Volunteer Log Stardate 2005

After last week's hectic lifestyle, the most exciting thing that has happened this week is that workmen have started creating new toilets at the office. Since my office door is exactly opposite the ladies' (rarely used), with the gents next door, the aroma is often less than pleasant, but now the loos are going to be in the room which opens onto the roof terrace at the end of the corridor. The picture on the left shows the ladies' cubicle (toilet and sink -no water- next to each other and just about enough room to sit down - about 6'x3')and I now know that the gents was a large L-shaped room. Equality may be about to be seen in action! My friend Shrawan, usually known for his obscure rather than pertinent comments said 'They say we have to have 33% for women (referring to the constiuent assembly), so the new one may be bigger'. The roof terrace is covered in bricks - I keep thinking they have numbered them all and are just going to rebuild.

Back to the end of last week.
On Friday I had another chance to watch an RP at work. Uma madam, who came to the workshop in Kathmandu, had asked me to go to her headteachers' meeting to share in reporting on the workshop. We travelled a bit further east in the Hatiya area than I'd been before and then walked for about 15 minutes back towards the hills. This really was a rural school.

We were at this small -unsuccessful, according to the headmaster ('we're 14th out of 17 for academic standards')- primary school for the opening of a new classroom. It has been funded by a donation from a local couple,the parents of a headteacher who was killed by the Madeshi Forum in a Terai district.

I was asked to take photos and here the couple are looking quite proud, I think, but the mother broke down when she went inside and saw a photo of her son. Despite this, they then had to sit through speeches and be presented with a certificate and a shawl. Before the ceremony started, the younger children had been sent home, but the older ones packed into the classroom and then went out with the headmaster, lined up as if for assembly and after a short speech from the head they respected a long period of silence immaculately. I tried to say to the headmaster that there is more to a school than run down buildings and less than perfect test scores, but he wasn't convinced.

I've tried (unsuccessfully)to find information about the killing, but my web search led me to www.nepalmonitor.com/2007/04/violence_against_edu.html where I found the following information:
Nepal stands fourth on the list of countries suffering the highest number of attacks on educational institutions since 1998, following Iraq, Thailand (we were shocked by the number of reported bombings in the south of the country durng the two weeks we were there last year) and Afghanistan.
Between February 1996 and December 2006
145 teachers and 344 students were killed
Between January 2002 and December 2006
79 schools, 1 university and 13 District Education offices were destroyed
10621 teachers were abducted
29 'disappeared'
734 were arrested or tortured
320 were beaten
356 were threatened and 41 were injured
In the same period
21998 students were abducted
126 'disappeared'
1730 were arrested or tortured
368 were beaten
1264 received threats and 323 were injured
This was all as a result of Maoist activity. The Madeshi Janaadhikar Forum (MJF)has been behind much of the unrest which has happened this year in the Terai -let's hope the statistics don't continue to read so badly.

As part of the headteachers' meeting the RP wanted them to watch a DVD entitled 'My School' which UNESCO have produced to show examples of good inclusive practice in Nepali schools. She had seen the film at the workshop. I was a bit surprised - DVDs out here? - but sure enough, the headmaster went off on his motor bike and produced a TV and a DVD player (which his son had to work). The only downside was that we had to wait until 4pm -the electricity came back on then!

Here we are, squashed into a very stuffy room (the hottest day for months) - teachers, headteachers, SMC members and a few local children who had been playing on the field.I was interested to see their reaction to the narrator of the film - an articulate boy with no eyes- everyone looked at each other and there were also lots of looks when teachers were being shown learning sign language. Unfortunately disability is still treated with some superstition, but hopefully experiences like this will help raise awareness of what is possible.

This theme was continued over the last couple of days when Laura, a Spanish volunteer who is working with a COSAN, a Nepali NGO,called in to the Hetauda branch on a tour of the organisations projects. She came via Rautahat, one of the more dangerous districts (but fortunately the only disturbance she experienced was the noise of the fire crackers in the early hours of Mnday morning -of which more later)where she had visited a hospital and schools, but in Hetauda she made home visits with the disability outreach worker.When I met this lady a few months ago she said one of the most important parts of her job was to make parents understand that with support and encouragement their children can make progress even if only at a slow pace.She is also trying to integrate some of the children into local schools, but this is very difficult because there is no wheelchair access in most places and there is no extra classroom support. Disabled children who are fortunate attend special units, but this means living away from home and newspaper reports show that even these schools struggle for specialist resources.

