Mobile with a monkey

Got this fuckwitz who has got a mobile phone, an iphone, giving missed calls to me every other day.In line with one of the Nepalese folklore sayings,he is a true bastions of 'coconut in the handof a monkey', the guy's mobile has some hot keyset up that keeps calling my number all the time.
It rang again today, when I was in the middle ofwashing my dishes. So I dropped everything in the basinabruptly, washed my hand and went to pick up.It has him. I called back, politely, and he explainedfor the umpteenth time, must be a hot key as my numberis in his favorite list.
Some people..man..

Finally, the flower pod

It took about 5 years to finally realize my dream

of having a flower pod, or a bed you might call it,

to hang in the balcony grill of my flat. Not that I could

not afford the flower bed, it was more to do with

how to hang it there, where it is now. I did not want to

put it in the balcony floor, it would take too much space

obstructing the already tight spot, get in the way,

make the place wet and muddy and so forth.

Anyway, a trip to the Eden gardens at Lane Cove

with the silly girl opened up the heavens for me,

as the bracket that holds the bed to the grill finally

appeared in front of my eyes. It probably is a

silly revelation for many, but a long held unfulfilled

desire for me. The joy of watering my own plants, in my

place, the one I own. Well the choice was a set of

little orange and red flowers that I frankly dunno

the names of. A guy there helped us prepare it with

some extra soil. Sadly many of the flowers died on the way

as it was hot day, and they had to wait for some

time in the car while we did some shopping at Mcquarie

center, though we had kept the car window little bit

open while we went in to the mall.

Now the half of them are wilted. And I never get to see them

bloom because they seem to get up and flourish during

day and wilt at night!!

Cattle hypocrisy

The government has finally given to the cattle
industry and allowed the Aussie cows to be shipped
to Indonesian abbotoires. When Four corners released
thier video on TV last month, it was a huge outcry
from everyone. Government had to appear to be doing
something. Correctly so. What bemused be was what they
did. They banned the entire cattle export, impromptu.
The knee jerk reation just seems to compound the public
sentiment that this govt has no idea about anything.
Simply the worst prime minister in Australian History.
I don't disagree. In my six yrs living here, I have seen
three of them, Howard, Rudd and Gillard. She is no
doubt the worst of the three.

But in case of the cattle saga, I cannot but feel amused at
the hypocrisy among the so called animal lovers. To start with,
what are the animals going to Indonesia for? For holidays?
No, they are going there to be slaughtered! Don't you know that??
Where does the beef you eat come from? Slaughtered animals probably??

And what about the halal and some other 'cruel' methods in
use in Australia??

Climate change and God.

Been a while since I have last udpated.
Lot has happened since, politically around the world,
in Australia, in lives of people I know..

One thing that has been a red hot is the Julia Gillard
climate change issue. She broke an election promise,
she says she merely had to do what was best
for the country irrespective of her personal view
at any given time.

Climate change, as someone unfamously said, is
like a beleif in God. Now, imagine your faith, the
trust in the Lord, regardless of religion. A hidden,
underlying hope is that because you beleived in him
when you were alive, that you prayed for him and
trusted him, you will be taken to heaven after you die.
If you beleived and your beleif was right, then after you
die you will be taken to heaven, end of the story.
But what if you do not beleive in God? You have no faith?
And you are wrong after your death?
You will be subjected to an enternity of hell.

At a bigger picture, climate change resembles the same.
People are arguing it could be right or wrong. If it is right
then we manage to avert our extinction, if we are wrong,
then we are truly doomed.

Choice is yours.

Cleaning professional in Sydney

I have always thought I am bit careless when it comes
to taking care of my flat, thought it has been a huge
improvement from the past. So it was no wonder when
the real estate complained that the kitchen was not upto
good standards when he visited last time. My flat, my home
of five years, I would have been kicked out. Basically it was
a wake up call, and I took it on my chin. Real bastard the real
estate agent was, he would count every missing blind sheet
from the window, and every speck of dark spot even in
need to be changed bathroom basin or other crap; there was
some truth in only one thing he was saying, the kitchen was greasy
and needed care. I accepted it, honestly. He suggested I get a
professional to do the job, hence started a search. Soon enough,
I found a professional cleaner ad in a Nepalese magazine that I took
from a Nepalese grocery near the train station. The owner kindly
reminded me to buy stuffs from his place, which I approved with a nod.

