Tashi Delek!
One month has already passed…and I have six more weeks to go. The Tihar festival has come and gone…and ‘the boys’ did not disappoint. They arrived with their boom box and proceeded to dance and sing like crazy. It was truly a joyous thing to watch. They pulled me into the center and danced a circle around me. It was a riot! The last night the entire community gathered on the road by Grandmother’s home and danced. It was so much fun to watch…grandmothers, little children, mothers and fathers, toddlers and teenagers. Everyone is still talking about it. The most moving part of the night for me was when Sangita danced. She and another girl and two boys performed an old, traditional Magar partner dance that was so elegant. All that watched did so knowing that a year ago, this would not have been possible. I looked at the faces around me and we all had tears in our eyes. Afterwards Bel approached me with his hand on his heart and spoke words of deep
gratitude for his daughter’s recovery.
With the passing of Tihar, I am settling back into my routine of traveling to the Tibetan camp. I made my way to Pau Rhichoe’s home and we began the arrangements to build him a new toilet…with a ‘pot’. His wife has been sick, so she is staying at her daughter’s home. On my way to and from Rhichoe’s, I stop in to say hello. We had a man come to give us the bid on how much it would cost to repair the old toilet…it needs a new floor, tiles, door, roof and we want to put in the ‘pot’. After much discussion and estimates, a final bid of $350 was given, which we accepted. We are also interested in adding a bathroom, but that will be next year’s project. On my way to Pau Nyima’s the next morning, I dropped off the money for the toilet and by the time I was heading back Lakeside, they were already starting construction.
At Nyima’s home, I was able to deliver good news to the family. First, I gave them the money for the two daughter’s education. They attend a boarding school in the Kathmandu valley, so are rarely home when I am there. I did get the chance to see the two of them during their Dasain holiday, but they came and went during the Tihar festival when I was at Bel’s, so I missed the chance to see them again. The other good news I had for the family is that I have found a source for an artificial limb for Nyima’s brother. I did an internet search for limbs in Nepal and came across an NGO from New Zealand called MEND. They provide for free or at low cost, limbs to poor people. I emailed the man in charge and he replied with three options…one of which is here in Pokhara. He gave names and phone numbers for all three choices. One day, Nyima’s wife Tashi, Migmar and I will go to the local place and talk to the man who works in the shop. The brother will not be ready for the new limb for another 3 months, but this way, when he is ready, the people who provide the limb will already have met Tashi through me and it will make it easier for her to get the limb. Her other job is to find a place that does hearing testing. Nyima has reached the point where he doesn’t hear much of the conversations that are going on around him. If she can find a place that does testing and provides hearing aids, we will get that set in place also.
I have started making my home visits to the families whose daughters we are helping to educate. These are needs assessment visits to see what the ‘joining’ fees and monthly tuition fees are. Each visit requires that I drink some raksi and eat something…which can be a dangerous thing gastro intestinally speaking. I tease the men that they can only spend the money on their daughter’s education…and not use it to go to a casino or buy raksi. I do this half teasing and half in earnest … because in some households, that is a real possibility. By saying it out loud in a teasing form and having them laughingly agree to only use it for education…in front of all those who are present…insures the money will be used properly and helps the men save face. Indigenous Lenses is now educating 11 girls and two boys from a low caste family. They range in grade from third to Bachelors level…with two of the girls waiting for their Bachelors Degree exit exam results. If successful, they will start their Master’s Degree program next year. This year, we were able to add two more girls to the education program. Fees have gone up, so now to provide money to educate a girl for one year is $175. It doesn’t sound like much, but if you are only making $300 annually, the education fees are out of reach.
On a recent visit to Wangchuk’s son Trinley, he informed me that he was constructing a small shop in the open area at the front of the Tibetan camp. I was so thrilled! For years, he has constantly tried to educate himself so that he could provide for his family. But being a Tibetan in Nepal means that no jobs are available. He took cooking classes and electrician classes and studied for years at the monastery, so he is literate. Another Tibetan man, who used to have a souvenir shop Lakeside, decided to build a shop in the open area. Next to his shop, there was a small parcel of land available. The man was willing to give the land to Trinley…and let Trinley attach his shop to his so that Trinley only had to build three walls. When I asked how much his total cost would be, I was told $400. So I happily and willingly provided that money to Trinley. Right now, his mother receives a monthly stipend from Indigenous Lenses…but once she passes, all of the money coming in from outside would cease….so I felt it was important to support him in his attempt to become self sufficient. His shop will offer electrical repairing and sell things like Tibetan prayer flags, candles and katas (Tibetan greeting scarves). I don’t know if can do justice to how thrilled I am about this whole situation. I am just so proud of Trinley.
I have a new job at Bel’s. I share the roof with his bee hive. It is made out of a hollow log, with both ends sealed with pieces of wood. There is a folded piece of metal on top that acts like a roof. Two holes were drilled in the side of the log for the bees to enter and exit. It is surprising at how many things try to catch the bees and eat them. Dragon flies perch on the wires above the hive. Lizards sit on the metal brackets the hive sits upon. Larger wasps and large black bee like creatures hover in the air above hoping to snatch a bee from the air. And spiders weave their webs in the path the bees take as they go and come with the pollen. So my new job each morning is to take a stick and knock down any spider web that was created during the night. In the middle of the afternoon, the queen leaves the hive to…as Bel says…’do her letting’…aka go to the bathroom. When this happens, all the bees leave the hive and the roof becomes a sea of humming bees. If I sit quietly, they leave me alone…which is a good thing, because I am allergic to them. The first year, I was afraid to be up there when they exploded from the hive. These days, we share the roof in a peaceful manner, with me trying to watch their backs.
My sense of time is out of joint. I keep thinking my time is quickly running out. Usually, the Dasain and Tihar festivals are just now getting started…so by the time they have ended, it’s time for me to leave. I have to keep reminding myself that I still have more than half my time remaining.
Yahoo!

