April 13, 2012
Flying into Nepal was like a
dream. I will never forget sipping French Chardonnay and watching the sunrise
as we approached Kathmandu. Once the beautiful stewardesses ( seriously, all of
them were like models and totally unfazed or unrumpled by the 13 hour long
flight) collected the last of our empty food trays and bottles- the sun was
fully up. Within 15 minutes of landing all I could see was giant thick plumes
of clouds- and suddenly- we broke through the clouds and were greeted by these
giant rolling hills (which I initially called mountains only to be laughed at
by Saajan and his family. – the only mountains here are the serious ones/mount Everest
and it’s brothers and sister mountains topped with snow) that are three times
the size as the beautiful hills in Vermont. Upon landing in the airport- I was
surprised with how small it was. The air was fresh and the sun was and still is
simply brilliant here.
There wasn’t much else to the airport except for the last
“customs” line, that I was ushered to, and eventually cut a whole line of
people- but I’ve learned a saying here and hopefully I type it correctly in
phonetics- *Muhtlah Pynah* which roughly means
“whatever it’s all good”.
I found saajan and his sister quite easily as they were waiting
for me behind a glassed in waiting area.
Once outside was total chaos.
Throngs of men crowded and asked the exiting people if they needed a
taxi. We quickly found our way to our awaiting driver which was a friend of
Nirmala’s (saajan’s younger sister).
There is a distinctive smell to Kathmandu, and it definitely
boarders at times of sweet homemade herbal incense, stinky sun rotting garbage,
exhaust fumes, fried delicious snacks- everywhere in Kathmandu specifically
Balaju (where saajan’s home is) is dusty and mostly everyone carries a handkerchief
or otherwise the women use part of their sari’s as a cover for their mouths and
nose- some people even wear what appear to be surgical masks in a whole array
of colors and made of cloth.
Now… driving in Kathmandu- holy sh* on a shingle… it’s not
often you get to play “chicken” with busses, cars, motorbikes, people dogs and
cows… and live. These drivers can drive anywhere in the world. One minute a
giant bus is charging us head on and the next second after a quick flick of the
wrist and turn of the wheel and a
warning honk we are charging forward in traffic weaving in and out of bodies, bicyclists, random cows
sleeping in the middle of the road and wild dogs roaming and foraging for food
through garbage heaps as well as people on motor cycles and mopeds.
Upon arriving, to saajan’s family’s home (after manually
unclenching my butt-cheeks from the ride over) I was immediately amazed and
excited to meet everyone. My good friend back home Bindu as well as saajan’s
older sister Bimala told me how I should properly greet Ama (mother in Nepali-
saajan’s mom). I was to kneel all the way down and touch my forehead to her
feet and say “Ama tapai lai costo cha” which means respectfully “ mom, how are
you?”. She then blessed me by saying some words and then before I could set
foot in the house, they put a ring of beautiful flowers around my neck (similar
in style to the lays people get in Hawaii- only made with mum flowers bright in
color). She then placed a “tikka” which was made of red powder and rice on my
forehead and then hand fed me a boiled egg.
The rest of that day is kind of a blur to me now. I just
remember feeling very happy to have met everyone and so very grateful to saajan
for showing me his country- I always tell him now, that if it were not for him,
I know for certain I would’ve never come to Nepal on my own. Just pure
happiness.
Whatever - it's all good. Smile.
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