Wel-come to Reality

The beautiful holiday of Tihar was coming up in Nepal and I-MAN wanted to get out of Kathmandu.  I-MAN had this friend by the name of Arat, who he had met in September of 2011.  He knew that Arat came from a town named Iarohg, in the district of Gnad, a 12 hour bus ride from KTM.  I-MAN asked if he could go with Arat to visit her family during Tihar and sure enough the answer was yes.

Now I-MAN knew something about the Nepali roads from his trip out to the western region.  He realized a 12 hour bus ride, even in a smaller kind of van would be crowded and uncomfortable, but I-MAN thought it would be worthwhile.  Arat said that she and another friend, Ahsila, would pick I-MAN up at 5:20 AM in the front of the Hotel Himalaya, as the van was due to leave at 6 AM. I-MAN had doubts about any of these timings, but sure enough he woke himself up nice and early and set out to find the Hotel Himalaya.  I-MAN hoped that he wouldn’t have to climb any mountains to find the Hotel and fortunately he found a taxi to take him there.  Flying at this early hour was out of the question as I-MAN was trying to act more human like, however difficult. 

Finally around 5:40 AM both Arat and Ahsila arrived in a taxi and the trio drove off to the bus park.  Initially the van wasn’t where it might have been, but the trio finally found it and both I-MAN and Arat found their seats while Ahsila went off somewhere to possibly find her dreams.  The back windows of the van said, “Wel-come to Reality” and I-MAN was thinking a lot about this the entire trip. The van pulled out, over-crowded as could be with people sitting in the aisles and goats and three chickens and one peacock on the roof.  But the driver was only going to find some air for the tires, something which occurred multiple times during the 12 hour trip.  By this time it was nearing 7 AM and magically Ahsila appeared in the seat next to Arat.  Fifteen more people also piled into the van bringing the total to 60, which meant that it was at least double the number for comfort.  I-MAN just leaned his head against the window trying to avoid the sneezing and runny noses from his five neighbors and also ensuring that the windows were closed so that none of the run off from the roof animals would impact him.  As I-MAN went in and out of sleep consciousness, reality was appearing everywhere.

Everyone tried to sleep in the van, but given the amount of people and roof animals and bumps in the road this wasn’t always easy.  Unfortunately the people occupying the floor and seats and area above I-MAN’s seat were quite hard and a bit on the bony side. I-MAN was continuously getting poked or drooled on and when he tried to lay his head down a bone would protrude from one of the people.

A few weeks earlier in Shivapuri, I-MAN had learned something about international toilets.  It was good that I-MAN had already learned this lesson because there were many of these types of outhouses throughout the van ride. Fortunately it was not a very windy day, otherwise it could have gotten quite messy, especially stepping out of the van in order to avoid the roof animal run-off.

Finally the van entered the Gnad District, as it was already dark.  The streets were fairly quiet in  Iarohg City and Ahsila’s sister came to meet the trio as she had to walk her sister to the village which was at least 10 kilometers, or maybe a bit less, from where Arat’s family house lived.  It was quite joyous for I-MAN to be in a new place as he always liked to discover what the world was like outside of his regular comforts. 

The walk from the bus park was maybe ten minutes and once Arat and I-MAN said good-bye to Ahsila and her sister they went inside the sacred home.  They were greeted by flying roti’s and I-MAN being ever so hungry and of course needing to check out the toilet, grabbed a few and stuffed them into his pocket.  Once he had checked out the bathroom, where he saw at least a half dozen creatures of various shapes and sizes waiting to greet him, he went into the living area to meet Arat’s family.

There was Arat’s mother, her mother’s sister, a woman who decided early on in life not to talk or listen to anyone, one of Arat’s brothers, his wife and a young man, who caught I-MAN’s gaze and wouldn’t let go.  Immediately there was a connection as if this could be a Nepali superhero.  The family called this boy A-MAN and I-MAN felt chills run up and down his spine.  The family was just about to eat and watch their favorite Hindi soap opera which in English was called, “We love to make really weird exaggerated facial expressions”.  I-MAN having lived in India for so many year’s, was of course quite familiar with the FACEX, for short, show.

I-MAN was quite pleased to be at Arat’s home and after dinner went up to his room which was up some windy stairs, where one had to pass through a huge spider’s web and a fire breathing dragon to unlock a gigantic bulbous lock with at least three sets of keys and a password.  Additionally Arat’s brother, a very warm hearted man, had to spread a mosquito net over the bed because the blood suckers, with at least a nine inch wingspan, were still out tormenting people in this part of the world.  I-MAN entered sleep after watching a movie and felt as if he might be home.

Now I-MAN knew that there was only one toilet in the sacred home and this was downstairs.  This would make things rather difficult as there was only one light in the hallway downstairs and there was a locked door to unlock to get to the bathroom.  There was also the matter of the spider’s web and the fire breathing dragon.  As usual very early in the morning I-MAN awoke from sleep needing to relieve himself.  He found his flashlight which he knew that he could use to blind both the spider and the dragon.  As he walked out of his room and into the deck area adjacent to his room, he just happened to look up into the still dark sky that was now full of glittering stars.  I-MAN fully opened his eyes and his lower lip dropped as he hadn’t seen this site for quite some time.  He heard the dragon and spider and soon gathered himself to make the trek downstairs, to the locked door and the nirvana of the bathroom. 

When he opened the door to the bathroom he noticed one of those creatures that had earlier greeted him, trying to escape the glow of the flashlight.  I-MAN wasn’t overly scared having just gotten past a spider and dragon and soon made it back to the safety of his room, where he quickly made it under the security of the mosquito net and the covers. 

Day 1-When I-MAN awoke to his first morning in Iarohg, he was greeted by many warm smiles and even a hug, something that continued throughout the time.  This really warmed I-MAN’s heart.  He decided that he would take a shower, which unfortunately, given the water situation was somewhat of a challenge.  You see, in Iarohg, water only ran between 3:52 AM and about 4:36ish AM, which meant that one had to get up early to fill the multiple tubs, buckets, cups and glasses and paint pans in order to have enough water for such things as showers and washing clothes and dishes. To I-MAN this wasn’t such a hassle as he entered the shower or bathroom and found a multitude of different sized objects filled with water.  I-MAN started pouring water from the different accessories only to find that some water was cold and some was warm and some was green and blue, some had small flowers in it, some had alphabet letters, some corn flakes.  I-MAN really didn’t like to choose his water, just wanted the hot kind, but he dealt with the situation as a person who had been on a bus with the words, “Wel-come to reality” would deal. 

Given that it was Tihar, most of the businesses, including the hospital next to Arat’s house, were closed.  But that didn’t deter I-MAN as he needed to find a fruit store.  Fortunately there was one quite close to the sacred house and I-MAN picked up his apple, banana and orange.  I-MAN was eager to explore and Arat and her brother said let’s go to visit Ahsila.  First though there would be a walk around town to see what the locals were doing for Tihar.

