Up and Out

This morning I walked around the stupah multiple times to warm my bones and wake my mind up before I sat down at a café to write this post. I was brought to center by the clicking of the prayer beads, the swish of the turning prayer wheels and the faint sound of birds chirping, which fades behind humming mantras that are chanted to remind oneself to have a kind and compassionate heart for all beings. There are always hundreds of candles lit day and night and the smell of the incense that passers by light as part of their morning ritual has become a comfort; the candles appear to be lit for community, to be utilized by all. It was a pretty typical morning in Boudha, especially since I can no longer go for runs (because of my back pain) so I have been forced to find other ways to bring myself to center to start the day.

Apartment!

I love Boudha and I love my apartment. It is beautiful here and the culture is wonderful. I am working on my research but it is proving to be more difficult than I originally imagined. I am still really interested in my topic and I am eager to see where it takes me, but I have approached a few speed bumps that are steeper than I initially bargained for when writing my proposal. I may need to do a bit of reworking and refiguring soon. The elections are today! But, there has been a bandh (strike) for over a week now, so technically nothing is supposed to be open and no cars are supposed to drive, which makes research in the field nearly impossible. I have had a few interviews now though and things are starting to pick back up. It is a very exciting time to be in Nepal, this is the first democratic election in 10ish years and I am eager to see how it goes. The strike (initiated by the Maoists) is supposed to scare people into not voting because they wouldn’t feel safe leaving their homes, and most public transportation is barred from use. There are also numerous bombs going off, none of which have affected me, throughout the country serving as yet another scare tactic. The election is definitely not being welcomed by all there are posters of burning ballot boxes pasted around from one of the parties, huge issues with voter registration and various other things that affect one’s ability to vote…even if they want to. It will be interesting to see what comes tomorrow after all is supposedly said and done.

Emily's Didi casting her ballot

My research comes at an interesting time with the elections and whatnot. I am looking at the role of the government and other institutions in creating poverty, and producing social norms that marginalize certain communities. The caste system was technically outlawed 7 years ago, but under the interim constitution, which has since been abandoned so casteism is still extremely relevant in Nepal. Some political platforms are working against such discrimination, but everything is subject to change after today.

Anyways, since moving to Boudha and beginning the ISP period, I have had numerous enriching experiences outside of my research, don’t tell my program but most of my time has actually been spent exploring Nepal outside of anything related to my independent study. For example, I went to a metal festival! It was really scary but really fun and a cool experience. I went with Jacob and Mollie and we (especially me) did not fit in whatsoever. Actually, there was one guy at the festival who recognized me from having seen me in Boudha earlier that day! The two of us were probably the only people at the festival that would spend anytime, much less live, in Boudha haha. Crazy things were yelled and the last band, a metal group from Poland called Behemoth, was dressed in costume and was really freaking scary. Moshing(sp?) broke out everywhere and I held on to the fence at one point to avoid it, but I also HEADBANGED and it was really fun!

What else… on a completely opposite front I have continued going to mediation, which is a lot easier now that I live 5 minutes from the monastery, and I also went to a teaching by an amazing Lama and I continue to learn and fall in love with Buddhist philosophy. I don’t have wifi at home, but I have spent time cooking for myself and reading 100 Years of Solitude (thank you Malia!) and have been enjoying living alone(ish).

My birthday was a couple of days ago and it was amazing! I have made such good friends since coming to Nepal and felt so much love coming from home and from here on my birthday. Emily made me a bracelet and gave me crocheted ear warmers from one of the women’s empowerment organization that she has been working with and studying, Mollie gave me the most beautiful earrings that I have been eyeing, and Mollie, Haley, Roberta, Amanda, Jacob, Megan, and Louise and I all ventured up to Nagarkot for the night! It was a lot of fun, we played cards and all put our mattresses together on the floor and slept in a pile watching Crazy Stupid Love. At dinner they gave me a bottle of wine and had a birthday cake for me… there aren’t very many ovens in Nepal so it was actually a birthday pancake but it said “20 years Happy Birthday Manisha” and Manisha in devnagari all written in chocolate. I have no idea how they pulled it off but it was so sweet!

