I've returned to NYC. I should probably do a post about what I learned in Nepal, but I think all my posts - 49 of them! - speak for the experience. Maybe I'll feel compelled to do one later, but for now I'll say goodbye.
Thanks for reading!!
Saturday, December 13, 2008
Saturday, December 6, 2008
Dogmandu
It's really easy to take the name "Kathmandu" and change the first syllable into another word that fits with whatever theme you like. Like: Dogmandu. Mapmandu. Madmandu. Stupidmandu. It all works. I don't know why.
That had nothing to do with this new post which is, you guessed it, about Dogs. As I get ready to bid farewell this strange and wonderful city, I think about the things I will miss the most and they are: Meredith (she'll be staying on for a bit), the Dogs, the people, especially: Shusila; Sara; Pia; Netus; Prajwel, Dal Bhaat, my apartment, tikas, and the mountains.
So here's a tribute to my favorite pups (and one alternating goat).
In no particular order, except that I mention my favorite dog at the end.
Warning: There will be an indecent amount of anthropomorphizing in the following statements. And some sad stories, also.
1. The Couple
This is a pair of dogs that Meredith and I met when we moved into our new apartment in Sanepa after having lived for a month in Kupondole at Alberts' place. We've been at this apartment for 3 months and have only just convinced The Couple that we won't hurt them and want to be their friends. After months of saying "hello" to them, trying to pet them, and occasionally offering them food, we finally got to pet them for the first time a few days ago. I didn't feel as triumphant as I thought I would have. In fact, I felt a little silly considering how much I wanted them to like me.
These dogs are never apart. They almost move as one. We never really gave them separate names, except for that I started to regard the skittish, nervous, slightly interested one as representing me, and the relaxed, aloof one as Meredith. So, I would say things like: "Oh, look, there's me. I'm licking my butt."
2.Mangy Reynold and Mangy Benji
To earn a name that has a "Mangy" in front of it, is no easy feat. You really have to be dirty, scabby, hairless, eyeless, and smelly to deserve the Mangy adjective.
Mangy Reynold and Mangy Benji were two of the first dogs Meredith and I named. They live a few blocks away from our apartment, on a small road with a few shops. They would sit there together (never touching) all day, waiting to scavenge for food at the mini-restaurant. They never wandered from their home. Ever. I would see them there day and night.
Sad story: one day I went to do some errands and noticed Mangy Benji lying near a pile of trash. When I came back a few hours later, he was in the exact same spot. I thought it was strange, but dismissed it as a comfy position. The next night Meredith and I were coming home from dinner and I noticed he was still there, in the same position. There was no doubt about it, he had died. There he lay for almost a week before someone took his body away. It was really sad. I wondered if any of the shop owners had become attached to him (from a distance, because this was not a dog you touched or cuddled) and were sad, too.
I don't have a picture of Manjy Benji, but here's Mangy Reynold, who seems to have soldiered on despite the loss of his buddy:
3. Crazy Eye
Crazy Eye is a dog we see infrequently because he lives farther away from us than the rest of these dogs. There were times I thought maybe he had an owner because we was so clean and shiny. We call him Crazy Eye because he is one of the most beautiful dogs, and you think this until all of sudden you notice his slightly off-center eye. And you only notice it because of his all-around studliness.
4. Bloody Eye
Poor Bloody Eye, his eye is bloody and I'm always avoiding him. I noticed this fella one day with an eye full of blood and pus and a large blood-covered protrusion that may have been his eye but probably was just an inflamed part of his eye socket. His eye healed daily and for a while was just bloody with a weird white string poking out from his socket. Now, it's just bloody. Here he is:
5. Changba
Changba is my least favorite thing in Nepal. Like, worse than all the trash in the street and oglers who stare at my chest. Changba sucks and I live with him. He's our landlords' dog and he lives right next to the entrance to my apartment. Despite the fact that we've lived here for three months, he still barks at us like we're about to rob the place. We fed him food a few times and he would bark ferociously in between mouthfuls. He's mean. The guy who lived here before us got Changba to stop barking at him and be his friend after a year. Except one night Changba took a bite out of his leg. Here's his stupidface in all its glory:
6. Mangy Griselda
Mangy Griselda is a boy dog, but Meredith named him without checking his privates first. Now we notice his sad little balls and feel bad for calling him a girls name - but it's too late to change. Mangy Griselda seems to have an owner, but the owner only feeds him and puts a cardboard mat outside the house as a bed for him to sleep on. His eyes are small and seem to be covered with a weird film that makes me think he can't see very well. His tail and the back part of his torso is virtually hairless. He's not a dog you pet with your hand, but he clearly wants affection. We've started pulling small branches off of trees to pet him. I don't think he realizes the difference. He's a sweet little thing:
7. Death Row Goat
This is not a particular goat that we love, but rather a weird phenomenon that happens on a street near our apartment. It's a goat that is tied up in front of a butchers, like an advertisement. He or she sits there munching on greenery until someone decides they want mutton for dinner and that's that. One goat made it for almost two weeks, and we'd always wave at him with disbelief at his staying power.