Fortunately for I-MAN many people were dressed up, especially the girls and women in special Tihar red outfits.  Everywhere Arat and I-MAN went there were bands of people, of all ages, singing and dancing in the middle of the streets.  Thankfully there was really no traffic to speak of, because all of the alcohol used to operate the vehicles was being drunk to get people in the festive spirit.  People were saying something like “bi-lay” and I-MAN was invited to join the bands and circles in the streets and say the magic words.  Given that I-MAN was always up to sticking out like a sore thumb he agreed to participate which made the locals laugh. 

As Arat and I-MAN continued to walk they saw others types of dancing, such as young men beating each other with sticks, because sometimes they missed hitting the sticks together.  People were also throwing rupees at them and the young men were expected to contort their bodies and pick up the money in their teeth.  For the paper rupees this wasn’t such an issue, but for the coins, one can only use their imagination to see a contorted body picking up the coins with their teeth.  Somehow though, these young men, managed quite well. One person even threw a 10 kg bag of gold pieces which one of the young men managed to pick up by inhaling the bag to his nose which enabled him to bite the bag with his teeth and mouth.  I-MAN was quite astounded to see the lengths that these young men went through to get some money.  Before going home Arat and I-MAN went to see a stupa, which was very simple but had lots and lots of prayer wheels surrounding it.

After going back home and eating some lunch it was finally time to go to a village.  I-MAN was really excited about this as he remembered the villages that he had visited in India, as well as, those from his trip to the western part of Nepal.  Walking along the path to take the now trio, including Arat’s brother, to the village, they passed many fascinating children who were really excited to have their photo taken by I-MAN.  The trio made it to one village where some of the people had been drinking the alcohol and they approached I-MAN a bit too aggressively. 

It wasn’t too long before the trio said goodbye to these people and meandered across a babbling brook where they saw people bathing and washing their clothes.  This was what I-MAN was waiting to see.  The trio sat and listened to the wind ruffling the leaves and it was pure joy. 

After another brief walk, the trio found a golden arch and across from this a soon to be opened restaurant, by a friend of Arat’s brother.  Inside the golden arch one could imagine magic especially as I-MAN caught a glimpse, out of the corner of his eye, of an orange man with a cane.  First though the trio went to the soon to be opened restaurant to wait for Ahsila who would guide them through the arch.  The friend, even though the restaurant wasn’t opened yet, served some herbal tea and water, which was needed before one entered the golden arch, which would help one to truly experience the land inside.

Once Ahsila arrived the now foursome proceeded to the arch, where they all saw the orange man.  I-MAN, camera in hand, ran after the orange man, trying to photograph him in the now forest.  After a few minutes and some heavy breathing, I-MAN and his companions saw the home of the orange man who started opening the doors with keys that were dangling from the many trees in the front yard.  I-MAN, being very excited at catching up with the orange man, began to take many photographs.  When I-MAN saw the face of the orange man, with a long white  beard and gentle eyes, he felt a sense of ease and love and wanted to sit in this place for some time. 

But as time was passing it was time to go to the holy lake, with two boats, a tree and a house on an island in the middle.  As the foursome walked around the lake, Arat’s brother pointed out a place where animal sacrifices took place.  This shook I-MAN and he could hear sheep’s and goat’s bleating, chickens  crowing and other assorted animals screaming, but they were nowhere in-site.  If one could ignore the screaming, one could also hear the voices of many pilgrims as they made their way around the lake and to the temple to ring the bells. 

As the sun was starting to lower in the sky, Ahsila, suggested that the group walk to her home, high up in the hills.  On the way the foursome met a large group of villagers, who were making merriment as they paraded to the various houses on the path, trying to attract the attention of the homeowners who were not always home.  I-MAN thought that this might be a good time to take photos, but then he saw the evil spirit and his wife, waiting for him!

The evil spirit had a wooden like face and his wife was really, really short.  I-MAN thought, what a pair, and I wondered what their children look like, i.e. short, with a wooden face or body?  But the wife, although she couldn’t communicate very well, seemed nice enough and even allowed I-MAN to take a few photos.  The evil spirit was just as accommodating.

Finding nobody home, the group started singing and walking to another home and the foursome followed, unfortunately with the same results.  The group decided to cross a yellow field, and I-MAN started thinking about the Wizard of Oz and how Dorothy, Toto and the Lion were put to sleep by the Wicked Witch of the East.  Most likely nobody in I-MAN’s site knew anything about the Wizard of Oz, so he just kept this thought to himself.

Nobody fell asleep and the procession became quite magical.  As the group and foursome descended they came upon a house with a good sized courtyard and people at home!  The group settled with the women sitting and the men starting to dance like dervishes.  Soon a few women got up and  joined the men.  It was a spontaneous dance concert and all seemed to be enjoying themselves.

The evil spirit pulled I-MAN into the circle, took off his wooden face and plopped it onto I-MAN’s.  For those of you who have seen Jim Carrey in the “Mask”, this would adequately describe things.  As soon as the wooden face was kind of melded onto I-MAN’s, he became a different person and couldn’t help but fly, whirling through the sky.  The jaws of the group dropped somewhat like when one sees people that have been wearing heavy earrings all of their life and now their lobes are dropping quite near to their shoulders.  I-MAN finally dropped to the ground and to his knees, where the evil spirit pulled the wooden face off of I-MAN’s  and melded  it to his own.

I-MAN ran over to Arat and asked what had happened.  She just shook her head and smiled.  I-MAN had no idea but knew that maybe it was time to head off to Ahsila’s parent’s home. The road was fairly easy and when they made it to the home they saw Ahsila’s mother with her twin grandchildren.  Ahsila’s mother was making plates and other contraptions out of leaves and I-MAN became quite excited about the simplicity of this and the possibility for work. 

The twins had just starting walking and were leaning on a porch.  One of the twins smiled brightly at I-MAN but the other started to pout, scrunched her face and cried.  Now this had happened to I-MAN in parts of India, and also at a tenant in Arat’s sacred, home, where the children were frightened  by, most likely, his strangeness.  I-MAN peeled off very quickly and the tears stopped, and not a moment too soon, because although it was not monsoon time, this could have very well happened given the babies tears.

I-MAN ran to the back of the house and saw some goats, chickens and buffalo, with the goats trying to stand on their two hind legs and feet and walk.  I-MAN was quite overwhelmed with this as the goats approached him and started to speak in Nepali, but all that I-MAN could spit out was ali, ali Nepali barsha.  Thankfully Ahsila called the trio into her house to drink warm buffalo milk, a first for I-MAN and eat various types of roti. 

As darkness was approaching, and I-MAN didn’t want to get caught out in the wild, even though Arat and her brother knew the way home, the trio said good-bye to Ahsila’s mom, her sister and the twins.  This had to be done quite quickly as the crying twin would have started tearing again, making it quite difficult to walk down the hill. 

Ahsila, walked the trio down the hill where they all came upon a road and a large group of teenagers laying down trying to stop trucks to get alcohol, or better yet, money for the Tihar holiday.  I-MAN was somewhat in a panic as he saw a truck approaching and he shone his flashlight in the eyes of the truck driver, who soon stopped, but provided neither alcohol, as he needed to get home, or money, as he needed this for his family feast.  The teens soon got up, dusted themselves off and the trio waved good-bye heading off, what was now, through a pitch black night. 