So here we go, the professional cleaner appeared soon at my place in
form of this rough looking, big lumber jack named Raj. He took stock of things
and sounded really nice. Next few weeks, and he was at my flat
with one of his helpers. I thought why not give opportunities to my
fellow country mates while I am living here.

So on saturday, he started work in the morning. I hung around in the balcony
and later went to the mall to get some stuffs, including drinks for
the cleaners. After about four hours the job was done. Kitchen cleaned,
carpet steam cleaned and all done, so he said. I paid a hefty sum, hoping
this will get me out of clutches of the wretched real estate guy.

Happily, I strolled around the unit, the smell of carpet cleaning agent hung
there for few days. My eyes popped out when I entered the kitchen. Lets just
say, it was a half cooked spaghetti spashed around. Oil was dripping from
the oven exhaust, the cubboards had all the black fluids running over.
Most of the kitchen was totally in ruins!

Thankfully my girl had all the ideas and we had to toil 4 more hours
to bring it to a good looking state. Had it not for her, I was in deep shit.

So bloody hell with the 'professional' cleaners.
Next time, do it yourself!!

Flu hell, coming trips..

Coming out of a wk long bout with a specially horrible flu,
thanks to 24/7 pounding of the brain, joint pains, burnt
face and limbs, constant sweat baths;
the body feels like a train wreck.
Nothing can describe it, its a mini hell. I wonder how
I did not vomit even once though I came pretty close
few times. And guaranteed house arrest is a free bonus.
Luckily my nose wasn't running. The whole world
feels like a pain house.

Anyway, slowly crawling out of it, I feel like a survivor.
But now my tummy seems be trying to come back to life,
and its having trouble holding any food I take.
A small tornado starts to form inside whenever I eat
outside. The chilly fevers are gone, but still feel pretty
run down time to time, and I forgot the thermal today.
So my thighs feel like cold stone, rubbing them
whole day to keep warm.

Seems like a lot happened when I was sick. My brother
went and left Nepal after his short visit there. But I managed
to piss him off y'day by telling him not to come here next wk.
It just concided with my on call.

GF has drawn plans to go to East Europe instead of coming with
me to Nepal, there goes my romantic trip to the Himalayas out
of the window. My own trip is coming closer, I remember her
asking me if I am excited about it, honestly, I am not. Dunno why.
It just feelks like a routine and there is nothing in it, may be it
could have been different if she had came along, just the prospect
of showing the place to someone new is exciting enough. But yeah,
this time around, I am pretty businesslike about it. Its for my
parents who would otherwise be on their own during the Nepalese
fesitivities around the time of my visit.

Cats around the house

I've got a full fleet of cute little cats straying around
the building housing my flat, 6 or 7 of them. There are
around 6 'natives' and 1 guest. Yes, a guest cat, that
comes around chatting to the natives from another
house. The natives are mainly greyish, one even has
a little boot like color on the tip of the toes,giving it a
distinctive marking among the lot. I have named one
'nikhur', meaning dark in Nepalese.
This one is the smallest and cutest, covered in
pure ash grey with green eyes but also looking a bit
more wilder and fiercer; bit haunting, but
sophisticated. The first time I noticed nikhur
was when he or she (I dunno the gender),
trying to hide in a bush under a neighbor bulding. It
was a bit dark after the sunset, he saw me walking past,
towards my place and was trying to hide. Inside the
small bush, but the eyes were shining in the reflection of
the moonlight. Was so cute, I bent down and met her
gaze and stayed laughing for minutes before standing
up and proceeding.

They laze around most day, in the driveways, in the open
space aorund the neighboring building's garage and their
lawn. During rain they can be seen sheltering under the
bushes around the building walls, in winter they are in
any available corner of the lawn or even climb up my
garage roof.

