Kathmandu - A feast to the eyes

Stomach better, it was time to walk and explore. My favorite time of the day in Kathmandu is early in the morning. At around 6/6.30am, vegetable and flower vendors and other shopkeepers set up shop, people go to various temples and burn incense, the small dusty and dirty streets are filled with the odors of incense, flowers and dirt; men sit at corners and drink chai; the chaos and bustle of the city experiences its pre-explosion. There is a certain stillness in the movements of people that is about to explode and will take precedence over the course of the day.

Make no mistake, Kathmandu is dirty and polluted. But despite that, or sometimes because of it, the city is incredibly picturesque. The pagoda shaped temples, the old houses, the incomplete brick constructions, the clusters upon clusters of electrical wires, the tiny shops with men wearing Nepali hats tending to them, the eyes of the Buddha, the burning incense, marigolds and their sales women, the tiny alleyways leading to green haven sun-lit courtyards, the mountains surrounding the city, etc. have left me awestruck more than once. Yesterday, even the skies decided to get into the thick of things and offered the magic of lightning and thunder. Standing on the terrace of the Swayambhunath, Ana and I, could not but marvel at the beauty of lightning.

On our way back into town, we heard music, and momentarily stopped to listen. A group of guys were playing music in a tiny shop. They invited us to join them, and we ended up spending 2 hours with them singing and playing music. It's amazing how music can bind people.

My favorite moment yet…


So far, Kathmandu has been a feast… to the eyes and to the spirit.

  

An uncommon beginning

I reached Kathmandu on Sunday and on my way here, suffered a bout of food poisoning. It felt like my body was revolting against the various things I've been involving myself in the past few months. I just needed a bed.....

and a toilet. 

Behind the smile

« Je suis sans mot », he said.

He looked at him strangely. He didn’t understand the words. He was not sure if he was happy or sad. He asked him once again, his face showing more concern.

“Are you sure you’re ok?”

“Yes, I am.” He smiled and replied calmly and, fell into silence.

The T shaped man shrugged and continued his conversation with another colleague.

The P shaped man delved into his thoughts once again.

It may be dumbfounding knowing to what degree we consider ourselves significant right here and now. In our minds, we probably constantly believe ourselves to be important and our balance of thoughts is disturbed when we are confronted with our insignificance through the words and actions of others, particularly when those actions and words originate from people we know. We suddenly perceive ourselves, through the eyes of others, at a level lower than what we envisioned, when in actuality, the way we see ourselves through others is our own new perception of us. An external entity most likely triggered a new sensory data, creating a new opinion about our self, and sometimes sending us in disarray, or a shift in mood. We then fight hard to prove our significance, in reality, perhaps to none other than ourselves until our belief is reinstated. And then a sudden burst of ideas, and we expand our thoughts to a much larger extent, and effectively understand how truly insignificant we are in the larger scheme of things, and that this mind battle is so unimportant compared to our existence, which in effect, can be measured up to the  minutest invisible spec of dust floating in the air. With this thought, is accompanied an undue feeling of freedom and liberation. Our burden is lifted and the rainbow makes a reappearance.  

The P shaped man tapped the shoulder of the T shaped man and asked him to pass him the bottle of water. The T shaped man did so, and the P shaped man smiled the kindest of smiles. 

The Kids

These kids started coming for Capoeira a few months ago. I wrote about them in a previous post. They don’t come as often as they used to, partly because of us, but they try to make it once a week.

We have never felt closer to them.

On holi morning, Ishwar called Ana on her mobile and told her that it was already 11am, he told her that we were late and asked her where we were.

A couple of weeks ago, we took them to an architectural historic tour of Rasta Peth, and we were not sure whether they would enjoy it, but they surprised us by asking us questions, and when Ana gave them her camera, they surprised us (or at least me) with the quality of pictures that they took. And, they seemed to genuinely enjoy the tour.

Since then, we’ve been hanging a lot more often with them, not only playing Capoeira, but doing other stuff too like playing tiger-tiger in the park or playing holi with them. It’s the first time I’ve ever played holi the proper way, and I’m glad it was with them.

When I’m hanging out with them, I’m happy. Truly.