Tihar for two (and three, four...)

Kathmandu calling ....yes I'm up in the big city waiting for my new work visa - should be ready on Tuesday (It's now Tuesday and it isn't, so I'm going back to Hetauda to meet the English students with a covering letter from VSO but I have to return at the weekend). In the meantime I'm having a good time meeting people -old and new friends - in fact I'm off to the Sterling Club at the British Embassy for Sunday lunch in about an hour (for someone who's a veggie except in Kathmandu this is a big treat). Whisper it so the sacred cows don't hear - the roast beef was very tender and the veg fresh, while the roast potatoes were crisp outside and fluffy inside - but no Yorkshire pudding. The apple crumble was good too, but I make that in my miracle oven.

Talking of friends, let's go back to the Saturday before last, the first day of the Tihar holiday, when not only Roz, but also Geraldine and Karen, our companions in Thailand arrived for a weekend in the country. They had all endured 6 hour bus journeys (from Pokhara and Kathmandu)to reach Hetauda.

On Thursday people were supposed to have given special food to the crows which abound, but I didn't notice anyone doing that and neither did I see any dogs wearing marigold malas round their necks on Friday, though Clare showed me a photo of her landlord's dog. On Saturday, however, it was Laxmi Puja when the goddess of wealth is welcomed to people's houses. I suggested we should walk through the bazaar to the Avocado to see 'the lights'. The walk was wonderful - many shops and houses with coloured lights on and all the shops with candles and diyaa lights outside, lighting the way to the door for the goddess. Along the part of the street where the fabric shops are, they were in competition to arrange the best Laxmi shrine with photos and flowers and they all had banana tree entrances. There were even children playing with sparklers. Unfortunately the Avocado had seen fit to close for four days over the holiday (to give the staff chance to go home and probably because all Nepalis would be at home) so we enjoyed a good daal baat across the road then again enjoyed the atmosphere of the bazaar which was still bustling. Back at my house,there were coloured lights round the window and the verandah had candles lighting a path to the door while Gorab and his cousins enjoyed a few fireworks. We were also entertained (for 4 nights)by the musical lights which the nursery next door had put up - Santa Claus is coming to town, Jingle Bells and We wish you a merry Christmas!

On Sunday we paid a visit to the Memorial Park and on the way back spotted a tikaed cow wearing a garland of marigolds as Sunday was Gaai Puja - cow worship day (after death souls cross to heaven holding the tail of a cow). On Monday we went up to the temple and back down through the forest and the villages. A big shock was waiting though as we approached the bottom of the 1064 steps. At the festival at the temple back in March, we were told some of the money raised was for a road to be built to the communities at the top of the hill - and they've started! In the week since I had been to Manakamana last, a bullddozer had flattened a wide roadway zigzagging all the way to the top. Sometimes we had to cross the road between sets of steps and at one point it was a good scramble up to the next set of steps as they stopped quite high up the embankment. As Clare said, when she'd recovered from the shock of me showing her the pictures 'But that's too easy!' I guess we'll still use the steps which will be repaired and replaced in time. The lady at the chiyaa pasal at the top was pleased that tempos would be going up though - it will make transporting vegetables and food stuffs much easier and also hopefully open up a route for more children to come down to the secondary schools in Hetauda.

When we got back from the walk I went to the bus station with Karen and Geraldine to check about their bus back to KTM on Tuesday. As we were walking along a voice said 'Isn't it strange who you meet in Hetauda?' It was Sandy Morris, ex-VSO now working in Palung. She had told me she might come over the hills during the holiday, but she wasn't in when I rang and I thought she had probably gone to Nawalparasi to see another friend as she had told me.
She had decided to see if she could find us in Hetauda and if not, she would go on west - she was on her way to the bus station when we met. Of course we offered her a bit of floor and she came back to the flat with us - I thought there would be two of us for Tihar and now we were up to five.

My manager, Purna, had invited us for Newari New year and Ma Puja (worshipping yourself - wishing yourself health, wealth and happiness for the next year, so that you can then wish it to everyone else -a bit like you can't love others if you don't love yourself). However we had heard nothing from him and phone calls to his mobile only received an 'unavailable' response. So about 4.30, when we were sitting round the kitchen table with a couple of opened bottles of Tuborg and dishes of crisps and chocolate toffees, we were surprised by 'Hello' at the door and in came Purna - soon to be called our 'fairy godmother/father'. Having checked how many of us there were - 'no problem, the more the merrier' - he said he would go and find us some transport for the 6km ride to his village. Talk about pumpkins and coaches! Our very own tempo pulled right up to the gate of the house before we had all managed to get in and out of the bathroom. We were then transported to a fairyland village of lights and a very special evening.