Namaste!

The rains have suddenly stopped leaving behind cool mornings and evenings. The Annapurna range of the Himalayan Mountains is so clear that it feels like I could reach right out and touch them. The sunny days mean that I am having good luck with a hot shower in the mornings. I rotate between using Bel’s shower and using a camping solar shower I brought from home. One day I shower downstairs using the water from the solar panels and the tank on the roof…the next day I use the portable solar shower that sat baking in the sun the previous day. I hang it in my upstairs bathroom. This is how I rationalize bathing on a daily basis when water is such an issue. That and the fact that I have been purchasing the water for the underground tank keeps me feeling not quite so guilty. I find myself dreaming of a toilet that I can sit upon. This squatting over a hole in the floor is wrecking havoc on my knees. In one of those classic misunderstandings on my part, when Bel built my bathroom, I requested a toilet…meaning the kind we have in the states. Over here, that means a porcelain hole in the ground. They call what I was referring to as a ‘pot’. Ke garne (what to do)! Also over here, if you ask for the bathroom, they show you to the room where you bathe… so if you need to use the restroom, you ask for the toilet.

This past week I traveled with Sangita to the Manipal Teaching Hospital for her one month post balloon valvuloplasty surgery. I was very impressed with her doctor…who is the head professor and chief cardiologist. He is from India and encouraged us to ask him questions. This is quite the change from our interactions with the Nepali doctors who get angry when you ask them anything…demanding to know where we got our medical degrees. All seems to be well with Sangita. Her lungs are now clear. She will have to take an antibiotic for at least the next ten years….but her appetite has returned and she has no food restrictions. This past week I also made my annual pilgrimage to the Himalayan Eye Hospital…this time with Bishnu. One of her eyes is bloodshot and she has sharp, stabbing pain. She was given eye drops to use and we were told to return in two weeks. When you go to this hospital, you can either stand in line all day or go to the appointment window and pay 150 rupees ($2.00) and be seen right away. We, of course, always chose the second option. One of the perks of this annual pilgrimage is that they sell doughnuts in their canteen…and they really taste like doughnuts. Frequently food will be created using Western recipes but Nepali ingredients …you never know what it will actually taste like when it arrives. They got it right with the doughnuts.

