ROAD BLOG AHEAD

April 14th is the Nepali New Year.

I wrote most of this blog yesterday afternoon as the demonstrations went on and finished it today:

Wednesday, 12, April 2006

Thamel, Kathmandu, Nepal

 
Arghhhh!! If there’s one thing I hate, it’s having to stay on the sidelines while Lena runs around! Even when, like now, I realize it’s probably the wisest course of action, given the circumstances. However I am not good at sitting and fretting and wondering what the hell is going on.

 
It’s a little after one p.m. Nepal time as I begin this account. We’d just come back from a morning out attempting to use the internet, have some coffee and gather information on the overnight developments. You learn a lot just sitting and talking to people in cafes or walking around, stopping to say hi to folks you’ve met. We learned, for instance, that’s it’s impossible to get airline tickets out of here without putting yourself on a waiting list. Though we suspect that this is dependent on where you are trying to go and what airline you are willing to fly. We also learned, from a reliable source, that the nine Westerners who were kept and charged after yesterday’s demonstration and police sweep were released last night, apparently unharmed. Yes, there were nine – the rest of those who had been picked up at the time were turned lose and  not booked at all. Of those nine, most were young Germans. None were Americans or Canadians. Which is consistent with who and what we observed ourselves – that those who participated in the demonstration were mostly Europeans – Brits, Germans and French – with a few Israeli kids thrown in. We’re still the only North Americans we know of who were present. The incident made the front pages of the Nepali language papers but were completely buried in the English language papers and news releases. We’re also still waiting to hear if those charged will have their visas to stay in Nepal revoked or not. No one seems to know.

 
So that was the morning’s expedition around Thamel. It was pretty mellow here. No curfew at all has been announced for today and the shopkeepers were really happy about that – it’s the first day in a week that it looked like business as usual. Yesterday’s major confrontations (the ones with many people, much violence, many arrests and injuries) were all in outlying townships rather than inside the ring road. Our little skirmish was nothing compared to some of those other big clashes, its main distinguishing feature is that it was the only one so far that has involved non-Nepalis. There was, according to all information, to be a major rally and demonstration in Ratna Park at 1 p.m. Ratna Park is not so far from here, maybe two districts over – a long, but do-able walk from Thamel. Too long for me and taxis don’t tend to run back and forth between riots. So we’d come back to the hotel to regroup and decide what to do with the day.

 
I was the one who heard the ruckus outside. Lena was reading and she has an ability to turn out noise on the scale of a Big Bang when she’s into a book, so she didn’t even blink when the metal doors suddenly began slamming shut out on the street. Like a lot of so-called third world countries, the shops in Nepal tend to open out right onto the street. Here they are up one or two concrete steps just because of the monsoons and the river of mud that happens when the rains come. The fronts are covered with corrugated metal sliding doors, just like those you find on most storage lockers in the West. The sound of those doors screeching open are what wakes me most mornings. I don’t believe that WD40 has made it to Nepal yet.  So when I say I heard those doors closing, believe me, it was cacophany of a unique and very noisy sort, impossible to mistake. They were closing in a big hurry and folks were shouting up and down the alley, banging on doors, whistling for attention.  I’ve been here long enough to know that these were not typical lunch time noises.

 
“It sounds like something’s up,” I said to Lena who was sitting in front of the balcony door, blocking it. “You wanna check?”  Almost reluctantly, she got up from her book and went out on the balcony. She was back in like a shot, less than ten seconds later, suddenly wide awake and energized. I had to laugh at the transformation adrenaline makes in my wife. “Yup, something’s up.” She was in motion as she said this, putting her shoes on as she made for the door. “Be back in a minute. Probably.” And she was gone, down the stairs to the street.  
 
She actually was back in about a minute, stripping off her earrings and other jewelry, her money belt and other loose items as she came in, tossing them to me, running her fingers through her hair. “The demonstration at Ratna Park may be headed this way. Merchants are afraid of violence, so everyone’s closing up shop.” She slipped the camera into her jeans pocket and gave me one of those looks that she perfected as a paramedic on the streets of San Francisco. “YOU stay here. I’m going out to check it out.”
 
There was a moment when I had a choice between being indignant at being literally ordered to stay put and out of trouble, and humor at the utter command in her voice, not even realizing that she’d just give me an order. I chose to laugh. I’m still laughing. I meanm, yeah, she had a point. Hobbled by my bum foot, I’d be a liability if it came to running and climbing over walls. Unlike Tuesday, this was a Nepali rally and it could get really violent really fast. I am many things but these days fast isn’t one of them. But sometimes she is sooooo domninant an doesn’t even know it at the time~!~ shaking my head even as I acquiesced, I handed her a wet bandana to stick in her pocket and made her change to a plain black t-shirt. At least I can be a practical acccomplice!
 
One of the things that Lena and I both noticed at yesterday’s rally was the innocence and lack of experience at such things evident in virtually all of the young people attending. Particular in a situation where it is known that things became violent previously and have high likelihood of becoming violent again. Certain things we have both known since our early teens from days of being involved in political protests and civil disobedience: Sensible shoes, nondescript, replaceable clothing; no jewelry that the cops can grab and use to control you or pull you – particularly no piercings or stuff like leather thongs around the neck. Minimal money, ID, stuff in pockets, hair fairly well contained (braided, tied well back, etc. if long) and always, always, if there is any possibility they’ll use teargas (and they’ve been using really toxic varieties all along here in Kathmandu) take some kind of face mask – a wet (not soggy) cotton bandana that can be tied over nose and mouth as a filter will do just fine. It doesn’t stop teargas, but it does give you fighting chance of getting out of range without serious respiratory damage and pain. This, to us both, is goes without saying. The kids we saw obviously didn’t know anything about it and the couple we actually talked to were pleased and surprised to have such info shared with them. Oh yeah, always know where you are and what your escape routes are if things go bad. Unless you go in planning to be one of those arrested, you may need to become invisible or out of the way real fast and knowing the bolt holes and alleyways is always useful.
 
So, she went off and came back with some good photos several hours later. The demonstrations were interestingly organized, according to her. Instead of one single large mass rally that the police could target and disperse, the rally did a gather wherever the police or army wasn’t and then, with runners on motorcycles (Nepali boys and girls are amazing on bikes) to tell them what was going down, dispersing and looking casual when the troops came along.
 
One of the key things that is becoming more and more obvious as we become involved here is how very much everyone is supporting each other and working together smoothly and without even really having conscious thought. Lena saw this the first time she went down a back alley, during the tourist demonstration. People opened their doors to her and said, “come in” or showed her which way to run. This has continued as she goes about, connecting with people, taking pictures of the military and gathering information which we pass on to everyone who wants to know what’s going on, Nepalis and Westerners both.  The absolute kindness and solidarity of the Nepali people is overwhelming – they really take care of each other, take risks for each other, protect each other (and anyone who appears to need protecting) and are really savvy, kind, strong and practical.  We have met some of the most amazing men and women these past few days and have come to really admire the character of the Nepali people and the strength and determination they are showing in the face of so much struggle and difficulty.
 
It’s late and I need to try and get some sleep (despite the bad rock band playing nearby) so I’ll end here and write about the wonderful people, including the ones who seem to have adopted us, next time I can get to a working computer. It’s really wonderful to feel so welcomed and to see how much the opinion of the rest of the world matters to these people fighting for freedom and basic human rights. Knowing that their struggle and their determination is being heard and respected seems to give people relief and courage. I can do that, can give them that encouragement, even if, by ourselves we’re only a couple of western women in a strange city that we are increasingly coming to love.