Its special to see their body stretching action, the typical of
cats around the world. Fed by an elderly lady, they come
around and 'hump' their backs at the time of the feeding,
their tails pointing upwards. Its qute a sight. They used to
fear me and run away before, but now they don't, just keep
looking at me whenever I pass by. Sometimes I see one or
two of them in front of my garage door, i normally stop my
car or just turn on the head lights on and aim straight at them.
They don't budge until the car is really near them. Even then,
they would leave reluctantly, I can almost feel them complaining.

The 'guest' one is a blak and white stripe, bit 'Chinese' looking
with a wider face and curved eyes. She normally sits facing the
others. It appears to me like the old ladies in Nepal who go
to others' houses and talk in a similar fashion, spreading the
news from around the neighborhood; complaining, back
biting, advising..socializing. The guest comes to socialize, or
he could be a playboy. I dunno, not sure about this.

These little creatures, always make me smile when I see them.
So it turns out, every time I am in or out of the house, I have to
smile. They make me do it. These shy little bundles of miracle
fill me with curiosity and joy everytime I see them.
Their innocence is a small reflection of a childish God.
Sometimes I question the Darwinian theory of evolution,
these guys have been around humans for zillion of years,
but have never actually 'evolved', and feel good about it.

Broken house dream

I am looking to buy my own place under the sun.
It has't come easy though. Yesterday, Terry the
real estate agent broke my spirits when he said that
the property at Sloop st, Seven hills was 'gone'.
Gone..that's it. Just talked to Sanjiv, he was trying
to keep me up with a positive spin on things. But again,
everything happens for a reason. So hope its just
a matter of time. Seven Hills isn't a top of the list
anyway, so guess its a case of something better
on my way..God willing, really.

God saved

Last wk at home late at night I was preparing to
go to bed after another long crappy day at work.
I was thinking about having to wake up at 6:30
in the morning after about 6 hours
of sleep and strain throught out for next 9 hours
doing something i really did not like, dispatching.
That is dispatching of tickets to colleagues in the
team rather than doing the work yourself.
Well, I shall not disclose too much about my work life,
so I will not go too far.

So, I had had few bouts of chess on chess.com
and as always fuming about my lost chances and
mistakes on the board. I noticed a small reddish
insect flying around, no doubt it was a nasty cockroach.
Instinctively I had to reach out for the baygone
spray I keep under the kitchen cupboard, by the fridge.
I am not a Tibetan, I don't beleive the insect could be
my grand mother reincarnated. So I never had trouble
smashing up any lower beings like the pests and insects.
I just don't give a fuck.
When people tell me not to kill spiders, I just feel how
hypocrytic it all is, like the 'fishterians' who call themselves
vegetarians without an ounce of shame because they
don't eat other forms of meat. Well on my bend to grab
the baygone spray can though I noticed
something that horrified me. A heater ring in my
kitchen was full blown on and red. Switch for one of the
grills was also turned on. I did notice a slight rise of
temperature in the room before, but the way the weather
has been in Sydney, its boiling hot every evening.
This is specially true to my top floor flat. My bedroom
is lot cooler though as it does not get any sun.
So two of the heaters were fully
on, for God knows how long. I was petrified and stared
at the red heater coil for half a minute before proceeding
to kill the insect. Unsatisfied, I even beat it to
death with a broom.

After disposing of it in the rubbish bin, I stood still in
the kitchen for a long time before I could sink into the
feeling of what might have happened if this cockroach
had not appeared suddenly in front of my TV.
A fire would have been most likely. Few days ago I had
got so angry with things going out of whack in daily life
that I had cursed God few times and claimed to myself that
I am becoming more and more atheist. With this incident
however, I could feel him looking down at me
with a sarcastic smile on his face.

On Saturday when I was at a friend's home, him mother
asked me if I killed the cockroach. Now I am feeling bad
I killed it. I should have just thrown it away alive. Not for
the bad karma, just genuine regret over violently taking
life of someone who might have accidentally saved mine.