I’ve resorted to drinking the demon Coke. Sometimes it is the only cold… and safe…drink option available to me. I vow every year not to succumb to the bottle…but then, in the middle of a very hot day I just crave something truly cold to drink and I head to the little shop on the road by Grandmother ’s home and ask for a very ‘chiso’ (cold) drink. If I was Lakeside, I could have a fresh lemon soda, which is quite refreshing…but living with Bel, I don’t have ready access to that. I’ll detox when I am back home. Tihar started on Thursday. The version I have come to know and love is the Magar cultures way of celebrating. The first day is crow tikka day. Plates of food are placed high on each house for the crows to come and feed upon. Friday was dog tikka day. This is the only day in Nepal where dogs are treated humanely. They are given a flower necklace (malla) to wear around their necks and red tikka is put on their foreheads. They are also treated to special foods. That day, Bel had to go to his home village for a marriage ceremony, so I spent the day hanging out in Lobsang’s shop in the Tashiling Tibetan camp. Sadly, there were not many tourists so she had no business. Two men had come down out of the mountains from the Dolpo area… which is close to Tibet. They were selling old gaus and shangs and other items for doing ceremonies. I bought a shang for myself and a special set of cymbals for Lobsang to try and sell in her shop. In the evening, the Thapa family sat around playing cards until late at night. I don’t understand the rules, so I usually just sit and enjoy watching the family’s interactions, as the tease each other and gamble with the money they received during Dasain. Yesterday, Saturday, was Laxmi puja day. This is the day that cows are honored. In the morning, the daughters sat on the front porch and, using long strands of grass, wove long lengths of rope in which they inserted flowers and leaves. Bel returned just as we they were finishing. Usually, we would string the rope from the top of Bel’s home across the way to a tree and also hang one over each of our doors. But this year was a bit strange. The astrologer announced that the new moon was at noon, which meant we had to wait until the evening to put up the decorations. The community made an executive decision to wait until the morning to visit the cows and put tikka on their foreheads and hang the ropes at the home. We did however hang the lights we had bought at the market the previous week. And oil was dripped down the front of their front steps. This was the first day the kids could play Bhailo (sp?). They form groups and go from house to house to sing and dance for money. Some of the money they earn will be used to do humanitarian work…and some will be used to go on a picnic. Simran came with her group and Anita and her cousins headed out in the evening to play. The neighborhood boys (around age 10) also form a group. Last year they came with a boom box and did some dances for Shelly and I. Usually, they are given 10 or 20 rupees at each home, but I gave 500 rupees. It was all they talked about for a year. Naresh, the boy who lives next door, has been in his mother’s home village since Dasain. He called home crying that he needed to return home to play Bhai lo because Sarah Phupu (Auntie) was going to give them 500 rupees again. I have a wonderful memory of last year with the ‘boys’. I had gone into the house to help Bishnu prepare the plate of rice, flowers, oil lamp, shell roti and rupees to present to the boys. When we returned outside, they had pulled Shelly into their crazy dance and they were all jumping around and laughing. They even coaxed Bishnu and I to join in. Yesterday as I was sitting at Grandmother’s home watching Bishnu and Durga make the special ropes, I was approached by two of the boys at different times and each told me they would come on Monday and that they had prepared a very special dance for me. It makes me laugh. Last night marked the start of lining the front porch with candles. It is really quite lovely…to sit outside at night with the candles burning and the lights twinkling and hearing the songs of the different groups as they echo from throughout the valley. This year the adults are going to also play to raise money for their community. I’ll go with Bel and Bishnu for part of the evening, but usually poop out by 11:00 PM. There have been nights in the past when they stayed out all night. Today is bull tikka day. And it’s time to make more shell roti. And tomorrow will be Bhai (younger brother) tikka day. I will wear the traditional Magar clothing. We will create a place on the front porch with a mat for the brothers to sit on. We will have plates of fruits and shell roti, a vessel with water, incense and a plate with the different colored tikka powders. There will also be a dish with oil and a dish with rice paste. I will start by circling around my three brothers (Bel, Somendra and Bel’s youngest brother) with the water vessel, pouring a stream of water to create a circle of protection. I will dip my fingers in the oil and then brush it onto their hair speaking words of well wishes. I’ll put a line of the rice paste on their foreheads, and dab a bit of each colored powder onto the line so that when I am finished, they will have a multicolored streak on their forehead. Bishnu always stands by the side telling us each to ‘tap, tap, tap.’ It is actually much harder than it looks, with powder falling all over the place. We use a tiny piece of bamboo to dip into the powder and carry it to the forehead where you push it into the paste. I will put a flower malla around their neck then a new hat on their forehead. They will touch their forehead to my feet then present me with money. This ritual will then protect them for the coming year. It then will be my turn to sit on the mat and Bel will repeat the procedure with me. His daughters will put tikka on Anil and the next door neighbor boys. Bishnu’s sister Tara will put tikka on their brothers. By afternoon, all will be walking around with colorful foreheads. Oops! Got to run…a bhailo group has come. Namaste! The rains have suddenly stopped leaving behind cool mornings and evenings. The Annapurna range of the Himalayan Mountains is so clear that it feels like I could reach right out and touch them. The sunny days mean that I am having good luck with a hot shower in the mornings. I rotate between using Bel’s shower and using a camping solar shower I brought from home. One day I shower downstairs using the water from the solar panels and the tank on the roof…the next day I use the portable solar