April 28 , 2001
The Air of Nepal

I have just begun to find the time to describe my surroundings. I have stayed for the last three week in the guest cottage of the Danish organization Danida. I have a small room in this very proper guesthouse. Four stories high it has the typical black water tank on a raised platform as the highest point of the roofline. The room is a standard white wash with a ceiling fan as an added benefit on a hot day. Two doors, one to the hall and one to the outside balcony, are very thin dark brown wood frame. The windows are fitted with screens and all doors and windows are fitted with sliding bolt locks. I keep the windows open for the best airflow so I hear all the sounds of this village neighborhood.

In the daytime there are the sounds of a school full of young children. Their recitals and singing are enchanting. Although I do not know the words I do recognize some of the melodies.

I am here at the beginning of monsoon season. On several evenings thunder rushes and floods my room with waves of sound and feeling. It comes for hours, time and again, with wind and little rain. I hear the thunder but cannot see lightning so it must come from far away. All this noise is only the last ripple of the storm.

The smells of Kathmandu are strong and very rich. The wind will change the flavor many times each day. During the day they cremate by the rivers edge and the smell is strong and strange. It cannot be avoided as it fills the air but it is mixed with the sweet smell of flowers and incense.

It is hot but not totally unpleasant. The air is always moving. You become a part of this movement and you get to know your odor as you do the smell of the village and all that call it home. When meals are cooked the blending of food is everywhere. The children are called to dinner by the fragrance in the air. Dogs bark all the time. If they stop you wonder why and in the morning the rooster crows to start it all again. I lay on my bed and wonder when I return home if the salt air of home will make my mind wander to thoughts of Nepal.