Krishna's "Mount" is a peacock. When you go to South Asia you can visit the temples and enjoy the chanting, but you can take it to a different level if you are actually there long enough to hand out with some Krishna devotees. The God of love and pleasure, including carnal pleasure - with ,just a bit of vanity -
Dasain and the mythic Village of Nepal
Nepal is now in the middle of Dasain, the ten-day festival that is sort of analogous to Thanksgiving. In Kathmandu there are thousands who are realizing that they will not be returning "home" for this - they will miss some important rituals associated with family. As a critical care nurse in USA, I know what it's like to "work the holiday" - but that's another story.
A Hindu story or "Parable"
A FaceBook friend posted this on her page:
Sudama, who was also known as kuchela in south Indian. He was a poor Brahmin Krishna and sudama was a childhood friend. He didn’t even have enough food to serve two meals a day of his family. He was very sad that night when his children slept without food, and then his wife told him, “It doesn’t matter if we are hungry but we should at least be able to feed the children enough. He said we can’t ask for favors from anybody. His wife replied, “You talk of your friend so often. You have been saying that you have a deep bond of friendship with him.
He found wisdom in the words of his wife then he decided to go to Dwarka & said,” I’ll definitely go there, but I have to take some gift for him, then his wife take some rice from the neighbor and bound the rice in a piece of cloth and he took the bundle and left for Dwarka. On seeing Dwarka, he was amazed. The entire town was built with gold and the people were very well-off. He asked for directions and finally reached there. On seeing sudama, who looked like a hermit, the palace guards blocked his path but he, told that “I want to meet my friend. Go and tell him that his friend has come and wants to meet you.
The guard smirked on seeing sudama’s attire. However, he hesitantly went and informed his king about his friend arrival. On hearing his friend’s name and immediately he stood up and ran to meet him. Everyone looked on in wonder upon seeing such a great king running bare-footed to meet his poor friend.
Krishna took his friend into palace. Seeing his friend’s wealth, he felt ashamed of the rice that he had brought and tried to hide that bundle but Krishna snatched from it from him. While enjoying the rice he said, “I have never tasted such sweetness in anything else.”After that they sat to have their meal which was served in gold plates. He felt sad as he remembered his hungry children at home. He stayed palace for two days and on the third day, he got ready to back home. He embraced sudama and escorted him out as he bid him farewell. He confused on the way back that “what shall I say my wife that what I’ve brought back?”
As he approached home, he could not find his hut! Instead his wife came out from a magnificent palace and dressed in elegant clothes. She told him, “look at Krishna’s might; we have been rid of our poverty and ended all our sadness. His eyes welled up with tears of joy and he recollected Krishna’s pure love.
bhagwan krishna
Moral: – True love doesn’t distinguish between high and low status or between riches and poverty.
Many Nepali songs have a theme of soulful longing for a person who is away, building on the tradition of "
Gajal" music, and the idea that a man must go out into the world is strong in Nepal, which has sent Gurkhas abroad, laborers for the Gulf Countries, and - everywhere. I'll do a diary on the "Nepali Diaspora" - at some future day.
Anyway, Dasain is a time to stimulate, throughout Nepal, the emotion displayed at the end of the Wizard of Oz.
There is an entire genre of Nepali music for Dasain. Here's one I like, it shows a lot of daily life. That here are many, and on the bus home, the radio will be cranked at full blast. I once did a four-hour overcrowded bus ride where 34 people were packed into a 15-passenger van. It was bearable largely because everyone sang along to the radio. (also because I was there early and had a seat!)
Why do I write these diaries?
Because Nepal is getting very little column-inch space in the New York Times. Browse the past diaries since the Siege of Kathmandu started more than three weeks ago. Over the fold, I'll get into the actual news. If you want to know more about me, click here. I've written two books about Nepal, and the second one was a novel that explored themes of conflict and collectivist society in what seems on the surface to be a peaceful culture.
For now though - a Happy Dasain to all my Nepali friends!
Here is what we call "bad optics" - there is no sign, but when you ask, people will tell you that this walled complex near Thamel is "The American Club" - it's not the Embassy but it's for expatriates. And - they get their own petrol truck. Uff.