We can't take credit for this name (Death Row Goat), our American friends Keri and James made it up. Here's one goat, creepily smiling:
8. Baby Daddy
This big boy has clearly sired many of the little pups in our neighborhood. He is a bossy, big shouldered, manly dog that wants to have puppies and then move on. Meredith thinks Baby Mama (see below) is his steady girlfriend - I'm not so sure. We've pet him a little bit, but he really only comes around when we have food.
9. Baby Mama
Finally, I come to the best dog in the world (besides Bodhi) that makes me reconsider leaving Nepal. She is the sweetest, most lovable little thing and was the first dog to make an effort to get to know us. We started noticing her around about a month and a half ago. I don't think she has an owner and mostly resides around our neighborhood and down our little dirt road. At the beginning, we would pet her as we left our apartment and say a little hello. She's pretty clean, a little oily and some scratches, but nothing too bad. Sometimes when we would come home at night, she would meet us a few blocks away from our apartment and escort us home. Sometimes Mangy Griselda would be there with her and we would hope he didn't notice us only petting her.
One day, we noticed Baby Mama had a huge cut on her eye. Mainly it was on the bottom part, but it was a pretty nasty abrasion. I thought it would heal itself, just like Bloody Eye had healed on his own, but as the days went on it seemed to be getting worse and she was looking exceedingly fatigued. She stopped roaming around, and would sleep all day near our apartment. I tried calling some local veterinarians, but no one would pick up.
Finally, my brave little Meredith took matters into her own hands. She started washing the wound with water and applying Neosporin to it. We got some antibiotics that were designed for kids and gave her bread soaked in it. It seemed like she wasn't getting better and she started refusing to eat anything. She was barely walking and would shake when she stood up. We thought it was over for good and she would surely die soon. It was really depressing.
Then, suddenly she started getting better! She would eat more and was wandering around and her eye seemed to be healing. Now, she's back in full health. She eats ravenously and (sadly for us) is barely around our apartment. She roams the streets during the day and sometimes stops by to visit a neighbors puppy we believe she is either the mother or grandmother of. We see her maybe once a day. Last night we came home later and she escorted us home. She was so excited when she saw us, that she started whinnying like a wounded horse. It was adorable.
Here we are:
And that's our Dogmandu.
That had nothing to do with this new post which is, you guessed it, about Dogs. As I get ready to bid farewell this strange and wonderful city, I think about the things I will miss the most and they are: Meredith (she'll be staying on for a bit), the Dogs, the people, especially: Shusila; Sara; Pia; Netus; Prajwel, Dal Bhaat, my apartment, tikas, and the mountains.
So here's a tribute to my favorite pups (and one alternating goat).
In no particular order, except that I mention my favorite dog at the end.
Warning: There will be an indecent amount of anthropomorphizing in the following statements. And some sad stories, also.
1. The Couple
This is a pair of dogs that Meredith and I met when we moved into our new apartment in Sanepa after having lived for a month in Kupondole at Alberts' place. We've been at this apartment for 3 months and have only just convinced The Couple that we won't hurt them and want to be their friends. After months of saying "hello" to them, trying to pet them, and occasionally offering them food, we finally got to pet them for the first time a few days ago. I didn't feel as triumphant as I thought I would have. In fact, I felt a little silly considering how much I wanted them to like me.
These dogs are never apart. They almost move as one. We never really gave them separate names, except for that I started to regard the skittish, nervous, slightly interested one as representing me, and the relaxed, aloof one as Meredith. So, I would say things like: "Oh, look, there's me. I'm licking my butt."
2.Mangy Reynold and Mangy Benji
To earn a name that has a "Mangy" in front of it, is no easy feat. You really have to be dirty, scabby, hairless, eyeless, and smelly to deserve the Mangy adjective.
Mangy Reynold and Mangy Benji were two of the first dogs Meredith and I named. They live a few blocks away from our apartment, on a small road with a few shops. They would sit there together (never touching) all day, waiting to scavenge for food at the mini-restaurant. They never wandered from their home. Ever. I would see them there day and night.
Sad story: one day I went to do some errands and noticed Mangy Benji lying near a pile of trash. When I came back a few hours later, he was in the exact same spot. I thought it was strange, but dismissed it as a comfy position. The next night Meredith and I were coming home from dinner and I noticed he was still there, in the same position. There was no doubt about it, he had died. There he lay for almost a week before someone took his body away. It was really sad. I wondered if any of the shop owners had become attached to him (from a distance, because this was not a dog you touched or cuddled) and were sad, too.
