Tihar - The Festival of Lights

The fire crackers started not long after Dasain. The first ones in our road really gave me a shock. Later, when I was speaking to an ex-pat he told me they were a relatively new phenomenon coming from India, a sign of the continuing India-ification of Nepal. Achut told me with some pride that last year he had tried to hit one of the many low-flying aircraft with a rocket, but it couldn't reach.

Tihar, known to most as its Indian name Diwali, is probably the most popular festival amongst the Nepali people. Dasain is the Nepali festival, but Tihar is just more fun. The festival lasts for 5 days, and is to worship Yamraj, the god of death, and Lakshmi, the god of wealth and fortune. The first three days, animals are worshipped as symbols of Yamraj's workers - crows on the first day, dogs on the second and cows on the third. As well as giving puja-ed food to all the animals, dogs and cows are given marigold garlands. The large German Shepherd next door still did look rather scary, but with the orange necklace, I couldn't help but laugh at it trying to bite me through a steel fence.

On the third evening, Lakshmi puja is celebrated, one of the most beautiful sights you can see. We all put on our new clothes from Dasain. Aama and Rachhu drew a mud path up our stairs to the puja room, with flour dots along the path to represent footsteps. All around the house we set up candles inside and out. All the lights were switched on. All of this was to guide Lakshmi to the house, so she can bring wealth and prosperity for the next year. We sat up on the roof and watched all the other houses in our area with their candles, and for the richer people, fairy lights. We bought some fireworks and set them off as well, not managing to shoot down any low flying aircraft with our rockets.

Wandering around the streets were groups of singers performing what is known as Deusi Bhailo - Tihar's version of carol singers. They visit houses and perform traditional dances and songs for anyone who would listen, and expect a rich reward from their audience. Also, this day people gamble as they believe Lakshmi is with them, so their luck should be good. How many of them benefit from Lakshmi's blessing is questionable, I have a feeling even in Nepal, the house will always win in the end.

The next day after breakfast, Aama and Rachhu started to cook sel roti, a doughnut-like bread that is made from rice dough. These are then fried in clarified butter known as ghiu. I think this is one of my favourite Nepali sweet dishes, especially when hot. Rachhu also spent a long time making flower garlands, four in total, to be used the next day. I sat in the sun, ate sel roti and became slowly red from the winter sun. It's a hard life.

The final day of Tihar is known as Bhai Tika. This is a day for brothers and sisters, where sisters place their blessing on their brothers for long life and prosperity, and where the brothers try to add to their sisters prosperity by giving them money. Being a man, If you are unfortunate enough not to have a sister, you can visit Rani Pokhari temple in the middle of Kathmandu, where there are many ladies waiting to bestow blessings, maybe in the hope of receiving some prosperity. This tradition goes back to when in an old kingdom known as Kirat, covering some of modern day Nepal and India, the King fell ill. His sister bartered with Yamaraj, the god of death, to postpone taking her brother into the underworld until several conditions, including waiting until the Tika that she gave him fades away.

For us this meant waiting until the pre-appointed hour, again determined by the chief astrologer, before we could begin. We were not allowed to eat until the puja had been completed. On the veranda outside my room was a layout very similar to that for Dasain, with puja items sitting in front of a carpet rug. Aama's brother had come, and first Aama puja-ed him. Then it was Achut, me and Bhanja's turn. We sat in a row on the carpet whilst Saru and Rachhu walked around the carpet three times, pouring water - ritually cleansing the area. Then the girls gave us oil on the top of our heads and in our ears - I couldn't remember how well I had cleaned my ears that morning, and had a slight panic what they would pull out from my ears when they retracted their hands. Then they did a small amount of flicking powder and throwing flowers, placing flowers on our heads, shoulders and knees. Then they applied the multicoloured Bhai Tika and gave the garland that Rachhu had made the day before. Finally, I gave my small gift to them and knelt down, touching my head to both of their feet, something that made them all laugh. I was handed a tray of food things, cooked sweet breads - including some more sel roti - fruit and spices.

It was a great day, especially as we spent the rest of the time just talking and eating. It wasn't as if I believed in everything that was done for my wealth and long life, but it is so good to have fun with people that are your - adopted - family, enjoy their culture and learn a little bit about them. As Atticus Finch might say, walking around in their shoes.

