I returned to Thamel after ODing on the paneer and mushrooms I had bought for meals (they were family sized purchases and I hate throwing away food). Thamel was, unlike everywhere else, packed, and it was odd to see so many goras after a week or so in the suburbs. There were mandalas outside the […]
I’m off
Off to the Gentleman Friend, that is, as my work travel hasn’t panned out yet and meanwhile he is back from his hike. While the uncertainty around work is annoying, it is good not to have to wait another full month before seeing him again. So I leave the homestay – the Tibetans left yesterday […]
Day of the dog
Yesterday was the day of the dog here in Nepal, the second day of Diwali (Tihar). On the first day, crows are worshipped as the harbingers of death. On the second, dogs are worshipped as the companions of humanity. When I stepped out briefly to buy some milk for tea I found that even the […]
Neighbourhood dance
I got caught up in the local Tihar celebrations today. At around 8pm all the neighbourhood women gathered at someone’s house, all dressed in red, and sang and danced. The songs were mostly rather like our Punjabi tappas: someone would improvise or semi-improvise a couple, funny or otherwise, and the others would sing it after […]
Run up to Tihar
This coming week is Tihar, what the Nepalis call Diwali. Our hostess will be leaving for her village to get a tika from her mother. Even more embarrassingly than yesterday’s faux pas, I learned today that I have been calling her by her daughter’s name all this time. I had thought I was so clever; […]
Nepali weekend
The Nepali weekend is Saturday, today. We have a new guest at the homestay, a young Israeli gentleman (whom I embarrassingly misidentified as Lebanese because of his coffee and his Arab sounding name). He used to live in Nepal and speaks some broken Nepali as well, and is on his way to India to learn […]
Riotous day
Rioting all day across Pakistan. One sibling trapped in Islamabad, one using all sorts of feints to get to the airport in Lahore for work in in Karachi (and then to leave the airport). A parent trapped in the ancestral village where he had planned to be overnight, but has been unable to leave because […]
Homestay
The other residents of this homestay are a Tibetan couple from China who carry a small sign saying ‘Dear sir or madam, I am sorry but I do not speak English or Nepali. Please give me a three month visa’. It appears to have worked, for here they are. We communicate through smiles and gestures. […]
Playing twister
This morning I left the hotel. They gave me a ride to my new abode, a homestay on the western outskirts of Kathmandu. It is set at the foot of a green hill with a Bon monastery just above, but is otherwise very residential, what I would call in Pakistan lower middle-class aspiring upwards, with […]
Save the toe
Well I went to the doctor (rather overpriced I thought) and had my toe examined. He thought the nail was still attached and would not come off, which was a relief indeed. He cautioned me repeatedly to breathe deeply as he was going to drain the swelling, so I braced myself and then didn’t even […]