In the morning we all woke up at 4:45am and walked for an hour to see the sunrise over all the Himalayan ranges. I even saw Everest! The moon on our walk was glowing bright orange resembling the sun, and I watched it set behind the mountains, something I have never even imagined before. It was a really good feeling to walk, even though we could have driven, because I could feel my body and mind waking up with the sun rising and the world waking up around me.

looks small, but it's REALLY far away.

Ear warmers from Emily! Haley on the left

I have continued to settle into Boudha and have developed a strange affection for the hoopla that is the rest of Kathmandu. Boudha is a world heritage site, which means it is also a breeding ground for tourists, which means that there are more beggars as well. In the beginning I felt really uneasy by all of beggars and I didn’t know how to react to their insistence and I didn’t know what I was contributing to by giving them money (there is a lot of corruption in the begging industry here in Nepal) and the whole thing made me really uncomfortable. But as I become a part of Boudha I am recognized by more and more people and have developed a sweet sort of relationship with some of the people asking for money. I give food when I have it, but otherwise we just share a moment of conversation, a namaste, and/ or a warm smile.

bedroom

kitchen

living room

Sorry for the poor image quality, these are all coming from my phone.

I'm alive, makes me feel like I took happy pills and time stands still

I have been wandering through the himals for the last few weeks, but I am safely back in Kathmandu now! It was an absolutely incredible experience. I have been dabbling and babbling trying to determine the best way to express it all in words; to do it some sort of justice. I don’t know if it is possible but I am going to try… I will mostly use photos as a guide (which also won’t ever do it justice, but may come closer?).

Pokara

First, I drove up to Pokara and from there trekked for two days, staying in Guest Houses and Tea Houses and eating none other than daal bhat (per usual) until I reached Tuckuchhe; here I lived with the most incredible family for a little over a week. Tuckuchhe is a small village tucked beautifully in the middle of the Annapurna region. Everything felt right living and experiencing village life. My family was wonderful; I absolutely loved my Baabaa and my Didi and my Bahinis. No one spoke any English so my Nepali improved leaps and bounds throughout my time there. Part of my field work while I was there was conducting an interview on someone’s life story, charting someone’s kinship, drawing a map of the village, and researching something that is pertinent to the village.

For the life’s story I interviewed my Baabaa. He has lived such an incredible life! He used to be the mayor of the village and has 6 children, all of which are dispersed around the world, and in inter-caste marraiges, except for the one… my Didi who is 26 and cringes at the idea of ever getting married (not very typical-Nepali). She is studying to be a teacher in Kathmandu. The Thakali people (the people of Tuckuchhe) are a drinking caste; they have their own language, and their own unique and beautiful culture. In my house they distilled chichi raksi, apple raksi, and oat raksi (raksi is homemade liquor). Every night my Baabaa got so excited about sharing with Libby and I (we lived in the same home) and having us try all of the different raksis.

Libby, Didi, me, Baabaa

I had so much fun with my family, every night we would laugh and talk and sit around the dinner table for hours sharing and hollering with laughter (oftentimes at the miscommunications that were so frequent). When I interviewed my Baabaa for the life story project it became a family affair, everyone joined in to listen! I cannot remember the last time I laughed so hard. In fact, one of the things I asked him was to reflect on his happiest moment in life, and he said it is moments like this, where family is together laughing and having fun. Even madam (her and her family live in the house), who never comes out to join in with family activities was laughing and having fun with us, he said he never sees her laugh, and that he would remember this night forever. I became very close to my Tuckuchhe very, very so fast.

From the front of my house

My Didi was also incredible. We had amazing conversation and shared stories about ourselves and things that have helped shape who we are. We talked about how our differences between our cultures’ and created a forum for any questions to arise with the assurance that we would give an honest answer. One day, literally all day, we sorted 100 kilos of beans (black, red, good, and bad) and just talked the entire time. (Hence the improvement in my Nepali.)