Bhanja after Bhai Tika

Rachhu and me after Bhai Tika
Tihar was an especially great time for me. Not only was it because all my Nepali family were there, but before Tihar something else had happened. I had met some ex-pats through church, something that isn't actually that normal for me being rather unsociable. I had been told about a man who works in a Hydro-electric engineering NGO, and he might be able to find something useful I could do. So, on the second day of Tihar, I went to visit him. I discussed with him why I was in Nepal, what I did in the UK, and he said that there should be something I could do for them. So, I would start the next week, after the Tihar holiday. I had slightly mixed feelings about working with another NGO that wasn't working in Rajghat. Would I have time to work with Rajghat things? Would this mean that the ideas we had for Rajghat would just have to be stopped? I think though that the thing that will be hardest is losing the flexibility, as I had no work before, I didn't have to be anywhere at anytime. Now I have to be in an office 9-5, or the Nepali equivalent. We'll see how it goes. Hopefully with the experience I get from here, we can get Rajghat things going though. It's not going to be forgotten.

A definitely more upbeat time!

SAM

(Apologies for the lack of photos. Somehow my camera deleted half of the photos on it, but left others. Rather random and very very very annoying.)

And for the mountain man, I'm off to Pokhara in a couple of weeks, so I'll get some better photos then, but for now, the sunsets have been pretty amazing here in the Valley. These are the Ganesh Himal, to the north-west of Kathmandu.

Ganesh Himal at sunset

Dasain!

Tika day for Dasain was yesterday. It celebrates the victory of Ram over the Demon Ravana with the help of the Goddess Durga. It started very early in the morning with a rather cold shower. The joys of no hot water. Aama and Buwa spent all of the morning conducting their puja for this most special of days in the Nepali calendar. Rachhu was in the kitchen from early morning, cooking. Me, I spent the morning between the TV, watching people celebrate the festival all over Nepal, my bed and the toilet. My stomach bug that had been attacking me for the previous 5 days was still making my life hell.


Ready for the puja

At the appointed hour as decided by the chief astronomer, we all sat in a room upstairs near the puja room in our newly bought clothes. In front of us was a tray of fruit, a jug full of leaves and water, another tray with rice and abhir powder mixed for the tika and some barley shoots. In a leaf bowl was a large amount of rice, an oil lamp was burning and an incense stick was doing its job. Rachhu, Achut and I were sat in a line, and we got given our tika, and the barley shoots were placed on the top of our heads and behind the left ear.

Being given the tika

Tika completed!

As we hadn't eaten all morning, we were all fairly hungry. Traditional food at Dasain is goat meat, curd and chiura - squashed rice. So we ate. A lot. I then lay in bed, tired and rather ill. Everyone was waiting for Saru, the recently married daughter, to arrive with her husband. Children visit their elders at this time, going for a bit of food, money and their blessing. Some people end with a forehead covered in Tika, and a rather richer pocket. For the next few days the rest of the house went visiting family, and me, I lay in bed. The hedgehog finally passed from my system and I became a lot better.

Me, with Achut and Buwa, after the Tikas, in my new clothes.

This time with Aama, Buwa and Rachhu

SAM

Half way to where?

6 months has now passed since I arrived in Nepal. I must be getting very old as time seems to be passing like a bullet train.

For the last 2 days I feel as if I've been trying to pass a hedgehog through my colon, it has been rather painful. Add to that someone kneading down on it as well and you might be able to understand my discomfort. Hopefully it should go away soon, normally these things only last a couple of days.

Dasain officially started last week, but this week has been the start of the main celebrations. Walking along the road, I have passed streams of goats on their way to a grizzly end - eating a goat for Dasain is considered as traditional as a Turkey at Christmas. A few days ago we went shopping for clothes, Racchu, Bhanja and me - the recipients - and Buwa - the money. Even the poorest people in Nepal expect to get a new set of clothes for Dasain, leading to it becoming a bane for some families rather than the celebration it should be.

Yesterday the Bahuun, priest, came to our house to conduct a large puja. This was in honour of a baby being born in the family. All morning, Aama and Rachhu were cooking food, but not eating. Finally, once the puja was completed, we ate the food they had cooked - pickle, bread fried in oil called pourri, and my favourite sel roti, a doughnut-like sweet bread.

The streets are littered with dead kites, the losers in the battles to control the skies. Some are hanging from the telegraph poles, some stuck in trees, and others lying in the road where they fell, fallen warriors trampled beneath the feet of uncaring passers-by.

Something I'm feeling at the moment...

In front of me I see a road. It is undulating, over hills and through shallow valleys. I look behind me, and the same type of path is there. I look around me and see other people I know. Their road is much more mountainous, over high peaks and through deep gorges. I try to walk with them along their road, carry some of their bags, but I can't. There is something stopping me. Is it me? Is it someone else? I just don't know and don't understand. What do I do now?

Everything a bit disjointed I know, but hey - that's my mind sometimes...

SAM

Dasain is Coming!

The time that all the children in Nepal love, all parents worry and all goats are just plain scared is just around the corner. Dasain, the largest festival celebrated in Nepal, will start in a week from now. The festival is to celebrate Ram's victory over a demon with the help of Durga, as chronicled in the Hindu epic the Ramayana. It is 10 days of celebrating and ritual.

