IV. Where the Streets Now Have Names ********************************** A fortnight of hedonic experience--Kathmandu sinks in completely. Not only the pollution, nauseating smell, puddles everywhere, unpredictable monsoon showers, overcrowding of microbuses and tempos but also the nozzles and rifles of the army, continous tantrums of government and political parties and above all, absolute indifference of common people who have their own priorities, you get used to everything. Morever, everywhere you go, beautiful faces and evergreen beautiful smiles greet you that sends your heart racing. I am afraid of pinching myself that I might just wake up from this dream. In Nepal's context I find the talks about political and cultural revolution a pretty distant myth. Family dynamics I think is more complex than the political dilemma. You would be a pretty brave soul if you can put your views in front of your parents without any hesitation, forget about changing the entire society. Even then you might be dismissed as a western upstart and I am not here to start any kind of fire. At least not yet.Furthermore, I feel like a handyman everywhere I go with a toolbelt around my waist so that I can quickfix every problem all my extended family members have. Unfortunately, I am in the wrong field. But I aint complaining, when I am showered with 84 byanjans of mouth watering food from all the aunts, bhaujus, and maijus that I had never known before. Last week, I attended two weddings of opposite extremes. The first one was one of my neighbor's and I was so excited for I hadn't been to any authentic Nepali wedding in more than 7 years, and I was not disappointed. The band playing old wedding tunes, childhood friends from greater handigaon area, the wedding food that I had always craved for, and people shocked to see me after years, all were heart warming experiences. Moving about in the crowd, I suddenly remembered the threads we have in sajha on who's hot, hotter and hottest and it made me chuckle. Here, everyone I run into, seems like a supermodel -- only more smarter, nicer, and whom you can instantly relate to. Then I ran into one of the dais from HVM who used to be our inspiration in childhood for his sheer brilliance. After some mundane talk, he asked me if I wrote for some site about Handigaon, and asked what my nick was. I knew exactly what he was talking about. When I nodded, he told me that he'd been reading my stories for last two years. It made me feel good. I don't know why I got invited to the other wedding where I felt completely out of place. I did feel special that he introduced me to everyone as his friend from nursery days in Guheswori. I didn't know how to fit in a hi-fi party that had all the politicians, businessmen and elites of Kathmandu buzzing. I felt like I was in US once again, cause everyone would converse back at you in English even if you asked them something in Nepali. What the hell! People here go to US, UK and Europe not to study or aspire to become something, but to get a weekend getaway because there's so little to do in KTM . I could tell that party nepal could have propped up in parties like this if you eliminated the older folks. Of course, there were quite a few supermodels here too except they'd take something like "namaste" as an insult. I was so relieved to find another friend from school finally, and found something else to talk about. That's that. One of the biggest jokes I have discovered in Nepal and Kathmandu in general is studying medicine. Yes, there are quite a few hardworking students that really aspired to become doctors, and are doctors. Disappointed with the scenario in Kathmandu, they often complain that they can't even have enough pocket money from internships they are doing, and ask me what would be their options if they opted to go to US. Then, there's a huge group of students who were forced into medicine and they are in medical colleges to have fun. They remind me of freshmen in US, except here, all five years of medical school is like freshman year. The stories my friends have confided me would have been useful to Samrat Upadhyaya so that he could exploit this group rather than the peanut selling woman of tundikhel. Anyways, medicine is nomore a noble profession in any aspect you look at it. One fine evening, I decided to call upon two of my rare female friends from high school. I had no idea if they had been married or had gone abroad. I was thrilled to hear both of them were teachers. I asked them if i could attend one of their lectures cause I just couldn't picture them teaching a rowdy group of students. Its amazing when you can relate to people after years of oblivion. We instantly decided to meet up in the weekend. Of course, I am excited to see them, but I do have my own selfish motive. I know very well, one of them knows whereabouts of Shivani. I can't wait to hear. I will keep my fingers crossed... to be contd..... (comments dine time chaina..natra internet dc huncha..photos chai pachi)