Using rocks to grind spices for apple crumble

Tuckuchhe is known for apples, the Mustang region supplies all of the apples to Nepal, and of all the villages, Tuckuchhe has the second most! Literally all but one family there has apple orchards. So, naturally Libby and I thought it would be a good idea to teach our Didi to make apple crumble, slightly more difficult without an oven but totally do-able! She loved it and we climbed up a nearby mountain and had a picnic to eat it!

Also in front of my house

apple crumble

Throughout the home stay I was able to engage in village life and help with chores; I carried 25 kilos of potatoes on my head down a huge mountain—from the farm up top all the way to my home; I sorted all those damn beans; helped garden; etc. etc. etc. I really loved the manual labor and I loved that everything you could possibly need was available in the village, or even likely within a single families’ garden/farm/animals. Everything I ate, my family grew, and the eggs came from the chickens that often sat beside me while I was doing my homework.

Needless to say, a week was not enough time, and I already miss my Tuckuchhe family dearly.

The trek was also really spectacular. We walked for four days after the home stay, making our way back to Pokara once again. We passed through a completely new ecosystem every day, Nepal is so diverse and so magnificent; a single day has not passed that I haven’t fallen asleep completely impressed and awe-struck by this country. Despite all of the diversity— in its people and environments and life, it strives for unity… Which can become sticky, because in an effort to unify it is often the minorities, or the marginalized that are forgotten, but in many regards it achieves unity in this diversity with incredible grace. That is something I need to remember when I start researching how social norms have been created to marginalize certain communities based on the once institutionalized caste system. It will be exhausting at times, I’m sure, but if I can maintain this balance of love for the culture and people and an academic understanding of where progressive change could be made, it will be all the more rewarding!

On the trek, we were able to reach Poon Hill, which is in Ghorepani, and overlooks the Annapurna range. Our entire group hiked up the hill at 5am in order to catch the sunrise. It was completely worth it. Watching the sunrise has come to be one of my absolute favorite things, and the experience was completely surreal. The Himalayas appeared to be floating above the clouds, and we were right there with them. Directly in front of me was Annapurna I, to the right Annapurna South, and to the left Dhaulagiri (the 7^th tallest mountain on earth). The trek to that point the day before was the most difficult walk I have ever experienced. We inclined 1 mile vertically in 7 hours! The entire trek was uphill, and we were carrying all of our belongings on our backs! The hardest part is that when you are walking, there is no way to take a break unless you are stopping… I am used to being able to walk if I exhaust from running, but there was no way to reboot when you have to walk up hill for that long. However, it was amazing and even in the difficult times it was so much fun and so rewarding and I was around really great people. Everyone in the group made it within 8 or so hours! So awesome!

After our trek we flew from Pokara to Kathmandu. The view from the plane was outstanding; we passed over huge himals! Driving to pokara takes about 8 or 9 hours, but the flight is only 25 minutes… which just goes to show how terrible the roads are here and how mountainous it is. When we returned to Kathmandu our wonderful teachers were waiting for us (they trekked the way there, but came home early). I cannot say enough about how amazing our teachers are, they have played a pivotal role in my happiness throughout the program. Anyways, when we returned all of our teachers were there and they were cooking up a Thanksgiving meal for us!! We had pumpkin pie, and mashed potatoes, and turkey (I don’t know how they pulled that one off), and so many delicious sides. Such a warm, and thoughtful welcome back to Kathmandu.

Since then, I have been spending a lot of time at home. We finished up all of our finals last week and this weekend/ so far this week has been Tihar, another festival. Each day we do puja and worship something different, Day 1: Crow Day 2: Dog (all of the street dogs were wearing flowers and tikka!) Day 3: Laxmi puja Day 4: Ox puja Day 5: Bhai tikka (little brother). On Laxmi puja I spent the whole day helping clean (to invite laxmi in, who is the goddess of wealth and good fortune), playing cards, and making so many sweets! They dressed me up in a kurta too, which was really special because it was my Didi’s kurta that was given to her by her fiance’s mom the first time they met. Today, bhai tikka, we had coffee in the morning, then all got dressed up in saris (you can tell the importance of the day by what we are dressed in), and worshiped our bhais. It was actually so much fun! My baabaa is pretty relgious but no one else takes the tikka and puja too seriously. My aamaa for example, started yelling to my baabaa, “Hurry up laxmi puja is today not tomorrow and Manisha is getting tired!” because it was already midnight on Laxmi puja and he hadn’t finished his initial worshiping. Once, we all got around to it, we laughed for most of it and joked about how our baabaa was putting tikka on my camera and other material things. Today, for bhai tikka we got to wear rangichangi (colorful) tikkas. Me, and my three sisters all tried to work together to put the tikka on my brothers and it was a mess but really fun! Then, they put tikka on all of us and did the same worshiping thing. After that we all ate our weight in dried fruit and nuts and spent the entire afternoon on the roof playing cards. I loved every minute of it and I am really sad to move out tomorrow. I have really bonded with my family and I feel very close to them now.

