he looked at Gedhun. Then he looked at the monks. His mind was racing. An opportunity for young Gedhun he thought. He could learn English. He had already shown a keen interest in Buddhist mantras and he was only 6. The man frying the mozzarella balls smiled as young Gedhun stared back. Stranger in a Strange Land by Iron Maiden played from the music box in the background. Gedhun was oblivious to the current life-changing conversations that were taking place right there next to him.