Another fresh morning in Sydney

Voice of times, Indian students did not protest in Sydney
today as they were said to be panning. It was going to
backfire anyway. They already have attentione of the
nation, and the Prime minister, after their tantrums in
Melbourne. Further restlessness in their part would have
hurt the entire South Asian community directly or
indirectly, cause we all look same, Indians, Nepalese,
Pakinstanis, Sri Lankans and so forth. To say Aussies
are not racist at all would bit stretch the truth too far.
But where does it not happen??

Jogging today at the Centennial park was another cool
experience of the same spring breeze touching my
face, like it used to in, China. China was really fresh,
I dunno why it feels that way. Much fresher.
But it was good this morning, my get-out-of-bed-
and-do-it activity. My small treat to leave the rat
race away for a while. Well, the theory behind it is
something I read a while ago, hit it while your liver
is not full of energy from food.

On the way back, I lost my way after Newtown and ended
up coming to Ashfield through Hurlstone park instead,
I dunno where it is in the Sydney map.

Biksh fried up the Chicken liver and Giblets I had bought
at the mall, Naveen was there too. It was a sunny morning
and early afternoon. Around 2:45 pm however, the sun
just disappeared in the cloud..and its like brrrr..now.
There is a ray of sunshine somehow managed to hit the
trees outside my flat.

Two lives of a book worm

These days I am living two different lives.
The first one is of course the rat race, no
further explanation needed. The second one
however, is my dream world. Well, its not
really a dream. It is actually living the footsteps
of travelers who tread the highest and toughest
mountains in the world. I also visit the secrets
of the so called 'Hermit kingdom', North Korea.
Then I am shouting pro Tibetan slogans in
the Ten downing along with other protesters.

I have just finished Joe Simpson's 'Storms of Silence',
a vivid of walks in the Nepalese Himalayas,
small towns and villages around the bases of the mountan
range, and Kathmandu; the mysterious and haunted
hills in Peru, entire county sides, towns and villages
buried by landslides.

In the first part of the story, he sets about to climbing
Cho Oyu, one of the few that are above 8000 m.
The stories are of the valleys, rivers, gorges, glaciars,
the superhuman porters - the Sherpas, Tibetans running away
from the Chinese and crossing over the mountains in
nothing more than rudimentary garments and even
the yaks. The accounts of this great traveller and
writer takes you in the air freezing cold at the top of the
world, snow beneath your climbing boots, the winds,
the prayers, the flapping of the tents in the wind,
the Sherpa society, Tibetan History and present
and many other magnificient incidents that cannot
be imagined without being among the mountains.
I actually started reading this book when I was in
Kathmandu, mostly while sitting in the warm winter
sun, on my home rooftop. The book sat untouched
in my shelf in my Sydney flat since I returned here
about two and a half months ago.

This period I have gone thru two other books actually,
the first one called 'North Korea: Another country' by
Bruce Cumings and 'For Tibet with love' by Isabel Losada.
The first one was so gripping that I could not leave it
whenever I was home, I finished it mostly sitting in front
of tv. The insights the book gives into real North Korea is
really astounding. Even more of an eye opener is how
the west has failed to understand the whole history of
the Korean peninsula, how the americans have repeatedly
humiliated them (Koreans), killed hundreds of thousands
of their civilians, used all sorts of brutality and breached
war conventions and yet failed to understand why they
hate US so much and are so much fearful of the similar
history repeating and threatening very existence of their
country. But the writer also underlines the blind worshipping
of the Kim Il Sung and his son by the population, almost
in a state of trance.

The second one is not as strongly written but is a
loosely held story of a wannbe Tibetan activist London
woman. Amazingly she managed to fall for
a monk and make him like her too. But midway
thru, she sort of changes track too abruptly and
it was a bit too ordinary of a reading.

The books are a relief to me, adding spice to my
otherwise ordinary existence in Sydney. Things
here seem bland and mechanical compared to
thrills and peace that mountains bring.

Back in Sydney

Out from the fridge to the furnace,
that is how it is feeling to be back in Sydney
from Kathmandu. Looks like the heatwave here is
making people forget everythings else.
Fires are raging in Australia, people are being
burnt alive. Last night I put my fan directly
at the foot of my bed, I was still kinda sweating.