Tomorrow morning I am moving to an apartment in Boudha where I will live for the next month while I conduct my research. It is a really awesome opportunity to be on my own for an entire month, on my own schedule, researching what I am interested in! I am really sad to leave my family, but I plan on coming back either for dinners or at the end if I can finish my research early. I am excited to live in Boudha though! I will get to cook for myself (which is good and bad, I will miss my aamaa’s cooking!) and I will have direct access to all of the Buddhism I want! I plan on continuing my meditation course and auditing other courses with Maria at the monastery.

apple orchards

Didi and our bahinis dressed us up! Libby is wearing traditional Thakali clothing, and I am wearing Sherpa clothing (both outfits were used for weddings)

Sunrise

Rhododendron forrest

Thanksgiving lunch

The Past Two Weeks

It has been two weeks since I returned from Palpa and last posted. So much has happened, I don’t know where to begin… I will try to start with a timeline, but don’t be surprised if my thoughts start to interject, and the timeline gets disjointed.

We returned to Kathmandu on a Sunday, and had school the next day. School has been incredibly busy, and all of the writing and homework take up a lot of time (hence the infrequent blog posts!). But, I really enjoy the schoolwork; I have learned a lot and have been challenged through it all. I can feel myself growing and developing opinions based on significant thought and observations. One of the assignments that we had last week was to go out anywhere in Kathmandu and start gaining contacts and networking. Specifically, we had to find someone, anyone, who worked on something related to our ISP and/or interests, and interview them. It was a challenge considering we only had a few days and time frames are not conducive to getting things done if Nepali time plays any role. BUT, I did it.

Side note: New ear piercings, ouch!

On my walk to the organization that I wanted to have a dialogue with, (Advocacy Forum, who provides legal aid to individual’s who are marginalized in society and who are victims of human rights abuse during the detention period of an arrest… this was especially relevant during the People’s War/Maoist insurgency but remains pertinent today as well) I met a really remarkable man. Marina and I must have seemed lost on our walk (which we were, but I am surprised we conveyed it) because this man pulled over and ventured to help us; in perfect English he asked where we were trying to go. The back of his car was adorned with two bummer stickers, one from Harvard University and the other from Cornell University. I did my best to explain where we were trying to go, but truthfully I wasn’t even sure. The man even attempted calling the organization to see if he could speak to someone who would give directions, but no to avail of course (phones never quite work here). Anyways, apparently he moved to Nepal a week prior, after living and studying in the US for 10 years! His wife claims the Harvard sticker, and he the Cornell. He explained that he has basically been following his wife around for the last few years (A-TYPICAL in Nepal!!), and that’s why he is back… because his wife got a job with the World Bank that brought them both back here. He was so kind and helpful, and said that he and his wife would have us over for dinner soon. In the United States I would have been extremely creeped out by this, but it is just Nepali culture to treat strangers like they’re a part of your kith and kin.

The interview itself was really successful too, we basically barged into this random office and ended up being able to sit down with someone for over an hour to ask questions and learn about Advocacy Forum’s interworkings. As unlikely as it is for things to go as planned here, I have yet to experience anything that truly just didn’t work out.

