Village Life

An old lady sits on the sidelines of the wedding

An old lady sits on the sidelines of the wedding

Day 93 – Location: Karmidanda Village, Langtang Region; Nepal

03/12/12

I managed to get some much-needed sleep despite the grumbling tummy. Downstairs Jhabraj was shelling rice. Because a baby had been born the other week, they’d had to delay a festival ceremony for the occasion until today. He made a mixture of rice, millet and some other stuff to feed the goats, even the animals get to celebrate! The family had also mixed up a milky concoction for us containing milk, grated coconut, bananas, cinnamon, cloves and pepper. I managed to eat a little bit of plain rice with salt, my first food for a day, and tried a bit of Sophie’s milk mix – it was quite good though a bit too peppery for my tastes.

Jhabraj was off in the morning to visit Januka’s father about 40 minutes away who was very ill. He’d caught Typhoid and another condition. Although he had the right medicines he was very weak and hadn’t eaten for a week.

A friendly village chap

A friendly village chap

Feeling a little more human today, but still suffering from dioreaah and a midly churny stomach, I did some chores and managed a bowl of noodles. In the afternoon me and Sophie went up the hill to a nice spot in the sun with a good view, and relaxed up there in the peace and quiet. In the evening Jhabraj returned. He thought Januka’s father would be ok but he was still very weak. I wasn’t feeling too bad now. Just before we went to bed, the drunken teacher appeared again in his usual state!

Village houses painted in the traditional colours

Village houses painted in the traditional colours

Day 94

04/12/12

Another very cold night. Januka had left to Kathmandu to visit her daughters. I was feeling stronger but not 100% and managed some curry. When the others left for school I was in the company of Ama, Jhabraj’s. Unfortunately she doesn’t speak a word of English and speaks to you like you should understand what she’s saying, without using any sign language. This makes communication with her pretty much impossible!

I worked on my diary and helped with some house chores. Ama surprised me by appearing with a big pile of fresh cow poo in her hands and dropped it on the yard! Then she brought a bowl and a bucket of water with a cloth. I then understood what she was up to. She was adding a new layer of dung onto the yard floor, as it was getting patchy. When it’s dry you can’t even tell it’s poo, being light grey and dusty. All traditional Nepali houses use this method for painting their floors and walls. She set to work with a bowl of water and poo, smearing it over the yard floor. I swept ahead of her to get rubbish out of the way. It smelt pretty bad, but to her I guess it’s just another chore that she’s done her whole life. She didn’t seem bothered by it at all. Half-way through an old man, blind in one eye, came round and chatted to her, and tried to speak to me. Of course I couldn’t understand a word he said so could only nod, shrug and smile at him. It’s a bit awkward when you’re being spoken to by people that you simply can’t understand. All you can do is react with exaggerated confusion, laugh or smile but who knows what they’re saying to you? For all I knew they could be telling you a heart-wrenching story, or maybe just giving you a good telling off!

Ama with a load of poo!

Ama gets down and dirty!

Sophie arrived to give me a welcome respite from Ama’s one-sided chats. The flies were driving us crazy today, swarming loud enough to hear. I carried on updating the diary. We chilled the rest of the afternoon. In the evening Jhabraj got some bad news. Januka had been to the dentist in Kathmandu about her toothache, and they said she had to get half of her teeth removed as they were rotten! Although she brushes every day, it’s a genetic disease which her father also had. And it would cost a lot, another blow to the family’s finances.

Sophie and Januka in the local town

Sophie and Januka in the local town

Days 95-99

05/12/12 > 9/12/12

I spent the next four days relaxing and recovering from the stomach bug. Ama continued to chat to me whilst I was home alone, and I spent a good deal of my time watching Dexter and playing games on my laptop. When the others were around we’d chat or I’d go for walks with Sophie. The nights continued to be bitterly cold. With all of his family’s financial problems, Jhabraj decided to sell one of the milking cows and its calf. He found a buyer when he visited the local town. On the day he sold it, a bunch of his friends came round with the buyer to help move the animals. The cow and calf were not happy to be moved but were led and dragged along the path towards the buyer’s village. For the calf it was the first time it had left the house so it was understandably nervous! Jhabraj was feeling a bit down afterwards, after all, the cows are almost like family to him; he looks after them and they provide for him. His new plan was to to save up enough to buy a more expensive cow from Indian bull sperm, which would produce over double the amount of milk his old cow made per day. With only one cow remaining the days of limitless curd and milk every day were over, to Sophie’s dismay!

