Day 156 of international places giving smiles – Remembering 1984 visit to Kathmandu in Nepal
As kids we were very impressed by the movie Hare Rama Hare Krishna. What we saw about Kathmandu in that, remained as a strong memory in our impressionable minds. So in 1984, when foreign travel as a whole family was quite a rarity in India, we were very excited to go togetherto Kathmandu.
My first memory of Kathmandu is of being overwhelmed by the festive ambience. It was the ninth day of the Navrathri festival, and we woke up to the shock of seeing life cattle or chicken sacrifices being help in the open. Even our taxi driver splattered some drops of chicken blood on all the four wheels of our tourist car. The belief was that this offering of blood will please the Mother Goddess, so that in future there will be no accidents by that vehicle!
The Mother Goddess is worshipped in reverence by all the people. We were lucky to enter the living quarters of the Kumari Ghar and actually see the living Goddess during this festive period. A small pre-pubescent girl is selected as a royal Kumari and worshipped as a manifestation of divine female energy. i still remember being in awe of her heavily made up face and her grand bejeweled attire. We all bowed down in reverence to her postion, except my father, who said that he did not believe in such ancient customs.
We then came out to the Diubar square, where many other ancient palaces were situated, each seemed more beautiful than the other. We marveled at the beautiful temples, the heritage buildings and the palaces. One of them was the official residence of then royal family. In every hotel or public place we had seen huge portraits of their King and Queen. Little would we know then that the royal family would be the victim of a mass murder drama, or even that many parts of ancient Kathmadu would be almost destroyed overnight by a massive earthquake in 2015.
Another must visit for every tourist was the Pashupathinath temple. My father wore a rudraksh mala and was very thrilled to hear the priest from our native Karnataka perform the Pooja there. We washed our feet in the flowing river behind, and walked through the sprawling temple complex.
Our local city sightseeing was conducted in a Mercedes bus, my first ever trip in a Company I had heard so much about. I was even fascinated by the many foreign made brands of cars on the rosd. Remember in 1984, the Indian economy had not opened up to foreign investment, we hardly saw any foreign goods in the country. So as a college going, working teenage with my own bank balance, it was a pleasure to indulge in a full day of shopping for myself – accessories, make up items, clothes, tops, stretch denim jeans, bags, shoes, even the posh brand Citizen watch—all this became a part of my first ever indulgent shopping spree, done with my supportive mother, but without the knowledge of my strict father!
At the Swayambhunath Buddhist stupa, just watched in amazement at the serene looking monks and the mesmerizing eyes painted on the structure. Our friends did some coral shopping and we did not know whom to trust, so we just watched them.
In those days our strictly vegetarian family would go in search of authentic veg food. But mum would refuse to eat in a place that also served non veg food, she would make do with roadside tyea and bread. Finally we found a marwadi Bhojanalaya that gave only veg food. I remember that food was a big deal in Nepal for vegetarian tourists like us.
The finale to this trip was a night visit to the casino at the posh hotel Oberoi Soaltee. Entering a five star hotel itself seemed to be a big deal in 1984, and a family gambling at a casino seemed to be unheard of in those days. Thanks to my parents for igniting the travel bug in me….this was the first of the many international travels that I would undertake in my life!
So which place made you smile today?
Be grateful for the places that make you smile!
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