The thing to remember is this: Life is full of surprises,
and that there is always hope.
-Ruth Reichl, Comfort Me with Apples
Is there anyone smarter than Ms Reichl? Who else but a former NYTimes Food Critic could write something so simple and yet full of flavor. Who else could write something that has just enough sweet and spice to help remember that varying flavors of life? No one, that's who. But I digress. Her wisdom, my last few months and everything in between will come up shortly.
This blog is supposed to be about navigating Nepal which understandably would mean talking about Nepal. True. But for the last several months, most of my time has been spent outside Nepal for work meetings plaguing those of us who work in this field. So while my next blog will focus on what's been happening in various parts of the non Nepal world but relates to my Nepal world, today's little chestnut will just capture a very local peek at my street. Yep, that's it. My street. No photos today. Just words. Some video at the end. Words written in a letter to a girlfriend in the US during a midnight moment due to another festival celebration here in my part of town.
Think globally, write locally. But with a swig of youtube ambiance thrown in for good measure. You'll know why.
Hi sweetness! I thought I might describe for you what is becoming a sort of average day of life in Kathmandu. The various *experiences* draw from across various days, since having them all happen in one day would be too much for even the most seasoned of global dilettantes. But they are all true! Read it and weep!
Let’s start with the time right now, shall we? It is exactly 2:48am on Saturday morning. I myself, though have already been awake since oh, 1:55 am. Why? Late night reading? No. Late night socializing and or something equally enjoyable? Of course not. The reason I am awake, is because of a marching band. That is correct. At 1:50 am, a marching band, complete with trumpets, bass drums and cymbals, meandered with alarming volume down my street. Why? let us try and count the ways….maybe to visit the little temple a quarter mile down the street? I’m sure there is yet another festival this weekend, given that there are literally 10,000 different gods across the various slices of Nepali society and culture. (where is “Goddess to help you Sleep” shrine, I wonder) Perhaps it’s a wedding procession (remember from the end scene of Monsoon Wedding, when a band proceeds the groom being led in on a horse…) that is kicking off the normal 3 days of festivities. See, I heard this band already earlier, around 930pm. So they are keeping themselves local. The last possibility, and this seems equally likely, is that it is really just a marching band from one of the millions of local universities and/or institutes that is practicing., taking advantage of the empty streets. No joke. One slice of life here explained. The idea of noise management and privacy is totally different here.
The next aspect is the power cuts. Despite having the highest mountain ranges in the world –and presumably enough snow and other kinds of water based resources that should during the seasons provide flow to generate hydro dams….Nepal is woefully underelectrified. Kathmandu in particular, is so short circuited that starting November until about March, the entire city experiences what it called “load shedding.” What in hell is that. It sounds like getting rid of some loads….of what? What it really means is power rationing. At the moment, my neighborhood has about 13 hours of power cuts a day. This means no light, fridge, internet or general electricity. Thank god for generators that my boss insisted upon. The start up putt –putt-putt sound of the generator has become music to my ears. How did this happen to Kathmandu? A mixture of a 10 year insurgency whose violence forced millions to the city seeking safety from the rural areas, stressed governance, bad city planning and a completely inadequate grid and wiring system that would make your hair curl results in a dangerously overdrained power system. The winter months dry up the hydroelectric dams (no rain) and rumors that apparently Nepal is selling power to China and India is not going over well with people here, who sit around in candlelight –the non romantic kind – and gas cylinder powered heaters or firelight warming their hands. And the term “load shedding “ has mystified me for months, without explanation from my Nepali colleagues until just yesterday someone said its actually the idea of putting a kind of protection/ shed around the power load. So the term means to protect and cover the electricity levels. Ohhhhhkkk.
(side note: 3:06am –the band is returning)
Let’s move on to traffic. I live about ½ mile from my office. So when I drive (I keep my car at the house for security and emergency reasons) I need to do the following turns: out the driveway, turn left. And end of street, turn right. After about one minute, turn left…then a quick right and left into the CARE office compound. The is a total of 5 little turns in about 5 minutes. Yet soooooooo much possibility exists in that 5 minutes. At any given moment, I could : run over one of the 30,000 stray dogs that roam the Kathmandu streets; crash into a non observing bicyclist concentrating instead on not losing his 100 lbs of vegetables tied to the bike rike ; bump into a taxi whose driver is navigating these narrow lanes while fiddling with his cell phone and radio to hear the latest Bollywood hit; or be completely plowed over by a mammoth bus careening towards town filled with weary workers. This is to say nothing of the random pedestrians who literally do not look anywhere when crossing the road or darting out into the way of traffic. Sidewalks are an extinct species here. But this pedestrian concentration on the path ahead is understandable since the open sewers require 100% attention when walking.
And of course let’s not forget the elephants. Yup, last week I was caught in traffic – behind the largest elephant I had ever seen. It was enormous and laden with tree cuttings and leafy branches. Perched atop this woodpile were two young men who for the life of me somehow managed to convey to this gorgeous creature how to cross the road while chaos reigned in morning rush hour. This elephant was also multi tasking –walking while lifting its trunk to grab a leafy treat that swung dangerously close to its ultra sensitive snout. I slowed down to observe–a form I guess of Nepali rubbernecking –because when swinging up its trunk to nibble on its baggage, the elephant wove from side to side and threatened to disgorge its human cargo who hung on to each other dear life (when it would have been more efficient to hang onto the elephant, actually). Would I be around to witness the carnage, I wondered!
Pulling into my office brings a morning feeling of accomplishment. No scratches, no dents, no roadkill under the tires. Mission Accomplished. And it’s off to download my email avalanche. Nothing like a bright start to a day in Nepal! It is the little things that count, isn’t it.
love, Claude
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