Village boy

Village boy

Sophie had finished her term at school, with the kids going into exams. She admitted she’d grown fond of them, even the troublemakers. Jhabraj agreed that the school in general has problems with discipline and non-attendance; Sophie had been facing the same challenge as the other teachers. She’d been partly successful in getting their attention; English children’s songs were a favourite of the younger class. A girl had vanished from Sophie’s class – it turned out she’d been pulled out for another arranged marriage. Apparently she was quite intelligent but there is nothing the teachers can do to stop it.

Awijit and his teammates were entered in a karate contest in the nearby town to earn their next belt grade. He did pretty well and earned it by drawing in a fight – all that training paid off.

Another nice sunset over Karmidana

Another nice sunset over Karmidana

 

——

Would you like to stay in Karmidanda village with the Neupane family? Read on…

Cheeky little villager Jeneet

Cheeky little villager Jeneet

If you are thinking of visiting Nepal and would like to do a homestay with Jhabraj’s family and see his village, or you need an experienced trekking or private tour guide, Jhabraj is very happy to accommodate you. He can do tours anywhere around Nepal and for trekking, he is very experienced and a safe, responsible guide, having guided on all the major Nepali treks multiple times as a guide (including the popular Everest, Annapurna and Langtang treks). It is also possible to do some spectacular trekking in the Langtang area from his village area so you could always combine a homestay with a trek. Jhabraj charges very reasonable prices, he speaks good English, and you couldn’t meet a friendlier, more interesting and hospitable guy! Your enjoyment, satisfaction and safety are his primary concerns. Money that Jhabraj earns from visitors and clients goes towards the higher education of his children, which is extremely expensive for a village family. If you want to hear more, please contact me via this website and I will put you in touch with him. Highly recommended!

——

Would you like to help Jhabraj’s village community of Karmidanda? Read on…

Onlookers at the wedding we went to

Onlookers at the wedding we went to

Like many outlying villages in Nepal, the village Karmidanda is extremely poor and the community has many serious problems as a result. Almost all the families here are in a lot of debt, living on the breadline on the meagre earnings they can eke out – most are farmers. Other avenues of work are simply not available up here and most families cannot afford to put their children into higher education to improve the cycle. Public welfare does not really exist in Nepal and the area only has one health clinic staffed by volunteers and supplied by charity. If a villager requires hospitisation the villagers have to pool together to get enough money to pay for an ambulance to take the patient 5 hours to Kathmandu and also pay the expensive hospital treatment fees, if they can afford it. The village school was built thanks to charitable efforts but staff wages are low, equipment and resources are always scarce and there are not enough teachers for the number of students. These are just some of the problems that the community has – yet despite the difficulties the community spirit is amazing here, people help each other, they have a smile on their face and they are welcoming and friendly. If you think that you can help with donations, volunteering (including English teaching at the school) or charitable projects, please get in touch. Jhabraj has many contacts and can direct you to the right people so you know your money or resources are going directly to the local community and no share is going into anyone elses’ pocket. Some charitable efforts have also been started by foreign visitors who have visited Jhabraj and decided to help the community of Karmidanda – please check out the following websites: (links coming soon!)

 

Food Poisoning!

Jhabraj's sister-in-law, a cheeky woman for sure!

Jhabraj’s sister-in-law, a cheeky woman for sure!

Day 90 – Location: Karmidanda Village, Langtang Region; Nepal

30/11/12

Another cold night. In the morning Jhabraj’s sister-in-law arrived to collect me, a funny, loud but good-natured woman who’d been nagging me for a while to come and harvest millet with her. She only speaks a few words of English. I agreed to join her today and so we set off with two other women up a steep path to some terraced fields where we began working.

