World Cup!

12 June 2010                        12:42am                               Kathmandu

I think I may be finally getting myself caught up!  Today was another easy day; we spent most of our structured time doing a walking tour of Patan.  For this, Ashok invited Anil Chitrakar, who is an engineer by profession but is really a jack of all trades- environment issues, consultation for the World Bank and development agencies, etc.

His walking tour of the city was fantastic.  A lot of his talk dealt with how you can tell about the history as well as the culture of cities and the people living within them just by examining structures and public places.  At one temple, Anil-ji had us look at all of the carved wood, showing the various ages of each piece.  As the region is often hit by destructive earthquakes, he said, there had to be artisans who could recreate what was destroyed.  Therefore, a seven-year old beam could be on a 2,000 year old structure, whereas in the West it would be unimaginable to add a new piece onto an ancient structure.

A

A mix of old and new

His explanation of well cleaning and the snake gods was fascinating as well.  After pointing out how all of the wells have snakes carved on the sides, he explained how people would pray to the snake gods before cleaning their wells.  They would send lighted lamps down into the wells, and if the light went out, the snake gods were angry and therefore it was not safe to clean the wells.  Scientifically, Anil-ji explained, this was actually a carbon monoxide test.  If the light went out, it meant that there was no oxygen in the well, which is obviously not safe for people going to clean the wells.  Anil-ji described this as folklore/religion explaining science.  Still, though, all the wells have snakes on them.

After our walk we had lunch at one of the guest houses in Patan, where we may stay after living with our host families.  As we waited for our food to come (seeing as it takes forever in Nepal), Anil-ji gave a more focused lecture on environmental issues in Nepal, particularly on water but also discussing climate change and new technologies to harvest alternative forms of energy.  Anil-ji is just such a fantastic speaker- even after lunch and the end of his ‘official’ talk, everyone continued to engage with him and listen.  I think this was one of the very few moments in my life when I didn’t want a lecture to end.

I also spoke with Ashmina at lunch, who is not only one of Ashok’s friends but a noted artist in Nepal.  I had read about some of her works back in New York and offered my assistance should she need it.  As a result, I will be attending an artist’s workshop where they are working to develop a community art space, documenting the process.

We had the whole afternoon free after we returned from Patan.  Before that, though, we walked a little bit around the main square there, checking out the sites.  After, we returned to the hotel where everyone either used internet (like me) or rested up for the beginning of the World Cup.  The whole group went to this one fancy bar in Thamel where they were also showing the game on a big screen- South Africa vs. Mexico.  We all had a great time rooting for South Africa (at least, most of us were rooting for South Africa) and an even greater time laughing at Ashe falling asleep and then waking up just in time to see South Africa’s goal.  All in all, it was a great way to wind down and relax.