On the way back to Arat’s family’s home, the trio passed many interesting people, including Ahsila’s father, who was coming back.  This was appropriate that the trio should meet him and it seemed as if the first day was complete.

A daal bhaat dinner was served that night, which was quite tasty, while all watched some of those Hindi TV shows.  I-MAN retired to his room and watched another movie, under the mosquito net, which continued to provide protection. 

Day 2-The next day, after getting past the spider and the dragon, and seeing the stars just before daybreak, I-MAN went in to take a shower and shave, but his razor had been de-sharpened during the night by the creatures swimming in the tubs of water.  I-MAN thought he had two choices, one, he could find  a new razor, which might be difficult given that almost every shop was closed or two he could  go to the barber next to the fruit store and get a shave.  I-MAN had to weigh this carefully as he had never had a shave from a barber and yes even though, he was quite young, he still needed to shave.

I-MAN went to get some fruit and peered in to see what was happening with the barber.  Mostly he wanted to check to see if there was also any fresh meat in the barbershop and if this was the case, he was going to rethink his shaving strategy.  He noticed a man with cream all over his face and once this was scrapped off, some paste was put on his face, kind of a cleanser.  In order to take this off the barber used, what looked to be, dental floss, as the now dried paste came off quite easily.  To top it all off the barber pounded on the man’s shoulders and head and then ejected him into the streets.

Although somewhat suspicious and given that I-MAN liked to try new things, to an extent, he sat in the barber chair, while the barber put a fresh blade into what looked like a scalpel.  As children gathered around to see what color I-MAN’s blood might be, he closed his eyes and relaxed.  In no time the process was over, especially when he was sprayed with cold water.  I-MAN had survived as his face hadn’t been this smooth in decades. 

After the morning lunch, the trio set out into town to again walk around to see what was happening.  The streets were covered with various groups of people, doing their dances and enjoying themselves.  But this time A-MAN had come along and he wanted to swing.

For the Dasain holiday I-MAN had noticed huge swings constructed everywhere he was walking.  These were made of large bamboo pieces tied together with a swing descending from the top.  Although I-MAN didn’t weigh that much he wasn’t sure if the swing would support him.  Given that A-MAN had a kind of radar and was a swing magnet, the foursome soon found what they had set out for. A-MAN, paid little attention to the gigantic bats in the trees near-by and jumped or maybe flew around 100 yards to the swing, where he started laughing as only a young superhero can.

I-MAN, Arat and her brother, couldn’t help themselves but laugh too as A-MAN’s joy was so infectious.  I-MAN’s hope was that this joy would spread around the world but he didn’t hold out much hope.  Still, in this moment, and especially when Arat, her brother and I-MAN tried the swing, there was nothing in the world but joy and the laughter of children. 

When it was time to leave, A-MAN wouldn’t hear of it and started to tantrum, lashing out at anything and everything close to him.  I-MAN knew that the situation could get quite dangerous given that A-MAN was a superhero in the making.  What I-MAN didn’t know was that Arat was quite strong.  She looked directly into A-MAN’s eyes and she seemed to hypnotize him.  Very suddenly A-MAN floated into the waiting arms of his auntie, Arat, and that was that. 

The walk continued throughout Iahrog, past many dancers, beautiful children and people enjoying the Tihar holiday. There still wasn’t much action, but people were happy.  As they approached Arat’s family’s home, I-MAN was already thinking about daal bhaat. 

That evening I-MAN wanted to find out more about A-MAN and although there wasn’t much conversation there seemed to be some unconscious understanding.  When I-MAN offered his laptop to A-MAN, the younger superhero immediately knew what to do, playing games, finding photos and videos.  It was as if A-MAN had been born next to a laptop.  I-MAN came to find out that A-MAN’s mother worked for a computer company, besides taking care of the household tasks, and apparently her mind had merged with her son’s.  To I-MAN this seemed quite remarkable, but he took it for what it was, realizing deep down, that A-MAN was of the same blood as him. 

Day 3-Was another shining morning and it was suggested to make a movie of Arat and her family, given that this didn’t exist.  I-MAN asked everyone to sit down, but then had to ask for some kind of action.  This movie was important, and although some of Arat’s family members were not there, living overseas and such, this was an opportunity to have in the same frames, Aarat’s mother, her auntie, her brother and wife, A-MAN and herself.  For I-MAN it had deep meaning, as Arat’s father had slipped away to another world earlier during the year.  Although there was great pain at this mystery, which undoubtedly there always is,  Arat and her family were working on recovery.  This showed itself a number of times, especially when a tikka was put on the father’s photo prominently displayed in the living room.

The move turned out to be about five minutes and even the auntie, although she had decided long ago to not listen nor speak, was laughing as she could sense what was happening.  This turned out to be one of those moments when the universal chills flowed through everyone, as one could really notice this in everybody’s eyes. Once the movie was finished, it was watched numerous times on the home computer, with the swing joy returning to the sacred house.

As the family was watching the movie, I-MAN noticed a lizard hanging out in some corn that was drying itself on a nail.  I-MAN always loved lizards and other types of crawly things, except snakes of course, but hadn’t realized how scared Arat was of these creatures.  Arat pointed out the lizard and she jumped quite high and bumped her head on the 20 foot high ceiling.  Now I-MAN was sure that A-MAN must be a super hero, as his auntie started to show some of the same qualities, although she continued to be scared of lizards.

Today would be a continuation of previous days but this time there was lots of dancing, including the famous peacock dance, and especially with I-MAN and Ahsila’s sister, who wore a lovely brown sari and who was a dancer of some note.  It was somewhat silly as I-MAN tried to keep up with the gorgeous dancing in every nook and cranny in town.  Although A-MAN wanted to  swing, this wasn’t to happen, as instead I-MAN gave A-MAN his camera and of course he turned out to be a wonderful photographer.  But this is what I-MAN came to expect.  To make things even more special Arat’s auntie and mother were also out watching the festivities.  It was again another moment of pure joy, something that we don’t always recognize, but on the whole, need to.  When everyone made it back to Arat’s home, Ahsila, her sister and I-MAN formed a trio and were snapping their fingers to some mysterious song, playing in I-MAN’s head.

That night I-MAN made dinner, his usual, after visiting a fresh vegetable market.  The potatoes unfortunately wouldn’t brown to become real aloo chips for Arat, who was known in some circles as Ms. Potato Head, but the family forgave I-MAN, especially Arat’s mom who ate them all.

Day 4-The morning started with Ahsila, bringing some fresh buffalo milk to Arat’s home and this was most appreciated given the distance.  But as I-MAN came to find out, Ahsila, who worshipped Sponge Bob Square Pants, noting this on the shirt that she wore 24 hours every day, always had a smile on her face.  I-MAN wondered how long this would continue, i.e. not wearing the t-shirt, but the smiling face, as he knew that this was not easy to maintain.

On this, the final day, there would be more walking, more swings, break dancing from a troupe of Nepali boys and the leaving.  Due to the holidays, finding a busy was not that simple.  Arat and I-MAN had planned on leaving Day 4 in the morning but everything was full so they decided to take a night bus.  I-MAN was somewhat apprehensive, given the roads and the drivers, but ok, it would only be for 12 hours.

