Message

anni, 28 May 2006
Nepal Kathmandu

A cry for Nepal

a bright sunny day, i arrive to the border of nepal, after few days in cool air of darjeeling (india). whatta calming place. just relaxing, reading books and eating. walking a little bit and drinkin pots full of delicious darjeeling tea (with milk usually).

but then. nepal. how much i have been waiting for this! i know deep inside i will love the country. and first thing it made me was cry. i took a bus to kathmandu from the border. trip that should last around 15 hrs. first thing. almost empty bus. we drive a tiny tiny village road. and then we stop. sun is burning. and bus is not moving anywhere. almost everybody goes out. wondering a little bit. i'm half a sleep as i woke up at 6 am and am not worried. guess there is reason for all this. but time goes, and we are not moving anywhere. around there is fields full of sugar cane and villagers are going by with their bicycles. finally the only english speaking passanger explains me. we are loading the bus with sugarcanes. as there is not enough people ont he bus, the guys decided to earn a little extra money (or well the have to..if no passangers, no money, no reason to drive all the way to kathmandu). 100 bunch of sugarcanes then go up to the roof. it takes arounf 3 hrs. of each cane they pay 10 nepalese rupees, and they will sell those with 20 rupees each in the capital. and finally we get off....am starting to be sad. what kind of country is this, that makes it's citizens to make this kind of business. and i see many buses doing the same, loading bananas, vegetables..all kind of things to the epty space of the bus. they have a job, but thats not enough to make living. and i have no idea if the bus companies know about this? or maybe they get their share too.

and well...the bus will be full anyway. 5 mins after leaving from the fields we stop on small town and and the buss is loaded full with people too. i get to next seat a young woman with her 1 year old child sheresta. and i start to feel happier. people are smiling and helping and intrested. and when we stop someone buys me food (dhal bhat..rice dhal and vegetables). and someone else wants to give me tea or masala snacks when we stop in the middle of the night.

and finally we arrive in kathmandu. and what happens. we stop, middle of no where. and people wonder what is happening. the guys say this is the last stop, that they can't go to the bus station with the sugarcanes on the roof and they have to take those to the market. people have to wait, or go from there. and i have no idea where i am, i only know that i am damn far away from where i should go, and i dont have much of local currency...definetly not enough for taxi. so the guys say me i can stay in the bus and they'll take me to the bus station.

at the market many many buses unloading the bananas, sugarcanes, tomatoes, mangoes...what ever they have with them. and then someone else picks them up from here and sell on the streets. so many dealing with same ones. everybody trying to make their living. i start to cry....how damn hard this country makes the living for it's people. and all the goverment and maoist do is fight fight fight. and that makes the living even harder. prices have gone up...and the quality of living lower. on the way we passed a jungle area where they said many times some rebel groups (not maoist, something worse?) attack the buses and trucks and rob them..just because they just dont have anything else to make their living. our bus was luckily safe. everybody is asking why i cry but i cannot explain. i guess am tired too. but also because i am so sad for all these people.


and now in kathmandu. and i have met so many beautiful locals already. they are happy even though their life is hard. lots of beggars, trying to earn money for gas and rice. lots of people here also try to do something for the money, kids with drawings and tibetian girl with few necklaces. many agencies here tyring to work for these people. but what i heard it is not easy. during the time kind ruled, their work had been HARD. not many htings were allowed. for reason....if people do volunteering and go to remote places they wont bring money to the country as tourists. WHAT KIND OF THINKING IS THAT MAY I ASK????!!?

but now...some wheels are turning for better luck for these people. king surrended and is not ruling anymore. AND maoists and goverment shaked hand two days ago for peace agreement. maybe this is a new start. who knows how it will work. will everybody agree with the points where everybody had to make compromises. hope the people understand that is only way to make the life work.

i continue my life happily here. tommorrow i meet someone through who i might get some voluntary work. am attending yoga classes and doing some massage courses. i keep myself busy until i go back to the rainy kolkata (where monsoons have started...)

love and light. shanti shanti !

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