Walking Into the Light

Oh so much has been happening that I have not had a chance to write much, plus we have had a lot of problems with the internet. Last week, Zoe and Dan, who have been working down in Bairawa on a mosaic project, where our guests. Also Philip Holmes who is the director of the charity I am volunteering for was back in country, this as meant a week of planning and meetings. A woman who is opening a shop in Kathmandu is very interested in the Bangle sculptures and we are now working on prototypes. Also the clay maquette figures that the girls produced are now being developed so they can be fired. This does mean that the emphasis of what I am doing has changed. I realise that what is needed before I leave is to put in place means of development and production. Dreams of Naga sculptures are out the window now. An amazing weekend followed the meetings and planning sessions. This started on Friday with a trip to Timi (a town near Kathmandu that is famous for its potteries and papier mache workshops). We took the girls, all together in a micro bus. Because Hari and Rajendra who work here for the project in the pottery both come from Timi, they were our guides, we started with a visit to a traditional mask maker, who gave us a demonstration, this was fascinating. In a courtyard behind his house Hari’s uncle was working on a hand powered wheel, basically a tire and a stick. We then went to visit Hari’s brothers workshop, where I discovered that glazed pottery was only introduced to Nepal in 1984. The weekend was one long festival, it started in the middle of the night in Patan, although I did not catch up with it until later in the day, it was the day that all Brahim (top caste) have to retie their sacred thread, every one gets a thread around their wrist as well. The main Siva temple in Patan was heaving. The water tank that we had seen being cleaned a few weeks ago was full and everyone was queuing to make offerings to a Lingum (phallic symbol of Siva) that had been set up in the middle of the tank. There were many pandits who were tying sacred threads and just loads of people. In addition the Shamens from the mountains were dancing around beating drums. Outside was like a small fete. It was all really exiting. I managed to get a lot of photographs and some video footage, although the camera was not too keen on all that Hindu mess. Like most of these experiences I am not sure what to make of it all yet, but was interested in the following day which was the Gai Jatra festival, this is a day when people who have died in the last year are commemorated. A procession follows a cow. There was music and masked dancing.