However, when I flew in here on 5th Feb night,
Sydney felt amazingly calm and smooth after the chaos
and confusions of Kathmandu. The flight
was smooth mostly, minus few turbulence as
we hit a series of water filled clouds over the
equator. And inspite of the dangers, listening to
the rain falling on top of the plane was fun,
sounded like any other tin roof top, easy
to forget that it was 40,000 feet above ground.

Binayak and another of his friend were here, giving
me tonnes of marriage advices. The night before
we had a catch up with both the cousin sisters and their
husbands.

Kathmandu might be a hell hole for now due to
chaos, pollution and crisis, but still an awesome
place to be, very lively, easy to reach anywhere.
I feel previliged that I was born there.
Miss it a lot. My main achievement this time around
has been getting everything in order for my sister's
wedding. Thankfully, Nama and the rest of our gang
worked hard for a wonderful marriage ceremony and
the processes. It was simply the best wedding.

Being in Kathmandu is always a bliss; spiritual, mind
boggling, eletrifying and really good for your soul - things
that are not in plentiful in Sydney. With tall white mountains
surrounding you from up close and keeping a watch,
Kathmandu can feel like a permanent haven of excitement,
a sanctuary of Gods. Place where things really happen, not just
'might' happen. This time it was not much difference in that
aspect, I will always cherish my moments in the Himalayan
heaven - the fresh cold mountain breeze worth a billion dollars,
catch up with close mates, kings way, nanglo, Roadhouse cafe,
feeling the breaths of the Gods, laughs and smiles of the loved
ones (one new one in particular), my family, rekindling of
the past memories. All strengthened by the sense of
being loved and giving love in return.

Kathmandu was a joy ride for me, in spite of all the load sheddings.
dust, engine smoke, garbage, chaos and inconvenicnes.

Now, getting slowly soaked up in Sydney's mundane rat race
would be really difficult, starting with the perpetual truth of
fact for everyone here, getting a job. I might take it easy for
few days.

Suryabinayak - Devotion and animal sacrifices

Today I and my father went to pay our

homage to Lord Suryabinayak, our Kul

Devata, or ancestral God, at Bhaktapur.

In bid to stop my fast eroding bank balance

we opted to take cheaper modes of transport.

I was mulling whether to take my bike, but

I knew that it was having problem with the

side indicators since the battery started to die

out. On top of that in chat with Shashi the early

morning he strongly advised mom not to send

me and dad on the bike. I called my bike mechanic

if he could look at it, he seemed still in bed and

said he would be at his workshop in couple of

minutes and asked me to bring the bike there.

But I thought I would not take it for the trip this

morning, so thought about going there later.

In our family tradition, every new born male

has to be brought here to the God to take

his blessings. I still have my pictures taken

when I was brought here as a young kid.

Discussing which way to go, we took a taxi

up to Maitighar and as suggested by the taxi

driver, waited for a bus to take us to Suryabinayak.

It turned out, no buses go up to the Temple

itself, all the buses stop at the highway only.

Its a 20 minute walk from the highway to the

temple. So we took the public bus. But the

inconvenience soon got us and we got off the bus

at Koteshwar from where we took another taxi.

It was about 400 rupees, about 8 Australian dollars.

Bit too expensive.

When I last came here about 6 years ago ,

the way from the highway

to the temple was open on both sides with beautiful

view of farms, laden with their crops, all gold,

green and yellow. A small newari style shelter built

for the benefit of the pilgrims still stand on the midway.

But now, the sideways are all lined up with ugly

cocrete buildings, shops and restaurants. The whole

area looks like another shanty town. I felt

devastated to see the whole natural beauty turned

into this mess.

I could feel dad laboring to reach the top of the

temple climbing the stone stairs. It was a bit

taxing even for me, thanks to lack of exercise

for months now. It was moderately crowded

and there was a short but very slow moving

queue to reach the God's statue. There was even

a small marriage taking place at the temple

which just stalled the line. A woman right behind

me was complaining all the way and asking

the temple carers to clear up the queue breakers

and devotees who were taking too long.

