1 August
A squadron of mosquitoes got me out of bed at 3:30, a
steady rain falls on the forest. At six
a huge platoon of noisy Chinese make way for the top. I haven’t seen a sunrise
here in 13 days. An overcast morning
with no indication what the rest of the day will be like? Why worry about a future that has already
been predetermined? What happens,
happens.
Anticipation is a root of great
disappointment when you expect. It will
rain or it will not rain.
A morning walk to the farm, expecting to carry milk
back to the big house. I announced I’d be going to Pokhara today and I’m a day
or two off before I planned to go, but I am good for a walk down the road, a
longer way, yes, but no moss, then a taxi to lakeside, do what I need to do,
including stuff to go with marshmallows, I mean, why only toast marshmallows,
get the crackers and the hersheys, and then walk back up the usual route.
Lose any weight yet, perhaps a kilo. The eating here is good. Vegetables, rice, a variety of flavors in the
curry and chilis, and then there is the curd and the lassie, the buffalo milk
tea. None of this do I eat back in the
armpit. The girth will inflate again unless I exercise.
Thoughts on the ME project this morning: What do you want to accomplish? Proof of some kind that changing the way you
read your holy books could end a war.
Crazy talk, I tell ya, the change in the attitude of white southern
preachers didn’t change overnight but it was understood something wasn’t
right. And it happened. Everything changed, you discovered your
interpretation had to change. Your books
don’t work because you’re not in sync with them anymore. The divinely malleable they are.
5.29pm
A walk down the road was uneventful except for roaring
cicadas that sounded like hundreds and hundreds of cars with loose belts. I took a taxi to the city center, bought the
Hersheys and the crackers for s’mores, went to Lakeside, had lunch at the
Boomerang, met Laxman and Maya, they did their chores and then it was back to
the top for sunset together. When
Pokhara gets an unfiltered sun, it’s brutal and shopping with a woman is
comparable to climbing a mountain in two hours with only cigarettes. What to do?
Meanwhile the Hershey bars melted completely and are in
the fridge. It is a calm calm
evening. Nothing eminently dangerous in
the blue skies. A shower was good,
walking down the way of the road there is dirt and pollution that engulfs, walk
fast and stretch the good legs, cool in the shady trees, breathe deep.
From the Pame Valley heading east dark fog, rain and
wind come around the mountain. I thought
we wouldn’t see nice weather. The rain
intensifies. Ram comes to close the
doors and windows and is hanging out at the front door repeating Nepalese
phrases I repeat once and go back inside.
The rain intensifies again. It is
coming straight down for miles. And the
dark fog was the scout for a black mother ship cloud dumping power washing the
mountain as it turns left into the valley hugging the uplands. All that is absent in the wash is thunder and
lightning. May is the best time to be
here for ear zinging missiles kabooming you off your feet jumping for cover
passing out mother Theresa pendants even to those who weren’t afraid.
The day’s last light illuminates the dark cloud orange,
specifically Sarangkot Navajo Orange. It
is a pretty site, and a smell of glacial rain may I say is cleaner than the
Dhaka rain. Sorry, but this stuff coming
from the North is pure.
10.28pm
What am I doing up?
BBQ chicken, roasted potatoes, rice, a vegetable, chutney, and a liter
of millet wine. So, what did I
learn? Everyone is changing except
me. And the only change I want, a
different profession, will be some kind of re-training. It’s a big risk and still an option. I don’t want to teach until I am 67. I want to do what I enjoy, selfish if it is,
if people like either, then it’s not bloody selfish.
The rain that started four hours ago continues to fall,
it’s strength, changes, including one thunder rumble.
You’ll duly note, change in my life doesn’t require a
female. That is a big change but not the
kind of change I want and perhaps unfortunately need. And yet how many years did you pray for that
female to change your life? It wasn’t
meant to be, somehow I’ll find comfort in that.
2 August
A hot mid morning, fog comes and goes, expect a big
rain this afternoon but you never know.
Before the second breakfast Suraksha and I made s’mores
in the kitchen, toasting the marshmallows over the burner. Yum we all said. There is always fatigue when one wakes up at
5 in the morning, walks, visits, eats two meals plus a s’more and then the sun
blazes. I am fortunate I can lay down
for two hours.
Is it the states in a week or so, it’ll cost you flying
alone around 2 grand. Is it the money
that bothers you, is the hassle that will bother you. Suraksha is ready for more s’mores, we got
one Hershey bar and 12 marshmallows.
When you are not in the sun the cool winds in the
afternoon are a prescription for take it easy.
3.07pm
The rain falls lightly.
If I have a car in Michigan, then I am off. Not having a car in the suburbs just means
walking past a lot of houses. Michigan
is a beautiful state. Marquette. It’s been 30 years. The evil credit card. I gotta get one. Or I am at the mercy of family, which is of
course, ok.
Worm fungus, sounds like something on you, Chinese love
it, they think it’s an aphrodisiac.
Chinese natural medicine and all the benefits you get from endangered
species is a hogwash. But the dried grey
quarter inch worm is organic and from the earth so let’s try a few shall
we? And not for aphrodisiacal purposes,
rather to assess.
She is a pretty woman, home for a year until the
paperwork is in and she’s off to Vancouver.
Very nice. If all I need is my
papers in order can I do the same? The
rain falls a little harder. I always
like daylight rain. Two elements in
communion with each other, the symphony a little richer, the visuals meditate,
work away bad energy by listening only to the rain hitting banana leaves. A huge white sliding earth worm fog rolls out
of Pame Valley, dismissing north Pokhara a millimeter a minute until disperses
itself in the open valley, rising up like a surrender.
I should go up for tea.
It’s tea time.
5.14pm
A big mug of milk tea and a plate of fried rice with
plenty of Tabasco and I am back in room five watching a rumbling system slide
in from Pame Valley. All weather looking
north. I am considering a walk with an
umbrella but I am indecisive. Like the
next three plus weeks, should I stay, go and where to go. Interests lie in two places but I realized
forgetting my MI DL could cause delays if I were to open a bbb..bba…bank
account. I got nothing else with a local
address. What were you thinking when you
left it behind is a question I ask. I
can drive in the US with an Omani license, but can I open an account?
Then there’s Sri Lanka. It’s monsoon time there also, tropical heat wet, sweating all the time, being attacked by island bugs all the time. Like Samui? Ah no. Back to Thailand you say? If I fly to the states, it’s a flight to O’Hare, then a bus or a train to Detroit then a bus or taxi to the suburbs. Do I mind traveling this way? I wish I didn’t have a laptop to lug around though it would be handy sometimes.
How do you tell the difference between fog and a
cloud? Does fog rumble thunder?
9.42pm
At dusk I walked to Baba’s house with Maya who carried
two bundles of grass on her back. A
glass of hot buffalo milk and baked corn on the cob work well together. Sitting on a stool outside their entrance is
better than sitting inside. I don’t know
the local word for claustrophobic but I can act it out well. Beem tells me the big hotel has 300 men
working on it. The elder statesman also
tells me he has worked in soil conservation for 30 years and the location of
this hotel could literally move the wrong way.
It looks like it’s being built on solid rock but earthquakes spook me
more.
A long dark serpentine cloud moves out of Pame
Valley. Misty rain fall on perhaps most
humid of nights with nary a breeze.
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