Garuda the uncontested flying king of Bandapur

                                                                                                                          By Jacob Gelt Dekker, 14 August, 2007

“You are lingering your luck away, my dear Garuda. Better jump now! Jump!”

“No mister, no. When the eagle soars, only when the eagle soars, I jump. Chula has to make a hot air furnace in the valley, mister. Chula, our great god of fire.”

Garuda, maybe 16 or 17, he does not know. When I asked, he simply said, “Yes, mister, 16. Yes mister, I am 16,” and “Yes mister, 17, Yes mister, I am 17.”

   Garuda is the uncontested flying king of Bandapur Mountain. An Australian, or was it an American or may
   be an Austrian, taught him to fly like an eagle.

   Born from the lowest caste, he never dreamt of any flight
   in his life, though his father challenged the gods by
   naming his at birth, Garuda, after the flying Garuda god
   of good luck.

   ” Maybe this one will be able to fly away from our karma
   of poverty, “his father supposedly told his mother. 
 

“Chabu, bu-bu, chabu bu-bu, “ chanted the  Mudhum shaman, Gadja Bahadur Rai,  who never left the take off and landing spot for sky divers, no more than a narrow edge on the cliffs.

“ Man’s fears of misery is a priest’s  fame and fortune,” he explained with an  all revealing  smile, while fumbling  a few bank notes into the folds of his gold and dark red garments.
 

“Money Booba,” I grumbled and spitted.

 “Chabu, Chabu bu-bu--- God give the power, god give the power…..”      

For hours, Garuda worked meticulously  folding and fashioning his sky glider- parachutes  to perfection,  waiting for columns of hot  air  to  rise from the Himalayan valley floor.

 Soon, very soon  this day, we would soar like eagles high  over the rice paddies, spiraling up, high and higher, than gliding to the next column till fire god Chula, no longer gives heat and chislo kawa, cold wind,  forces us, the flying gods of Bandapur, back down to earthly dwellings.

 “Chabu bu-bu,” chants the shaman. “Mister, all life’s opportunities are lost by lingering,” mumbled Gadja Bahadur Raj after me in his great wisdom, and after yet one more banknote.”

“Yes, yes Gadja, Tigers in the jungle do not eat men, tigers in the mind do. “

With a nod in Garuda’s direction, Gadja smirked”,   what takes a woman a moment, may take a man a year.”

“Garuda, look, the eagles soar. Look, look!  Garuda, hurry up man. It is time to go! Let’s go. Now!!!”

Tato kawa,  a hot wind, directly out of  fire god Chula’s  mouth, His Name be Blessed, pulled us with a jerk up into endless blue sky, and we soared , and soared like eagles.

A tight belt buckled me to Garuda.  Any Catholic would have crossed   himself and prayed endless Hail Mary’s.  From my lips flowed Nepali prayers chants only:

“Life is but two days.  We come naked, we leave naked.  The seeing  find god when looking for a stone, the blind stone while looking for a god.

 Hail Mary!! Jesus Christ.  Holy cow.  Goddammit, Shit!” Chislo kawa, cold wind --- --- plunged us straight down, 50 maybe even 100 meters.

“Jjaaijaaijaai, Hoopla, jaaaaj jaaaaj,” Garuda screamed in my ear ecstatically, as if filled with nothing but heavenly bliss.

“Fucking crazy kid! Fuck you!” 

“Agobaliiiiiii, fire, dear god, Chula, Your name will be praised for ever, “I prayed.

“Shit man, god Chula give us a little more lift. Make my life at least three days. Chula, after all what is only two naked days. Let’s be fair, I need an extra day to get dressed. Aaaagobaliiiiii! Chula, Chula! Please! ”

A spinning jerk pulled us up and up again. “Akas, heaven, akas, up into the sky” screamed Garuda.

“Fuck, no man,” No, more akas, for me.

“Korani, down to earth Garuda, Korani, korani, please!”

“Badat, heaven, heaven,” screamed Garuda and once again our parachute spinned like a tornado twister upwards, than soared onto the next fire tower of heat. The Earth down under, turned and tumbled for my life.  One more second, who will rescue me???

 
Then we plunged down into the bush bush.

I praised all the gods of Nepal. “Holy Garuda, Chula, Ganesh, Hanuman, you will be my sweathearts for eternity. To thou I will dedicate all my lover songs of laligourans. Thou liveth in my house, my home, mero ghar, for ever.
Thou names be praised.”

“And you, Garuda, you shit head, if you ever pull a stunt like that again; I will personally unscrew that sick little super
cute head off yours to your skinny little frame.