Ask Cash What You Will Reviewing Books, Movies, Recipies, Places, Shops, Parenting Techniques, and My Life!

Travel is a way of life when you are married to an Air Force Officer.  Shifting homes every two to three years is a small price to pay when you can sight see the country on a regular basis. When my husband was sent on a detachment to Leh, it was natural that I was excited. After all how many people can claim to have lived in a destination like that? The place which we called home was a small town called Spituk. That is where the airport is, and naturally we lived next door.

Unfortunately I was unable to join my husband right away because I was attacked by repeated pain in the left side. After umpteen tests done after my husband had already reached Leh, I was diagnosed with a kidney stone. The medication was so strong that I used to feel nauseated half the day. Still it was going to take more than a kidney stone to stop me from exploring Leh. So as soon as the doctors released me I was on my way.

Leh is primarily a Buddhist town. There are monasteries that you can visit all over the state. Hemis Monastery is the wealthiest and biggest. Located about 47 km from Leh it takes about an hour and half to reach.  The people at the Base were all raving about it and we went and had a look. It was indeed worth visiting this place of worship on the west bank of the river Indus.  The sound of the prayers vibrating through the main prayer hall will stay with me forever.

It was on our return from this holy place that I met one of my husband’s colleagues who enthralled me with tales of a local Buddhist healer called the “Dolma”. The lady in question was said to be blessed with miraculous healing powers which included everything from curing bad bouts of flu to serious stuff like cancer. In fact she drew crowds to her from all over the country. In the winter months she goes down to Dalhousie to escape the severe cold.

When he came to know about my kidney stone, the gentleman in question advised me to go visit her. While it did intrigue me I dismissed it as local superstition and forgot about it. The fact was that I should have paid more attention. The next time he met me a week later. The first question he asked me was if I had been to see the Dolma for my kidney stone. I felt foolish, smiled and said no. So I was not altogether surprised when on the following Sunday his wife and he came and honked outside our room.

He had decided to bring me to the Dolma, whether I believed in it or not. Reluctantly my husband and I got into the vehicle with them and we set off the short distance into Spituk town where she lived. He explained to me that she did not speak anything but the local language but her husband and daughter would translate for us. He also added, she usually does not need to be told the medical nature of the problem to heal it.

We reached a typical small local home where the Dolma’s husband, Dorjee, smiled and welcomed us. The daughter gave us water and we sat uncomfortably on the low seating chairs that were placed in their visitor’s room. The Dolma was in the prayer room, where we would have to join her after we removed out shoes. The lady looked like a sweet old granny and gave us a friendly smile as we entered. She did not look scary or intimidating at all.

Then she asked her husband, who had followed us into the room, who required healing. I came forward and sat down on the mattress in front of her. She took some sheathed grains of rice and closed her fist as she said a prayer. Then the grains were thrown in the air and caught on a small “Dumroo” a sort of a two sided drum which is narrow in the centre. She then announced that I had a problem in my left side, which was instantly translated by Dorjee. True.

She next said that it was a stone. True again. She put down the dumroo and took up a hollow metal pipe in her hand. She cleaned the pipe with water and then asked me to raise my shirt. The put the pipe all long my left kidney and sucked hard. I felt weird holding my t-shirt up as she placed the pipe on my body in eight different spots along the left side. I looked back at my husband standing behind me who tried to smile in a reassuring way. It was not enough to prepare me for what followed.

The lady took the empty pipe she had been using to suck air from my body and tilted it into a small white saucer. And to my total horror and surprise a black liquid along with tiny stones came flowing out into the saucer. To say that I could not believe my eyes was an understatement. And my husband’s gasp summed up all that I was feeling. Amused at my amazement Dorjee picked out the largest kidney stone and presented it to me in my hand.

I still have the kidney stone and carry it with me in my purse. My doctor friend examined it and said that it did have the calcified kidney stone look. If anyone else had told me a story so fantastic I would have dismissed it as a figment of their imagination. Unfortunately it actually happened to me, and my husband bore witness to the fact! I don’t think I have ever had a more bone chilling or spiritual experience after that.