Incredible times with incredible people

Lot of people are asking me nowadays, what Nepalese people are like, so I thought this is time to share some of my experiences about this with you. Well, without the intention of generalization, I can say that for the people I met, I can’t really apply the frame that I had about them before coming here. Earlier I heard that Nepalese people are very nice, but after a certain point they keep their distance... Well, contrary to this in the last few weeks we met quite a few incredible people, who all seem to be willing to share their culture, their views, their experiences with us without seeking anything in return.

For example last week it was our Italian friend’s last day here after seven month. For this occasion our Nepalese friends organized such a special day that was full of experiences starting from the momo (traditional Nepalese dish which is a kind of pasta filled with meet/ vegies etc.) to singing ball therapy and tai chi lessons. First, our friend took us to his brother’s so far experimentary restaurant – since they are planning to open a special momo place, called momo station, but for that at the moment they are practising to develop several types of new flavours for both the momo and the sauce. This way we got to see how the momo is actually made, and even had a chance to make our on momos while enjoying all this at roof of a house. But this was just the beginning of the day. Later we had traditional Nepalese milk tea together (which is very tasty and a lot different from the English version of the milk tea) after which we had an extremely relaxing evening at our friend’s house. During this we learnt some singing ball therapy and tai chi as well. As for the singing ball therapy, just imagine several big metal balls that can be placed all around the person who is lying on the floor. When you beat the balls with a stick covered with cotton, the vibration can be felt all around. Another way to use the balls is hot water therapy, when you only use one ball that you fill up with little water and use it as for massaging the body. It’s really-really a great experience that we got to share thanked to these friends!

Another day, we went for our usual cleaning of Swayambhu area on Saturday planning on only staying for a few hours. But one thing that it’s time to learn now is that sometimes there’s no place for plans and rush here – as our friend said: sometimes we just have to relax, don’t have to stick to plans and finally just be in the present. So this is how we happened to stay with them all day long, having several cups of tea, nice conversations and even learning how to cook dal bhaat (which is an even more important traditional dish than momo, made of rice and lentils and eaten by the locals every single day). In the evening we finally took a trip to a hidden Buddhist monastery, called Tergar Oselling Monastery. This monastery is situated on the top of a hill from which we could both have a nice view on Swayambunath and Seto Gumba (the White Temple that we visited on our first weekend). To reach this place, we had to climb several stairs and climb between houses just to finally arrive at a place where lots of young monks where doing their evening practice and assembly among the white walls of the amazing looking monastery. Getting here, we even got a change to go on the top of the walls of the monastery and have some tai chi lessons in the light of the sunset.

I think these are all the experiences that we could never have if we were here just as tourist as if we haven’t met all these wonderful Nepalese people! :)

Swayambunath Cleaning Campaign

In the last few weeks, we were so lucky to meet some really nice people who are organizing a cleaning campaign at one of Kathmandu’s most famous temples, Swayambunath. The event happens every Saturday from 7 to 9 am, during which time a whole lot of people with very different backgrounds, but in a way all of them interested in the area, gather together, to do some full power cleaning in the area of the temple.

The more time I’m spending here in Nepal, the more I’m starting to realize that here everything is more than what you can see... For example the message of this campaign is way behind the idea of cleaning the temple. It’s also a lot connected with the Buddhist way of thinking: according to this, everything always come back to a full circle, everything is about clearing our mind, which instead of emptiness will result in a kind of fullness. According to this way of thinking, working full power on the cleaning is a great way to get rid of all the thought and rush of everyday life, as well, as by cleaning our environment we also get to clear ourselves at the same time... Besides this, another message of the campaign is to emphasize our responsibilities while also changing the way of thinking of the traditional caste roles in the community. While traditionally cleaning was associated as a lower caste job, especially done by the lowest caste of all, called the Dalits, by participating in this campaign, people also say that in a way, we are all equal, which doesn’t only provide freedom, but also responsibilities – such as taking care of our own environment.  

New Years, then Easter..? :)

Here’s another example of how time and traditions are mixed up here: I think not that long ago I wrote, that we were writing 2070 here. Well, according to this calendar, the New Year starts on 14^th April in our time, meaning that now it’s already 2071! It turned out that celebrating New Years here is a little bit different than at home. On one side, it can be thanked to the fact that in Nepal, there are so many different nations and cultures that they actually have at least 3-4 New Years in a year! On the other side, for Nepali people this day is not as much about going out or partying, but they are more likely to spend the day with family and friends over a delicious lunch or dinner. Despite all this, there were still a few places in Kathmandu where they organized special parties or concerts for New Years. For example, on Durbar Square of Kathmandu, we got to listen a bit of a concert of a Nepali band, who was performing on a stage set among the famous monuments, while the square itself and other buildings of the square was crowded with the audience.

Only one week after Nepalese New Years, just to totally mix cultures and traditions, we celebrated Easter, as a part of European and Christian tradition. It was a really interesting experience to try to bring our traditions to Nepalese context: we painted eggs, cooked European food just so that after, we could invite our Nepali friends and have a great dinner with them while sitting on the floor, drinking good Nepali tea and talking about some important issues of the Nepalese society and the culture itself... I think these are what you can call multicultural experiences! :)

Bouddhanath – Another Buddhist temple

It was already more than a week ago that we had a great experience in the world’s biggest Buddhist Stupa, called Boudhanath (or Boudha). Well, it’s really-really a place that is worth visiting! Imagine a huge square with colourful shops all around where it’s pretty difficult to pass without at least thinking about shopping and with a giant white stupa in the middle that takes about five minutes to walk around! During this five minutes, you can meet all kinds of people walking around the monument – from the Buddhist monks living in the stupa, to tourists from all around the world, as well as Buddhist people who came from far away to get a chance of experiencing the atmosphere of this monument. While walking around, you can see prayer wheels all over the wall of the temple that people touch and spin while walking around and praying in order to avoid rebirth in a similar body. At the other side, there is a small fire burning where Buddhists are supposed to wave the smoke on themselves which’s meaning – as far as I understood – is just about the same as spinning the prayer wheel. When you go closer, you can also walk up to the top of the stupa from which there’s a pretty nice view on the square and on the mountains further away. Also, if you are lucky, you can also see some monks and other Buddhist people praying on the floor and practising some ritual motions there.   