I don't have a picture of Manjy Benji, but here's Mangy Reynold, who seems to have soldiered on despite the loss of his buddy:
3. Crazy Eye
Crazy Eye is a dog we see infrequently because he lives farther away from us than the rest of these dogs. There were times I thought maybe he had an owner because we was so clean and shiny. We call him Crazy Eye because he is one of the most beautiful dogs, and you think this until all of sudden you notice his slightly off-center eye. And you only notice it because of his all-around studliness.
4. Bloody Eye
Poor Bloody Eye, his eye is bloody and I'm always avoiding him. I noticed this fella one day with an eye full of blood and pus and a large blood-covered protrusion that may have been his eye but probably was just an inflamed part of his eye socket. His eye healed daily and for a while was just bloody with a weird white string poking out from his socket. Now, it's just bloody. Here he is:
5. Changba
Changba is my least favorite thing in Nepal. Like, worse than all the trash in the street and oglers who stare at my chest. Changba sucks and I live with him. He's our landlords' dog and he lives right next to the entrance to my apartment. Despite the fact that we've lived here for three months, he still barks at us like we're about to rob the place. We fed him food a few times and he would bark ferociously in between mouthfuls. He's mean. The guy who lived here before us got Changba to stop barking at him and be his friend after a year. Except one night Changba took a bite out of his leg. Here's his stupidface in all its glory:
6. Mangy Griselda
Mangy Griselda is a boy dog, but Meredith named him without checking his privates first. Now we notice his sad little balls and feel bad for calling him a girls name - but it's too late to change. Mangy Griselda seems to have an owner, but the owner only feeds him and puts a cardboard mat outside the house as a bed for him to sleep on. His eyes are small and seem to be covered with a weird film that makes me think he can't see very well. His tail and the back part of his torso is virtually hairless. He's not a dog you pet with your hand, but he clearly wants affection. We've started pulling small branches off of trees to pet him. I don't think he realizes the difference. He's a sweet little thing:
7. Death Row Goat
This is not a particular goat that we love, but rather a weird phenomenon that happens on a street near our apartment. It's a goat that is tied up in front of a butchers, like an advertisement. He or she sits there munching on greenery until someone decides they want mutton for dinner and that's that. One goat made it for almost two weeks, and we'd always wave at him with disbelief at his staying power.
We can't take credit for this name (Death Row Goat), our American friends Keri and James made it up. Here's one goat, creepily smiling:
8. Baby Daddy
This big boy has clearly sired many of the little pups in our neighborhood. He is a bossy, big shouldered, manly dog that wants to have puppies and then move on. Meredith thinks Baby Mama (see below) is his steady girlfriend - I'm not so sure. We've pet him a little bit, but he really only comes around when we have food.
9. Baby Mama
Finally, I come to the best dog in the world (besides Bodhi) that makes me reconsider leaving Nepal. She is the sweetest, most lovable little thing and was the first dog to make an effort to get to know us. We started noticing her around about a month and a half ago. I don't think she has an owner and mostly resides around our neighborhood and down our little dirt road. At the beginning, we would pet her as we left our apartment and say a little hello. She's pretty clean, a little oily and some scratches, but nothing too bad. Sometimes when we would come home at night, she would meet us a few blocks away from our apartment and escort us home. Sometimes Mangy Griselda would be there with her and we would hope he didn't notice us only petting her.
One day, we noticed Baby Mama had a huge cut on her eye. Mainly it was on the bottom part, but it was a pretty nasty abrasion. I thought it would heal itself, just like Bloody Eye had healed on his own, but as the days went on it seemed to be getting worse and she was looking exceedingly fatigued. She stopped roaming around, and would sleep all day near our apartment. I tried calling some local veterinarians, but no one would pick up.
Finally, my brave little Meredith took matters into her own hands. She started washing the wound with water and applying Neosporin to it. We got some antibiotics that were designed for kids and gave her bread soaked in it. It seemed like she wasn't getting better and she started refusing to eat anything. She was barely walking and would shake when she stood up. We thought it was over for good and she would surely die soon. It was really depressing.
Then, suddenly she started getting better! She would eat more and was wandering around and her eye seemed to be healing. Now, she's back in full health. She eats ravenously and (sadly for us) is barely around our apartment. She roams the streets during the day and sometimes stops by to visit a neighbors puppy we believe she is either the mother or grandmother of. We see her maybe once a day. Last night we came home later and she escorted us home. She was so excited when she saw us, that she started whinnying like a wounded horse. It was adorable.
Here we are:
And that's our Dogmandu.
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