It’s now the year 2064 in Nepal, which makes me the ripe old age of 86! New Years day was last Saturday & to celebrate I went back to Bistachhap for two nights to stay with my family & spend the day with the kiddly winks at Brighter Future CH.
On Friday after the Unity health check I was showing the health team my ‘korta’ (special Nepali outfit) which I borrowed off my housemate Cindy to wear to the NY day party. The Unity manager, Bharat (pronounced Borat, aka. Ali G) was there at the time & commented that the orange & blue colours of the korta were typical of that worn in Rajasthan. Pondering on this thought, I made the typical bimbo Eve comment of ‘Oh, I wonder if they’ll think I’m from Rajasthan’. Monty (a Vollie from the UK) replied back, rather matter of factly ‘I don’t think they’ll think you’re from Rajasthan Eve’.
This is one of many bimbo comments I’ve made of late; another when sitting in the Buddhist Meditation Centre with Cindy the other day having a coffee before work I was looking around, enjoying the peaceful garden setting & so intelligently stated ‘Buddhism is so nice’ to which Cindy replied ‘Peace out man!’.
I’m blaming these lapses of sense on the altitude...along with hangovers, forgetfulness, any tripping over that I do & any other general idiotic comments I make!
So I was enquiring as to where I might catch the local bus on the ring road in order to get to Largenkal to catch the connector to Bistachhap. Ali G said he would take me, thinking he would walk me to the bus stop; I’m was surprised when he arrived out the front on his motorbike & proceeded to drive me the entire way to Largenkal – so half way across Kathmandu! Such a nice man (he’s Buddhist, so any wonder! Ha).
We drove through Patan which I’m definitely going to have to schedule a trip back to. It was so beautiful with old wooden facades on the buildings, little alley’s & side streets with handicraft shops dotted all about. There were prayer flags flyer high all over the place & a lot of activity with tourists & locals scouting the market stalls in Durbar Square.
We drove right through the middle & came out the other side near Largenkal. As I was getting off the bike Ali G offered to drive me the whole way & I firmly refused. With the current fuel shortage, forcing prices sky high & the fact that he is attempting to raise 100,000 rupees in order to move his kids to a better home, I couldn’t possibly allow him to take me any further and already felt bad that he had taken me that far, knowing he would not accept any money. So I thanked him & jumped on the jam packed, rickety old bus to make the bumpy ride out to the village.
Arriving just after 5.00pm I stopped into my brother Utam’s chiya pasal for a quick milk tea. I then wandered down through the village, revelling in the peace and quiet, fresh air & genuine greetings of ‘Namaste’ from each person I passed along the way! I arrived to my family’s house to find my 15 year old bahini (sister) on the porch. Having not yet seen her since arriving back in Nepal, I gave her an excited embrace at which point she began to cry! Although I would prefer her to be all smiles & happiness, I was touched that she was moved to tears & soon put on the water works myself!
After spending time catching up with my family, feasting on a fabulous daal bhaat, and after a chat with my bahini, I tucked myself into bed with that warm, comforted feeling you get when you feel at home. I slept like a baby that night & could have continued to keep sleeping had my alarm not woken me at 6.30am in order to get ready for the days events…
At 7.00am Sharon, a volunteer from NZ came to collect me & my two younger bahini’s Sushma & Ratcha (whom I renamed. Jemma & Jessica for ease of reference and because Sushma reminds me so much of my niece Jemma I thought it a befitting name to bestow…I couldn’t just name one of them though, so Jessica for Ratcha – don’t ask me why!).
So all dolled up in our kortas we met the BFCH kids on the road leading up to the temple. They were adorably & proudly dressed up to the nines in their brand new clothes; the boys in new jeans & t-shirts and the girls in bright pink & blue kortas. We playfully wandered up the road to the temple above Bistachhap village to receive New Years tikhas (wet dye on the forehead). The kids were happily going about the ritual of the temple, squeezing through the ‘cave’ to come out the other side ‘cleansed’. They then in turn came up & gave both Sharon & myself flowers and threw petals in our hair.
We then meandered down the hill back to the home to have a day long feast which Jaggu (the manager) had arranged. It felt like Christmas day all over again with about five different sittings! In between food servings the kids danced & played and in the afternoon they demonstrated their Karate skills which had been taught to them by Sharon & David (a husband & wife couple who are experts back in Christchurch, NZ).
Just before dusk we ended the day by having a quick game of cricket on the new playing field I helped start digging last November. It was great to see it finished & to see the kids make use of it, but more importantly it was good to see the kids interacting with other children from outside the home!
If having a progressive, five course smorgasbord that day wasn’t enough, my aama served me up another plate of daal bhaat that night when I returned home – just for good measure!
So the next day, after feeling completely rested, somewhat full and feeling as though I had been in the village for a month, I took off after morning daal bhaat to catch the 9.00am bus back into town. I could hear the horn tooting and rushed to catch the bus but of course I was too late…somehow, life always tends to get hectic when leaving Bistachhap!
As I had made plans to meet one of the Vollies in town I couldn’t wait the extra hour for the next bus, so my only option was to walk across the valley to Godawori to catch a bus from the main road. So I set off through the terraced fields laden high with maze and barley crops, stopping to ask directions from the locals carting bricks on their heads along the way...
I finally made it to the road and came out right near a brew house (though I didn’t know this at the time). A rangi changi (slang name for a drunk person – also means ‘colourful’) made a vline for me as I was standing patiently awaiting the arrival of the next bus. So he mumbled his way through an introduction, shook my hand, nearly bowled me over with the smell of booze off him, at which point I thought it best to keep walking in the direction of Kathmandu. The bus came shortly after & I made the trip back into the busy, smoggy city.
So that was my little adventure back to Bistachhap over with. It was nice taking time out, as that was really my first break since arriving & with the pace of Thamel I was starting to feel a little bit of burn out. My batteries are now fully charged again & I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s Anzac day BBQ & fund raiser.
I’ve booked out G’s Terrace in Thamel for playing games of Two Up, mini cricket, listening to Aussie & Kiwi music and eating lamingtons. Let’s see how it compares to last years in St Kilda!
I hope this finds you well.
All my love, Eve xxxx