What struck me was a couple of animal sacrifices

that were made in front of the temple. First there

was this goat that had its throat slit. The

executioner let it stand still for a while, then with

a bolt he grabbed it by it skin on its uppper neck

and body and stuck its fore and hind limbs between

a large rectangular rock. Then he bent the head

backwards and just cut its neck with his knife.

Blood shot from the animal got into the shirt of

a young boy standing nearby. Most of the people

in the queue with me looked away, I did keep

watching against the advise of dad.

Little later, a large rooster was similarly butchered.

I did not feel particularly struck by the sacrifices,

as I have watched this all my life, but this time

I felt totally alien to it, and shameful.

Dunno how and if the fruits of such brutal killings

at sacred places like temples can be materialize,

or satisfies Gods. Its merciless and inhumane.

Its totally un-necessary, ugly and disgraceful.

I might sound a bit hypocritial as I am not a vegetarian,

but I still think sacrifices should be stopped in temples.

People here make sacrifices for various reasons -

religious rituals that are done in particular Hindu

festivals like Dashain, as 'Bhakals' - a promise

made to Gods if they fulfil what the devotee asked

for, on occasions like the birth of a male child and

so forth. Its still a kind of medievel thrill for many,

like some Inca sacrifices in South America.

For me its just barbaric, a tradition unfit for

a modern society.

Now, more than the scared animals that were sacrificed, face of

the young executionar looms on my mind. He was

a young fair fellow with a protuding belly, looked

built for the job with his pockmarked cruel looking

face. His mother and sister, I guess from their

appearance were taking care of the

businesses of the Temple.

We had a small meal of Sel roti and some

chana in a nearby restaurant. We took the same

taxi that took us from Koteshwar to the Temple

earlier to get back home.

Chinese Spring Festival - Kathmandu

Today I went to the Chinese new year
celebration at Hotel Annapurna,
organized by Araniko Society
-the only organization of Chinese speaking
community in Kathmandu. The society mainly
consists of the engineers, doctors and other
graduates who were once students in various
Chinese Universities. Oddly though I was in
a very informal attire wherease the majority
came in suits. Speaking of the suit, I cannot
help but laugh inside when I think about the
suit or rather its attributes of that worn by
my friend Ravi Manandhar, my name
sake in China. A very stocky and short fellow,
this big Ravi - as he was known in China (Da La wei,
meaning big Ravi. I was called by peers and
teachers as Xiao La wei, small Ravi
when we were studying Chinese in Beijing),
wears his suit always with a pen on the upper left
pocket. I checked yesterday to seewhat kind it
was, an old dot pen. I tried to ask him about it,
but he just ignored.

The program started off with a very lengthy speech
by the Chinese ambassador, explaining all aspects
of how the new year is celebrated in China. Well
he said in Northern China, people do it by eating
dumplings, and lighting fire crackers and so on.
I don't remember now what he said about
what speciality the people in the South follow.
I thought it was all firecrackers and chinese
dishes of the locality all over China, no speical
place for the dumplings.

It was then followed by a short speech by the maoist
minister for culture and Chinese dances. Oddly
though, there was a troupe performing dance on
a song from Indian movie. The young kids
looked to be picked out straight from one
of the hundreds of dance bars in town.

Liquor and food was in overflow in the party
that followed. Though a new threat of bird flu
has hit Nepal, most people did not seem to care,
except for Bhuju, my doctor friend who kept on
calling any chicken dish as 'bird flu'. Raj's french
cut beard and spiked hair was a good match,
only that he is a bit 'unstable' fellow and most of
what he says are rubbish. But he says he is
doing well in business.
Met a lot of other China returned Nepalese friends.
Bhuwan told me how he worked with a
Japanese company for a season somewhere
in Russia before returning to Nepal, to utter
dismay of his Japanese boss. Lots of people
probably did not recognize me as I have lost
so much weight. Manoj Man seems to have
become a chatter box and he was welcoming
guests as they came in. Baikuntha's son has
almost become a kid now.

Its scary how time flies..

Shuddered..