For this festival, the preparations have been taking place in the Kathmandu Valley. It is traditional that people will kill a goat over Dasain. And so thousands of goats have been transported into the valley to meet this demand, and ensure meat price doesn't go up too much and cripple the poorer people - many of whom this will be the only time in the year they will eat meat as it is so expensive. Families come together as much as possible to celebrate, the buses to the villages outside the valley are getting gradually busier as people return to their homes. The kite flying is getting more prevalent, Dasain is the time to be flying a kite, and at the moment the wind is being friendly ensuring a good stiff breeze in the afternoon and evening to please all. Traditionally, parents will give their children clothes. For those families who have money, this is all fine. However, if you struggle from day to day, this can be a real heartache.

As for me and my work, it is still going on slowly. I keep on seeming to get contradictory advice from people, and so am trying both fronts and seeing what will work. It is slow, laborious and, as yet, fruitless. But I'm positive. Something will happen.

My friends from EWB, an engineering NGO, have now left the country after completing their projects. It has been quite fun being around English people again, and it has reminded me how much I hate the Kathmandu's tourist ghetto of Thamel. It's been also good to hear their ideas and thoughts on Nepal.

The new Nepali government released its first budget just over a week ago. It announced a large increase in spending, and stated it intended to increase its foreign aid revenue by 91%. To my mind this was stupid. This country already relies too much on foreign aid. All very well that Nepal needs to 'develop' - whatever that may be - but an over-reliance on foreign aid cannot surely be healthy for the country. With the global financial crisis, will countries be willing to release aid to another country so easily? And will it be the same as it always has in Nepal, corruption and bribery bringing people to the foreign aid like moths around a light-bulb? Not only this, but Nepal also depends on Nepalis working in foreign countries to support their economy - according to a local newspaper in one district almost £150,000 has been sent from abroad for Dasain in the last 2 weeks. This is all very good, but it won't help Nepal. Nepal needs industry, product for export and internal consumption. Nepal needs local business. Nepal needs people to stay here and work for their own country, not send their best to work as brick layers and security guards for a pittance in the Gulf.

The budget has also produced some controversy, as the government said it would not pay for the animal sacrifices any longer. This immediately impacted the festival of Indra Jatra, a Newar festival here in the Kathmandu Valley. The Newar people felt this to be a slight against their culture and immediately called a strike. I foolishly went walking through some of the areas there were riots, as I thought they had finished. Obviously not. The shops were all shut, tyres were burning in the street, riot police were lining up ready to beat the agitators with 6 ft long bamboo poles. The atmosphere was not particularly pleasant, but I managed to get away before anything kicked off. In this case, I have to admit I take the side of the government. They have declared Nepal a secular society, no longer a Hindu Kingdom, and so will not support any festival financially. It was just unfortunate that the first festival happened to be a Newar one. They are also not paying for the hundreds of goats and buffalo that the government usually sacrifices over Dasain.

We have also been seeing restaurant and bar workers striking, as the government closes in on illegal owners. Which is good. But on the other hand, why are they spending their time with dedicating a large amount of police man power to close a small number of illegal bars, when the Terai is still in the control of various militia groups and completely unstable. Surely that should be where they focus their resources. Could this be the return of Kathmandu Valley centred politics? Surely the Maoist leadership should have learnt enough from previous failed governments to not follow that path?

Nepal still provides an interesting background to life...

SAM

A couple of photos...


The sky at night during load-shedding

At the Golden Temple in Patan

Visa Success!

Finally after a week of stress, interviews, forms, offices, letters and not being able to eat properly I finally have my visa for the foreseeable future in Nepal. I suppose I should feel lucky, as if I were Nepali trying to get a visa for the UK I would have probably failed dramatically. But being the other way around, I was able to put some pressure on people because of the lottery of where I was born and their interest in my country and way of life.

Life in the house is under quite a lot of strain at the moment. The electricity board increased the scheduled power cuts from 4 hours a week to 16, with several other unscheduled cuts also happening. The water is not reliable, so we don't quite know when it will come. And the house cooking gas has run out. All over the Kathmandu Valley there is a very limited supply, and on the black market a 14 kg cylinder is selling for 5000 rupees, about 45 pounds, when normally it would sell for 1200 rupees.

So at the moment the food is being cooked on a little wood burning stove that is built from a metal case packed with sawdust. The sawdust needs to be replaced every day. And being a wood burning stove, it turns the pots and pans black and makes everyone's eyes sting from the smoke. Also, as we are in the city, the supply of firewood is limited. I think we'll have to go on a expedition to get some wood soon.


The stove

Today is 5 months in Nepal for me, and I'm feeling a little better about the prospects for everything. I won't say much more for the moment, but I'm remarkably upbeat!

SAM

Bureaucracy....

