Coming back from Banepa on the occasion of Teej I was a bit miffed because the bus money taker said it would cost me NPR 50. Now this isn’t a lot, the issue being that I paid only NPR 30 to go from the Old Bus Park to Banepa. (I also paid NPR 15 to travel from my home to Ratna Park, and then walking to the Bus Park, the total trip then costing NPR 45). Initially I thought I was being charged extra because I am a bideshi or foreigner. I paid the guy NPR 25 and then calmed down paying another NPR 20 as I exited the bus at Koteshwor.
I hopped on another bus to get home, thinking ok I’ll pay NPR 15, no big deal. I sat in the back talking to a young man, sitting really close to me although there was really nobody else in the back, who said he was helping his brother that day, as it was a holiday. The brother owned the bus. The young man was curious and made small conversation with me. When I tried to pay the young man he emphatically said, “No”. I persisted but he said, “Next time”. Both going to and from Banepa then only cost me NPR 45 each way.
When I arrived in Banepa, I was initially going to get off at Darbur Nepal, where I had been once before. I asked the young woman sitting next to me and she motioned for me to stay on the bus as we passed what I thought would be my original bus stop. As people exited at the Banepa Bus Park I called my friend put the woman next to me on the phone. I was supposed to now get off at the Bus Park, but the bus was already leaving the Park. At the next stop the young woman motioned for me to get off and follow her. We walked back to the Bus Park and we said our good-byes as the woman went back out to the main road to continue her journey.
At 11:30 AM I spoke to my friend who said that she would come to collect me shortly. Time started passing and I took out my camera and started “playing”. I decided to go out to the main road and take some more photos. A young boy came up to me and I took some photos of him and then he told me to come to his parent’s plastic shop, a few shops down from where I was sitting. I followed him and met his mother and uncle and father. I asked the boy’s mom to talk to my friend which she did. Finally at 1 PM my friend arrived.
Laxmi the young boy’s mom said to me, my friend and her daughter let’s go to the Shiva Temple. The next thing I knew my friend Roji and Laxmi were walking arm in arm as if they had been friends for years. My grumpiness at having waited for my friend left me as I thought about all of the wonderful photos that I had already taken and the kindness of Laxmi and her son.
I was engulfed in a “sea of red saris” many wearing necklaces of green, yellow and red and red bangles. All of the primarily women were making their way either to the Temple or coming back. My photo color palette was heightened to no ends, and I busily clicked away amongst the women either fasting and praying for their husbands or fasting and praying for a husband.
The waves of women kept me moving to the place where Shiva was spraying water from the top of his head as the heavens simultaneously opened up. Umbrellas came out as I found shelter. In the corner a small “black and white” man in the midst of colors. This lent itself to only a black and white photo. The rains subsided and we went to receive a multi-colored Tika. Down the hill I slowly walked through red and green saris dancing. Back to Banepa for some momos and the return trip to my home in Sanepa.
The everyday kindness that I encounter from the Nepali people, seemingly going out of their way to help me live, is remarkable. People don’t necessarily have much in the way of material stuff, the roads are mud and dust, and the buses spew out toxic black smoke to anyone in their way. But Nepalese have multi-colored festivals, which they celebrate as if it is their last. Hearts are always smiling even for those wanderers taking a bus ride who are willing to step into the unknown and be “blanketed” by whatever comes their way.
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