Couple of days ago, a young journalist
has been hacked to pieces in Southern Nepal.
She was attacked while she was preparing meal
at her rented room by about 15 men armed
with knives, khukuris and other weapons.
15 men, needed to mercilessly kill a small girl?
I cannnot contemplate the cowardice so low,
and how she might have tried to
protect herself, yell and cry for help.

I am in pieces myself, this callousness is beyond
my understanding, but something that is
being a day to day affair in Nepal. Especially
the journalists are being targetted.

Things ample in Kathmandu streets

Things that come to my mind, things that
I feel are in abundance in Kathmandu streets right now -

1. Dust in every single street or road
2. Finance companies in every street corner
3. Colleges and schools
4. Potholes on every road - every foot of it
5. Indian Bikes - all very nice looking by the way
6. Shops everywhere
7. People - pretty lively inspite of the whole chaos
8. Dust in every wall of the houses, every windows,
virtually everything. Thanks to dry season
and some of the worst maintained roads on the planet.
New Road would be the best example for this.
9. 'Dance' bars - all advertised with porn grade
pics of white women
10. Study/migrate abroad agents

Bike Repair in the morning

Its 8:18 in the morning and I am scribbling
this blog. Why so early? Because I have to
do so it while the electricity lasts for the day.
Well the dark out routine seems to have
changed now, this morning when I checked
to see if there was light, there was none.
Instead it has started at 8 and supposedly
will last till 2 in the afternoon.

Today we will be going to Nama's for seeing off
lunch for Ritu and her husband leaving for
Sydney.

I have just left my bike at the repair shop to
have it looked for bit stressed engine. The
throttle seems to be having blanks as is heats
up, could be carborator, dirty fuel tank or
even mis-firing spark plug. The mechanic is
a young guy called Umesh. When I was there
this morning, just found few bikes lying around.
His shacked hut was not locked but closed at the
bottom only from inside. Umesh's assistant,
a young Indian boy speaking no Nepalese
was sleeping inside. Woke him up to inform
his boss and also that I will be back at 10.
Also called Umesh on his mobile.

Attacks in the backyard of Lord Shiva

Today there was a live feed on a local tv
(we managed to watch it when the light
came for about 4 hours for the entire day)
where a press conference at the Pashupati
premises was interrupted by blows and kicks
of an 'unknown' group. Its called unknown
though everyone knows who they are, seen
clearly by the camoflouge combat dresses of
the attackers. People were targetted and
attacked savagely, not even the journalists
were spared. It was just another show of
how low we have stooped to become uncivilized.
Reminded me of Lebanese-local people
riots in Sydney some time back.

The conference was called by the supporters
of the traditional appointment of south indian
priests in the greatest Hindu temple, that of
Lord Shiva. I guess its the 'People's' religion..
if you can see the pun intended here.
It was another display of the current lawlessness
in the defeated nation and helplessness of the real prople.

Cup of tea..waiting for rain to subside

Today I went to Binayak's home and met his
family - Mom, Dad and his small daughter.
On the way back though, had to take shelter
in a couple of tea shops just above the bridge
(Kalo Pul) first for about half and hour, then
a shop just beyond it. A cup of tea cost me Rs7.
Spent time watching people trying to get away
from the rain mud water splashed from
potholes on the roads, as the vehicles slowly
went about.

Discussion at Binayak's revolved around
the current situation of load shedding and light-less
days and nights Nepalese have been forced to
spend. His dad had apparently worked in the
Nepalese National planning comission and advised
ministers on Hydro issues. He talked about
the comission based approval of hydro power
and subsequent collapse of Arun III as both
Nepali Congress and UML both did not let
the project get through due to not enough
comission and predicted that the situation
will not change for another 6-7 years to come.

Sister's wedding

I have been in Kathmandu now for nearly
a couple of weeks. The main reason this time
is my only sister's wedding. Main tasks have been
fixing the venue, catering for dinner for two
parties - on 12th and 13th December, massive
shoppings, distributing cards to relatives and
friends, and other small stuffs. A hindu marriage,
and especially an intercaste one, is a pretty
delicate matter for families involved. Its a bit
complicated affair than in Australia, as it mixes
a lot of culture, religion and rituals with facets of
relations, relationships and usual human tandems
associated with a normal marriage.