Thoughts from the field

I feel a little removed from the more hard core political scene. Coming here after Palestine was restful at first. Now I do miss not being in Sheeijk Jarra *discreetly add a link here with an interesting short movie* interviews with both settlers and palestian families http://www.vjmovement/truth/834. Battleground zero indeed. Missed picking olives in Hebron this year but I don't miss the close enconters with the Israeli settlers.

Still, I also wanted to do some slow grassroot human rights work and here I am. Born ambivalent maybe? Or born with a mind that wants it all? Which I am still convinced that I can have, just not at the same time. :D

Absolutely beautiful morning here i Bardiya. November is the month to visit apparently. The fog that will envelope us for a couple of months is still just visible in the morning.

Oh, I am here:

http://www.un.org.np/maps/district-maps/mid-western/Bardiya.pdf

After the water lilies are gone

Bardiya district is greying. Drying. The monsoon, late as it was with fewer days of rain than needed is long gone. The field officers from colder countries can breath a little easier and are now enjoying the cool evenings and nights.

Meetings on the roof are a nice change, with or without green parrotts flying by.

And we did spent the better part of our working day on the roof today, before me and J went out to SanosShree to do an introdution meeting with a political party representative. We were well received, partly I am sure because we are white and represent an INGO but probably also because going into the so-called remote areas(in our case the Midwest of Nepal) we are hardly in majority in the NGO world. Showing face and all that. It was a very visibly open meeting, plastic chairs were pulled up outside a shop and many local people showed up to listen and have a cup of chia. And this is very good for us. We do come here on invitation from the local human rights defenders, and sometimes it is just plain slow persistant work that change any human rights violations. People knowing about us helps, it is as simple as that.

Other highlights of my day included "getting Junior in shape" activities. Junior is the neighborhood dog that somehow nesteled himself into my heart. But we take it slow, building up the relationship. Washing his ears(todays project)does not come under his favorite actitities. Generally we do do things that he likes, which is basically chasing anything fun, like buffalo, goats(the smaller are more fun), other dogs, a horse if it is not too scary, hens or the odd scared human without a stone in his hand. Cats would be great but there are very few of them so we have to make do with what there is.

And yes, the water lilies are now gone. The wetland that we use to pass on the mornings are now drying up and will shortly be planted on. And the cycle continues.

Communication is the key

The verb for want and need is the same in Nepali. There are ways around it but generally this creates confusion, especially for me as a bideshi(foreigner). Do you need to go see your sister and Do you want want to go see you sister might mean different things where I come from but I am beginning to see that there are situations here when the same two headed verb can be used. I find it interesting that the question are you married should be answered with "not yet" in order not be impolite and that do you want/need to get married is not really a very interesting question here. As almost everybody gets married and stay married for life.

These things were contemplated by me, J and S when we sat in the sun outside the DAFUO(Dalit Women Upliftment Center) office early this morning, eager to have a first language exchange with the Dalit women. We were joined by a guy/third gender s/he from the Blue Diamond Society. I am not intentionally trying to either make fun of an identity nor be funny but I honestly don't know what is a proper term for the members of BDS. Being referred to as her or didi(sister)often seem to be insulting. Probably because defining yourself in this manner means exactely what it says, nor man nor female. Or both. Or queer. Or whatever. Either way we were handed some information about BDS, including a small leaflet with very nice colour photos of what a STD can look like. Up close. Surely very....effective for its purposes but maybe not the best way to learn Nepali.

In the end the DAFUO women did not turn up but we had a nice cup up tea, and we did opened our books but decided after a while that the office probably needed us more and walked back through town. Found out later that the president had tried to get a hold of us but not suceeded. And we were told in a stern Nepali phone voice that her phone was switched off. Which may or may not be true. What is true is that mobile coverage is a constant struggle here, I am so use to it by now that I don't even think twice about having to call a person 15 times before I actually get through. I am also use to all kinds of interference on the line, hearing other people talking and receiving interesting messages such as "result unknown" when I send a sms. A part of me always wonder where these messages end up. The internet comes and goes, last week my computer told me it would take 21 days to down load a season of True Blood. :)

03:24 year 2068 in a country far away

Now I have two followers, a 100 % improvement in just on day :)

Slow day in our town. Year 2068 drags on. The Nepali calender is different, have to find out why this is. Different times of year also means different recommended auspicious activities. Getting married during the monsoon is for example not recommended but there are two other times during the year when the astrologer have decided are good, and a number of marriages taking place during this time. Sometimes they start during the night. Or at 03:24 if the stars indicated that this would give you a good start of your marriage.

Or didi(chef and cleaning lady that likes to boss us around)is from the Tharu community, a large ethnic group here in the south of Nepal. She probably did not have much to say about the time of her marriage because when we asked her if she wanted children she only said that she had her first child at fifteen because her husband wanted it. Now, a grandmother before she has reached 40 I wonder about her younger 13 year old daugher and her future. How different from the young kids running around back home in Sweden.

Calling Goddess Laxmi at 2 am

I have one follower.

It is hardy inspiring but I am guessing that more people read my blog as I am getting small proof of feed back. Maybe my blog is not as interesting as one of them fashion blogs. The ones that gets updated a couple of times a day when a famous person drinks another latte.

Anywho...Dasain, the long(8 days)hindu holiday worshipping(and fearing)the Godess of death, destruction but also creation has passed and three days ago we entered the Tihar holiday that I in my naivity thought would be a little bit quieter.
No such luck.
During Dasain the tradition(modern version)is to not only have music playing around the clock from the temples but also to loop a Hindi movie around the clock, full volume. Yes, the place of worship thus also serves as a semi-outdoorsy kind of movie hall where you can hang around with your friends. Let's just say that the sound got to me after 8 days in a row. There is a lot of crying and drama going on in Bollywood productions.

Tihar is a different animal altogether. Laxmi, the Godess of wealth is invited into peoples houses by different means and coaxing. She is lured by sweets and the inhabitants of the house paints a red mud path to the goodies(fruit, food, candy etc)outside and thereby inviting wealth to enter the house and stay.

Tihar also offers a chance to worship(in order):the crow, the cow, the dog and yesterday was "young brother day" or Tikka day(tikka is the word for the red blobby thing of rice, red paint and a blessing to be stuck in between your eye brows in a ceremonial way). During young brother day, older sisters give tikkas to their brothers and the brothers give the sisters presents, money or things.
This is all good. The not so good thing is the custum of kids roaming around at night, going from house to house, singing and often bringing a Boom Box to accompany them. VERY LOUD. Very loud at 2 pm indeed. And honestly guys, Laxmi probably hear you anyway, even if you are not making the rest of the neighbourhood deaf.