The bus was overflowing, this time with many more peacocks on the inside.  Arat was to sit in the cab with her knees hugged tightly to her chest.  I-MAN was one row from the back in an area where bouncing and no shocks is part of life.  I-MAN noticed a big steel speaker directly above him attached to the luggage rack.  He wondered why this was placed here given the bouncing.  He would later come to find out.

I-MAN got as low as he could in the seat to avoid the speaker, but alas, one bump, one huge smack and blood.  For a second I-MAN took one of the peacocks and rubbed it against his forehead to dry the blood, but the bird only started screaming so I-MAN threw it at the ticket taker and said please get my friend.  I-MAN took out a tissue and noticed it turning red, wondering if he might black out in the back seat in the middle of Nepal, well at least, they were in the Terrai.  Eventually I-MAN took a Band-Aid from the man in the seat next to his and the bleeding seemed to stop.

At the next stop, I-MAN found Arat and asked her to please clean the cut   Arat’s face told I-MAN that this wasn’t an ordinary cut and given the bump and hit, I-MAN knew that it wasn’t.  As a fresh Band-Aid was placed on the cut and while waiting to use the so-called toilets, both Arat and I-MAN heard some bleating coming from the back of another bus. Sure enough some men were trying to get the goats out of the back space.  I-MAN thought that even though his seat was also at the back of the bus, with a speaker in front of him, he’d rather ride this way than that of the goats.   

After a night of little sleeping, given the breeze coming into the bus, the loud music, which I-MAN finally got turned off and I-MAN’s paranoia regarding bumping his head again, Arat and I-MAN arrived back in KTM at 7 AM.  As I-MAN departed from the bus he heard the speaker saying something like, “got another foreigner, boy are they stupid”.  What the speaker didn’t know is that I-MAN had loosened the screws holding the speaker to the luggage rack and that the next time a bump was hit the speaker would go flying.   Arat and I-MAN hopped into a cab and I-MAN was dropped off first, longing for a hot shower, which was awaiting him.

I-MAN peeled off the Band-Aid and knew that he had to get to the International Clinic, but first there was a stop at a Jewelry store with some friends.  I-MAN was having trouble juxtaposing his recent trip with the Jewelry store, but he accepted it.  At the Clinic the kindly doctor said, well we can’t give you stitches now, but the scar shouldn’t be too bad.  I-MAN continued to cover the wound through the following week where he directed a Flash Mob at a 5 star hotel for Himalaya’s TV’s second anniversary.

After this it was enough to see what it looked like and the swelling started going down, but throughout the rest of his life I-MAN would always be able to remember this trip for the scar over his left eye and knowing that he had been “Wel-com(ed) to Reality”.  

I-MAN does not find wild pork

Although I-MAN could fly, he had heard a lot about trekking in Nepal, something apparently invented by the many people who wanted to see the beauty of the country, but only for a short period of time.  Usually these trekkers brought large packs of stuff, so that they might stay warm while looking for snow covered peaks.  But I-MAN was feeling kind of tired as he hadn’t been exercising much and he thought, that after being invited by his friend  Unhsib, on a “relatively easy one day trek”, starting at Budhanilkantha Temple and going into the Shivapuri Forest, that he would try it. 

Since I-MAN always liked to take public transportation, he decided to meet up with Unhsib, his wife and two other trekkers at the starting point.  I-MAN noticed long lines to see the statue in the water.   But there were other things to do, such as, check out the bathroom behind the Temple where the statue was.  And as these things go, it was comparatively clean.  After this short stop and knowing that there wouldn’t be too many bathrooms in the forest, except for as Unhsib said, the international kind, which I-MAN wasn’t clear about, and for now would just let it go, the trekkers started on their journey. 

The four men and one women set off on a road, which led to the Forest.  Upon getting to the entrance, after a few kilometers, there was the usual ticket window with the locals paying 10 rupees, but there were two types of tickets for foreigners, there were foreigners and other foreigners.  Well I-MAN having been in Nepal for some time knew that he was not one of those other foreigners, but was a foreigner.  Although I-MAN tried to bargain and indicate that he was living in Nepal for some time, he paid the 250 rupees and went to the main gate manned by a rather large camouflaged policeman.  The obligatory filling in a form with name, mobile, time-in and signature took place, but unlike other times, I-MAN was provided with a signed picture of the PM, with a bubble stating, “Welcome to Shivapuri Forest, please take care and do not hike alone as there are a lot of wild pork”. 

I-MAN being predominantly a non-meat eater, was curious about what was  “wild pork”.  For now he let this go and along with his fellow trekkers, found the last vestige of a toilet, and the traveler were on their way.  The walk was pleasant, but the trekkers started noticing many steps, one after another, then next one being higher than the last.  I-MAN felt his heart pumping, which was a good sign, i.e., knowing that it was still there and in one piece. 

Unhsib kept talking about taking large gulps of fresh air, which would last for about a week, given that I-MAN was living in Kathmandu, an area that was known for its pollution.  Well, this wasn’t particularly an issue, as I-MAN was gulping as much of the air as possible. 

I-MAN decided that he would start leaping up those stairs, which seemed unending.  I-MAN wondered why there were so many stairs in the forest, as he thought that trekking meant walking on a dirt path, but given that there were many dirt paths in Kathmandu, where maybe there might have been sidewalks, this all made sense. 

I-MAN stopped dead in his tracks mid-way between the 569^th and 570^th stair as he heard something and thought that it might be wild pork.  He motioned to his fellow trekkers to be quiet and stared into the forest.  Although I-MAN had never seen a wild pork before he had formulated some idea of what it might look like, as in his past life he had at least eaten pork, mostly in the form of long lean multi-brownish strips, known as bacon.  I-MAN imagined many of these bacon strips pasted together so that they looked quite wild, maybe long black hair coming from them, probably Rastafarian style.  He wondered though how this thing might walk or run or possibly even fly.  But as I-MAN looked again all that he could see was a peacock, cawing and running through the forest

I-MAN felt quite disappointed and took some refreshment as the others said, don’t worry we’ll see some other wild beasts, possibly even tigers and monkeys, but certainly no elephants.  That was enough to get I-MAN and the group going again, as they looked upwards towards at least 1000 more steps, but in reality, nobody really knew when they might get to the peak. 

Finally though after the 1790^th step they reached the peak and I-MAN collapsed in a heap as boxes of Kit-Kats were passed out.  I-MAN thought this quite funny and wondered what he would do with a minimum of 35 of the chocolate covered wafer bars.  I-MAN preferred Twix and if he was going to eat this many bars and get sick, it really did have to be worth it.  He especially thought about the fact that there were only international bathrooms in this area and not much water.  Fortunately, when he opened his box he found only one Snickers bar, two bananas, an apple, some digestive biscuits with cream cheese spread and mango juice.  I-MAN breathed a long sigh of relief and ate up and then laid down. 

I-MAN was awoken to people chanting something about Chairman Mao and as he sat up he could see people waving little red books.  I-MAN was ready to defend the Shivapuri peak but then noticed that all of these people had cameras and were busy snapping photos of one another and everything else that they could see.  The guys proved to be quite friendly and wanted to take photos with the trekkers and of course they obliged.  As the groups set off in separate directions and waved good-bye, I-MAN was glad that he was on the way down the mountain.

