Saturday Skies #Kathmandu

Basantapur #Kathmandu #Skies #Winter

Tempo Tales

What do you think of when you are inside a white-green/white-blue LPG run Tempo in Kathmandu? : Expensive ride. Comfortable journey. Or do these questions come to your mind: Why does it only have three wheels? Will it overturn if it speeds? Can it go any slower than this?

Most Tempo rides are silent. The passengers stare at men’s dull colored jackets, women’s brightly colored lipsticks or simply wonder about  the most proper place to rest one’s eyes upon. Therefore, it’s always easier to sit closer to the door and stare outside. Staring outside is fun until your eyes get tired of making eye-contact with strangers; looking at them right in the eye and wondering “Must be Karma or whatever that I am looking at them!” However, not all passengers keep their thoughts to themselves when they’re headed to work/home. My Tempo ride the day before yesterday was one of those. Three men, all strangers to one another engaged in an interesting conversation while the rest (like me) listened.

A man stepped inside the already filled Tempo in Minbhawan and the three men yelled in unison “Hey!”

“Why don’t you get on the other Tempo?” they suggested.

The new Tempo entrant was taken aback. He got off the Tempo in no time.

One of the men had a receding hairline and a frustrated tone.

No sooner we crossed Baneshwor he poured out his mind :”Why don’t they do the construction work during the night?  Why do they  have to do during the day? It’s not like the old times where people can’t work during the nights? If you come here around 1-2 pm and you can always see this construction obstructing the traffic. “

“And these vehicles. I say we shouldn’t allow vehicles of this size (tempo) to run. The government should run large buses as they do in foreign countries.”

“I agree.” another man who was all buttoned up joined in. “Jhingako tauko jatro gadi, jhingako tauko vanda thulo gadi yesto ni huncha!” ( Here, we have vehicles the size of a fly’s head and slightly bigger than that. All sizes.) These motorbikes are the cause of traffic jams. It seems as though bike riders are always in a hurry.”

“That’s why this road expansion is not going to change anything” the frustrated man continued. “The people will be the same, the drivers will stay the same. Bigger roads are not the problem, following rules is”.

“And our (Nepali) habit of leaving for the destination late is another problem. If everyone left on time, then no one would have to hurry to reach their destinations” another elderly man added.

No sooner than the Tempo crossed Nepal Art Council, Babarmahal a blue microvan zoomed past from the left. It hit the Tempo’s front door leaving it wide open. The conversation inside came to a sudden halt just like the vehicles. A policewoman arrived. The young microvan driver who was at fault couldn’t frame a sentence without using expletives. Passengers from both the vehicles got off as the drivers continued to argue.

After the collision

Reality set in. If the ‘Jhingako tauko jatro gadi’ was unable to  take us to our destinations we’d have to look for another one. They do, after all, come in all shapes and sizes!

 

Departure

I’m standing in front of this big jhola that belongs to someone else at Kalanki. the temperature when we came here was 9 degree celsius which must have risen by a few degrees.In fact, I don’t have anything meanigful to say and even if I have mom’s getting irritated seeing me ‘jhundeko in my phone’ hehe.this is just a trial post from my phone.  Adieu for now 

 

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Tughlaqabad Fort

View from Tughlaqabad (Pic by Shamima)

For the ones interested in visiting Tuglaqabad Fort in Delhi, it should be clear that it is a fort that once was. It isn’t there anymore. What remains now are the massive walls which will give you more than a hint of what existed in the past. Some people might even say ‘Haan pahad hai’ ( Yah it’s a hill) when you ask about the place. But don’t expect a hike either. Nonetheless, go there.

Situated on the outskirts of Delhi it offers a magnificent view of the city. It is no hill (for a Nepali) but on climbing the ruins you find yourself on an elevated point where you can feel the cool breeze across your face. It’s the USP of the place apart from the ruins. Destruction can indeed look very beautiful at times.Half a part of a wall, an underground passage and the massive fort wall visible from the main road make Tuglaqabad Fort what it is. Across the street lies the mausoleum of Ghiyath al-Din Tughluq.  It is a well-kept unique structure with sloping walls surrounded by green grass.Coming to think of it now the place is ironical in a way. The fort where people once lived is in ruins. The building which houses the tombs of the dead, however, is well maintained. But all of it corresponds to the fact that Delhi is a place which celebrates death. The most beautiful places here are built around tombs like Lodhi garden or tombs themselves like Humayun’s Tomb.

Hope the pictures(below) inspire you to visit the place if the text didn’t.

An Obituary to the Travelling Slippers

One among the two which made The Travelling Pair of Slippers broke on Thursday 17: 14 pm , March 3, 2011. The Travelling Slipper made for the right foot was in its 8th month of work. The real age of the slipper is unknown. The cause was twisting of the slipper against the leg support of a table, said its owner. The slipper had been in regular use since Aug 11 of last year (2010).

Bhogal: An Indian Market

Bhogal. That’s the source of my stress-buster: Vegetable Patties. I know Vegetable doesn’t grow at Modi’s pastry and that Mother Diary isn’t the correct source of milk but that’s what Bhogal makes it seem. It’s a source of just about everything the residents of Jangpura and other localities around Bhogal need. Starting from food which includes a variety of North Indian, South Indian, Nepali/ Tibetan/Chinese and Afgani cuisines to all the ingredients required to cook anything else it is home to hairdressers, tailors, bartanwallahs (utensil sellers), dry-cleaners, hardware stores, mobile stores, cloth stores, furniture stores you just name it. And if you ever feel too materialistic walking through lanes solely dedicated to one product, for instance, there is one lane here which only has tailor shops, the other lane specializes in hardware products there are temple(s), a mosque, a gurudwara, a budhha vihar and a church to visit.

Holi in Delhi

 

HOLI: A little boy seen in Asaf Ali Road

Kashi Vishwanath, Varanasi

Ardhanarishwar statue in Sampurnananda Sanskrit University, Varanasi

Varanasi has always been one of the top tourist destinations in India but for a Nepali like me it never actually ‘sounded’ like one. My impressions of the city has always been related to the Hindu belief that Kashi is THE place to die to attain Moksha (salvation). True to this belief hundreds of thousands of Hindus make it a point to come to this place at least once in their lifetime to bathe in the Ganges and worship Shiva (Lord of the Universe or Vishwanath) if not to die. And the pilgrims who visit this place make ‘People watching’ more interesting than anything else in Varanasi.