They do things a little differently in Nepal. Nepal Airlines had an “electrical” issue with one of it’s two Boeing 757’s last week. The airline took the standard approach to dealing with the problem; sacrificing goats. This is from a Reuters article entitled “Airline sacrifices goats to appease sky god”.
The goats were sacrificed in front of the troublesome aircraft Sunday at Nepal’s only international airport in Kathmandu in accordance with Hindu traditions, an official said.
“The snag in the plane has now been fixed and the aircraft has resumed its flights,” said Raju K.C., a senior airline official, without explaining what the problem had been.
Incidentally the sky god is named Akash Bhairab. I’ve done a little reseach and I can’t find anything pertaining to airplane “snags” in conjunction with Akash Bhairab but, this is a case where you would have to trust the people in Kathmandu regarding which god to appease with goat sacrifices.
There have been times when I was waiting for a flight that was mysteriously cancelled. Also, I have seen ground crew working furiously on a plane I was about to board. Frankly, I would feel safer if the airline made it a point to sacrifice some goats in front of the plane in these cases.
Here in the western world, we just have to take the airline’s word for it; “We have fixed the snag in the plane, carry on”. We don’t ever see any evidence of repairs. It’s not like taking your car to the local grease monkey who shows you the bad fuel pump or rocker arm.
I want to know that the airline is taking every safety precaution and sacrificing goats, at the airport, in front of the plane just makes good sense. And, who says it has to be goats? This is a safety measure that could also double as pest control. Airlines could sacrifice rats, squirrels, woodchucks or snakes. Now, there’s an idea, snakes, that would ease people’s fears as well. You know, the whole “Snakes on a Plane” thing.
The airline’s could have fun with it, add a little local flavor. In Denver, sacrifice a few prairie dogs; in Dallas, armadillos; in urban centers like Chicago or New York, pigeons.
The point is, we need to keep an open mind. We don’t have all the answers and if it turns out that sacrificing a few animals now and then makes our travels safer then, so be it.
Nepal Air- “Leave the Slaying To Us”
Rock on, Nepal.
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Tags: Akash Bhairab, goat sacrifice, Nepal Air
Jayne d'Arcy wrote,
I read this to mom, Jack, and here is her response: Forget the prairie and pigeons and sacrifice a steer and give everyone on the plane some BBQ! You can do some southern fried chickens.
Link | September 6th, 2007 at 12:20 am
Romi wrote,
Woodchucks, hahaha :-)
Link | September 6th, 2007 at 10:50 pm
Pribek wrote,
O.K. Romi, I’ve been waiting to tell my woodchuck story.
One summer years ago, I rented an old house in Marthasville Missouri. There was a steep hillside next to the house that had a lot of dead trees and brush piled up on it. There was a window in the living room that looked out over the hillside.
A few nights after I moved in, I was sitting in the living room, eating a sandwich and some chips. I finished everything but a bit of the crust and a couple of chips and, for some reason, I decided to just throw the rest out the window (no screen, by the way). I guess I thought maybe the birds would eat it, I don’t know.
So, I’m sitting there, right next to this window and I hear something moving through the brush. It was starting to get dark and I saw this animal moving toward me. At first I didn’t know what it was, maybe a dog, I thought.
This mystery beast came waddling and grunting right up to the window and started eating the food. It was getting darker and I still couldn’t tell what it was. I grabbed a flashlight and shined it right into the eyes of a woodchuck. This was the lord god king of badass woodchucks and he was not the least bit scared. He was about the size of a car tire. He just looked up at me and kept eating.
Now, as i said, it was obvious that the woodchuck wasn’t sacred but I was. I mean, he was maybe three feet away from me and I guess I pictured him leaping through the window and gnawing my arm off with those woodchuck teeth. I could be killed by a woodchuck and nobody would know.
But, the woodchuck finished eating and waddled off into the brush.
The next night, I threw out some more food and, sure enough, the woodchuck came back. It got to be a ritual, every night the same routine. He would eat anything I tossed out there, mexican food, chinese, pizza; didn’t matter. If I had guests, I would make it a point to conjure up the woodchuck.
Later on, must have been around Thanksgiving a buddy gave me a wild goose that he had shot and dressed. I had no interest in eating a goose but, I thought he was making a nice gesture. He gave me instructions on how to prepare it so, I heated up the oven and started cooking the goose.
I had some stuff to do so, I left for a while as the goose cooked. When I returned, the entire house smelled awful. I really don’t know how to describe it. It wasn’t a rotted meat smell but it was bad, overpowering. I remember thinking that maybe he hadn’t bled the thing right or something.
I opened the oven door and I couldn’t hack it. It was really bad. So, I grabbed the platter and threw the whole goose out the window. Pretty soon, the old woodchuck came waddling up the hill. He got to the goose, sniffed at it and, no jive, he turned his nose up and walked away. It was the only time he turned down any food. The goose was so bad that even the woodchuck wouldn’t eat it. The craziest part was that the woodchuck never came back.
Link | September 7th, 2007 at 12:45 am