shower that sat baking in the sun the previous day. I hang it in my upstairs bathroom. This is how I rationalize bathing on a daily basis when water is such an issue. That and the fact that I have been purchasing the water for the underground tank keeps me feeling not quite so guilty. I find myself dreaming of a toilet that I can sit upon. This squatting over a hole in the floor is wrecking havoc on my knees. In one of those classic misunderstandings on my part, when Bel built my bathroom, I requested a toilet…meaning the kind we have in the states. Over here, that means a porcelain hole in the ground. They call what I was referring to as a ‘pot’. Ke garne (what to do)! Also over here, if you ask for the bathroom, they show you to the room where you bathe… so if you need to use the restroom, you ask for the toilet. This past week I traveled with Sangita to the Manipal Teaching Hospital for her one month post balloon valvuloplasty surgery. I was very impressed with her doctor…who is the head professor and chief cardiologist. He is from India and encouraged us to ask him questions. This is quite the change from our interactions with the Nepali doctors who get angry when you ask them anything…demanding to know where we got our medical degrees. All seems to be well with Sangita. Her lungs are now clear. She will have to take an antibiotic for at least the next ten years….but her appetite has returned and she has no food restrictions. This past week I also made my annual pilgrimage to the Himalayan Eye Hospital…this time with Bishnu. One of her eyes is bloodshot and she has sharp, stabbing pain. She was given eye drops to use and we were told to return in two weeks. When you go to this hospital, you can either stand in line all day or go to the appointment window and pay 150 rupees ($2.00) and be seen right away. We, of course, always chose the second option. One of the perks of this annual pilgrimage is that they sell doughnuts in their canteen…and they really taste like doughnuts. Frequently food will be created using Western recipes but Nepali ingredients …you never know what it will actually taste like when it arrives. They got it right with the doughnuts. I’ve resorted to drinking the demon Coke. Sometimes it is the only cold… and safe…drink option available to me. I vow every year not to succumb to the bottle…but then, in the middle of a very hot day I just crave something truly cold to drink and I head to the little shop on the road by Grandmother ’s home and ask for a very ‘chiso’ (cold) drink. If I was Lakeside, I could have a fresh lemon soda, which is quite refreshing…but living with Bel, I don’t have ready access to that. I’ll detox when I am back home. Tihar started on Thursday. The version I have come to know and love is the Magar cultures way of celebrating. The first day is crow tikka day. Plates of food are placed high on each house for the crows to come and feed upon. Friday was dog tikka day. This is the only day in Nepal where dogs are treated humanely. They are given a flower necklace (malla) to wear around their necks and red tikka is put on their foreheads. They are also treated to special foods. That day, Bel had to go to his home village for a marriage ceremony, so I spent the day hanging out in Lobsang’s shop in the Tashiling Tibetan camp. Sadly, there were not many tourists so she had no business. Two men had come down out of the mountains from the Dolpo area… which is close to Tibet. They were selling old gaus and shangs and other items for doing ceremonies. I bought a shang for myself and a special set of cymbals for Lobsang to try and sell in her shop. In the evening, the Thapa family sat around playing cards until late at night. I don’t understand the rules, so I usually just sit and enjoy watching the family’s interactions, as the tease each other and gamble with the money they received during Dasain. Yesterday, Saturday, was Laxmi puja day. This is the day that cows are honored. In the morning, the daughters sat on the front porch and, using long strands of grass, wove long lengths of rope in which they inserted flowers and leaves. Bel returned just as we they were finishing. Usually, we would string the rope from the top of Bel’s home across the way to a tree and also hang one over each of our doors. But this year was a bit strange. The astrologer announced that the new moon was at noon, which meant we had to wait until the evening to put up the decorations. The community made an executive decision to wait until the morning to visit the cows and put tikka on their foreheads and hang the ropes at the home. We did however hang the lights we had bought at the market the previous week. And oil was dripped down the front of their front steps. This was the first day the kids could play Bhailo (sp?). They form groups and go from house to house to sing and dance for money. Some of the money they earn will be used to do humanitarian work…and some will be used to go on a picnic. Simran came with her group and Anita and her cousins headed out in the evening to play. The neighborhood boys (around age 10) also form a group. Last year they came with a boom box and did some dances for Shelly and I. Usually, they are given 10 or 20 rupees at each home, but I gave 500 rupees. It was all they talked about for a year. Naresh, the boy who lives next door, has been in his mother’s home village since Dasain. He called home crying that he needed to return home to play Bhai lo because Sarah Phupu (Auntie) was going to give them 500 rupees again. I have a wonderful memory of last year with the ‘boys’. I had gone into the house to help Bishnu prepare the plate of rice, flowers, oil lamp, shell roti and rupees to present to the boys. When we returned outside, they had pulled Shelly into their crazy dance and they were all jumping around and laughing. They even coaxed Bishnu and I to join in. Yesterday as I was sitting at Grandmother’s home watching Bishnu and Durga make the special ropes, I was approached by two of the boys at different times and each told me they would come on Monday and that they had prepared a very special dance for me. It makes me laugh. Last night marked the start of lining the front porch with candles. It is really quite lovely…to sit outside at night with the candles burning and the lights twinkling and hearing the songs of the different groups as they echo from throughout the valley. This year the adults are going to also play to raise money for their community. I’ll go with Bel and Bishnu for part of the evening, but usually poop out by 11:00 PM. There have been nights in the past when they stayed out all night.