With four of us at work we were clearing pretty quickly, emptying a field in a few hours.  All the ladies smoked. Jhabraj’s mother (Ama) arrived to help. After a few hours the sister-in-law’s son  brought us a sari used as a sack for a vast amount of popcorn! Huzzah! We stuffed our faces and after devouring a pile I couldn’t eat any more, despite them trying to force-feed me more! I left after 4 hours work when we’d cleared a few fields.

She flings the millet over her shoulder into the basket

She flings the millet over her shoulder into the basket

The rest of the day was chilled out. I watched the goat kids becoming more and more adventurous. They were getting brave enough now to venture quite far from the house, but would dash back at the first sign of trouble. The male one, Hump, enjoyed using me as a trampoline when I was lying on the bank. He isn’t the brightest and likes to nibble at your fingers. But if he gets his back teeth gripped on them it’s a whole world of pain – Sophie has the scar to prove it!

Ama at work in the field

Ama at work in the field

Day 91

01/12/12

Saturday. Jhabraj and a contigent of his friends arrived in the yard carrying big bales of hay, which they stacked into a storey-high pyramid. He’d had to buy it for the dry season to feed the animals, although it is quite expensive the pay-off is he gets milk every day and can sell the animals when he needs to.

We all relaxed in the yard after lunch. I started to get a churning stomach. Whilst me and Sophie were sat out in the sun the guy who had been in trouble for not feeding his dad appeared. As usual he looked out of place with his camo clothes and shades. He was wasted and slurred away to us for a while trying to explain something about being a trekking guide. Awijit reminded us he’s an alcoholic and said he had been drinking since 5am!

The house cats curl up by the fire

The house cats curl up by the fire

My stomach was feeling worse in the evening. Jhabraj had some friends round. One had a big wooden pipe like a small shisha. The smell from it was terrible. I need to find out what they were smoking! I turned in early, feeling awful. Jhabraj came up to check my temperature and pulse, I didn’t have a fever and my pulse was normal so we guessed it might be food poisoning, perhaps from the home-made yogurt we’d had at lunch, but no-one else had problems from eating the same food I’d had today.

A rather large inhabitant of the kitchen!

A rather large inhabitant of the kitchen! Check the padlock at the bottom for size reference!

Day 92

02/12/12

The night was hell. My stomach got a lot worse, churning horribly and I got pains as well. Although I felt like I wanted to vomit, I couldn’t. I tossed and turned, the minutes passing seeming like hours. I barely slept a wink. It’s the most ill I have felt since getting heat exhaustion when I was 18. After 12 hours of suffering, I came downstairs. I’d been drinking water all night. I managed to go to the toilet to be greeted with dioreahh. Jhabraj was concerned. Sophie said the symptoms were of bacteria in the stomach and the best thing to do would be to drink lots of water and wait for it to get out of my system. She recommended chamomile tea to help my stomach, so Januka made me one. I couldn’t even think about eating anything, and this is me we’re talking about!

Sophie gets serious

Sophie gets serious

It was Awijit’s 15th birthday but they aren’t usually celebrated in Nepal, and disappointingly he didn’t want me to buy him alcohol, cigarettes or chocolate! I spent the morning in a haze of pain. I suddenly knew I had to be sick and violently threw up in the bucket. For a short while I felt less bad. Unfortunately it returned just as bad, accompanied by very painful stomach cramps. I felt very weak. Januka was kind and kept offering me things, but all I could do was thank her and lie around, reading for a distraction. Bouts of dioreahh kept me close to the toilet. Around midday I was violently sick puking up a mighty 2 litres!

Two boys from the wedding the other day

Two boys from the wedding the other day

The afternoon passed slowly but it started to get a bit better. Sophie said the colour was returning to my face. By the evening it was definitely improving although I still felt bad. In the late evening we had a visitor. It was the drunken teacher who’d entertained us on the night I’d smoked too much ganja. He was exactly like the last time, very drunk and chatting away enthusiastically about random things. He kept calling Jhabraj “Jabba” which me and Sophie found very funny! Eventually Jhabraj managed to get rid of him and he waddled off into the night. I went up to bed but couldn’t sleep because of my stomach. But, after a few episodes of Dexter I managed to nod off and got a few hours sleep, thank god!