A few odds and ends
First, I've the privilege of meeting Donatella Lorch, the famous former war correspondent. She lives in Nepal now while her kids are in school, and she wrote this, for the New York Times:
Our lives are inextricably linked to fossil fuels at so many levels - In Nepal, the power of an Indian blockade affects every part of daily life. What does it really mean to have no fuel?
http://www.nytimes.com/...
Associated Press video on Tourism
Here's a video that got on the AP wire.
http://www.wsj.com/...
Madhesi video entry:
I've alluded to the idea that both sides have "gotten hip" on the value of media in rallying their supporters. As in USA with Occupy, the Nepali protesters in Terai are bringing smartphones, and often positioning a videographer in an upper window. They are circulated among the people for propaganda. By watching these, I learned several Nepali gestures that are considered obscene and disrespectful - and being used by the riot police.
Oct 15th scenes from Birgunj, a border flash point
Here is the latest video from Madhesi protesters.
They are asking the question "Do you see any Indians here running this blockade?"
Human Rights Watch report
Here is a report from the Terai, titled “Like We Are Not Nepali -Protest and Police Crackdown in the Terai Region of Nepal," of the forty deaths that took place before the riot police were de-mobilized.
The Big question
The big question is when and how will the government based in Kathmandu realize that the protest movement is bigger than they thought and is not going away. Until this leap is made, no serious dialog will take place. On the street in Kathmandu, many people seem to still be focusing on India and India's role. (not a quote. it's from - me!)
A nationalist on Twitter tweeted "it's just a geopolitical game being played in Terai."
My reply would be, "whether that it is true or not, calling it so does not de-legitimize it for the Nepalis of Terai. It seems real enough to them"
Two editorials from the Kathmandu Post
I'll give you just a tease from The Kathmandu Post. Weel worth the full read. The first is an analysis of India's role or non-role in the blockade/non-blockade.
India to the rescue
So, what do you do when your friend tries to commit suicide? Leave him to pursue the path of self-destruction or counsel him and even intervene when worst comes to worst. Of course, India must never be allowed to rule Nepal or force the latter to compromise its independence. But when Nepal tried to commit suicide by killing Madhesis indiscriminately, India saved Nepal and itself from a world of troubles by winking blockade at the border points, which suddenly stopped the killing of Madhesis. If India had not intervened, the killing spree would have most likely continued given the attitude of the three parties. Consequently, the Madhesi leaders might have gone underground, waged an armed struggle and further disrupted supplies (given they have relatives and a friendly population on the Indian side). The Janajatis—such as Limbus, Magars, Tamags—cheated as they feel by the treason of Prachanda-led Maoists, would have eventually joined the armed struggle. We can only imagine what might have happened next. read more at: http://kathmandupost.ekantipur.com/...
The second one from The Kathmandu Post looks at the need to negotiate.
Nonetheless, just 17 days after its promulgation the sheer power of the Madhes movement has forced the government to propose two amendments to the new constitution. It remains to be seen whether they will appease the demonstrators or not. They are fighting for dignity, identity and space in the national arena to prove that they are by no means less capable, nationalist or patriotic than anyone else. There is still time to reach out to the disgruntled parties, convince them, and bring all Nepalis—irrespective of their complexion, ethnicity or religion—on board. see more at
http://kathmandupost.ekantipur.com/...
In the meantime....
The people near the epicenter are still clinging to thjeir villages. Here is a video reportfrom a small NGO involved in earthquake relief.
Nearly 5 months after Nepal's series of devastating earthquakes (April 25, the 26th, and May 12th), people are still displaced living in tents. A group of volunteers travel to Dhola in the district of Dhading to build a semi-permanent health post and deliver birthing kits. What they find is a village with 15-days left of food, no medical services, and families still living under tarps. While the rest of the world has drawn their attention elsewhere, people in Nepal are still suffering. Much aid has yet to arrive in the remote access mountain villages and INGOs are having to now scale down their relief efforts. The fight is far from over.
Sobering. And yet, for those families near the epicenter - and throughout Nepal -
there is no place like home.....