Thursday, March 23, 2006

Kora curiosities

More from the Dege kora circuit.

[The kora is the ritual pilgrims' walk around a sacred mountain, building or shrine. In Dege, the kora goes round the monastery.]

1. A deflated inflatable Father Christmas.



2. A dead cat.


3. Another dead cat


One dead cat, and you might just think, well, a cat has to die somewhere.

But two? That has to be more than coincidence.

Do devout Buddhist cats come to the monastery walls to die, like Hindus to Varanasi?

Or is it more akin to the fabled elephant graveyards of Africa?

I should probably not make semi-facetious remarks about peoples', or indeed animals', religions, especially when I'm coming from a position of utter ignorance.

But seriously, the cats are there, and they are dead. Can anyone help me out? What are they doing there? Waiting to be reincarnated? Somebody must know.

And as for Father Christmas, well, that's anyone's guess.

7 comments:

  1. perhaps it's some misprunt again some chinese chap was asked to install CAT5 all over Dege but he's installing 5 Cats?

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  2. Santa - that is probably really quite funny. But, pardon my ignorance, what is CAT5? I'm saving my chuckle until you tell me.

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  3. CAT5 is a kind of network cable:

    About.com about CAT5

    Yeah, I had to look it up on Google.

    Sweet website by the way. I had a read of some of those articles you wrote for The Adventure Cycling Handbook. Very captivating writing!

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  4. You web chaps are all the same, ask for a computer for christmas and don't read the booklet. Know how to use it, but have no idea what sticks it together.

    CAT 5 e is a cable (standardised configuration)

    5 Cats (is one more cat than four)

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  5. Perhaps they're also helping guard the monastery...

    Perhaps they were live when they were appointed as keepers of the monastery - but the job proved just too much an endurance test for them.

    Or perhaps they sacrifice cats there.

    *Holds cat close to her chest and strokes*

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  6. Thank you, R.T. and santa.

    I will now have my chuckle.

    [chuckles]

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  7. I don't care what anyone else may say, I have to have great respect for someone who undertakes an adventurous trip such as yours. You're quite a guy.

    ReplyDelete