leap Gazelle

9.14.2012

Early to bed early to rise, fog slows the sun’s presence, every room is full this morning.  The Sherpa ladies and other Nepali couples and Dig-ge take rooms.  Maya and Laxman (and Didi) work harder than anyone else on that mountain I have met and they also spend more than anyone else on that mountain.  While Tika and the likes save and store for the future, an admirable and prudent thing to do, these two spend and improve their lives and give to the tourist on his or her way to the view top a clean and comfortable place to enjoy unparalleled views and what is wrong with that?  Build for the people. 

The thick fog remains without let up, cold, dreary, a headache that lingers, winds pick up, time for lunch, Suraksha wants to play Uno, I feel like crap.  She’s pulling out all the wild cards.  She’s shuffling, my head feels heavier than ever, eyes tired, wo look, the fog brightens and blinds, Laxman wears the same clothes regardless of the weather outside.  Cold, hot, same same.

Maya and Suraksha head to Pokhara to celebrate the Teej, I was indirectly asked to attend but considering it’s a women’s festival where they get in big groups and sing about their husbands and female empowerment, no answer was really needed. 

By this afternoon my cold dried up and now all is healthy.  I’m not sure if it was anything I took.  Last night’s rum punch stopped the sneezing and general miserableness and replaced it with a two story projectile of everything I ate and a huge dump that has never happened before I am about to go to sleep.  But sneezing continued throughout the morning and I took take sinus pills with panadol, I don’t know if I can contribute this with the drying up.  Once the rain stopped and the air cleared I started feeling better.  Now the stars are out and a loud chorus of crickets fills the evening sky.

At 9pm, the lights out in the dining room and kitchen, a group from Pokhara arrive, all the rooms are taken and Laxman begins a dal bhat meal for eight.  Sitting innocently in the tv room watching Gazelles leaping I am summoned for chopping and stirring duty.  Even the squirrelly painters lend a hand at pressing ginger and an hour later the fog rolls in and the rain comes hard and I bid goodnight once my  services are not required.