Last night I found a way to keep my kidneys warm. I layered up and rolled up my sarongs to create extra padding between my back and the cold floor. It worked well, I slept well and stayed warm.
I tell the dirty, malnurished, sick looking sad dogs in the yard, "I'm just passing through, I'm just passing through." I was not interested in petting them or playing with them, but I do sympathize them.
Anar took me to brunch at an Indian restaurant. I really like the food we had. Some how she needed someone to talk to and she poured her heart out and cried at the restaurant. Anar comes from and upper caste. She is educated and earned her own house. During expansion of her house Peace Corp pulled out of Nepal due to political unrest. She expressed the trauma of it all because no one would help her including her family. A friend helped her figure out how to finish the construction of her house. Anar said none of the workers in the construction industry wanted to work with her because she was female and this male friend of a lower caste taught her how to not get cheated and what she needed to do to complete her house. They were very much in love with each other. Her father, along with her sister who is Anuja's mom, and Suraj all disapproved of this relationship. They did not want the house to leave the family and go to the lower caste man. They conspired together and threatened to send the police after the man and put him in jail for loving someone higher than his caste. I guess in Nepal you can get imprisoned for it. Out of grief, Anar attempted suicide. Anuja found her and saved her. She was hopitalized for 19 days. She did not speak to Suraj for a year and they all continued to live with her till this day. Anar said to me that she would rather the building go to a charity organization than to pass it on to her relatives. She insists that Suraj is sent to Kathmandu from her father as a spy. His mother who is wife of three only visits from time to time.
Well, that was a lot of "Days of Our Lives" day time soap drama for me over lunch. I guess this is also why everyone here loves "Titanic".
When I returned to the house I packed for my trip to Pokhara and took a double shower. I can't seem to get clean enough. When I eat, I can't seem to get full. I am hungry all the time. It is such a weird sensation.
After dinner it was more DVDs. I was not interested and really wanted to get some rest because I would have to get up at 5am to catch my bus for Pokhara.