After taking our time to explore this monument – also during sunset! – we had a nice dinner at a vegetarian restaurant with a great view on the stupa – which was a perfect ending of the day, too. 

First Impressions, Conversations About the Changing Nepal

During the time I have spent here, we had quite a few very interesting conversations with locals about the real culture of Nepal, about how tradition meets modernity and for example how Buddhism and Hinduism can exist by each other in a very peaceful way here. I think I still understand just a very little about this rich culture, probably also misunderstand few things, but still, I would like to share some of these experiences with you.

Nepal during most of its history used to be a monarchy. In ancient and medieval times there very many smaller kingdoms in the territory of current Nepal – for example Kathmandu, Patan and Bhaktapur all used to be separate kingdoms rivalizing with each other in their architecture as well (this is why today all these areas have a center Durbar Square where the most magnificent pieces of architecture can be found). It was only in the mid 18^th century that the king of the Gorkha Kingdom conquered these territories and united them, forming the current area of Nepal. After long-long years of Gorkha ruling, finally after a civil war, Nepal became a democratic republic in 2008. As I got to know from a descendant of the Gorkha kings, not everybody is satisfied with this state either... There are some people, who believe that by giving up the monarchy Nepal also lost one of its heritage, since it used to be just about the only Hinduist monarchy in the world. Also, the king is still not completely lost: he is still travelling around the country, and worldwide, too, as well, as he still has an important role in religious traditions that cannot be taken away by ministers.

As I see, Nepal is pretty much in a changing period at the moment: it’s partly caused by caused by the newly formed republic, but globalization, the western culture flowing in, and the growing cities have a great forming power on this originally very traditional and very spiritual country. This means that while in the past used to have their calm, peaceful way of life, which was closer to nature and less crowed, today – besides the existence of all these – by first sight you can see a city full of people, dust and crazy traffic. This is a crazy, changing world, where apart from the approximately 2.5 million official citizens of Kathmandu there are about another million who have migrated here from other parts of Nepal in the hope of getting a visa and work permits to work abroad and there is also another pretty big amount of visitors coming from the western world in the search of the ancient knowledge of the Nepalese people. In this world the locals – highly influenced by their families and their possibilities are all trying to find their balanced mixture of their ancient spiritual world and the western modernity coming in. You can see this in the roles of men and women, their ways and thoughts about marriage, or the in the existence of Buddhism and Hinduism here.

There are many-many ways of thinking about marriage for example they also all differ cast by cast (even though cast is said not to matter as much anymore as it used to...). There are some that are supposed to carry on their father’s path and choose somebody from the same cast (or not get married at all), for others, it’s even possible to marry a foreigner. There are some who believe in love marriage, others stick to the arranged one, saying that parents have more experience in choosing the right person for them, since enjoyment is not everything, it doesn’t guarantee a good match for the entire life so they trust their parents’ choice more their than own... The most interesting conversation about marriage that we had, was with a girl from Newari culture (indigenous inhabitants of Kathmandu Valley). She said that for her marriage consists of three ceremonies: first she has to marry the bel fruit, symbolizing marrying Shiva, then comes a marriage with the sun, and only after this can the marriage with a man take place. Also, at the time of the first too ceremonies, they don’t the man yet, who they are going to marry. She said, she has already done the first two ceremonies and was just waiting for the man to enter her life. By the way, the changing tendencies can be also seen looking at the average age at marriage: while in the last generation people usually still got married as teenagers, nowadays the age of 25-30 years for a woman to get married is absolutely acceptable.

Connected to this, family roles are also a bit changing in Nepal. Some people say that in the past, Nepal used to be a calm place where if one of the family members worked, was enough to set up a good living for the family. In contrary to that, nowadays by modernity and western culture, too, the needs of the people has changed, resulting in all family members working more and more ours with less and less time to spend together...

Still in this changing context, the everyday life is very much filled with spirituality and spiritual activity – practicing meditation, yoga, getting connected with themselves, their present, past and future. I guess here all these take the role of the psychologists in our world... These people are still more connected inside and outside as well, no matter whether they belong to Buddhists or Hinduists. It seems that this is one of those rare countries where there has never been any conflict about religion... The locals say, that the key of this might be that the goal of their religions are very similar: reaching a peaceful state of mind, finding a unity inside yourself, concentrating on present experiences... They celebrate life in all their rituals and festivals – for example in Hinduism they have all kinds of celebrations even for animals (like the cow) and natural phenomenons (like the Sun or the Wind). Also, these religions are very tolerant, just like the people themselves. They also say that the background can be also the way most people are here: they consider themselves very honest, and at the same time avoiding any source of conflicts... Well, whatever the reason is, it’s for sure that in Kathmandu the two religions with all their rituals and traditions and beautiful temples and stupas seem to complete each other in a very nice way.