Happy Dasain!

Yesterday was the beginning of Dasain, the most significant holiday of the Nepali year. Faruq set me up with an appointment to visit South Asia Partnership Nepal yesterday morning. I was surprised when we got there and thirty people were all sitting cross-legged on the floor waiting for .. something .. to begin. I couldn't tell what.

Then someone came around with a big plate of bright scarlet paste and yellow flower petals. Everyone (including me) dipped their finger in the paste and then touched their forehead with their fingers, creating a round red circle between the eyes. The flower petals were sprinkled on our heads. The round circle, I have been told, is a tika. Need to find out more about that.

Then plates were passed out and servants starting dishing out food .. a type of dish made from legumes, fried ginger (yum!), water buffalo (tasty but very chewy), bamboo soup and a whole bunch of other things. It was really great.

The festival of Dasain is a festival to honour the goddess Durga. Durga is the partner/consort/wife of Shiva, the Creator/Destroyer. During Dasain, all the monsters and evil spirits are chased away by Durga. Keeping all the lineages of the gods and goddesses here is difficult. Especially since there are more than three million of them!

Dasain continues for another nine days. I will be leaving tomorrow (Sunday) afternoon to go back to Delhi and then up to Srinigar for five days. I am really happy with how the trip is going. Most of the time I am feeling very comfortable. Every now and again I do a doubletake and ask "WHERE am I???!!" but then I just get back to my writing. Staying focussed on the work at hand is a good way through this.

And by the way, I am finally starting my first book.

PS -- for those of you who are asking for my pictures, I'm afraid it will have to wait. Uploading is proving to be a pain, so I will just keep taking them and add them to the blog likely when I get home.