Nepal 22, Durga

I greet Durga at a restaurant just outside the air terminal with a hug, he quite tolerant of me now so I know I can get away with it! Hahaha!

Despite being tired he looks relaxed. We eat and catch up before our flight to the Terai and his home.

I begin to realise there are things I don’t know about Durga, maybe they are not important in the UK but they have significance here. What is his religion? Hindu I suspect because his name is that of a goddess. How many siblings does he have? Connections in Nepal are everything!

Later flying over Kathmandhu in the early evening, I see the city clearly laid out. Thamel and Durbar Square tightly packed on the footprint of a medieval city (I was right, I checked). The rest of the city more sprawling.

We fly over the foothills heading South West and follow the Nayarani River through Chitwan where it joins or becomes the Gandak River that flows into the the lowlands, mist, India and out of my veiw.

We land and are scooped up by Durga’s brother (name I didn’t catch) and taken to a very humble Homestead in a rural area.

So this is Durga’s childhood home, his mother passed away last year and he has a ceremony to complete while he is here. I have many questions but now is not the time. Things like what is his connection to the hills around Baglung? This is where he wants to set up a sustainable farm and it’s very different from this warm fertile place.

Changing the subject, I’ve down loaded a app to identify plants and to give me a fighting chance, so many are completely alien to me. So when Durga asked “do you know what this plant is Didi?” (older sister). I was able to find it pretty quickly. He and his brother were so pleased because his father had planted it many years before. Then his sister-in-law asked about another a blue pea she was growing, the butterfly pea, for making tea! Both plants are from much further south in India.
I’m just happy to have been of some small help by way of gratitude for the hospitality I received so far!

Later I am taken to a fairly up market hotel, not my usual choice for this trip but apparently its owned by the friend of a brother and I will be an honoured guest!