Namaste and Tashi Delek (Hello in Nepali and Tibetan, respectively) from Boudhanath, Kathmandu, Nepal. Where to begin, where to begin...I've only been here three days and yet there is so much to say and so much more to do. I suppose it's worth mentioning that on my flight to Kathmandu from Doha, Qatar I got upgraded to business class. I have only twice flown business class and on both occasions I was 'bumped up' from coach on a flight to Kathmandu. Business class on Qatar Airways is nice, really, really nice; it's even nicer when you don't pay for it.If that isn't nice, I don't what is.
Anyways, I have for more cogent things to say, or at least I think I do. It has only been five months since I was last skittering about the Kathmandu Valley, and yet, in those five short months, so much has changed. Then again, life seems to move so much faster here, and at the same time so much slower. Paradox? Let me explain. In the day to day (controlled) chaos of a bustling city like Kathmandu, so much comes crashing together, sometimes literally, right before your eyes. There is never just one thing to do, and nothing ever, ever goes according to plan. Even something as simple as going for kora, ritual circumambulation, around Boudhanath Stupa inevitably turns into an adventure as one discovers familiar faces, haggles with shopkeepers, encounters beggars, and somehow always ends up having tea. It can be exhausting, the constant assault on the senses from which there is no respite save for the stiff mattress and sticky sheets that await back at one's guesthouse. Also showers, there is nothing like a cold shower on a hot day here in Kathmandu. Life starts to slow down in the shower, but not quite the same way as when it really slows down. What to I mean by 'when it really slows down?' I mean being totally absorbed in the moment, simply accepting and appreciating a singular instance of life as it unfolds. Truly according with things as they are, without disturbing the mind with anything else. No thoughts of past or future, no judgments, no machinations, no focusing on something else, no forced feelings. Just naturally being in the moment, like a lotus floating on the surface of a pond. Spontaneously beautiful, effortlessly harmonious. This usually happens, for me at least, when I hear the symphony of Tibetan horns and cymbals that invariably erupts from the monasteries around Boudha. In such a moments, a sort of unconditioned beauty, arises not from without, but within. Eventually, this beauty dissipates, but the beauty itself does not subside, rather it is one's perception of it that fades. Unfortunately, I have to get a move on, so this lackluster jumbling of thoughts will have to suffice for now.
The Frequency is Courage,
- Doug B.
P.S. My mobile # in Nepal is 011+977+9803212187. If you send me an entertaining text message, I'll buy you something nice.
