In Gokha, I have been going to small villages a couple of hours away on foot. It is exciting to be trekking along the Himalayas with other Nepalis and talking about traditions. And I can’t help comparing all my experiences here with India. And in this time India is a sweet memory.
My purpose in these villages is still somewhat puzzling, but learning more about development than I could in a classroom. Twice I have been welcomed in to the village with a traditional Nepalese welcome, which includes flowers and pink powder that is smeared on my face by the women.
Today, I got attacked by a beggar. She urgently wanted money from only one person in the crowd and that lucky person was me. When at first I didn’t give way she began to push and punch and moan. I shielded myself with a group of people but she was determined. I then went inside a bus and sat down and she stretched herself across two people to jab me in the arm, several times. But before I was sad that I couldn’t give her money and then I became just as stubborn as she. My friends mother gave me two rupees to give to her, but she threw it back at me. She then changed gears and walked around the bus. She found herself a rock and threw it inside the bus through the open window. She was trying to kill me! Even when the window was closed she still continued to throw the rocks. And even when the bus began to drive away she chased after it!
picture next time?
Sunday, June 7, 2009
A Nepali Swagat
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oh my goodness! i can't believe the beggar! and for heaven's sake i am glad she did not harm you with her rock throwing and all. my goodness, syd. you're fantastic! why should anyone want to throw a rock at you, anyway? =)
You're lucky it wasn't a guy the size of Mr. T. That would have been scary.
How scary! I don't think I'd be able to deal with it! And I want to know why she threw the 2 rupees back at you...what, it wasn't good enough for her?
umm, FREAKY!
Don't listen to Sam. It is always scary when someone attacks you and then makes repeated, (though ill executed) attempts on your life.
Except for maybe Dakota Fanning from her I Am Sam days. Too cute. What?
The beggar should come here. She could get free healthcare! And then our parents would pay for her to be treated for the wrist sprain she got from hurling rocks at the white girl on the bus...
And that day...she knew.
Some of those beggars can be persistent. Once, in our most shameful moment Becky and I pretended we didn't speak Spanish thinking we would be left alone. The woman on the bus instead started yelling, thinking by speaking louder we would understand her. After asking over and over again for money she went and got someone from the back of the bus to translate what she was saying into English. By this time we wanted to die of shame because we did in fact understand her Spanish. We gave her a quarter or something. Moral of the story, "beggars can't be choosers" is false. They do in fact choose. And they choose Americans.
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