Today is bull tikka day. And it’s time to make more shell roti. And tomorrow will be Bhai (younger brother) tikka day. I will wear the traditional Magar clothing. We will create a place on the front porch with a mat for the brothers to sit on. We will have plates of fruits and shell roti, a vessel with water, incense and a plate with the different colored tikka powders. There will also be a dish with oil and a dish with rice paste. I will start by circling around my three brothers (Bel, Somendra and Bel’s youngest brother) with the water vessel, pouring a stream of water to create a circle of protection. I will dip my fingers in the oil and then brush it onto their hair speaking words of well wishes. I’ll put a line of the rice paste on their foreheads, and dab a bit of each colored powder onto the line so that when I am finished, they will have a multicolored streak on their forehead. Bishnu always stands by the side telling us each to ‘tap, tap, tap.’ It is actually much harder than it looks, with powder falling all over the place. We use a tiny piece of bamboo to dip into the powder and carry it to the forehead where you push it into the paste. I will put a flower malla around their neck then a new hat on their forehead. They will touch their forehead to my feet then present me with money. This ritual will then protect them for the coming year. It then will be my turn to sit on the mat and Bel will repeat the procedure with me. His daughters will put tikka on Anil and the next door neighbor boys. Bishnu’s sister Tara will put tikka on their brothers. By afternoon, all will be walking around with colorful foreheads.

