Moonsoon days

The days pass with each monsoon drop. It is Nepal’s first monsoon without its King. Nepal’s first monsoon with its newly elected Maoist government. Everyone talks about the way Nepal will go. Only time will tell. The new constitution is slowly being put together, as the people loose patience for what they see as incompetent and a dishonest government. As a way to protest high prices, Nepal does Banda (days of closing for the country). Banda lasts for days. Gas prices going up, bringing everything else up with it.

“We should put all the politician in a park and kill them” says a jovial bus driver who picks us up outside of the Osho centre, Tapoban.
”Hey, you know what happens when we kill all the politicians? “ I ask him.
”Hoina.”
”New even more corrupted politicians come around” I answer with a grin on my face.

The night and morning time at the Osho centre had made me slightly cynical for the day.

Not being an Osho person myself, nevertheless I am interested in testing various meditation systems. A night at the Osho centre only confirmed my early thoughts. No, I am not an Osho person. As the Osho heads were doing the 3rd part of his meditation system, in which participants are supposed to express their insanity, I looked out the window gazing at a sign with an Osho quote: “ All religions have turned the world into a zoo” Osho. People in the bordeaux robes screaming and rolling on the floor made me think of exactly that same zoo which Osho created. A strange and colourful addition to the spiritual dancers and seekers out there.
Never the less, the centre is worth checking out for those interested. The centre itself is set in the beautiful Nagajurna hills, place of Buddhist mystic and teacher enlightenment Nagajurna. 8 kilometres outside of Kathmandu, it is a nice breath of mountain air. The luscious mountains are filled with crickets songs, and the centre offers excellent vegetarian meals, with a private and clean room setting.

Meanwhile the biggest resource of Nepal doesn’t care about any of this. The water keeps on falling creating a cocoon like environment. When the rain falls, there is nothing to do but to sit inside, wait for the rain to pass, and enjoy the moment of forced meditation.

My days are spent between UPF office, the tattoo shop, the room on top of the roof at Kathmandu Garden House and Kathmandu city and surrounding mountains.

With UPF members, I help paint Angel’s Heaven, an orphanage housing 20 kids, and age 4 to 16.
We do a birthday celebration for Victor, the son of Amrit, the orphanage creator. Located right behind historical Durbar Square, the orphanage offers volunteer opportunity for anyone interested. Any little help can here go a long way, as 10 euros can be the rice for a child per month.
A website is coming; in the meantime, you can contact the orphanage here: st_angels@hotmail.com

We walk around Swanbunath, aka, Monkey Temple (name given by the 60’s hippies). It is a special and auspicious full moon, a great time for purification and gaining merit.

The Cora is packed with devotees, some of them walking for 3 days in a row. Old and young meet in this strange spiritual marathon. Everyone does what they can. Some walk, some run, while others do the entire Cora in full prostration. All of Kathmandu meets under the light of Swanbunath, supposed to appear in the sky to the true seekers. Around the Cora, the Buddhist community offers drinks and food for the participants.

Our little troupe walks to the top of the hill and plays didgeridoo for the pleasure of the kids and surprise of the monks. We smoke up as the music rises up to the sounds of mantras and bells. In a sacred temple, mixture of Hinduism and Buddhism figures, playing music, smoking, dancing as people go around a giant Buddha Eye in full prostration, this is the Nepal I know and love.