I-MAN even had so much energy, most likely from the Snickers bar, the first one that he had probably eaten in many years, that he started screaming like a mountain goat.  The trekkers had still not seen any wild pork,  nor would they given the goat like screaming, but they did start to see many multi-colored prayer flags.  This brought a sense of peace to all, but especially to I-MAN as that Snickers bar had started its own screaming in his stomach.  There was hope though as a monastery was said to be close by. 

More and more prayer flags, a few more steps but the monastery seemed to be a long ways down the mountain.  Finally, the trekkers walked through the doors of the monastery and there on the backside was a large sign with the word TO-LET.  I-MAN thought, did they leave out the “I” or did this really mean a place for rent.  No matter as I-MAN dashed into what was a bathroom but with a toilet and a big bucket, full of big brown things.  I-MAN just closed his eyes and used the toilet, thank goodness.

The monastery grounds were beautiful and I-MAN looked into the temples, and decided to lay down where he fell into a deep sleep, dreaming of past lives in a place called Setsacnal, where there was a lot of food, but some really mean people, who were just waiting for I-MAN to fall on his face, so that they could throw a lot of rotting tomatoes at him.  I-MAN had forgotten about this place, but somehow the peace of the monastery reawakened something in him.

The trekkers decided that they had had enough and walked back to the Shivapuri ticket booth where they signed out of the Forest.  A car waited for the trekkers and they let I-MAN off so that he could take his bus back to his home. 

I-MAN, although his legs felt like jelly, walked a bit more and saw the colors that make this part of the world so beautiful, a place that I-MAN could never, ever get enough of, no matter how hard he tried.  Nepal would never be a place to tire of, as there were always more unexpected beauties, lurking in every little crevice.

That night I-MAN dreamt about singing to some music that, with the touch of a button on a microphone would flip on pictures of places in the Philippines.  I-MAN was not at all sure what it all meant and thought it quite strange, but  he didn’t think much about it, because he knew that, at least, in this incarnation, he would not be a singer.   

I-MAN visits Kopan

As  he hadn’t truly rested in quite some time, I-MAN was really looking forward to the Dasain Festival as a time to relax.    As of late, he always seemed to be tired, maybe worrying a bit too much about life, in general.  He knew that he and a few others would stay in KTM during the Festival while most everyone else would leave to visit their families in other parts of Nepal, and possibly even in India. 

I-MAN always had more work to do and he thought that maybe he could catch up a bit during his relaxation time, but he also knew that he needed to have some fun and peace. One thing that he immediately did was to visit, with his friend  Enomis,  Mick Jagger’s Rolling Stones Restaurant in KTM called “Brown Sugar”.  After visiting and not seeing Mick, he was somewhat disappointed, but given the taste and lightness of the whole wheat apple and banana pancakes he was really in heaven.

I-MAN also decided to go with some friends, Miw and  Enelra to visit a Monastery called Kopan and a really large Nepali multi-eyed stupa called Boudhanath, or Big B. I-MAN thought that at least some other friends would come but they got caught up in a mysterious universe called Butterflies (are) Free and they were not heard from again as they just must of got lost, like the J. Giles Band.  I-MAN really didn’t understand BaF, so he just tried to stop thinking about it and have a good time.   

I-MAN wanted to visit Kopan because he had seen this Monastery in a movie called “Unmistaken Child” about the search for a baby Lama to take over for an old one who had died.  The movie was recommended  by a cousin who was becoming a monk, somewhere in the United States.  After seeing the movie and determining that a lot of it took place at this Kopan Monastery, I-MAN knew that he had to go for a visit. 

The first step though was to determine how to get to Boudhanath where the “trek” to the Monastery would begin and end.  This was a challenge due to the fact that almost everyone had left KTM, well maybe some taxi drivers were still around, trying to prey upon those who had no other transportation, and it would be quite a walk.  I-MAN really didn’t want to fly because for those few staying in KTM they might think that he was some sort of freak and might try to “kite” him.  This would mean that he would be attacked by all of the kites that were being flown to ask the heavens not to send any more rain, at least not until next year.   I-MAN really didn’t understand this because without more rain, the Stsioam would cause more power outages but there wasn’t much to do about this situation, except, accept. 

Just as I-MAN and Miw were out of ideas Enelra was seen above their heads in a large blue zeppelin with the words Open Sesame Violet emblazoned in pink letters.    I-MAN and Miw were quite surprised to see this as they were thinking that they’d have to play the kati rupiya game with the remaining taxi drivers, and they knew that given the fact that most people were out of KTM it might cost a lot of rupees.

Given that the zeppelin was a dark blue the words really stood out.  Miw looked at I-MAN and I-MAN returned the favor and they both started laughing hysterically.  Before I-MAN could say, “what the “  Miw held up his hand and in his always wise demeanor,  and with a twirl of his right hand, said, “after you”. 

I-MAN really didn’t know how he would get up to the zeppelin, but thankfully Enelra sent down a long hose kind of thing which scooped I-MAN and Miw up to the zeppelin in a matter of seconds.  Enelra upon seeing the two said, “fasten your belt’s and let’s go the big “B” stupa”.  In a matter of minutes the trio were hovering over the stupa, marked by a huge black and yellow bumblebee fluttering over its top. 

The question though was where to “park” the zeppelin as they wanted to get some exercise and hike up to Kopan.   This however was not as difficult as at first thought.  Since most people were out of KTM there were plenty of spaces in the zeppelin parking lot adjacent to the big B stupa. 

As they walked into the big B, I-Man felt as if he was in another world.  The buildings around the stupa were in pristine condition and there were many people, in maroon colored clothes walking clock wise around the stupa.  At one point Miw was lost with the other people, as he was somehow also wearing a maroon colored shirt, but with white pants. There were even very clean restaurant toilets, and as we know from I-MANs first chapter in Nepal, this was greatly important.  

The trio decided to start their ascent to Kopan, a journey which I-MAN thought would be relatively easy, given the map at the Big B, and take about an hour.  At every turn in the road of which there were many, but didn’t show up on the map at Big B, the trio would ask which way to Kopan.  People would smile and point.

It wasn’t too bad and the scenery was pastoral.  But the trio didn’t feel like they were getting closer and then they came upon a magic man, who knew the way.  The man said that he was a teacher and led them in the general direction and pointed across an agricultural field.  The trio crossed the field and went past signpost people, smiling and pointing the way to Kopan.

Finally the trio were under Kopan and another magic man pointed up some stairs which led directly to the entrance.  At the entrance gate the trio had to pass through a heavily guarded LIBAN MTA.  I-MAN had come upon these deadly creatures before and whipped out his special card and injected it directly into the eye of the LIBAN MTA and the gate opened. 

Upon gaining entrance the trio saw many closely shaved maroon colored flowing robes, with large smiles and eyes opened to the universe.  They each carried a placard, which stated, “KOPAN-here you will find peace, understanding and wisdom.  Remain open to whatever you see, feel, touch, smell and taste.  Remember to always remove your shoes and never stop smiling.”  Upon catching a glimpse of this placard which was also pasted close to the LIBAN MTA, the trio felt a sense of lightness, as if they were transported to a place, far from earth. 