Oops! Got to run…a bhailo group has come.

Tashi Delek!

We are coming off of three days of non-stop rain. And I mean non-stop. The only variation was in how hard or soft the rain came down. Parts of Nepal experienced horrible flooding and landslides that took some lives. On the road out to the Tibetan camp, many rocks fell onto the road, making that stretch a bit scary. On the plus side, with the rains came more temperate weather. I actually had to break out the fleece the other night.

I have bought Anil a goat. And she is quite a beautiful goat. Bel has named her ‘Nakali’…which is a Nepali word you would use to describe someone who pays close attention to their grooming. Nakali has a white mark on her forehead and ears that are spotted and hang quite long. This is a goat for Anil to take care of…giving him a small job to do. Anil is Bel’s youngest child and their only son. He is now 16 years old. When he was three or four years old, he became very ill. The doctor gave him the wrong medicine, causing brain damage. He functions as a small child. Although I think he understands most of what is going on around him, he is unable to speak…he has key phrases and words that he will repeat over and over again…which drives his family nuts. The family despairs over what will become of him…what job could he ever do…hence the goat. Grandmother has a herd and his uncle Kamal has a herd. The thinking is that Anil could take care of one goat, going with his Grandmother and uncle when they take their goats to the hillsides to eat. Right now, we all seem to be doing most of the work…and Nakali is training us all well. When she is alone in the back area, she cries and cries until one of us goes outside and sits with her. If she is tied up at Grandmother’s home with her goats and I walk by, I’ll say Namaste Nakali and she will turn and bleat at me and wag her tail (honest…she really does!). She is quite a fabulous goat.

The Thapa household is that home in the neighborhood where everyone wants to be. It’s like grand central station. Bel and Bishnu are the parents. They are my age. Then there is Durga, the oldest daughter…her husband Tikka and their daughter Simran. They live in one of the two cinder block rooms that is behind the house. When I first started visiting Bel, these were the two rooms the family lived in. Bel uses the second room as his healing room. It still has its mud floor, but last year, Durga put in a cement floor in their room. Babita is the second daughter and she is married to Don Bahadur. He is in the Nepali army, so we only see him every now and then. He is stationed nearby, so does get the chance to come for a day or two on his days off. Usually, after marriage, Babita would go to his father’s home and live with them…but she has just finished her Bachelor’s Degree in Education and is awaiting the results of her tests. If she passes, she will continue her studies and work towards a Master’s Degree. For her father-in-law to allow this is quite a wondrous thing. Sangita is the third daughter and the one who had the heart procedure. She is also working towards her Bachelor’s Degree. Her illness prevented her from sitting for her final exams…so she must wait until next year. She also wants to continue her education and earn a Master’s Degree. Anita is the fourth daughter and goes to the equivalent of our high school…and Anil is the youngest.

The family lives next door to Bishnu’s mother. She is the one who brings me hot buffalo or goat’s milk in the mornings (yum?). Her oldest son works as a driver in Saudi Arabia…but his wife and two teenage daughters live here with his mother. Her other two sons also live with her with their wives and children. There are two daughters who are married and live nearby with their husband’s families…and the youngest daughter is still at home going to campus for her advanced degree. Grandmother raises buffalo, cows, goats, chickens and pigs. Her house is filled with constant laughter.

I first started staying with Bel’s family the year they built their current home. I would only stay a night or two here and there because it meant sharing a bedroom with all of the daughters…me in one twin bed and all of them in the other twin bed. It also meant sharing the one toilet. My privacy sensibilities were sorely tested during those stays. Then one year, I gave Bel enough money to build myself a room on their roof with its own small bathroom. Since that time several years ago, I began to slowly spend more and more of my nights here and this year I am staying full time at Bel’s. Over the years I have tried to make improvements to the home for purely selfish reasons. There is now an underground tank to hold water. They are supposed to get water from the main line from the government, but it rarely ever comes. Despite this fact, they are still charged a monthly rate. We have to buy water and have it delivered by the truck load. And most of the laundry is done down by the river. There is also now a water tank on the roof by my room and solar panels to heat the water so I can have a hot shower. When the tank on the roof is empty, we have to hook up a hose to a machine and pump the water from the underground tank to the rooftop tank. One year I added a refrigerator and a two burner propane stove so they did not have to cook over a kerosene stove or a wood fire. Another year I added a television set. The family’s favorite program is the WWE (World Wrestling Experience). We all cheer for John Sena and despise Randy Orton. We added a compound and ‘garage’ last year because Tika was storing his motorcycle each night in the ‘family room’, making moving around the place a challenge. It is also where my scooter now lives.

