~ Yoga is the cessation of mind. ~ Patanjali
August has been a busy month. We had Nepal first tattoo convention. The event was in preparation of the planned international tattoo convention for 2011, as part of the big tourism promotion for Nepal 2011. The convention was a real success, with a lot more people than expected.
The new kids get a chance to meet the older artists, and discover new technics, see some new work, as well as learning more basic hygienic rules.
The rain falling non stop, August is a good time to study. I burry myself in Patanjali and other ancient classic hindu texts. My mornings are taken by yoga and meditation. All is quiet. For social activity, I go to Funky Buddha the tattoo shop, I visit Jacky, the new monkey, and enjoy friends passing by.
August is Shiva’s month. Nepal celebrates the destroyer of the Hindu trinity with as many festivals as there are days. Some say that on the day of Purnima alone (full moon), there are 150 festivals happening. During the month, the married women wear green, yellow and red bangles on their wrists. The glass multicolored bangles dancing with each movement is the music of a woman in a house.
“I look at them and it makes me happy” tells me Sunita, a 20 year old nepale woman, as she looks at her bangles in the light. She chose a love marriage with her painter boyfriend, to the disapproval of both families. She gives me 3 bangles, which I break in a few days. I replace them with a new dozen. 3 at a time, the bangles become a practical meditation on being a little softer with daily movements.
During this celebration month, the women pray for their husbands to live a long and healthy life. They pray for their husband to be like Lord Shiva, the Absolute, what remains when all else is gone. During the 3 days Teej festival, the women all dressed in red, color of marriage, get together, and dance for sisterhood.
By the end of August, around full moon, there is Janai Purnima followed by gaijatra, a newary (original inhabitants of Kathmandu) day of the dead. On Purnima, brahman priests wrap the sacred thread of protection on people’s wrists.
For gaijatra, cows lead the festival. The holy cow is the hindu psychopompe who will take you to your next life. People dress up as clowns, wear masks and other funny costumes. The day is made to laugh. The story tells that one day a queen was so sad from the loss of her husband that her son asked people to come, just to make his mother laugh again. On gaijatra, all is allowed, for a good time.
August also being at the end of the monsoon and the beginning of winter, the atmosphere is filled with high level of humidity. Around the same time last year, it was a pneumonia that kept me stuck in bed. This year, it’s 4 days in fever, coughing and spitting the extra moisture in the air out of my lungs. It is the other side of the postcard showing exotic countries, it is the harshness of the environment on the body which is a daily reality. 
On the other side of the joys of travelling and passing through postcards, there are also the few that loose their minds, away from home. This month, we had to call the Korean ambassy in order to ship back a Korean friend. As sad as it is to see, we have to accept that sometimes, the mind goes in places from which there is no going back. Sometimes the mind comes back into this conventional world, sometimes not. And sometimes, we simply stop caring.
On a positive note, this month, I got the pleasure of 2 friends passing by, with whom I can indulge in intellectual conversation. Vincent Greby, a French documentary producer and writer, is in Kathmandu to promote his book about New Nepal and the possibilities for the country’s future. We speak politics.
Bjarne, a Sanskrit teacher from Aarhus University Denmark is also here for a few months. A serious indologist, he is finishing the first Danish to Sanskrit lexicon. The book also contains new translations from the ancient hindu texts, which is a nescessary new breath in the sometimes archaic and often prejudiced translations done by the old europeen scholars. We speak philosophy.
The month almost finished, winter is coming. This month, we signed the papers. Another page is turned. I got married to my nepale friend. A new chapter in the book of my life opens up. That will be another story, better kept for next page.
See you next post 
I always read and enjoy your blog.
But this time I feel strange about the way you're mentioning your korean friend. Just passing, as if he was a detail among the others.... Doesn't he deserve some more space or details?
As for me, I wish to know a little more (this reminds me a lot a someway sad novel of Barjavel).
Thank you again for your writings, and good luck for your new married life!
F.