after obviously complaining much too much, my boyfriend suggested that if i was too stubborn to quit and jobhunt around kathmandu i ought to get out into town more, make some friends and change my attitude. so i tried that. and the past two weeks have been pleasant. i still get pretty frustrated and lonely, but that’s a variable that will remain constant throughout my stay here. moving from college to a city full of friends and then to a place where i know no one – what did i really expect?
it’s difficult to find people to socialize with and find fun things to do around here. so i’ve resorted to reading.
i used to be an avid reader….back in elementary and middle school when my parents wouldn’t get cable so that my little sister and i would read. the deal was they had to buy any and all the books we liked. but since required readings took over my life in high school and college it’s been a habit i’ve found difficult to re-establish (unlike my sister who manages to plough through 1000+ page novels quite happily).
but having time, a hot day to get through, a strong fan and zero socialability means i’m reading three books at the same. highly unrecommended, especially if they hover around similar topics, but (as i’ve once again set aside sachs’ common wealth – sorry, monaaay) the two i’m reading seem to shed light on each other and so it’s enjoyable.
my bestest friend presented me with orhan pamuk’s istanbul when i was – surprise – on my way to istanbul. but at the time i was already overwhelmed with work stuff and that i never got to it. reading it here though, i think, changes the book. i imagine mr. pamuk thought his readers would be western folks or local istanbullus sipping starbucks coffee in cafes or turkish tea in teastalls….but reading it here and learning about the city’s shared melancholy, huzun, as he’s taught me to comprehend, makes me think that the book’s words are relevant to my beloved kathmandu as well.
the urban elites that plague the surface of kathmandu leading this fascination to imitate all that is western? (am i part of it?) we are westernizing, that’s for certain, but are we embarrassing in how desperately we yearn for it or has it been done tastefully? and do we also snarl and snigger at the western world but simultaneously attempt to recreate it? istanbul’s recent past is, perhaps, quickly turning into our present. so, then, if i am aware of this how do i welcome the 21st century without trampling on our history (which, forgive me if i am wrong, but is becoming synonymous with our culture, tradition and heritage)? and at this phase of our new constitution, how do we teeter on that fine balance?
oh. the joys of too much time. no friends to chat with. and all the questions to type on my laptop.
before being “deployed” off to our bases we were also given a photocopy version of frederick h. gaige’s federalism and national unity in nepal. though it was published a decade before i was born (and now out of print, thus the ugly photocopy), it is slowly starting to shape how i view my country, as one region in relation to another (more specifically, the hills to the tarai, and the tarai to all of the country).
this book, based on a non-nepali’s research, reports of incidents and analysis of nepal some forty years ago, proves how much history repeats itself, destroys itself and then recreates what is to come into existence. living, or rather, being based in the tarai and reading this book is thoroughly riveting. to have this chance to look at what was and then to compare it to what is .…well, it is a rare opportunity and i am learning to appreciate living out here.
this city (yes, i’ll flatter myself and call it a city ; ) is a melting pot of nepal. the amazing plethora of people groups that (for the most part, i must admit) tend to live their lives in close proximity of another group, and in relevant peace is satisfying (for lack of a better word anyway). it’s a bit like nyc, where new yorkers are pleased to see all the colors of skin…but here, it is a deeper satisfaction, to see one nepal where nepalis with distinct eyes, shade of skin, nose shape, size all walk by each other and live their lives next to each other.
living in this city i am beginning to see to all of my country – what with all its tension, beauty and what this shangri-la eventually must accustom itself to be.
