10/17: Last days in Kathmandu

Today is our last day in Kathmandu. Tomorrow morning we head to the airport. Noah will fly to Bangkok, and head towards Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam. I will fly to Delhi and the take a night train to Dharamsala, the Tibetan refugee capitol in northwest India, where I will most likely stay until my teaching job in Delhi the beginning of November.

We have had a really nice couple of days back here in Kathmandu. Yesterday afternoon we walked to Durbar Square and saw Kumari, the Living Goddess. I don't understand the custom, but what I could gather, a young girl of the Newari caste is chosen at a very early age after she passes some "tests." She then lives in the palace in Durbar Square, and can never leave until her menstruation, when a new "Living Goddess" is chosen. The previous Kumari can never marry, though it is considered "a great honor" to be chosen. Anyway, we saw her. She's just a kid. She comes to a window overlooking a courtyard once a day, I am told.

After that we walked to Patan, the next town just south of Kathmandu, across the river. It is about an hour walk. Patan also has a Durbar Square, which actually is more impressive than Kathmandu's Durbar Square.

The Nepalis are celebrating Duwali, their New Year. Besides fire crackers and fireworks, lots of flowers and lights, they have this beautiful custom of making art pieces out of different colored powders, reminiscent of Tibetan sand mandalas, though very simple in comparison. They then place one or twenty candles in and around the art piece, and this is done at every door entrance. The most unusual custom of Duwali involves the children. They move in gangs of four to ten, sing this chant, and ask for money. If they don't receive any money, the chanting gets louder, verging on screaming, and loosing all tune to the chant. It happened again and again last night. Unfortunately, Noah and I ate dinner at this outdoor restaurant courtyard with very easy access to the multitude of children. Troops would come by about every 3 minutes, so there was very little respite. It was very interesting and amusing only the first few times. We went to a different restaurant for dessert, making sure we were on the second floor.

This morning I started walking at 5:40AM. It was still very dark. The streets were almost empty, except for the piles and piles of garbage from the celebration last night. A few candles still burned. Patan's Durbar Square was so beautiful I had to go back today. During the hour walk south, I came across a number of dogs and one cow wearing a necklace of orange flowers. I am used to the dogs meandering about, but I was caught off-guard as I watched a monkey cross the busy street.

The pictures below are from Patan's Durbar Square.