Finding kindness in my heart

Since I arrived in Nepal, I have been exploring Buddhist thought and tradition. During my first few weeks, I kept hearing snippets about Mahayana Buddhism that would incite tremendous curiosity in me. I did my best to research more on my own, but it occurred to me that I should reach out to Maria (the Wooster alum I talked about before, who is studying Buddhism at a Tibetan monastery in Bouddha)! I texted her on Sunday night and it just so happened that a new course was starting at the monastery on Mahayana Buddhism!! It was meant to be. I found my way on public transportation to Bouddha at 4:30pm the next day to start the course with her. Since then, I have been going regularly… every Monday and Wednesday for about any hour each time. The first few sessions were learning about the Dharma (religion) and the latter few have been practicing the Samatha mediation that we learned… for an entire hour… mind you, not an easy task. But I could not be more thrilled that this community exists. Much of what the Monk expresses (who by the way is incredible and hilarious and the translator does a wonderful job conveying his enthusiasm and hilarity) are thoughts that I have always had, but to be able to hear them come from another mouth and to be amongst a community who is as eager as myself to engage, is pretty damn remarkable.

The monk started by claiming that all spirituality is equally relevant and that even though he follows Buddhist teachings, he would not ever want to undermine any one else’s spirituality by claiming that his is greater. He also expressed the importance of engaging in virtue in order to give to others. It is thus unimportant to become a monk, shave your head, and wear red robes in order to find enlightenment, and in fact, someone in the room may reach enlightenment before he does. But, he expressed that for personal reasons (that may not apply to anyone else) he has made the choice to renounce and become a monk. All of the physical practices carry no weight if you can’t practice what you preach so to speak.

All of his teachings were about gaining power through one’s own mind; realizing selflessness will come from within one’s self. The monk also claimed that by giving oneself to others, others being all of Earth’s sentient beings, (the main tenant of this Dharma), you will personally benefit as well.

Carrying with you a kinder mindset, and seeing the world with kindness will make you happier. Much of the world has a kind mindset according to the Monk, and one does not need to follow Buddhist dharma to achieve this (so relieving! I love how he never preached or forced a specific view or a prescribed path for reaching enlightenment, but rather claimed that the world can be kind on its own… well, at least that was my interpretation as he took the time to describe the beauty of humanity outside of Buddhist tradition).

The lesson that I may connect most closely with is that it will help you to listen and accumulate dharma teachings—to learn! One of the first things that touched me about Mahayana Buddhism, before I began going to this class, was that Mahayana literally means vehicle. It teaches that when you learn you should be learning for the betterment of others… learning and acquiring knowledge in order to become a vehicle of that knowledge! The candles that you may see at monasteries are a symbol of this eternal light and eternal knowledge. A candle will eventually burn out, but if it lights three other candles before that happens, its flame can then become eternal, the knowledge can be passed on, the light can sustain.

By learning and giving rise to enlightenment, however, you are not benefiting the Monk’s dharma, or extending his or her life, or bringing him or her wealth, you are gaining a kind heart and mindset to benefit all beings, you are allowing blessings to enter into your mind and realizing the intrinsic value of all phenomenon.

Maria was embodying the practice of selflessness and giving of oneself by transcribing all of the translator’s words into Spanish (so from TibetanàEnglishàSpanish) for Roberto, a Spanish-speaking man who has been in Bouddha for a month now. It was such a beautiful way to witness the monk’s words in tangible action.

The mediation itself has been really wonderful, but definitely a struggle to accomplish, which is normal I guess. The aim is to set the mind on the breadth and give rise to the kindness in your heart. Imagine sitting still for an entire hour focusing solely on your breadth going in and out, combating any incoming thoughts that might take away from your concentration remaining solely on your breadth—Tough, but getting easier every time.

Long story short, I definitely think it was meant to be that I texted Maria the night before this class started and I couldn’t be happier that I found an outlet to learn more and actually practice.

