Captivating Kathmandu !

Kathmandu diary
While sitting for my CFA Level 1 examinations, I chose to sit at Kathmandu. Indian cities were not an option considering the sadistic moves of the ICFAI Institute, the naïve (if not corrupt) moves of the AICTE juxtaposed with the speed of dispute resolution in the Anglo-Saxon Jurisprudence as practiced in India.
Why Kathmandu ? Because one presumed that being the closest to India ( Gorakhpur to Kathmandu is barely 225 km), it would be the cheapest location to travel to. (On second thoughts, it was not particularly a smart move - I had to travel from Bangalore and not Gorakhpur, but too late - by then I had chosen my exam center)
The rest of the India was not particularly smart either. Some of my 'co-examinees' were from Mumbai ( a closer exam center was in Karachi- 500 nautical miles by the direct sea - a route which seems to fascinate 10 young men in the last week of November). The Calcuttans too came to Kathmandu in spite of the fact that Dhaka is just 245 km away. Chennaiites were smarter – They went to Singapore and Colombo (less popular of the two). They did not have to battle the climate, food or language as much as I had to.
First Flight Abroad !
I was on my first flight overseas ( Ok,ok, This is was not really overseas but international, nevertheless) to Kathmandu from New Delhi. You know, you still have to go to the International terminal, go through Immigration, security et al. reminding yourself that the famous IC-814 operates between the 2 cities that you were travelling currently.

After cavorting the Himalayan ranges, we land at the Tribhuvan International Airport, named after the grandfather of the deposed king Gyanendra (brother of slain King Birendra).
We landed at the Tribhuvan during the load-shedding hours. One was reminded of Lord Jeffery Archer’s comment, last August in Bangalore to promote the ‘Prisoner of Birth’. Speaking of travel in India, Archer likened the Lucknow Airport to Somalian airports 10 years ago. ( Before the aghast audience could protest, he assuaged them by saying Indian airlines like Kingfisher and Jet were the best airline in the world)
Kathmandu is the capital of the fragile secular republic ( I almost said Hindu Kingdom) of Nepal.
State of Affairs

The inexperience of the new government is telling. They have declared themselves secular. To showcase its secular credentials, the government, recently, provided a state budget to help nearly 400 Muslims go to Saudi Arabia to perform the Haj, declared Bakreid a holiday and assisted in construction of a mosque. Some people can never learn lessons from neighbous. Also, in the new-founded patriotism, the secular government ordered the replacement of the priests hailing from Udupi, in Karnataka, at the Pashupathinath temple with locals. (Aside :Is it not a wonder that Udupi priests perform at Kathmandu’s Pashupathinath, Priests at Badrinath are Namboodiri’s from Kerala and the priests officiating at Rameshwaram are from Uttar Pradesh).

The Maovadi ( as the Maoists are locally known) are driving away investment and tourism. The new government has set higher minimum wages driving away investment. They have also begun what Indian media’s latest peeve- Moral Policing- The Maoist Government has stopped nightlife at 11 pm and banned nude dances. If the hippies ever hear of what had happened to their beloved Kathmandu !!

The entrepreneurs are Indian – you will find the ubiquitous Marwadi in most shopping areas- the workers Nepali. Probably, this is partly the reason for the sub-surface angst against ‘Big Brother’ India and at attempts to remove Indian symbols - like the priests at Pashupathinath. Nepal is a nation tottering to its feet. King Gyanendra has been overthrown, the tallest leader Girija Prasad Koirala unwell, (If you are interested GP Koirala is the granduncle of Bollywood actress Manisha Koirala) , the Maoist-government is on a renaming binge attempting to erase all history of the monarchy and any traces of Indianness.

The public hold Birendra, the slain King, in very high esteem but hold the opposite view for his brother, the dethroned Gyanendra. The deposed Gyanendra is living in a private residence and the government is moving to convert the royal palace, Narayanhity –which covers over 700 acres in the heart of Kathmandu. For an economy, where tourism is estimated to account for 17 % of the GDP (6% for India 3% for Singapore), the scarcity of tourist guides was appalling. And for that matter the knowledge of locals of the sthala purana – the local history. We visited the Buddhist Stupa and the Swayambhunath (Monkey Temple) without as much as understanding their significance. Much of the factfile in this blog on our tourism has been from Wikipedia researched subsequently!!

