i love red robed monks…

There has always been an unescapable attention when a shaved head, red robed monk walks down the road.
They are usually in groups unless he’s an older one. Then he has the most interesting face with defined wrinkles wanting to tell of his life story. He usually smiles when you stare at him and his fingers do not rest from counting the beads. And then there are the younger ones who look good. They are usually a handsome bunch sporting a mischievious smile that makes you wonder what they must be thinking. They are usually robed in same colors but their accesories never cease to dazzle an onlooker. Rolex watches, name brand shoes and flipflops will just about catch your attention.
Today’s encounter with the “kattu gang” (as Calvin put it) was the best.
It was almost noon when we looked towards the gate and about five of these red robed monks, entered the pool area. I got excited as they each started disrobing and stood on the edge of the pool. 🙂 It was an amusing sight without doubt! They all donned very fit and trimmed bodies well complimented on their speedos as they dove in the water one after another. Ahem!
I pride myself in the fact that I have been exposed beneath those hefty red robes.
And for now, as I sit in this internet cafe and type my blog, two of my favorite kind of people are on the other computers chatting on yahoo messenger…:)
I love red robed monks for these many reasons.

Ring Road Rambling

Predictably, curfew started at 9:00am and was to end at 8:00pm. It has further been extended till midnight.
But an evening walk through the ring road was an interesting picture. A handful of army personnel stood at an intersection as people gathered to look at the burning tires. There were men clutching radios and blasting news as they walked the streets, grinning women with babies, grandmothers and granddaughters striding together and searching for something exciting. There was even a motorcyclist who zoomed past the cops. But the cops had little to say. They didn’t even raise their batons… they looked tired and exhausted. The winner perhaps was the paan dukanwala who took advantage of the mass and seemed back in business…Hopefully, more people are back in the game from tomorrow onwards.
Like it or not, the King has finally spoken…

15th day = 25-hr curfew

That’s the latest from Kathmandu.
Curfew was imposed in the capital from 2:00am and was supposed to end at 8:00pm today. But the government has decided to add seven more hours… totalling a 25-hour curfew regulations. Who knows by the time you wake up tomorrow morning, seven more hours might just be added.
Tick… Tock… tick… tock…

…right place at the right time.

Received snail mail from a faraway friend today. Posting an excerpt (hope you don’t mind, child). But to be at this place…

“I don’t want to move anywhere. Not right now. For the moment, I am perfectly happy to be where I am.
Each day I wake up, go downstairs and make breakfast; do some drawing or painting; take a walk outside near the old people’s home, so it’s me and several people in their 80s walking around this track, and we nod at each other and smile each time we pass; Then I come back inside, have lunch, work a little more on my art; make dinner for my mom and sister when they get home; do yoga with my mom; and then go to bed.
I feel very lucky because right now in my life, this is exactly where I want to be, and what I want to be doing.”

Easter 2063

The sun looked a little hazy this morning.
I had missed the actual sunrise– the step by step unveiling of its yellow face from behind the mountains.
I was walking alongside many others making way to the Easter Sunrise Service. We looked like we were heading for a protest rally.
It might just have been true as the country has been staging protests, sit-ins and every sort of demonstration against the government since April 6, 2006.
We have had curfews, shootings, injuries, killings and hundreds of arrests.
The King remains unmoved and the citizens outraged.
I remain a little towards the apathetic end. The place I have always despised and avoided.
Things change. Times change.
I am sorry to see people get beat up. It is sorrier to see the young cops do their job.
It is the shameless political leaders who are agitating the mass as the stubborn King turns a blind eye to the ongoing unrest.
Either side, the leaders are in their comfortable rooms giving orders and doing press conferences.
“You fasten your triggers for the others to fire.
Then you sit back and watch as the death count gets higher.
You hide in your mansion while young people’s blood
Flows of their bodies and is buried in the mud.”
-Bob Dylan
But perhaps it is the youthful zeal and the fervent passion to see and be the “change.”
I do not know.
Mine seems to have faded. Atleast in present circumstances. Perhaps there are other factors aiding to it. Or perhaps as I just read in “From Caucasia, with love,” by Danzy Senna,
“And the worst thing is when you realize your whole life’s work is going to have to be about correcting somebody else’s four-hundred-year-old mistake.”
Who knows?
It is only hoped that this third day into 2063* is followed by a prettier sunrise from fourth day onwards with our selfishness and arrogances cast aside.

*Nepal follows the lunar calendar based on Hindu tradition and is 56.7 years ahead than the solar calendar currently used all over the world.