Teej

9.7.12

Last night I asked Suraksha what her favorite music was, knowing already what she’d probably say: ‘Teej music.’ This month is the Teej festival where women dance and sing and wear red and whatever gold they have.  For a few minutes I persuaded her to sit for a moment and watch a few of my favorite songs when I was her age.  From The Sound of Music we watched Julie and the children sing ‘My favorite things’, ‘Do re mi’ and the goodnight song.  She liked them.  ‘I still like Teej music most.’ 

Well, the songs were enjoyable for me, a movie that doesn’t get old with age.  This morning, overcast, a brilliant splitting of red sky as the East emerges.  Now, fog drifts, cooler temps are enough to wear another shirt, though when the sun is not inhibited it still has a roast in its strength.  And omigoodness Lindt chocolate orange is good she says.  In Pokhara I also picked up some Lindt 77% pure cocoa from Ecuador.  Perhaps this should be shared, you think?

Before sleep last night I was cleaning up in the bathroom and found the baseball glove spider on my towel;  flicking it off it started coming towards me as if the towel was his (or hers, probably hers) I snapped it with the towel and it flew out of the bathroom and under something.  This morning I found its carcass and swept it out onto the balcony.  An hour later a battalion of ants dragged it 30ft and off into the jungle.  The question I consider, are the ants eating it while they’re carrying it?

It is hard to know if we have seen the last weeks of the Monsoon season, no rain last night, a first in a while, and only so during the sleeping hours for the last few days.  I will miss the rain.  It really rained once or twice for eight months while in Salalah, still a dry and dusty place.  I wish the Khareef had come a little earlier when I was there.  Overcast skies and occasional spit was it, though in the mountains fog and condensation was changing things a bit. 

In a few days I’ll be discussing the trek with Laxman.  The work on the new dining room spread to the kitchen today.  A new fan was installed above the burners and now the painters are doing their thing.

Hours later Maya tells me five days.  They are going to repaint the rooms, something I suggested last year.  So, when they get to room six I will leave.  If that takes longer than five days, well, shite, what am I going to do?  The painters will begin on the rooms when the dining room is done. 

So, at the viewtop, a peaceful vista.  Prakash is up there, as is Benita’s brother with a kite.  A splendid late afternoon to fly a kite thermally.  I manage to escape Prakash and walk to the helicopter pad for sunset with fishtail.  After taking a lot of photos that this camera isn’t capable of handling, Indas, the young fella who manages the roundhouse, comes up the hill.  A handsome kid, we talk, he doesn’t like what his government is doing, and if his English were better, he would have gotten a Hamiltonian briefing in two minutes.

When I left I looked back to see Fishtail and Indas was doing push-
ups.  Oh to be young, oh to be old, oh to be somewhere in the
middle and then get hit in the head by a foul ball and wake up
never knowing how old you are, never caring.