The Nepali Rupee is pegged to the Indian rupee at 1.6 Nepali Currency for every India Rupee, since 1993. Hence, the local are amazingly quick at multiplying as well as dividing by 1.6 while you struggle with this new Constant at every level of haggling.

The modes of the public transport are the Yayta bus, the ubiquitous Micro and Tuk-tuk.

The Toyota-made Micro is fast overtaking the Tuk-tuk (pun intended) in numbers.
The Toyota-made Micro is maneuverable and comfortable for the short distances in the city if only the staff donot overload it.
A common sight on the streets of Kathmandu was chicken / mutton shops and bars on either side of shrines and temples, something quite unimaginable in the parts of India this blogger has lives in/lived in. Varyingly, different levels of influence of India and China can be observed, i.e. Hinduism and Tibetian Buddhism are on display, in the food, clothing, prayer and so on. The most visible symbol of a Nepali is the Nepali Cap or Dhaka Topi.



Camp Thamel
So much for the state of affairs of the state. Camp: Thamel. Thamel was to be our home for the next 5 days. It is a hub for tourists consisting of all that could be expected in a tourist zone. Hotels ( budget to extravagant), pubs, restaurants, extortionist taxis, Wi-Fi, internet parlours, knick-knack stores, souvenir sellers, mountaineering gear, dance bars, cabbies who turns pimps after-dark et al. Three days were spent studying for CFA exams. I spent some time watching television- especially the channels banned in India – Al Jazeera ( what did you think ? ;)
Sight-seeing
We began our sight seeing day with Boudhanath,,one of the holiest Buddhist sites, located Bouddha, Kathmandu. The stupa's massive mandala makes it one of the largest spherical stupas in Nepal. The Buddhist stupa of Boudhanath dominates the skyline. The ancient Stupa is one of the largest in the world. The influx of large populations of Tibetan refugees from China has seen the construction of over 50 Monasteries around Boudhanath.

Legend say that an old woman built this stupa as a mark of respect on the remain of Kasyapa Buddha (Not to be confused with Gautama Buddha, whose birthplace, Lumbini is also in Nepal and hence caused trouble to the movie CC2C)

Then we visited- Swayambhunath. Swayambhunath is an ancient religious complex atop a hill in the Kathmandu Valley, west of Kathmandu city. It is also known as the Monkey Temple as there are “holy monkeys” living in parts of the temple in the north-west. However, there were lesser monkeys than what one could find at the hill temple of Lord Narasimha at Sholingur (near Tirutani, Tamil Nadu).

The next stop was Patan, by far the more interesting part of the day. Patan Durbar Square contains the King’s Court, numerous temples ( one featuring both Hari and Hara- a rare combination for Hindu temples, one for Bheema). Here, we found a qualified tourist guide, who would speak in Nepali/ Hindi. Much to my consternation, he would mention the datelines and years too in Hindi, forcing me to seek translation. Patan is about art, temples and myths. After feeding on all three we moved to ‘New Road’ and -pardon the cliché -shopped till we dropped. That evening we headed out to a Casino with enough money in our pockets to pay for return taxi fare. Casinos in Nepal are prohibited for Nepali citizens ! (Quite like Liquor is prohibited for Pakistanis in Pakistan). It was fun to watch for a while, but it is a bore if you ahve no money at stake, quite like the stock market ! And since the in-house entertainment did not pass muster, we decided to call it a day.

Last Day. Headed of to meet an acquaintance of an acquaintance. (For those who know me, it comes as no surprise. Networking is inherent in me). Had to hurry to make it to the Pashupathinath. ( Imagine my ignominy, if my family realized that went all the way from Bangalore and had not visited the holy Temple).

Legend has it that a cow which would not yield milk when the cowherd milked it, used to secrete milk suo motu at a particular spot. When that spot was dug up, a Shiv linga was found on that site ‘Pashu’ pathinath was established.
Took pictures from my phone camera. Got caught by the police. Had to delete the pictures :(

It was time to leave, pay the departure tax and head back home.

Let me conclude this blog with a Nepali PJ ( created by yours truly)
Hum: Why will Nepal not have any thefts?
Tum: Because it is the land of the Gurkhas* !!

After In Love with Lahore, Captivating Kathmandu, watch out for Sing-Sing Singapore !!