There should be photos at this point but as I'm writing in the cyber cafe I'll have to hope that works at home. After a ten minute walk from the main road along a lane where every house had lights or candles outside, young people were going round singing the traditional Tihar songs (a bit like carol singing but usually accompanied by dancing)and everyone greeted us warmly, we arrived at Purna's house and went up on to the roof. There were fairy lights on a flowering bush and an oblong with a gap to walk inside had been painted on the floor in red mud. Purna's youngest sister was writing Happy New Year in Newari language in flour and she had already been very busy creating Star of David shaped mandelas for the ceremony (a woman's task). The yellow and white colours were for peace and happiness and the red square in the middle, good luck for our life. When everyone was seated cross-legged around the outside of the rectangle in age order (brothers eldest to youngest, volunteers eldest to youngest, nephews eldest to youngest, women eldest to youngest)and we all had lit a candle and had an incense stick stick in a slice of cucumber in front of us, Purna's eldest sister began the ritual (it's the oldest woman's role - Purna said it showed the respect given to women in Newari culture - I think it was just another chance for the women to have to do all the work!)First the square was blessed with water and then oil put inside it - for long life as it would not dry out. Then red and yellow tika was put in the centre of the oil. We were given rice and flowers to put on the tika - food and prosperity - and a 'sacred' thread (like at other festivals when it may be tied round the wrist or worn round the neck)to lie across the square. We were then tikaed and given another thread to wear round our neck. It was made up of 12 thin threads (12 months)and had 12 grains of rice tied in a little bow in the centre. We were given a blessing by having flower petals showered on us from a wooden barrel which touched both knees, our shoulders, forehead and the sister's forehead before being emptied over us three times. It also contained a walnut which is the lucky food of this time of year. Next we had to put flower petals on the red square and make a wish for ourselves for the next 12 months. We were given a plate of food - egg, fish, meat and bara (Newari bread). We then had to light another string from our candle and eat the food before the string burnt out. After a short while Purna's sister came round with a special water pot and sprinkled it all over, then everything was swept away with a new broom which Purna had bought while we were in the village. After that we were free to eat tarkari, potatoes, sel roti ( the special food of Tihar - Sanu spent an hour in my kitchen on Saturday making dozens - and feeding them to me)and fruit. We were also given a little parcel of sweets, dried fruit and nuts. The evening came to an end with us watching some of the traditional dances - Purna loves showing off his dancing at VSO parties- it's not surprising, the whole family does! We were then transported back to Hetauda in our own private tempo again. Purna says he invites international friends to celebrate with his family every year, though last year they had not celebrated any of the festivals because his father had recently died. It was a real privilege to share in the night, the first time we've really had ritual explained. The celebration takes something from Hindu and Buddhist culture but is mixed with Newari traditions - the people who think they own the valley. The Shresthas are the only Newari family in Chaugara and a such are seen as Hindus, but Purna rejects that and says he will be married (in December) by a Brahmin caste Buddhist priest - I wish the people in the rest of the country (and the world for that matter) could live so harmoniously with their neighbours.

Leaving Tihar behind, on Wednesday it was time to travel to KTM. The 9.20 flight from Simra was blessed with a clear blue sky and wonderful mountain views to the west. We also flew as near to Hetauda as I've ever done. I'd guessed there would be views west, so was sitting on the right (left really) side of the plane to take photos. Despite the presence of a propeller in each shot the middle hills, the valleys and river beds and the Himal are all there to see.

As we descended through the quite thin layer of mist hanging over the valley (it had been holiday for two days, so less traffic)we spotted a chakkajam across the Ringroad and then the black smoke of burning tyres. The usual bustle of taxi drivers was missing from the exit, but a few drivers in the car park offered to take us to our destination for inflated prices. The previous evening a drunken policeman had disturbed a Tihar celebration so he had been 'arrested' by Maoist vigilantes (who are now openly patrolling the Valley). The police had arrived to release him and a scuffle had started. A group of Maoist was protesting against the police by disrupting rush hour traffic - the demo was due to end at 10am, but we still had to drive round back streets instead of the direct route.

Talks between the parties have started again over the weekend and the Maoists have extended their ceasefire for three months (why not indefinitely?)The King, the army and arms management are still stumbling blocks to be overcome before plans for the Constituent Assembly elections and an interim Government including the Maoists can be considered.

While I've been in Kathmandu I've done a bit of work at the VSO office (file sorting for the Education Programme - what a treasure trove!); been for daal baat with a friendly clothes trader from Thamel (good value tops and trousers, excellent food, a house out in the paddy fields near the Nagarjun forest and the desire to study for a doctorate in sociology) - he's already an MA and also works as the manager of the cooperative that makes the clothes, but his pay makes further study a dream;had an intersting couple of hours at a cafe on the roof of a building in Durbar Square talking to an American who speaks 14 languages (all self taught) and has come to Nepal to learn Sanskrit -and Nepali (which he speaks well after only two weeks);been out for a meal to celebrate Claire's birthday - remembering how last year we celebrated while we were on the village stay;bought material for two warm kurtas; read two children's books in Nepali - Tommy Tempo and Gopi's Topi and walked all the way up Lazimpat to the Ringroad and beyond for 2 hours to Budanilkantha where there's a large 'floating' Vishnu statue in a temple. Unfortunately I managed to wipe off my photos of it, but now I know I can get on a bus, go there and then continue to walk 2 kms into the Shivapuri National Park, I'll be revisiting.

I'm off for lunch now, then back to pick up my gear and off to the airport. Janet has been a great host - as I'm coming back at the weekend, I've done my washing and left clothes at her flat. There are fireworks at the Embassy at the weekend (perhaps members only) and it's full moon, so a visit to Bouda is possible. I'm glad I don't live here all the time, but it is an exciting place to visit.

News of how our visitors from England have found Nepal, Hetauda and school next time.