Plugging in...
A couple years ago, October 2007 to be precise, the Tutor had the good fortune and good health to visit Nepal, trekking and mountain climbing. But that's not what this tale is about.
The Tutor had a request to bring back some japa mala beads. What are they, you ask? A Japa mala or mala (Sanskrit:माला; mālā, meaning garland) is a set of prayer beads commonly used by Hindus and Buddhists, usually made from 108 beads, though other numbers, usually divisible by 9, are also used. Malas are used for keeping count while reciting, chanting, or mentally repeating a mantra or the name or names of a deity. This practice is known in Sanskrit as japa.
The tale is also not really about the beads, so much as the journey to purchase the beads. So there the Tutor sat in a small jewelry shop at the Yak and Yeti hotel in Katmandu about 7:00pm. The informative shopkeeper was educating the Tutor in all things japa mala and had several expensive japa mala strands of beads strewn across the counter when the power went out. It was pitch dark, black as tar, impossible to see anything.
The quick-thinking Tutor, whipped out her digital camera and used the light from the LCD screen to assist the shopkeeper in retrieving the beads and returning them to their secured case. The Tutor thanked the shopkeeper and with camera in hand, led herself out and up the stairwell to her hotel room, guided by the LCD light. The hotel room had candles and matches, so the handy digital Canon Powershot G was turned off.
The Tutor did purchase several strands of japa mala beads, as requested, and brought them back to the states where they are either in use and revered daily, or tucked away in a drawer, now forgotten.
ALWAYS REMEMBER: before calling for help - is it plugged in, is there power, and is it turned on?
Unplugged
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