Every dog has its day
Tihar, Deepawali, The festival of lights is upon us here in Nepal. Today is Kokur Tihar, or the festival of dogs, where every beautiful and mangy mutt alike gets a red tika on its forehead and a garland of marigolds around its neck. Last night on the eve of Kokur Tihar, seemingly as if they were aware of what was about to befall them, the dogs were in a bit of frenzy: a bark or yelp from one warrants a call from others until a crescendo is reached—seemingly the chorus goes on for miles away—until it becomes a cacophony of great proportions. But this morning even the mangiest of beasts—the dog with a portion of its ear missing and the balding pink one that stakes its claim in the vacant lot across from our house—swaggered around or basked in the sun or dug through the rubbish in front of the butcher shop proudly with its garland of flowers and tika in tact. Yesterday was Kag, or crow Tihar (food is left out on balconies for the crows) and tomorrow is Gai, or cow Tihar (cows are garlanded and their horns painted silver and gold), respectively. Unlike Dashain when animals are slaughtered with abandon, Tihar seems to give every animal its due, no matter if 364 days out of the year, dogs are normally kicked and generally avoided…
Actually, it’s all a bit like Chirstmas. In addition to cows, tomorrow is also Laxmi Pooja, the goddess of, among other things, wealth, and so people put up lights or candles in their windows to light the way for Laxmi to visit their home. People also paint her footprints in front of their entrances, or streak a path of mud from outside to their doorstep so there is no mistaking her welcome… Kathmandu temples are buzzing with activity and the city is awash in red and yellow lights and candles.
So, it’s a three-day workweek for me with Constitution Day falling on Monday (not much celebrating for that considering the political problems in this country; in fact, there was probably more burning of the constitution than celebration) and Laxmi Pooja tomorrow. It’s a tough life… But the three days I was at work this week were busy ones putting the finishing touches on preparations for a big planning meeting next week. This morning was meetings with Save the Children Japan, and next Tuesday I’m off to Janakpur (field office) for planning meetings all week. It will be nice to get back to Janakpur that things have (hopefully) cooled off there and to meet all of the program field staff. I’ll have a few bit parts in facilitating the process, but a lot of it will be my continuing education into their inner workings of the organization before returning to Kathmandu to put the finishing touches on the next year’s plan. I’ve enjoyed the process, or just having a process, really.
On Monday, Migyoung, myself and two of our friends working in Nepal, hiked to the summit of Nagarjun—a peak that is visible from Kathmandu and forms the rim of the Kathmandu Valley. What should have been a rather straightforward 2-3 hour hike to the top, turned into a 4 hour scramble—a lot of it bushwhacking our way up the sides of ridges. But our efforts were rewarded at the summit with beautiful views of the snow-capped Himalaya all around, a hazy view of the valley below us, a white Buddhist stupa and thousands of prayer flags fluttering in the afternoon breeze.
We’ve never seen Kathmandu more beautiful than last night—the night that Laxmi visits homes. Almost every home and shop had lights up, and small mandalas in front of their entrance made with brightly colored powders, marigold petals and candles, normally with a trail of either powder, flower petals or mud running into their business or home. Groups of children roamed the streets beating out a rhythm with a makeshift tambourine made of bottle caps and sticks of wood shouting the bhailo song in hopes of receiving a few coins in return. Frustrated shopkeepers—perhaps running low on coins—mainly shooed them away. During the day, we walked from the reclining Vishnu at Budhanilkantha to the Kopan Monastery through quaint villages of tikaed cows and life as usual—women washing clothes (and themselves) in the river, the tending of the now bare rice paddies and a general festiveness of the day… Migyoung and I both had a go on the homemade bamboo swing set up for the holidays.