The three friends glided along the path as if they had no feet, as if their bodies had no weight and they entered a temple, where they found a large smiling Buddha and a woman crying for she was caught up in the beauty of all that she saw, felt, touched, smelled and tasted.  The three rested and also embraced all that they sensed.  Outside of the temple they drifted onto a path where they saw hundreds upon hundreds of buddhas  resting comfortably in the afternoon sun.  Again the friends rested and breathed in all that was there. 

Finally though it was time to start the descent, but this time the trio would take a longer, but more regular road.  The path was not as windy and soon enough they were back at the Big B, marveling again at the number of maroon clothes walking clockwise and praying near the many eyed stupa. 

The zeppelin was still in its parking place as the three got in and went back to their homes.  I-MAN knew that something special had happened.  He draped the Kopan prayer flags in his room, near the butterfly kite that had almost “kited” him.  He put up the  beautiful cloth hanging near the prayer flags and stuck photos of some Lamas on his wall.  That night, and for those to come, he would sleep peacefully with the watchful eyes of Kopan all around his bedroom.    

I-MAN Thinks About Fairness

I-MAN had been thinking a lot about fairness today.  He was wondering if there really was such a thing, especially in the countries that he had chosen to live in since  2009 or for that matter in any country.  He was remembering all the people that he had seen living on the street, especially today when he saw a few people with oozing sores from their feet and a kind of man who had a severe case of Elephantiasis, with people crowding around him and the man using his disease to make some money.   

Maybe it was just the thought that  he tried to be fair, in his own way, but of course this “fairness” was from his perspective.  I-MAN knew that there were many multi-dimensional layers and situations which people thought were fair or unfair.  Some had huge impacts, some much smaller depending on who was being “faired” or “un-faired”. Particularly today, in a somewhat small way, but in a way that can lead to bigger things, maybe even resentment, he felt that he had been “un-faired”.  In some small sense he was wondering why the un-fairness of the situation wasn’t seen in the same way that he might in order to make things fair.  He knew deep down that this was unrealistic given his experience and where he had grown up over the years and felt a little bit bad about the entire situation.  But he also knew that his situation would be seen differently depending on one’s life experience.   

In the short-term end I-MAN thought that he should let the situation go and move on, but as with many things that have occurred in his life over more than 500 years, he intended to learn a lesson and not treat others in the way in which he felt he had been treated.  But he also thought that this was partly his ego talking and he knew something about that.  I-MAN also  knew that he was trying his best to continually treat others with as much fairness as possible, although he knew at times that he had failed.  He promised himself to continue to feel this un-fairness whenever it came up and learn what he could from the situation, but more importantly to apply it to the people who he would continue to meet and love and cherish. 

I-MAN Comes to Nepal

I-MAN the Jewish Indian superhero wanted to find further adventures and although his India chapters were not yet finished he decided to jump into Nepal.  He knew that somehow the Nepali authorities would give him the visa that he needed even if he had to apply for a temporary tourist type.  He really didn’t want to be bothered with all of this as he knew from having previously been in Nepal, many, many years ago, that the officials there would welcome him.

I-MAN really wanted to see the country although he would primarily be staying in the capitol city of Kathmandu.  He was given an opportunity through a really great organization called Clouds (are) Secure (in) Resting Comfortably, to travel by land in one of the new Super Hyped-Up Vehicles.  The problem though, as I-MAN came to know, was that the roads that were used were not built for the Super Hyped-Up Vehicles.  As I-MAN came to say quite a bit, “ke garne” or what to do?  He also reverted back to a time when he said the phrase, “Oh MY GOD” at everything that he saw, because to his eyes things were quite different from his home in Seattle.  (This phrase OMG for short, of course, was connected to a place known as the San Fernando Valley in southern California, but that is another story)

The trip was supposed to start quite early on a Friday morning, but a rock ‘n roll band named “Eat the Rich” decided to call a “bandha” or strike forcing the delay of the trip.  Finally, as the trip started, numerous people piled into the vehicle, causing the first of the “OH MY GOD” utterances. These included the Big Kuhana or Tagaj, a man with a true passion for helping the poor and as I-MAN would come to find out a man who loved to snore, Ateeg, the woman with the Nepali rupees, who loved checking accounts, Itoyj, the youngster among the group with a bright, bright future and a truly wonderful smile, the driver Sakiv, a former race car driver who truly enjoyed the challenge of driving on Nepali roads and Meek, a kind of consultant with a wonderful working background, full of laughs, as well as, another man who loved to snore.  There were also other assorted people, but they would come and go during the trip.   I-MAN had been under the impression that this would be a trip with a few people, but as he came to find out, magic, changes and newness are always occurring in Nepal.  It was best to be adaptable, but at least they were off.

As they drove through the streets of Kathmandu, they started picking up more and more people of all different shapes and sizes.  There were even a few animals, which were placed delicately on the roof by Sakiv.  When one person wanted to bring a camel they just tied him to the back of the elephant’s tail who was owned by the next to last person to push his way into the vehicle.  As you can imagine the Vehicle was quite weighted down, but never-the-less everyone was happy as they climbed the hill leading out of the Kat Valley.  By now of course, I-MAN had uttered at minimum, no less than 100 OMG’s.  It was really becoming quite a habit as commented on by his Nepali friends in the Vehicle.

The Vehicle did have to stop quite often and go very slowly due to the road which had many rocks, cows, goats, dogs, people, motorcycles, trucks, buses traveling at varied speeds and directions.  I-MAN had great feelings that he really might be on another planet than his Seattle home.  Sometimes he thought that he was in Oz, given the somewhat “emerald” fields of rice paddies planted as far as the eye could see.  Once the Vehicle was out of the Valley the camel and elephant were let go as they could travel faster on their own then being tied to the back of Vehicle.  They were also coughing quite a lot due to the black stuff coming out of many cars, but also the trucks and buses.  The Vehicle and animals therefore parted ways, with the animals making a beeline for the mud buffalo mud hole directly below the large purple N-Cell sign at the top of the Himalayas.

Finally a first big stop, although short, was going to be made, because three of the passengers were going to be dropped off at a place in the woods called the Natural Local Real Food (place).  This was quite welcomed by I-MAN as now there would be more room for the one driver and five passengers. 

Traveling was still quite slow, especially as the Vehicle went higher and higher, almost touching the clouds.  Finally the Park Plaza Hotel was sited and everyone found out who they might room with, and especially for I-MAN this was an opportunity to check out the bathroom which he had made a habit of doing ever since he was born way back in India. (I-MAN thought that the best part about being born and living for so long in India was the Toilet Museum in Delhi, but that comes in another chapter. Up to this point, the toilets had been the side of the road, which felt just fine to I-MAN as he liked peeing into the breeze).  I-MAN wanted to know if he would have a western toilet and or squat one, where every time he sat down he thought about how old people or even someone with a disability might use this. 

