The Sandpaper Chronicles

"Too Much Depressing"

I can just imagine one of my Nepali friends saying this, in response to this article about college girls in Kathmandu coerced into the sex industry.

 

Peace process etc...

Well back when I went on that blogging blitz...politics and daily life just kind of settled back to the normal state of affairs, with some new deadlines established farther down the line etc.

This article on the UN's take on the peace process is a decent update of things overall as relates to that. The gist is that things don't seem to be going anywhere clear very fast....still...

Today on the streets of Kathmandu

Here are some disconcerting photos from a clash in the streets today. This morning text messages were passing around among friends warning not to try driving into or across the city, as there were numerous Maoist rallies and protests in progress and traffic was a mess. 

This gathering pictured in the link turned violent and there were several injuries. Many of the Maoists who have come in from rural areas for this massive and prolonged demonstration are just teenagers. It is all unfortunately quite messy at this point and events continue to unfold day by day with no major strides towards resolution to the Maoist demands.

Mark Storm shares his thoughts...

I generally find fellow ServLifer Mark's blog entertaining, and if you haven't read enough about the recent happenings in my last couple posts, he provides some additional information and tipped me off to this Nepali journalist's blog post that is REALLY WORTH READING if you want to get a feel for things as they have been around here. 

Personal commentary on the same

This past week, as the article in the previous post states, the Maosists brought in a bunch of cadres (the favored word in these parts) from rural areas of Nepal and declared a nation-wide strike that ended up lasting six days. During that strike, everything - businesses, schools, transportation, government - shut down, except that they allowed shops to open from 6-8 p.m. so people could buy food.

Perks of this week, as it played out in my life -- 

• The typically terrible Kathmandu air quality improved by nearly 50% due to the lack of vehicular traffic. 
• Our power cuts, usually many hours a day, nearly ceased to exist. 
• The streets of the city turned into pedestrian walkways.
• Tossed frisbees and went for numerous walks in those streets.
• Since no one could really do anything else, friends and I had group dinners and sleepovers all week and knocked out all of season 5 of Grey's Anatomy.

Meanwhile, the Maoists did things like take over schools to house themselves, encircle the entire city hand-in-hand (pictured) and hold rallies, while the heads of the government met continually to try to come to a consensus about how to handle their demands that the Prime Minister step down and a new government be formed under Maoist leadership. 

To date, no consensus has been reached.

Friday, however, there was some progress towards normality, after tens of thousands of us attended a peace rally to protest the strike. While Maoists tried to blockade many from getting to the rally there was still a huge turnout. (I found I was en route to the rally about an hour behind some of these blockades, scuffles, brick-throwing and other problems in my part of the city. Only later did I learn about that, which explained the bricks, rocks, and chunks of cement littering the street in some places.) 

After some speech-making at the gathering pictured, thousands of us hit the streets en masse and walked around the center of the city while police bordered our massive group and Maoists gathered on the sides. It was quite a crowd and generally went well, though tear gas was involved at one point when some Maoists got into the middle of the rally crowd. My friends and I had split off to go for food by that point, though, so I don't get to tell you about what it was like to be tear gassed. Other friends reported that "it hurt." 

The peace rally succeeded in adding significant pressure, and by that evening, the Maoists lifted the strike, though over the past couple days there has been continued agitation on the streets and disruption around town. No conclusion to this matter is yet in sight. 

Pray for peace. 

Thoughts on the latest Maoist strike and other (borrowed) commentary

Copied from NYTimes Op-Ed from May 5th by Nepali author Manjushree Thapa: 

IN her 1967 travelogue, the Irish writer Dervla Murphy described my homeland, Nepal, as a country that had just emerged from centuries of isolation, and was baffled about how to be part of the modern world. Most of what the Nepalese — and she — did was to wait for something to happen.

“We waited endlessly for everything,” Ms. Murphy wrote. “For glasses of tea to be carried on trays from the bazaar, for a policeman’s bunch of keys to be fetched from his home down the road, for an adjustable rubber stamp which would not adjust to be dissected (and finally abandoned in favor of a pen), for a passport officer to track down Ireland (whose existence he seriously questioned) in a dog-eared atlas from which the relevant pages had long since been torn, and for the chief customs officer, who was afflicted by a virulent form of dysentery, to withdraw to a nearby field between inspecting each piece of luggage.”

The main wait in Nepal, at present, is for an end to the nationwide general strike that began on Sunday. The Maoists, who led our Constituent Assembly until losing their coalition partners last year, have trucked tens of thousands of party cadres into Katmandu to enforce the strike. They are trying to stage what they call a “people’s movement” to form an all-party government — with the Maoists in control.

Katmandu has come to a halt as bands of Maoists brandishing sticks march through the streets ensuring that government offices and businesses stay shuttered. Schools are closed, households are running out of food, and even money is in short supply, since all the banks are closed. Tempers are flaring. It would not take much for people’s discontent with the strike to tip into civil unrest.

Nicholas Kristof of NYTimes...

...blogs some noteworthy comments on human trafficking. 

Blog blitz begins.....Up first -- wedding recap

The "Amy Marries Brendan" wedding weekend in Asheville was a most most most fabulous affair. Brendan's family is great and it was fun getting to know them. My family is of course, I think, also great and it was so fun to all be together. The wedding festivities were splendid and beautiful and a total blast. The very cool city of Asheville and the North Carolina hills provided a beautiful backdrop for the weekend, and even the weather was perfect on Friday and Saturday, before and after which it was rather on the miserable side.

Photos are up at Patrick Eilers Photography. Go to the "Clients" tab at the top right and look for the Amy & Brendan albums (engagement and wedding photos posted).

Amy and Brendan are now settled into their new home in Alaska. I am now back in Nepal as of several weeks ago. Life goes on, and around here we all wonder if this country is falling apart. More on that in the next posts...

....Yes, I really do plan to post again in less than some months from now. 

Wedding Countdown

Soon and very soon -- March 20th, to be exact -- my lovely sister Amy will marry her lovely boy Brendan and become Mrs. Naples. I recently arrived back home in the States for the much-anticipated event. "Taylor Time Gone Wild", as my brother Cole referred to it.

Want to know more and see some great pics? -- Check out their wedding site. Post-wedding, they will honeymoon by driving cross-country with whatever belongings they can fit in their truck, to their new home in Thorne Bay, Alaska. Unfortunately for my mom, she just didn't bring up the kind of kids who stick close to home....

I will head back to Nepal on April 13th, but between the wedding and that day, hope to be able to catch up with some of you southern folks. Gimme a holler if you want to try to meet up.

I spy...

 

I was surprised to spot such an American classic in a little roadside shop up near the Tibet border. Never before seen PBR in Nepal. Came via China it seems....