On Wednesday Laura, Kors (who was working in town for the day as well) and I spent a fascinating evening at the Avocado with one of the COSAN workers. He told us about his childhood in a Tamang family in Nagarkot (on the edge of the Kathmandu Valley), how he joined a school (Grade 4) at the age of 13, how he suffered bullying because he was overweight,and how he eventually passed SLC at the age of 20. All this was told in fluent English and the conversation then went on to politics (the Nepali Congress had just announced that it is going to the polls on a federal democratic republic platform). He was equally interested in us- representing three European countries. In a week when I had been thinking 'Nepalis!' and trying to remember my VSO training to never say 'They do this that and the other' it was a great help to meet somene who didn't fit the mould.

And so to another Tamang - yes Prashant is the Indian Idol! As we had load shedding on Sunday evening, I took the opportunity of having a nap while the lights were out and I was glad I did. The show started at 9.15 and the result was announced just after 12.30. There were performances by all the other competitors, some famous Indian musicians, the judges and Prashant and Amit. Prashant looked very confident and happy all night, while Amit looked decidedly nervous. Perhaps they had heard whispers that Prashant received 70% of the 70+million votes received. Anyway, as John Abraham (very nice Bollywood star) held his arm up like a boxer, his mum came and put a Nepali cap on (the photo was taken during hs visit to Darjeeling the previous week, not on the night). If I had been asleep I would then have been woken up by the fire crackers which were set off immediately (and been really scared). Fifteen minutes later there was shouting from the bazaar area and then a procession, presumably of the same students who had been canvassing all week, came down the road past my house and the noise eventually began to die down about 2am. Laura said it was exactly the same down in Rautahat - and there was I asking if the Madeshis would vote for a Tamang - and Kathmandu Durbar Square had a big screen up, so there was great excitement there. Kors said it happened in Birgunj and then continued when India won the 20/20 World Cup.

There has been a lot written this week about the passion of Nepalis for their country wherever they live and how it is possible for them to be united. There was one article in the Kathmandu Post (Prashant, Prachanda-path and polls) which linked the idea of voting for Prashant to the Nepalis' great desire to be able to vote in the upcoming elections. It also said that the Nepali nationals are desperate to see and hear good things - they want a Nepali Idol - the elections offer a 'rare and historic opportunity to elect a whole new Assembly of the writers of a whole new Nepal'.

Next week I have to go to Kathmandu on Tuesday, because a 3-day banda is planned to start on Thursday, when I had intended to leae for the security conference. Our colleagues who live in Patan will have to walk or cycle to the conference on Friday and while the marathon will go ahead on Saturday morning, the picnic afterwards may be cancelled. This is the Maoists' latest idea for losing votes. I'm beginning to think the elections will happen,but there's still 'afterwards'.

The next few weeks are very busy - KTM next week, educational volunteers visit to Hetauda straight afterwards (if it's ever organised, but that's another story), then off to Jomsom for a 10-day trek and back to Pokhara to meet Rob and Emma on a flying visit during half-term (nearly not flying, as they were booked on a Nepal Air Corporation flight - the airline that sacrifices goats because the management thinks the sky god is angry and causing the planes to break down - honest!) So Dashainko subhakaamana (Happy Dashain).

It's 10.30am on Tuesday morning. I should be up in the bazaar meeting Drubha sir, the Hetauda RP, for the second of this week's follow-up visits to schools to see how the female SMC members who attended our training in January are getting on. At 9am he rang to say he would phone the school and cancel for today. The reason? As you can see - it's raining!