When I-MAN saw the sign noting the Park Plaza he immediately thought of the times that he had spent in New York City with his cousins, aunt and uncle and grandparents.  I-MAN had a dreamy look in his eyes, thinking about the pizza that he might order at the Park Plaza Restaurant.  But alas the Park Plaza was nothing like the one in NYC and they settled for daal bhaat, a staple of Nepal, twice a day.  Being born in India, but having lived in the US for some time, I-MAN really liked his cereal with cold milk in the mornings, but ke garne, he would find alternatives, mainly apples and bananas and his daily mixture of raisins, almonds and cashew pieces, just to keep him a bit happy.  I-MAN actually would just settle for a hotel with a restaurant with a menu.

The first morning the group woke up much earlier than what I-MAN was used to.   He knew that he needed his sleep being a growing teenager.  The drive was very lovely and there didn’t seem to be too many people in the Vehicle, although one never knew when people would just magically appear on the seat next to him.  In order to get to the village for the first meeting, the Vehicle had to go over, given the amount of rain, some rather rough muddy terrain. There was even a river to cross, which didn’t look too deadly.  The group made it to the Village and had a wonderful meeting with a large number of poor women, who only wanted to be treated as equals and own a small plot of land to grow a bit of food for their families. 

As I-MAN came to find out many of the people that the group met with were day laborers, earning about 200 rupees/day, or tenant farmers having to give about 50% of what they grew to the land owners, or people in debt for generations due to their ancestors trust of their landlords, and a general lack of regard for those outside of the top people’s families.  Somehow the really rich guys were getting richer while the poor eked out a living.  But the people were happy and they knew that they had to take their rights as farmers and being simple people just wanting to live their lives, see their children grow, become grandparents and when it was over go peacefully.  These people knew about the simple pleasures of life and probably didn’t own one of the new I-phones, although maybe that was changing for the younger generation who didn’t hold out much hope for tilling a plot of land.  In fact many of them and some of their parents headed to the magical land of India, where they thought that they could earn a living.  Unfortunately, this meant the break-up of many families, but that couldn’t be considered too highly when one is just trying to have enough food to keep their children’s bellies full. 

When the meeting ended the group left in the Vehicle and sure enough got stuck in a mud hole.  As they called “all for one” and “one for all” they tried to push the Vehicle out of the hole.  As the left rear wheel spun without any traction I-MAN was splattered with mud as everyone laughed.   But I-MAN knew that it was all in good fun and fully participated because he thought that somehow it might bring him closer to those that he was trying to work with and he really wanted to be involved in somehow helping to “overcome poverty”.  A number of people from the Village turned out to watch the scene as it was good entertainment, probably because there weren’t many movie theatres or computers for downloading in the area.  After about an hour the Vehicle moved and everyone piled in feeling very happy from the day.  The next step was to cross back over the river to get to the new hotel.

When they got to the river bank, cars were stopped and people were on the shore waiting for someone to move.  During the day the water had risen but as this was the only way to cross to the town everyone was just waiting for an opening. But then some brave souls, decided to try to wade through and sure enough they made it.  Then someone pushed their motorcycle which became kind of a subcycle as it was submerged in the water, but they made it.  Then a car loaded with lots and lots of people, including some on the roof, tried to make it and although it looked to I-MAN as if they would fall over they also made it.  But then a car got stuck and a tractor had to be called in to push it out.  The scene was very entertaining as long as the group was safe on the river bank, but they had to get across. 

I-MAN knew that there was some risk but after numerous vehicles, people, motorcycles and a man with about five chickens in each hand made it, it was time to cross.  The group loaded up, made it half way across but then hit a dip in the river and they were stuck.  They all sat stunned for a minute or so but they also noticed that water was starting to come into the vehicle.  I-MAN being the super hero that he was, didn’t panic but knew that the situation might become dangerous and said, “open the door” and get out”.  At first there was hesitation, but then one of the passengers a young woman named  Itoyj, kicked open the door and said, “let’s get the heck out of here”.  As I-MAN really didn’t understand Nepali, he thought this must have been what she said.  Fortunately, everyone safely piled out as people from the river banks also came to help. 

Since, as of yet, I-MAN hadn’t used his superpowers in Nepal, he decided just to jump into the water and try to get the suitcases out of the Vehicle, but they were quite stuck.  Meanwhile, water was going over the engine.  The car was at an angle, so that the passenger or left side was tilted towards the rushing water.  I-MAN thought fast and decided that it was time to use some of his super powers; he jumped on top of the Vehicle and pulled it out to the river bank.  He knew however that there was some damage and that the Vehicle needed to dry out.  It was decided to leave the Vehicle on the river bank, because it still needed to get across.  Nobody actually saw I-MAN pull the car out but noticed that somehow it had been safely deposited on the river bank.

The next step though was to get the group across to the other side so that a hotel could be found where everyone could dry off and eat.  There just happened to be another vehicle waiting for the right time to assist some helpless people get across the river, and for the owners to make some Nepali rupees.  As the group piled in the driver revved up the engine but unbeknownst to the passengers, I-MAN used some of his super powers to help the vehicle get across.  There was no way that this vehicle would also get stuck as night had fallen and it was quite dark. 

Fortunately the group had made it to the opposite river bank and then drove to the next hotel where they tried to wash their already wet clothes and dry off the clothes that had been in the back seat where the water had accumulated.  (I-MAN had been fortunate, but his camera had decided to go swimming and shoot some underwater photos but it didn’t know that it wasn’t water proof, and it decided that after three years in India and a few months in the US and in Nepal it had had enough of this life.  Maybe it would reincarnate as an underwater camera.  RIP dear Nikon P-80.).  After showering and breathing, the group gathered in the menu less restaurant for daal bhaat.  Prior to this, I-MAN was starting to salivate profusely as he thought about a nice thick veggie pizza, but he gave in and ate a bit of the daal bhaat. 

Of course I-MAN understood that the meal also came with veggies, so he was quite happy.  Unfortunately he also really wanted ice cream, but the town had already shut down, ke garne.  There was plenty of liquor however everywhere in fact, that one looked, but I-MAN not even being a tea-totaler just went to his room.  He heard a bit of snoring from his roommate but that didn’t really matter as he was totally exhausted.

The next morning the group got up early again for the next day of driving.  A new vehicle and a driver had to be rented as the Vehicle was drying out and waiting to be taken to an expert mechanic on the other side of the river.  The new driver’s name was Seelis and he also had a Super Hyped-Up Vehicle. 

The group really wanted to cover a lot of territory and meet up with a wide variety of the poor who just wanted a piece of land for themselves.  There were also actually laws so that the poor could get land, but how would they implement these?  There were many ideas, but the going was slow. 

The group decided to have some lunch in one of the villages and this was a grand idea as daal bhaat was being served.  I-MAN being always curious about the toilet facilities asked to go and he was told to get a jug of water from the village pump and walk to the jungle.  I-MAN probably said his maybe 1000^th OMG, but he got the jug and walked with a young guide who indicated that he was a Tilad, a special class of person in Nepal, to show him the way.  Finally I-MAN was able to come back for his meal, which was quite good as daal  bhaat goes.  (What is daal bhaat, well it is rice with dal, some veggies, a pepper if one is so inclined, but it is eaten about twice/day throughout Nepal, mainly with one’s right hand, as the left is used for washing after going into the jungle.  Of course some westerners do prefer a spoon, but one should do like everyone else when one is in another place, isn’t it). 

