Daal Bhaat, Horns, and the Lotus

Namaste mero saathiharu! (Hello, my friends!) It is late in Nepali time (10pm) and although I feel tired I cannot sleep. I think that my brain is still running a mile a minute in order to try to make sense of all that is around me. That being said, Kathmandu is becoming very familiar very quickly. Here are 3 different sensory inputs I experience regularly…

For example, I have had about 10 meals consisting of Daal bhaat – a Nepali staple dish or lentils and rice – in the 2 weeks that I have been in Nepal, 8 of which I have eaten with my hands (or I should say “hand” because the right hand is the only one that can touch food). Tonight at dinner, I succeeded in not burning my fingertips for the first time, but I eat so slowly that my fingers were prune-like by the end.

Then every morning and afternoon on the way to and from school I am surrounded by the sound of greetings – and by that I mean honking horns. All different intonations (squeaks and blasts mostly) that are heard so often they inspire very little emotion at all now. I used to jump/flinch a little, but now I accept it as a greeting of sorts. The frequency of horns parallels the frequency of the saying “Namaste.” I like to think that each honk is saying “good morning” or “good afternoon” or even better “I salute the greater life force within you” as the motorbikes, bicycles, taxis, cars, buses, venders, stray dogs, and cow pass by.

And then there is Buddhist and Hindu iconography everywhere you look. Yesterday the whole group (12 of us) went on a tour of the historical, cultural heritage site of the city of Patan (most well known for the tourist attraction Durbar Square), however, we did a walking tour with our Senior Faculty Advisor, Anil, who showed us parts of Patan we never would have sought out. Anyway, on this tour we were visually accosted by Buddhist iconography. My favorite and the symbol that had the greatest impression on me was the lotus – signifying growth out of attachments, past the illusions, and into the void. Powerful.

So I hope that you are all finding that which inspires you in your everyday observations. Someone once told me to look for the beauty in the ordinary and cherish it – I hope you will.

Om mani padme hum.

Compassion. Namaste.