Onlookers at the wedding we went to

Onlookers at the wedding we went to

A Nepali Wedding

An old lady gives the bride a tika

An old lady gives the bride a tika

Day 89 – Location: Karmidanda Village, Langtang Region; Nepal

29/11/12

In the morning we made some more butter. Later, Jhabraj called from school and asked me if I could go to today’s wedding in the village to take photos for the family. Happy for the invitation, I went along with Januka. The house turned out to be the one I’d visited on the first day in the village, where the woman had been recovering from being hit by a tree. At the end of the path leading to the house were two flower pots on either side with a piece of string between them creating a barrier. No-one would step over this, instead inching around the flower pots.

The girls guarding the entrance to the house!

The girls guarding the entrance to the house!

A man I knew who has the look of a Nepali-Italian Mafioso greeted me and thanked me for coming. Bizarrely there was a double bed sitting out in the yard, with a collection of food, jugs and tika dyes. Soon the guests began to arrive. An oil lamp was placed below the string barrier and then it was broken as the first arrival, the groom’s father passed through it, greeted by a host of girls in traditional ornate dress. Guests filed into the yard, some receiving tikas at the flower pot gate. The groom, a mild faced man around 30 years old received a tika from the bride’s father.

Not quite what I was expecting to see in the yard!

Not quite what I was expecting to see in the yard!

The queue of guests stretches out to infinity!

The queue of guests stretches out to infinity!

The groom receives his tika from the bride's father

The groom receives his tika from the bride’s father

A row of girls in the yard had lined up to offer wrapped presents to the brides father, who gave them all tikas. The whole wedding turned out to be a tika frenzy! The groom stood looking nervous and barely managed a smile for my photos.

Pretty nervous I think!

Pretty nervous I think!

He was led to a chair in front of the assembled food and tika ingredients. The bride came out of the house, although she’s only 19 she looked about 25 and was wearing a red and golden dress with a red veil. She fixed a second garland of grass around the groom’s neck, bashing him accidently in her haste much to the amusement of the packed yard. Then the groom put a grass gardland on her, put a ring on her finger and then fastened a flashy gold watch to her wrist. They gave each other tikas.

A grass garland is affixed around the bride's neck

A grass garland is affixed around the bride’s neck

The groom sat down and the bride’s father gave him another tika (see what I mean about tika frenzy), then stood and said a prayer under instruction from the priest. You wouldn’t know he was a priest by looking at him, a young chap wearing a puffy Adidas jacket and the traditional Nepali hat. He carried a prayer book and read out lines for the groom’s father to repeat. After more tikas a coconut was produced, blessed and given to the groom. Then milk and holy water was poured into his hand. The bride’s mother repeated this.

The priest on the left conducts the ceremony with the help of his prayer book

The priest on the left conducts the ceremony with the help of his prayer book

Now the bride, her sister, the groom and his father sat on the double bed and members of the family, friends and neighbours came forward one by one to give the bride and groom tikas and blessed their feet, which involved putting dye on them and pressing their head against the foot. The first was the bride’s grandmother, cursed with the common Nepali affliction of being permanently bent double.

The grandmother receives water for the blessing

The grandmother receives water for the blessing

During this someone waved from the crowd, Sophie had been let off school early to come and watch the wedding. Januka amused us by attaching a branch of leaves to her head to keep off the sun! There were more tika givings by the bride and groom to the relatives and then presents were brought forward to the couple, from the shape many seemed to be jugs and urns. Jhabraj arrived from school to watch.

Januka and her branch hat! Me and Sophie couldn't stop laughing!

Januka and her branch hat! Me and Sophie couldn’t stop laughing!

When I returned with a fresh camera battery the bride and groom separated to receive tikas and money from the rest of the congregation. Meanwhile the food started to appear. Leaf plates were handed out to the family not taking part in the ceremony and pots full of curries, rice, beans, vegetables and more were brought out to serve the guests. Me and Sophie had politely declined an offer for food but in typical Nepali fashion ten minutes later we were handed full plates and expected to eat! It was pretty good, especially the salted soya beans and pumpkin curry. We stuffed ourselves to bursting as another round of guests began to eat. Insistent women bearing pots of food forced top-ups upon us until we had to mime our stomachs exploding!