After lunch another good meeting was held with men and women.  Again it was time to move on.  It was therefore time to get stuck again in the mud.  This was definitely not much of a road and there was a nice deep hole which the rented vehicle decided to jump into.  Fortunately there  was a nice house right to the side of the hole with a really good piece of wood, which the group would use to get the car out.  But alas the owner of the house was a wicked old witch and started screaming at the group that the road was not for vehicles.  (I-MAN thought about Dorothy when she said to Toto, “We’re Not in Kansas Anymore, isn’t it).

A crowd began to gather as the men found lots of rocks to put under that left rear wheel once it was jacked up by the driver, Seelis.  The mud was pretty deep at the tire and I-MAN who was really getting used to the daily mud bath, jumped in, but had nothing really good to say.  He knew that he could pick the vehicle up but what good would that do?  So there was lots of pushing and pulling and finally the vehicle was freed once again from the mud prison, that seemed to pop up in the most usual places, such as roads that weren’t paved.  The group decided that they had had enough and after washing off in a stream, and petting a cute white puppy made their way for the next hotel.

The next day, another early start, but there was no mud.  More villages and poor people were located and there was lots and lots of talking and even some writing about the further actions that everyone would take to obtain land.  More and more people kept piling into the rented vehicle and even one Nepali from the original organization, CSRC, magically appeared one night at a hotel that had a menu at their restaurant.  There was even a computer that I-MAN used to check up on his e-mails.  The only issue was that in the morning I-MAN wanted cold milk with his corn flakes but the waiters only could manage to understand hot.  Finally though, this did get worked out.

I-MAN was getting used to changing roommates at each hotel as he wanted to experience the various kinds of snoring that Nepali men seem to inevitably make.  Fortunately, the snoring didn’t really bother I-MAN and he was quite secure just to note the various pitches produced out of the roommates.  Snoring also helped I-MAN to have good dreams about eating pizza, once back in KAT.

Almost next to the last visit, the travelers stayed in a town called Tahkrus where I-MAN had wanted to meet some new friends.  Sure enough there was a wonderful festival occurring called Tees, where all of the women dressed in red and danced, hoping that this would lead to finding a good Nepali husband who owned some land.  The name of the hotel that the group stayed at was Peace Land MLK-Gandhi.  It was perfect for the travelers from Clouds (are) Secure (in) Resting Comfortably, since all they wanted was to help the poor obtain land through a very non-violent type of intervention.

I-MAN called his new friend, named Raa and they met at the clock tower in Tahkrus.  Raa was with two friends from India, who had a Nepali father and an Indian mother.  They all proceeded to watch the Tees dancing and then went to Raa’s home where they met up with  Acceber and Hterag.  This was great fun for I-MAN as he really just wanted to speak English for some time.  His Hindi had become quite rusty and his Nepali continued to be, well, what can one really say?

After spending some time at the home, Raa, I-MAN and the two Indian friends proceeded, in the total darkness to the friend’s home where they were greeted in wonderful fashion by the Nepali father and Indian mother.  They then enjoyed a meal of daal bhaat, which tasted a bit different given that it was home cooked.  Once this was finished I-MAN proceeded on the back of a motorcycle back to Peace Land MLK-Gandhi for a restful sleep and some new snoring.

The next morning the group left for what was to be the last night.  The original Vehicle was fixed and would meet the group on a road in the darkness.  After Seelis dropped the group off, as he needed to proceed to Kat to pick up a friend and then was headed for some Middle Eastern country to drive a large circus vehicle and make lots of money, Sakiv magically appeared.  I-MAN although not used to the magic was still happy to see the Vehicle and of course, Sakiv. 

More meetings occurred and the hotel that night was menu less meaning that daal bhaat would be eaten again, but this was fine as long as they were all away from the smokers, drinking alcohol.  Of course, there was the smell of fresh paint, but ke garne.

Finally it was the last day and everyone awoke to a 6:15 start. There had to be at least one more adventure and sure enough, as the group was driving the traffic suddenly came to a stand-still. All they saw were lots of trucks backed up for at least 5 km, where it seemed as if people had been sleeping for days.  Since cars weren’t coming from the other direction, the smaller vehicles decided to avoid the trucks and speed to the bridge where the problem seemed to be occurring.  Alas, a gigantic truck had broken its way from the bridge and started speeding its way towards the smaller vehicles, almost ready to gobble them up.  I-MAN knew this was his time, jumping out of the Vehicle, he picked up the truck and placed it safely out of the way of the cars who continued to drive obliviously towards the root of the problem, a one way bridge. 

I-MAN noticed that the second lane was being built and knew that the trucks and cars would be in line for days unless he acted quickly.  With incredible speed he moved the tractors during the construction and within a matter of minutes the second land had  been built and the trucks, cars, motorcycles, cows, goats, donkeys started to move to thunderous applause.  Nobody really knew what happened but they were all happily on their way. 

On its final day, the Vehicle was a little crowded as 54 pounds of local apples had been purchased to be divided amongst the group.  I-MAN had his first real stomach issues, along with a sore throat and was in one of his moods.  A stop was made to visit some more people and the driving continued.  It was bumpy and then more people were picked up, the camel and elephant were met and tied back to the vehicle and finally around 10 PM I-MAN was home. 

The trip had been quite a learning experience for the young I-MAN, but he was ready to go and do it again, although maybe next time it would be somewhat different.  I-MAN really loved the adventures and knew that he would continue to make a home for himself in Nepal.

Postcript-I-MAN having been home for almost a week developed quite a cold, but being ever the opportunist thought what could he do with all of the stuff that seemed to be flowing either in gobs or drops from his nostrils. This was especially true as he had learned, from his India experience, to hold one nostril and just blow over the sink.  He decided that more creativity and micro-enterprise was needed especially since one of the issues that he was working on had to do with secure livelihoods.

I-MAN thought about the resources that came directly from his nostrils and how there really would be very little cost in doing something with this, and it was, after all, organic.  Maybe set up a short-term manufacturing plant, because the cold and white gooey stuff wouldn’t last forever, but this was not nearly sustainable, although it might produce some short term jobs.  I-MAN was under the impression that he could fill up jars and jars with this latest cold’s offerings and maybe convert the material, after spending some time on his Sanepa rooftop, to something like super balls.  He wasn’t sure however whether they would bounce and then what really would be the purpose?  He thought that maybe he could use the gooey stuff and make necklaces, but thought better of  this as he wasn’t sure who might wear these things, especially since they were from, in his present incarnation, an American.  (and we all know what the world thinks of Americans).  He thought that it might make a good alternative to chewing tobacco, but he also knew that people probably wouldn’t like the taste and maybe the benefits would be less than that of “putting a pinch into your cheek”.  At least it probably wouldn’t produce the same kind of high. 

I-MAN just wasn’t sure, so he decided to get rid of the cold and the white gooey stuff and give it some more thought, for the next cold.  Ke garne?