I made an executive decision about my scooter. I’ve decided to let Bel use it to go to the market to buy vegetables and run other errands and I’m having Laxman, my driver pick me up on the days I go out to the Tibetan camp. Bel could use the convenience of the scooter…and Laxman could use the extra money he earns by picking me up and returning me to Bel’s…so it is a win-win situation. With all of the rains lately, riding the scooter would have not been possible anyways…instead, I’ve needed a boat.

Durga, the oldest daughter has started a small business that she runs out of Bel’s home. Her husband’s family lives down on the Terai region close to the Indian border. It’s where a lot of the country’s produce is grown so the vegetables there are much cheaper. She has her father-in-law ship the produce to her and she then sells it for a cheaper rate then what can be found locally. The front porch is filled with potatoes and onions…and the store room under the stairs has rice. Her business has grown so well that Bel wants her to rent a room out on the road by Grandmother’s home because they are running out of room at the home and the constant stream of shoppers is becoming bothersome.

We are coming up on Tihar…the second most popular Nepali festival. This is my favorite festival in which sisters honor their brothers. It is a five day festival during which dogs, crows, bulls, cows and brothers each have a special day of food and tikka. The kids form singing and dancing groups and go from house to house singing for money. It’s a bit like trick or treating…but the costumes are of their ethnic groups. On Friday, I went with Bel and Bishnu to do the Tihar shopping. While Dasain is the festival where the kids get new clothes, Tihar I buy new outfits for Bel and Bishnu. We bought strings of colorful lights to hang outside the house and candles that we will line the front porch with. And I bought the new topis (hats) that will be part of the tikka ceremony on Bhai (younger brother) Tikka day. I have three brothers here…Bel, Somendra and Bel’s youngest brother…who I only know as Kancha Bhai (youngest brother). In the evenings, the parents will form a group and also go from home to home singing the old songs. They will use the money they raise to help those in their community in need.

It will be a quiet week of visiting the Tibetan camp before we step into Tihar. May the rains stop and the temperatures become gentle!

Namaste!
Great balls of fire, it’s been hot here. I walk around drenched in sweat. On the positive side these hot, humid days make taking a cold shower much more tolerable. It’s the first gasp when the cold water hits that’s the most shocking….then it becomes refreshing. Just wait until the weather turns…
then I’ll be wishing I was wilting again.

I have been doing my annual dance with the internet providers. In typical Nepali fashion, they take our money for one service, then try to give us something worth much less. This time, they let us use our user name and password for two days before denying access. When we contacted them to
complain, they said we had only purchased one month’s worth of time and that had expired. This, of course, was not true. We paid for a year’s worth of unlimited time. I joked with them that even if what they said was true…that we had only paid for one month…it had only been two days…so we should still have access. Each day we must call them to see what username and password to use. Now that Dasain has ended, they said they will get it all straightened out. Every time I go to sign on, I hold my breath.

The Dasain festival has now come and gone. In Nepal, the dates of the festivals are determined by the country’s Astrologer. Nepal has more months then we do because they follow the moon cycle instead of the sun. This creates a shift each year as to when the festivals will occur. This year,
Dasain came earlier than normal. Bel had contacted me to inform me of this last spring when their new calendars were issued, so I could make sure I was in country in time to celebrate. A week ago Friday, Bel, his wife Bishnu and I headed to the market to do our ‘Dasain shopping’. The market was crowded with people purchasing their chickens and goats, colored powders for the tikka, and provisions to make the special Dasain foods. For Bel, Somendra and I Friday meant starting our two day fast for the Guru Puja (ceremony honoring our gods and goddesses). Fasting doesn’t mean doing without food totally. We could still eat fruits, bread, yogurt and milk. That afternoon, we built the special alter using bamboo, flowers, cow dung and colored
powders…and in the evening drummed and danced our spirits in. Saturday was the main puja day where special offerings were made…including the chicken and goat. Bel’s son Anil enjoys the whole goat part of the festival the
best. He pesters Bel until the goat is purchased, then walks it around on a rope and sleeps with it at night. But don’t misunderstand…he doesn’t enjoy it as a pet. He also pretends he’s cutting the head off and can’t wait until it is time to eat the meat. All the extended family and neighbors come to watch the puja and then celebrate its success by eating the fruits, breads and meats that had been offered during the ceremony (these offerings are known as prasad). On the last day of Dasain (yesterday) when it is the ‘small’ full moon day, we take the altar to the river and offer it and the offerings to the nagas (serpent spirits who live in water) so they can take the blessings out into the world. That is also the last day to put tikka…so there is always a last minute spurt of traveling to make sure all in the family was blessed.