This is a hoop
This is a fence

This is a gorge with prickly things either side and a very nasty prickly thing at the bottom.

Imagine trying to jump through the hoop, over the fence and then making a death defying leap across the gorge. Now, add to the equation a wild and ravenous leopard behind you trying to feed his desire. Finally, for each obstacle there is only one way of going through it, but you only find this out when you reach the obstacle. If you don't pass through it correctly you are vaporised and have to start again from the beginning, and the Leopard takes a bite out of you just for good measure. This is how I have felt over the last few days, trying to get my visa sorted.

Even now after 3 days of running around, jumping through hoops and making death defying leaps, it still isn't done. I have made my contingency of escaping to India for 2 weeks, or somewhere else if after 2 weeks I still can't get the visa. But I don't want to. And I definitely don't want to go back to the UK. That would just be giving up.

Let's hope tomorrow goes well...

Ritual Bathing

On the full moon of Saun high caste Hindus replace their Janai - a sacred thread placed around the body - and bathe, a festival known as Janai Purnima. The main place of pilgrimage during Nepal is called Gosainkund, deep in the mountains to the north of Kathmandu. Legend has it that Shiva, one of the trinity of Hindu gods, drank poisoned water to save the world, and created a crater with his trident before spitting out the poisoned water to form the lakes. So every year thousands of faithful make their way up to the mountains to effectively bathe in Shiva's spit. Several people die visiting the lakes as it is around 4500m high, an altitude where acute mountain sickness can kick in.

Also on this day everyone is given raksha bandhan, a yellow and orange protective band that is tied around the wrist. This is then worn until Tihar (Diwali) where it is tied to the tail of a cow. From India, a tradition has emerged that sisters tie another more decorative raksha on their brothers, giving them further protection. The brother in turn gives the sister a present, usually money.


My raksha (notice the tan/recovering sunburn)
During this time, there is a big fair, or jatra, in Patan in the grounds of Kumbeshwor Mandir - temple. So I went down to have a look with Buwa, Aama and Bhanja. As we approached Patan Durbar Square, the large number of people milling about the UNESCO world heritage site was an indication of what was to come. We were still a good 5 minutes walk from the mandir when the crowd got so thick it became like swimming through people. So, I grabbed Bhanja's hand and started to swim. I floated on a sea of Nepalis, using my height advantage to good effect, and making sure Bhanja was still in tow we reached to the mandir complex.

On the surrounding streets there were people selling offerings to give at the temple, dark skinned Indians selling Chinese tat, bahuun priests sitting cross-legged on the ground tying rakshas on people, giving them a tika and blessing for a few rupees. Stood out from the crowd were a handful of foreigners trying to get a grasp of the situation. As we circumnavigated the complex, there was music, dancing and preaching, causing crowds to form circles, blocking the pathway through.

Outside Kumbeshwor are several public water tanks where people bathe during Janai Purnima, an alternative to the gruelling trek to Gosainkund. In these, people were washing the dirt away, and several young boys were diving and splashing about. Something that Bhanja had said earlier came to mind, that this was his favourite festival after Dasain and Tihar - the Christmas of the Nepali Hindu year. I could see why now. Water, food, parties and a day off school - what more does a eight-year old boy want?

I wanted to go in. Mostly out of tourist nosiness/curiosity, but it seemed quite a big party was inside. I looked down at Bhanja. He obviously wasn't enjoying this as much as I was. The crowd was knocking him about a lot, stepping on his feet and generally making life unpleasantly irritating. He was also rather tired, a fact I noticed by the amount he had started to pull on my hand as we walked. I turned to try and find Aama and Buwa, finding them after a minute of searching heads. Aama didn't look to happy either. I resigned myself that we weren't going to go in. I tried to console myself that I probably wouldn't be allowed in, not being a Hindu. However, the scant consolation was swiftly broken by 3 or 4 foreigners I spotted inside the temple posing for photographs with the sadhus. So we completed our circumambulation and headed home. For me, an enjoyable little walk.

We've still been flying kites, and I managed to get it up in the air finally. After 2 or 3 minutes of good control, I panicked as the kite plunged towards the nearby army barracks, and had to be rescued by a quick thinking Achut.


Bhanja flying the kite
We had a very beautiful moon rise the other day, so I thought I would show you that as well.


The moon rise over Lalitpur
And just to mention that not only is Nepal looking at 2.5 million starving people in the west of country, the same as the population of Kathmandu, but now floods have ravaged the south east, with monsoon rains causing a large river to burst its banks. Reports vary on how many people are actually affected by this, but it easily in the tens of thousands. (A recent newspaper headline in one of the English dailies said "Flood aid continues to pour in". Oh, the choice of words...). Things aren't getting any easier for the Nepali. The new government has a lot to contend with.

SAM