It has been very dark all morning and just after 8.30 the wind got stronger and there was a real downpour. I'd just got the iron out to make sure my kurta was ready, in case the power went off when the phone rang. I know Drubha lives out at Nawalpur, so he has to come into Hetauda by tempo, but if this is what RPs say when it rains, is there any wonder teachers and pupils don't turn up? Or did he say it because there may not have been many people at the school? (On Thursday he told me that whenever it rains, there is always tension -'tension bhayo' is a very common expression when things aren't going right - so it's not worth causing the headmasters more tension by going!)

I'm going to write up yesterday's visits and then continue sorting out the stuff I've started taking to the office for Doreen - it's all over the spare room floor at the moment and Kors is staying tomorrow (bandas, bombs and the Ms permitting). So here is a diary of what one way or the other will be an interesting week.

Because I'm adding this later, I can report that Kors is not coming - VSO have reported the Maoists have called a 3-day banda. I have to say I've found no mention on the web-site of a banda tomorrow - the Ms are going to hold funeral processions for 'monarchy' all over tomorrow and they are threatening a banda 4th - 6th October to coincide with the date for nominations for the elections (and my flight to KTM, the security conference and the marathon). They are also going to hold door-to-door prorammes to explain their cause - no violence - the People's Liberation Army will stay in the camps (no mention of where the Young Communist league are!) There are 10s of thousands of Ms in KTM today, so I'm glad I'm here. Pradipta told me there was a rally in support of the elections in Hetauda today. While that's good, it's possibly also the recipe for disaster if there is opposition to rather than support for the Ms. (It's now Sunday and there was no banda, there have been reports of people being threatened in various places, but not round here, and my DEO has told me not to worry about the banda in October - for what that's worth).

On the other campaign front, when I went up to the bazaar about 5.30 tonight there was a great crowd at the top of School Road - was this the election rally - no just the college students holding a Vote for Prachant march!

So, here is my school diary

Monday

Today's school was a 20 minute tempo ride away through the Hetauda Industrial District - an area I've never been to before - it must have been worth a visit (as it says on the Hetauda Municipality web site) when it was first created - factories in a rural setting with smooth roads-but now most of the units are empty, the grounds overgrown and the roads cracked.

Just before we reached the school the SMC member, Kumari, was waiting for the tempo, so we all got off together and crossed a large football field (with goal posts, cows and goats)bounded by trees. She told us that several years ago she had collected some money and gone to buy several hundred saplings, but the forestry committee had given her more than twice the number. She used her considerable powers of persuasion to muster a group of helpers and the result is a testimony to her commitment.

This woman works for a NGO which supports female victims of violence. She is a political activist (CPN-UML) - but she wants politics to end at the school gate. She has not suffered, but in the past the School Management Committee chairman has been imprisoned by the army and at a recent school meeting,the headmaster was unable to give his report because of interruptions by Maoists. This is no illiterate stay-at-home Nepal mother, but she told me how difficult the role of SMC member is.

She is very aware of what needs to be done and supports some projects financially. She speaks highly of the headteacher and critically of teachers who do not come to meetings (and classes). She is aware of family difficulties and does what she can to mediate in problematic situations.

But how can she get the computers provided by the District development Committee out of their boxes and into a classroom - and when they are there who will teach the students how to use them? How can she find out (except at a very extraordinary meeting like the one we were having)what is going to happen to the underspend this year (an underspend? - exactly).

I had always said that we shouldn't be offering training without knowing all the problems and this was such an eye-opener. If this woman finds the role of SMC member difficult, others must find it impossible. I also began to understand the overriding role of politics, and why, when we held the training, this participant had said 'How can we keep politics out of schools?' - the only question we had not been able to tackle. Labour v Conservative on Redcar and Cleveland Council? - that's nothing!

Unfortunately, by the time we had finished our discussion with the SMC
member and the headmaster, the children were going home - there were less than 50% of them at school - probably some mothers were still celebrating Teej!- so they were dismissed at lunchtime. It gave us time to meet the staff, who were very friendly, and to have a look at the ECD class which is being refurbished. The painting on the walls has been done by the Grade 10 students - what an excellent opportunity for them to show their skills and have a stake in their own school buildings.

