As soon as we got into our sleeping bags, we fell asleep. Moreover, we reached pretty late there. The next morning, we were woken up. The morning in Kathmandu was however refreshing. It’s like a crime if someone wakes you up from sweet sleep. No one wants to miss the morning slumber. Anyways that was not our home, not even our country. So, we had to get up early and were asked to go downstairs for the Bible. The pastor and others were already sitting there. Only we were the guests. The pastor spoke something out of the Bible which I couldn’t understand. I just wanted to sleep more. After that, we got fresh, took a bath.
The morning in Kathmandu was damn cold. But I am used to take bath with cold water, no matter what the season is. We got ready and were asked to come down for breakfast. I was the only veg there on the table which no one was aware of. And it created a little problem. I was served the same food and I couldn’t accept it. Then I was served rice with veg. That was the first time I saw how to survive if the food is not available because, at home, we could shout at mother for food, but when you have no one to tell, then what, either eat or die hungry.
Though there came no situations of dying hungry. They said that they would cook separate food for me which was good for me. After breakfast, we were asked to get ready. Let me tell you, we went there for a Bible seminar from a church, I was a volunteer and we stayed in a pastor’s house there. So, I along with others got ready to go out to a place, Nepal Chambers of Commerce. It was a big seminar hall. Few others had already gone there for setting up things. I along with Dinesh, Abdi, YoungJin and one more brother from Korea went there. We walked for a distance and then we reached the bus stop. There we got in a cab. The locals call “Micro”. So we got in a micro. It was really a micro. I couldn’t adjust myself sitting there. Space was not enough. That’s a natural problem one has to face if his/her height ranges 6ft. The Micro dropped us the Nepal Chamber of Commerce. There at the hall, I met other church fellows who had already gone there. We were given handbills to distribute. We came out on the road and started to distribute those handbills to the people moving on the road. We went to different places. I was with Dinesh. After a long-standing out and distributing handbills to the people we were called inside. There were few people sitting. Around 10 to 15. The pastor started to read the bible. Dinesh started to nudge me.
We had a plan. We thought of moving out of this place. So we planned to explore the area. Silently, we came out of the place, as nobody knew it. After coming out of the hall, we took a deep breath. According to him, he was tired. We were even hungry. We were habitual of eating heavy food, and moreover in the night too we didn’t have much. We were really feeling hungry. The whole area was a market place. So we decided to wander in the market like roamers. The nearby market was pretty crowded. People of all ages were there. The most peculiar thing which I noticed there was that most of the market was run by women. This was really a good thing to see. Women with their little kids in their hands or on their backs were handling all the trade. They were selling everything which could be sold in the market. From sitting on the roads selling vegetables and fruits to big malls and shopping complexes, they were seen everywhere. I wondered if it was good or bad. Women have taken the trade into their hands is a good thing and shows woman empowerment. Is it women empowerment that women are doing the job or is it their helplessness or poverty? I couldn’t find any relevant answers. The walls were done with the arts. They were covered with street arts and political thoughts. There would be elections and had happened earlier.
We roamed in the market streets like strangers. We just passed from one street to another and explored new experiences. That day was my first time to escape like that. I didn’t even bunk any class in school or college. But there we did. We escaped silently and roamed out. It was really full of enjoyment and pleasure. Roaming in the streets of Kathmandu was like roaming in our own city. There was not a big difference. People were speaking in Hindi as well, so we didn’t face much problem in communicating with them. We didn’t have phones as the Indian telecom network didn’t work there. And yes, Dinesh’s phone was stolen on the way on the train. So, we were not even aware of where would we go. We only knew two places name, the Thapathali and Nepal Chamber of Commerce. After roaming around like cowboys we returned back to the place. When they saw us, they asked where we had been. Dinesh simply excused that we were out to eat something. I got a little insecure as didn’t want to lie but it all happened all of sudden. After some hour or so, the bible class was over and people started to move out. We were asked to carry things like water bottles, guitars, and some other stuff. We reached the place, the guest house. I tell you the house was really beautiful. The one I had seen in the movies. And the view was only imagined.
At dinner, we all sat around and shared our views for the whole day. The main focus was on what we learned from that day’s bible readings. We didn’t do it, kept silent, and just heard them for a while. The dinner was ready. Chicken and rice. And everyone started to stare at me. Then I was served something veg. People eat rice occasionally at the place we belong to. Especially the people in Haryana, Delhi, and Punjab, etc. rice is eaten only occasionally not all the time. But they used to eat. It was their culture. Ours was different from there. There I had a new experience of cultural conflict. I just ate anyhow. There were many reasons for this. My mom didn’t cook it, it was not my home, and it was not even my country. I was staying at someone’s place at free of cost outside of my country. So I got no way to complain around. After dinner, there were two brothers who had to do the dishes. I too wanted to do but it was already decided that it was not for the guests.
After dinner, we went to the room upstairs. We opened our sleeping bags and closed eyes. I was feeling really hungry. Dinesh too! But it was not our home; we had to remember this thing every moment. We couldn’t enter the kitchen in the mid of night to see what’s left. We passed the night anyhow. We explored many places in the city which I have forgotten now. I don’t remember the names of those places. But whatever it was it was all pretty amazing and beautiful to be stored in memories.
