March 17, 2018
We did depart at 7 AM as planned with
Rakesh’s driver, who we determined very soon was much more cautious than our
last one who always seemed to be in a race, with a typical pass-on-the-curve
Nepali mentality. Rakesh doesn’t travel
much by car because of the ridiculous amount of time it takes to get anywhere,
and also the horrible condition of the roads, so he flew instead. This is getting to be a very good idea. For instance, it is 190 Kilometers back to
Kathmandu (about 120 miles) from the area we drove to today, but it will take
anywhere from 7-12 hours to get back!
Part of it is because of the rocky dirt roads, but much of it is just
traffic and trucks breaking down or accidents.
On the way here we were stalled on the highway for long periods of
time. We did, however, make it in time
across the place that closes for roadwork for most of the day. If you arrive after a certain hour, you won’t
be able to get where you want to go.
First we went to the hotel, which
is one that we have been to before, but now it is much improved. Last time this gorgeous hotel didn’t turn on
their air conditioning till the nighttime and the bed they gave us was just a
box spring with no mattress. We had to
take the cushions off the furniture in order to sleep. This time we were happily surprised to see that
we were able to cool the room down when we arrived in the middle of the day,
and then we sat on
the bed—it had a mattress this time (but we heard from
Wilkinson’s that they got the box spring)!
We ordered our lunch and
had some downtime but soon Rakesh had shown up to meet us and we got ready to
go. We are here for a big celebration, a
cornerstone ceremony for the upcoming approved water project. These people do it up big, with tent made out
of beautiful fabric. There was a very
large crowd and Rakesh had gotten the Mayor, a Member of Parliament whose
father used to be the Prime Minister, and doctor that is a Member of Parliament
who spoke English. Not very many people
in Nepal speak English so we sat for an hour and listened to them speak
Nepali. Then we left our chairs to go to
the cornerstone ceremony, and then headed back to our chairs to hear the rest
of the speakers. We discovered that
someone had taken our waters so they had to find some more for us—so
funny! The speaker that entertained them
the most was Kenney Wilkinson. Since he
has learned some Nepali and was able to speak with them mostly in their
language, again we didn’t get to hear but a few words in English, but Kenney is
the only one that gets them to laugh.
For the others they just politely clapped from time to time. The speakers were members of the water
committee and the dignitaries.
A very colorful place
to have a meeting. In the back there
were a couple of banners concerning the project noting our funding. There were
a lot of people there. At one point they
played their anthem and it was really a pretty song. I filmed it so I could remember it better. On the left the man nearest the podium was
the MC.
Afterwards the people all wanted
to get pictures with the few dignitaries that showed up. They also played some of their favorite songs
to dance to, so once again the women grabbed Terry and me and so we danced
again. It was time to leave, but they
got us back to dance again and again.
They sure like to dance! It was a
bit more fun than last time because I actually had the energy to do it (my sore
throat has happily disappeared). It is
warm here, but occasionally there was a breeze so that it was fairly pleasant.
The Cornerstone ceremony: We
drove part of the way and walked the rest to the spot where the large tank will
be, a short distance away. They had dug
a small, square hole in the ground. Then
the religious man did a bunch of chanting.
It was hard to see since everyone was crowded around the hole, but at a
certain time they put a few bricks in the hole, Jim being told to do one of
them and he almost goofed it up by putting it in too soon, but he grabbed it
back just in time! Once all of the
bricks were in the hole they added the red dust that they make the Bindi out of
and put it on the bricks as he chanted some more. They also added incense to burn and some
typical plants or grasses or flowers and some food as this was going on. As we left the spot to go back to hear the
rest of the speakers Rakesh told us that they used to do a sacrifice, usually a
goat. When that got too expensive they
began to sacrifice chickens; now they just add a little food and plants! During the second half they served us slices
of apple and some grapes on a tiny dish. .
I think the whole thing lasted a couple of hours, but it seemed
longer. The ones in Kenya were usually
4-6 hours, so we are grateful!
The cornerstone
ceremonial hole where the tank will be built.
This is the first easy day we’ve
had. Even though the drive here was long
and tedious, we had time to rest before the ceremony, and returned to the hotel
an hour before we all met up at the restaurant, Rakesh joining us. Lucky guy, sometime tomorrow he will fly
home. We decided that we’d leave at 6 AM
to hopefully beat the traffic—we could see the long lines going the other way,
and we were often stopped, so hopefully it will be an easier trip back to
Kathmandu.
Here’s hoping…
Terry on the left, Jim
and I together, Kenney in back. The two
gentlemen in front of us, one by me and the man next to him, are both rather
important and everyone wanted to take a picture with them.
Dancing girls….
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