Cleansing

Swimming in the waterfall pool

Over that weekend, I went with a few friends to Sundarijal (Beautiful water) in hopes of finding a waterfall. Beforehand, we all went out to breakfast and I got a tomato and avocado omelet (the start of a great day) and then all hopped on a bus, which took about an hour, in order to get out of the valley and to the base of this hike. We got on the bus at the first stop, and got off at the last… costing 25 rupees!! (100 ruppes to the dollar.) It was absolutely beautiful and so much fun. We hiked up a bunch of stairs and ended up going off the beaten trail, following the water to a larger basin. Rebecca and I even got to go swimming! I felt so cleansed by going under water and it was definitely worth the leaches. The water was amazing. The air was clean and pure. I was with wonderful people. I was certainly enjoying the moment, I found peace.

Bouddha in the rain

Pancake and AVOCADO AND TOMATO omelette (before Sundarijal), felt like home... but still didn't compare to my mom's cooking.






















The next day I went back to Bouddha (no surprise there) and sat at a café working on language and sipping coffee with a couple of friends. Mollie and I talked about how nice it would be if it rained and sure enough a few moments later it was POURING. It was amazing, the Stuppah was bleeding white and water was flowing through the streets. A few people remained, praying to the Stuppah, but the majority fled. Everything was quiet and pure. The city was washed clean and all of the dust and particles that usually get trapped in my chest were pressed into the ground by the beating water. It was entrancing to watch.

Keeping busy

The last week has been really busy, as I mentioned. We had a language exam Monday, an 8-10 page paper on development Wednesday and a final rough draft of our ISP proposals due Friday. The good news is my language is getting SO MUCH BETTER. I still struggle, but I am able to be conversational now and it is helping with everything. I am able to bond more with my family and other Nepalis and I have been able to understand the order of Nepali culture so much better now that I can communicate. The development paper helped me tremendously with wrapping my mind around my ISP and the final draft of the ISP helped me set my roving thoughts. At this point, (but I wouldn’t be surprised if my topic changes again) I am going to be investigating how the civil code that institutionalized Nepal’s caste system has contributed to modern-day social structures and social laws that continue to marginalize entire communities, and how marriage is a reflection of those laws remaining pertinent in society, despite casteism being outlawed. In 2009, the government issued a new cash incentive policy for anyone who marries a Dalit (the lowest caste). Inter-caste marriage used to be illegal, and now the government is issuing an incentive of 100,000NPR for it to occur. I want to look at how this policy may be legitimizing the caste system by re-labeling its citizens Dalit and non-Dalit, how it is empowering or re-enslaving certain population…etc. etc. etc.

I am really excited to research this and I plan on taking my research home with me and working with it for my Independent Studies at Wooster.

Festival-time

Today, we celebrated Dashim. It is Nepal’s biggest festival and it goes on for many days, but today was the main day for tikka. So, today the eldest person in the family gives tikka to all of their juniors. Throughout the week, however, there have been an unusually large amount of goats and chickens along the road… all waiting to be sacrificed. As the week has gone on there have also been more pools of blood, wads of hair, severed heads, carcasses being shaved, etc. (I’ll spare the details.)

For families who are mourning the loss of a loved one, they should not celebrate any of the festivals for a whole year. Two of my friends (Rebecca and Mollie) have families who are mourning, so the two of them spent the day celebrating with my family. It has been so much fun. We played cards and ate delicious food (per usual), received tikka from my haguraamaa and spent time with family. Since it is a holiday I did not have school, and my siblings have been out of the last week or so… the last two nights in a row we have stayed up until 12:30/1:00am playing cards. I taught them BS (only we called it jutto which means liar, dirty, impure… in Nepali) and it was so much fun. I haven’t laughed that hard in a very long time, maybe since before I even came. It felt like being at home playing Baulderdash, poker, and Would You Rather with my family until 4am and definitely made me a little nostalgic, but nonetheless was a lot of fun.

The whole gang!

Well, I leave for Annapurna on Tuesday and I will be trekking for 2 weeks, no phone, no Internet, no communication. I would say more about it, but I am trying to do minimal research so that it is all a surprise… and all that I have learned so far will become obsolete as soon as I step off the plane, so I will wait to present the description until I return. It should be absolutely amazing to be lost in the Himalayas for two weeks though, and I am very excited. Oh, and I will also have the opportunity to stay with a family in Thakali for just under a week in the middle of the trek!







 More photos from the hike: