Among the Monks

Three years ago, a group of Buddhist nuns from the Amitabha Drukpa nunnery in Nepal were on a pad yatra or long march from Sikkim to Kathmandu. At Bodhgaya in Bihar, a black mongrel joined them. Initially, the nuns ignored the  animal, but the dog continued to follow them through their walks through forests, on highways and causeways and along rivers, all the way upto Kathmandu. Finally, they embraced the persistent dog and took him in on reaching their nunnery near Kathmandu. One of them, Karuna, named him Pincho. This expat dog now protects the 300 odd members of the nunnery. It participates in prayers, lunches with them and keeps out hooligans. Pincho has apparently not learnt much about compassion, though. At night especially, he tends to display an aggressive disposition towards outsiders. Many of the nuns have started to regard him as a divine incarnation come down to protect them. Some of the nuns also point out that Pincho has a better life in Nepal as compared to India, unlike many Nepalese citizens who cross the border into India

About The Author

Shome Basu