I can feel my health levels increasing just looking at it!

I can feel my health levels increasing just looking at it!

People started to leave and Jhabraj and Januka had vanished so we assumed the ceremony was over. We headed back to the house and chilled for the rest of the afternoon. Januka and Jhabraj arrived later and told us that the celebration wasn’t over and was still continuing over there. We could hear music pumping out over big speakers from the wedding house. Jhabraj told us about the background of the bride and groom. It was an arranged marriage. The groom was from a nearby village but now lives in Kathmandu. He is 30 years old and was looking for a virgin wife from his local area. His family knew the bride’s family in Karmidanda and they offered their daughter in marriage. For the bride’s family it’s a great deal (if you ignore the morals of arranged marriage) – the groom is rich, earning a great salary as he is a bodyguard for high-end clients. Normally the bride’s family would have to pay a dowry (marriage payment), but with the deal they didn’t need to pay anything. Even the marriage had been completely subsidized by the groom’s employers. The double bed in the yard was a gift to the couple from the bride’s family. They’d hired a truck which would ferry the couple, the bed and the other gifts back to Kathmandu that evening. Sophie asked what would happen to the bride now. At only 19 she was still in school but Jhabraj expected that would stop and become a housewife. Gone would be any dreams for a career or her own pursuits but she would be safe for money for the rest of

Onlookers at the ceremony

Onlookers at the ceremony

her life assuming her new husband kept in work, plus they could easily support a family. In the evening I played cards with Awijit.

 

——

Would you like to stay in Karmidanda village with the Neupane family? Read on…

Jhabraj at home
Jhabraj at home

If you are thinking of visiting Nepal and would like to do a homestay with Jhabraj’s family and see his village, or you need an experienced trekking or private tour guide, Jhabraj is very happy to accommodate you. He can do tours anywhere around Nepal and for trekking, he is very experienced and a safe, responsible guide, having guided on all the major Nepali treks multiple times as a guide (including the popular Everest, Annapurna and Langtang treks). It is also possible to do some spectacular trekking in the Langtang area from his village area so you could always combine a homestay with a trek. Jhabraj charges very reasonable prices, he speaks good English, and you couldn’t meet a friendlier, more interesting and hospitable guy! Your enjoyment, satisfaction and safety are his primary concerns. Money that Jhabraj earns from visitors and clients goes towards the higher education of his children, which is extremely expensive for a village family. If you want to hear more, please contact me via this website and I will put you in touch with him. Highly recommended!

——

Would you like to help Jhabraj’s village community of Karmidanda? Read on…

AlanStockPhotography-1090446

Like many outlying villages in Nepal, the village Karmidanda is extremely poor and the community has many serious problems as a result. Almost all the families here are in a lot of debt, living on the breadline on the meagre earnings they can eke out – most are farmers. Other avenues of work are simply not available up here and most families cannot afford to put their children into higher education to improve the cycle. Public welfare does not really exist in Nepal and the area only has one health clinic staffed by volunteers and supplied by charity. If a villager requires hospitisation the villagers have to pool together to get enough money to pay for an ambulance to take the patient 5 hours to Kathmandu and also pay the expensive hospital treatment fees, if they can afford it. The village school was built thanks to charitable efforts but staff wages are low, equipment and resources are always scarce and there are not enough teachers for the number of students. These are just some of the problems that the community has – yet despite the difficulties the community spirit is amazing here, people help each other, they have a smile on their face and they are welcoming and friendly. If you think that you can help with donations, volunteering (including English teaching at the school) or charitable projects, please get in touch. Jhabraj has many contacts and can direct you to the right people so you know your money or resources are going directly to the local community and no share is going into anyone elses’ pocket. Some charitable efforts have also been started by foreign visitors who have visited Jhabraj and decided to help the community of Karmidanda – please check out the following websites: (links coming soon!)