After a roti tarkaari lunch we walked ten minutes down the road to another secondary school. This was not one of the schools the RP had chosen to visit, but someone had informed the head that the RP was in the area and he rang during the morning and asked him to call - too good a chance to miss such a rare oportunity.

We observed an enthusiastic teacher at work with his Grade 10 English class - his reason for the students not answering was that they weren't used to speaking English (Grade 10!) My reason was that he never gave them chance to speak - he never stopped! That's really unfair because it certainly wasn't the least effective lesson I've seen, but it included all the things we had been working on with the teachers at Markhu in the summer and just reminded me how much work there actually is to do in classrooms.

The teachers took the opportunity of talking to the RP on a range of subjects and then we were shown the new rooms provided by the German equivalent of DfID and the computer room. This school has 2 computer teachers and offers computer studies as an extra activity to Grades 5 - 9.

Two secondary schools so near to each other - both running with primary staff teaching in secondary classes, one greatly overstaffed in primary level, one with only two female staff (primary).

The RP apologised in both schools that I would not have time to support them (he's just cottoned on that I'm here to support quality education) and as ever I left feeling frustrated for the heads and teachers who know they are doing the best they can for their children, but also know that they would like to do more. I'm also gaining more sympathy for RPs -even ones who don't visit schools when it rains!

Wednesday

Not a school visit today, but the monthly RPs' meeting. I was asked to make a report with Uma and Padma about the workshop in Kathmandu. They are so enthusiastic about what they experienced and keen to carry out the plans they made, I feel as though the opportunity to share with people from other districts has really kick-started opportunities in Makawanpur - hope I'm right, for Doreen's sake.

Thursday

Off to Tuesday's school - right next door to the cement factory. The aerial ropeway to the quarry at Bhaise and to Kathmandu passes directly above the school. The wildly overgrown field in front of the school was a building site - a block has been knocked down and is being rebuilt and a new block containing the ECD (nursery) class has been built.

The ECD facilitator was taking a college exam, so the teacher taking grade 1 had all the childen in the spacious, brightly painted but totally empty room. The little ones were just lying around while some of the slightly older children seeme to be writing and the teacher was checking books. I just wanted get them all up for a song and dance session. I talked to the SMC chair about natural materials for counting etc and he said he had asked the facilitator to give him a list of materials she needed, but I don't know who would advise her and they are so poorly trained (12 days if the money doesn't run out after 8 as it did last year!)

The main purpose of the visit was to talk to the female SMC members - 2 at this school, one a teacher. She was less willing to talk about the school, but she did say the only person who did any work was the SMC chair. The other woman, whose children attend the private school up the road, said she often looks into the school, but she rarely comes in, so the RP encouraged her to take her responsibilities seriously and find out what was happening. This was just the situation I had imagined being able to follow up on a regular basis - at least the RP apologised at every school, saying that it was his fault we hadn't made these visits earlier, but at least they were made and he was able to get a different insight into each school. He knows it's important, but as he pointed out after the umpteenth call to his mobile (ring tone 'Auld Lang Syne'), if he is at schol he isn't in the resource center to see the people who come to see him there - you don't really make appointments in Nepal.

The last school was just round the corner from the office. We arrived later than expected and the SMC member had left to go to a Women's Development Group meeting, but had said she would come back. We spent the time doing observations. We watched an English lesson where the children were learning right, left and straight. The teacher said the children had been out at the front of the class, but they wer just repeating when we were there and the teacher was pointing facing them - confusion or what? We had a good feedback session with her. We also talked to the ECD facilitator who was minding about ten children in the ECD room - because they have to wait for their older brothers and sisters. It's the first time I've seen this happening - usually the little ones just run in and out of classes or go and sit with their siblings - I hope the facilitator was rewarded (unlikely). We also talked to the teacher who used to be the head - I met him when I did a one day training there last year (the other two days were cancelled after jana aandolan). This is a community run school and the SMC had decided they needed a new head (no reasons given and the RP wouldn't say). The new head is a woman ('I'm janajati, I'm Magar')and clearly knows what she wants. The former head showed us all the target figures for test results displayed on the staff room wall and how every child has an individual progress record (all based on test scores, but more than I've seen elsewhere). A school that's making good progress!

When the SMC member returned we had a very good talk with her - she knows about the school, has a good relationship with the staff and is a regular visitor. We asked her about the Development Group and she's obviously very keen to help, but when the RP asked her about her family she was really embarrassed. She said she belongs to a development group, but she has 6 children and she doesn't think that's good. She had only wanted 2 children, but since her husband is an only son, they thought it was important to have a son - he arrived after 5 daughters! All the children are still in education -the eldest is in 10+2 (about 18 years old).

I've just noticed how long this post is, so I'll put the photos in and be done. It is a week later, but I'll catch up with news of visitors and the latest politics over the weekend.

At the end of August the education programme organised a 'learning and sharing' workshop in Kathmandu. The main objective was to include some of the people that we actually work with - not the DEOs and section officers who usually get to enjoy a visit to the capital at VSO's expense. Despite having talked about this event at the office for several weeks before I went on holiday, it was only after I returned that I was told the two female RPs would be coming (which was exactly what I wanted). We had three very good days of exactly what it said on the label - learning and sharing.

One session involved volunteers and partners 'presenting' why they liked working in their district. The objectives were to have fun and work cooperatively. I know Padma has very creative skills - she made an acrostic for a training session I did with her and she reproduced it, then made up a song about VSO,the conference and working with me - it's a Nepali tradition - like calypso I suppose - but she's very good at it. Uma encouraged everyone to join in with a children's song. My contribution was an acrostic about Makawanpur - a mix of Nepali and English initial letters, pointing out that one good thing was working with these two RPs. A good time was had by all.

(The picture will open if you click here - sorry about the extra white sheet - you're not missing anything. The first line says I like working with the women, the next one says Parent Teacher Associations)
I got to know Padma madam and Uma madam better and they planned some interesting initiatives for my final weeks here - and have promised to help my successor, Doreen, settle in. Although they are both experienced RPs, they had both been sent back to the ranks during the King's rule time, so I didn't get to meet them until last year - how different things could have been.

Uma, whose husband is also an RP, invited me to her 'dar khaane' on Thursday evening. This is a special daal bhaat meal to start off the celebration of the women's festival Teej.It's called the women's festival, but the purpose is for the women to fast and offer puja at Pashpati temples for the health and wellbeing of their husbands.Unmarried girls offer puja in the hope they will have a happy marriage. On the first evening women come together and enjoy pulau rice (with sultanas, coconut, dates and cashew nuts) with vegetables, achaar, and anything else they fancy. I was able to sit in Uma's kitchen and help peel potatoes while her granddaughter (age 7) chatted away and a group of girls and women arrived and we had a very pleasant evening - I left before the singing and dancing started, but that went on throughout the following day, except for the visit to the temple. Most women do not take any food or drink during the day, though some take fruit and water.The next day they have another feast to break their fast and even today there were still women dressed in their best red saris.

The lovely thing about these days, something I noticed last year as well,when I walked down to see what was happening at the temple, the women do enjoy this time when they can go out, not just to the bazaar - they were taking rikshaws, walking in big groups and laughing. As I went into the office (not for long-women are allowed a day off today and the schools won't reopen until Monday) groups were sitting on doorsteps braiding each other's hair and I hardly recognised the lady at my newspaper stall, she looked so glamorous.

Now that monsoon is coming to an end (going out with a very big bang if Wednesday night's thunderstorm was anything to go by)it is festival time again. Somebody said the other day that the only good thing about King Gyanendra was that he gave us a holiday in July (his birthday)when there are usually no holidays at that time of year - we haven't celebrated since the beginning of May!

The day before the conference at the end of August there was a Valley celebration (we don't do it here, it's a Newari festival, I was told last year) called Gai Jatra - the cow festival. Since cows are sacred, they help people, who have died, get to heaven. At this festival the families of people who have died during the previous year celebrate that person's life and in Kathmandu dress up and paint the faces of young members of the family in cow masks. The other aim of the day is to have fun - the story goes that in years gone by a child of the royal family had died and the Queen could not stop grieving. As a last resort the King said he would reward anyone who could help the Queen see that she was not the only one who had lost a relative and make her smile.

In Bhaktapur however,they carry round poles on bamboo frames with photos of the deceased and many other decorations. Everything is accompanied by music and young people doing a kind of stick dance (morris dancing Nepali style).

There is a very happy atmosphere, and the normally quiet streets of Bhaktapur are crowded.

Sheila, a volunteer who works part-time in Bhaktapur DEO had been invited to Bhaktapur for the festival by one of the RPs and with his permission she invited me along. The bus was even more packed than usual, so as we walked to the main square we weren't surprised to be in a great crowd, but then up ahead we saw the procession emerging from a side road and joined in as the quickest way to reach where we were going.

After explaining what was happening, the friendly RP (who also happened to be attending the workshop the next day)led us to his house, where we ate the traditional Newari 9-bean soup (kwaarti)and then he took us to his sister's house where we had an excellent view from the fourth or fifth floor balcony down on to the processions which he said would keep coming all day.

We left in the middle of the afternoon and it took an hour to reach the bus. The celebrating would go on for a week, because at this time plays and other comic activities are put on to keep up the happy atmosphere.The pictures capture something of the colour and the crowds, but the sounds were also exciting - and I can do the stick dance - click, click, click, click, click click, click - interesting because we usually count in eights.

When the conference was over I had to wait for my passport to be returned with my final work visa. This meant I was in town for Krishna Jayanti - the celebration of Krishna's birthday. Krishna is a very popular Hindu god - chants of 'hari Krishna hari Ram' are often heard, recalling the later days of the Beatles to some (if you can remember, you weren't there as they say). Many legends of his eventful life are described in the Hindu classic 'Mahabharata' -from babyhood (he's often portrayed as a chubby baby extravagantly dressed in golden robes and jewels) through his youthful adventures with a group of female cowherds to performing miracles as an adult.

The Krishna mandir (temple) in Patan Durbar Square is the centre for the celebrations. Devotees stay up all night in and around the temple,then in the morning they offer puja and receive tika from the yellow robed priests. In past years it has been customary for the King to attend the ceremony. This year the chief guest was GP Koirala, the Prime Minister. There were several articles in the papers the following day asking whether by relpacing the King with the Prime Minister, Nepal wasn't just continuing its hierarchical society.There were also comments that the King, recognised as a reincarnation of Vishnu, like Krishna, had a special reason for attending the ceremony, but the Prime Minister was simply making himself out to be more important than he is. Oh what a long way to go!

Since I a)had no desire to get up very early b)didn't want to be in what I had heard was certain to be a very big crowd, I didn't go to Patan, but wandered down to Kathmandu Durbar Square. I wasn't disappointed. Loud speakers were broadcasting chants, brightly dressed women were offering puja, a crowd several deep were watching dancing and flower sellers had filled the ground with puja offerings. I have to point out the female APF officers in the first picture, who were on duty - one has her baby and the other is sitting looking very bored - I'm glad they weren't needed!

As I left the square I noticed a large poster advertising the upcoming Indra Jatra festival, a week of celebrations, dancing and finally the procession of the Kumari.

The words 'sponsored by Tibet Guest House, Thamel' made me wonder if the Nepal Tourist Board is finally waking up to the commercial potential of all the Valley's festivals. They certainly have a growing audience as the tourists have returned in droves this summer and the main trekking season is still to come. Fingers crossed that the political parties manage to keep the peace which has resulted in the increase in visitors - there are warnings from Prachanda that a new movement could start from Tuesday if the Maoists' 22 demands are not satisfied by tomorrow.

To try to end on a positive note - I'm going to schools four days this week - please let there be no banda!

Any comments made in this blog are my personal opinions and do not necessarily represent those of my organisation - particularly when I'm talking about political issues!

Yes it's time for the big vote. There have been demonstrations and speeches from prominent people, the papers have been full of it and posters of the most important candidate plastered on billboards.

I wish I were writing about the Constituent Assembly elections (due on 22nd November), that there was great enthusiasm and a positive attitude to those polls, but no.
If the seven parties do not agree to their new (?) 22 point plan by next week, the Maoists have threatened they will leave the interim government and start the third people's movement.
One of the Terai parties has said the government has no right to hold the elections in the terai and has threatened a four -day banda to start on 20th November.
In Sarlahi district in the south east, a headteacher was killed for publicising the elections in his village.
While I was in Kathmandu last week, three bombs went off on Sunday afternoon - at a bus stop outside a college, killing two teenage girl students, on a microbus, killing a 56 year old grandmother and near a famous Kathmandu landmark,where a soldier was badly injured - was he holding the bomb? Some factions would have us believe that. Was it a royalist plot to disturb the elections? Two unknown terai groups have claimed responsibility - are they a cover? or was it the Maoists?

For those of us who have been here for a whle it was a flashback to the bad old days. For the group from Birgunj, where bombs explode regularly, it was a shock because they thought they had escaped the danger zone. For newcomers, there was disbelief.

On 5th October we have our annual security conference - reminders about our earthquake kit, reports from the embassy - but this time, most importantly, our options for November. Our Country director told me last week that the new volunteers are still scheduled to arrive on 15th November, the Birgunj group are thinking they will be in Kathmandu during the election, my Indian visa runs out on 21st November, so I shalln't be going south. If there is to be any forward movement towards democracy, these elections must go ahead, but the increase in tension among educated and knowledgable people is tangible - there must be many people in distant rural areas who still don't know the elections are planned.

I leave my job on 7th December, then a week in Kathmandu tying up loose ends (exit interview, final reports, final handover to my replacement, shopping?) and I'll be on my way home the following weekend - that's the plan. Prachanda and friends may change this - but after two years (anniversary this weekend)of VSO adaptability and Nepali changeability I'm nearly ready for anything. Not likely!
I want to go trekking at Dashain (probably will, as it would be disastrous for any party to spoil peoples' celebrations during the biggest holiday of the year).
I need the next three months to sort everything into keep, throw, give away.
I've just been asked to start a new project and my RP says he'll keep me busy til I leave (do I believe him?)

SO what was I writing about at the top of the page?

The final of 'Indian Idol' - think of Pop Idol or any of those Simon Cowell spin offs - same music, same format, same mix of nice and nasty judges (not as nasty, but the woman cried when her favourite was voted off). The twist is that one of the two finalists is a Nepali. Sheer numbers of votes have kept him in - every Nepali in India (particularly the Darjeeling area, where Prashant comes from,), plus all the Indian police force, non-resident Nepalis in the middle east and Singapore (they take the programme there), plus anyone near enough the Indian border to be able to send a text or phone(there's no internet voting), plus Prashant's famly who are being sponsored to send texts by various businesses in Kathmandu and elsewhere and now lots of people in Hetauda. This was the scene at the top of my road this morning - what was everyone looking at - it was a Prashant music stall with a box for donations for SMS votes. The crowd was as big at 4pm as it was before 10am,so there is clearly a great deal of interest.

I chose the other contestant (Amit) as the probable winner months ago, but they are both winners and Prashant won't be going back to his police post in Kolkata, whatever the outcome, if his welcome in Darjeeling last week was anything to go by.

Of course, this enthusiasm only reaches TV viewers and newspaper and magazine readers, again many rural Nepalis will have no interest - but this guy is Tamang - an ethnic Nepali and yet the Brahmins,Chhetris, Rais, Limbhus and goodness knows who else are voting for him. To be Nepali on the international stage means something, why does being Tamang,Tharu or Gurung suddenly mean so much within the country? And where do the madeshi stand in this? They are the 'Indians' as far as some castes round here think. If they know what is happening, would they vote Nepali? The newspapers are suggesting there has been trouble between gangs supporting each of the contestants, as Amit also comes from north-eastern India. I thought the final was this weekend, but apparently we have to live through a week of 'specials' until 23rd September - at least it's on at 9.15pm, after load-shedding.

I need to go and buy food now. It's a beautiful morning - the last few evenings we have had thunderstorms, so I haven't gone out when the temperature has dropped around 6pm, but normal service will be resumed soon with stories of the cow festival, an enjoyable education workshop and an appreciation of communication technology.