Sunday was a day of rest. It is also the day when the playing cards come out and gambling commences. This will continue until after the Tihar festival. Sunday was also the day Bel’s wife made shell roti. Shell roti is delicious bread that is made out of rice flour, clarified butter, bananas, salt and baking powder. Bishnu soaks the rice for a day then takes it to the mill to be ground into flour. She sets up a type of stove that is packed with saw dust and lit from within. She feeds sticks of wood into the stove from the side to keep the fire going. A cast iron wok is placed on top and filled with oil. When the oil is hot, she scoops the batter into her hand and drips the dough in a circular pattern, creating what looks like a huge doughnut. It takes her three hours to make the entire batch. Each year I sit with her and at some point in time, she has me try my hand at making the bread. Last year I cheated and used a funnel, but this year she insisted I do it the old fashioned way. One serious burn on my knuckles and fifteen sad looking shell roti later she nodded her approval and took over the stove again. The next thing she wants to teach me is how to make her homebrew of fermented barley in her still in the back yard. The brew is called raksi and seems to be a complicated process. Woohoo!

Monday was tikka day. The astrologer announced on the radio that the official tikka time was 11:00 AM…and that the people giving tikka needed to be facing south. The morning was spent cooking special food and preparing the tikka. In Bel’s home, they mix rice and yogurt…leaving the color white. Bel puts a blob of cow dung above each of our doors and sticks coins and sprouts into it. The sprouts are called jamara and were planted in cow dung on the first day of Dasain. If planted correctly and the correct prayers
were given, they will have grown to about five inches tall by tikka day. A table is prepared with a plate of the shell roti and fruit, a plate with rice and an oil lamp, a water vessel containing flowers and a special plate with the tikka. Incense is then lit. One by one, we sit in the chair and Bel and Bishnu first toss rice onto our feet, then over our heads, then into
our hands, then place it onto our forehead. We are each then handed some of the jamara and Nepali money (rupees). This is then followed by a plate of shell roti, some of the vegetables they had cooked and a glass of raksi. At this point, I am already full, but they then serve a full meal of dal
bhat (rice and lentils), vegetables and meat dishes. And this is just the first home. We then head to grandmother’s home and repeat…then uncle’s home and repeat, then great aunt’s home and repeat, then Bishnu’s father’s uncle and repeat, then another great aunt’s home and repeat…then Guru’s
home and repeat. They are all greatly offended if you don’t eat and drink… hence the delicate balancing act of eating enough to appease them and drinking enough to honor their kindness but not become falling down drunk. By the end of the day our foreheads are so covered in tikka and we have so many jamara stuck in our hair that we are quite the sight to see. In between the visits to the other homes, we would get word that someone had come to Bel’s home for tikka, so we would have to return so he and Bishnu could do the dance again. As we moved from home to home, the women do this dance exchanging their raksi. Bishnu fills empty coca cola bottles with her brew, and then when we enter another woman’s home, she places the bottle in their kitchen. When we leave, they hand her a bottle of their raksi. Considering
that the ingredients and brewing process is quite similar, it is surprising how each person’s version tastes a little bit different. I am particularly partial to Bishnu’s version.

With the passing of Dasain, I have settled back into my routine of visiting the Tibetan camp. I found Rhichoe feeling much better…but still having a bit of pain. By next visit he predicted that he would be fully recovered. Nyima’s brother had his surgery to shorten the bone on his amputated leg and that went quite well. This god awful heat has started to produce afternoon thunder storm which will herald in a cooler season. If history repeats itself, everyone around me will spontaneously come down with colds in honor of the changing season.

I’ve started my needs assessments for Indigenous Lenses: how much are the school fees this year…do the stipends for the old ones need to be increased… do we have enough to add more old ones to our stipend program…what medical and eye care needs can be covered. I walk around with a horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach that I have not brought enough money to even make a dent. Sigh!