Back in Holland after a wonderful trip to Nepal
Monday, 7th of March and back in Holland.
My last evening in Kathmandu was an evening full with suprises.
After dinner I went to one of the most bars in Thamel, Tom and Jerry. Maybe the guys of H.E. were coming to join for a drink, but I was not really counting on it. And I was right there, no one showed up. But I had a book with me, so I sat myself down at a table. But that was not for long.
A lady that was very loud and had already a few whiskeys came to me, dragged me with her to sit at the bar: no woman is allowed to sit on her own, it's Womens Day in Nepal, she said. So I took a barstool in a corner at the bar and watched this crazy woman dancing around, jumping around.
After not too long she grapped a man sitting by himself and dragged him also to the bar. He came to sit with me and we had a nice evening. His name was John, a photo journalist and many interesting stories to tell. Only around midnight I went finally back to my hotel, but not before I asked John if it was okay that I was joining him the next morning to Pashupathi, one of the most sacred places in Kathmandu. I have not been there before and John was going to meet some one there who would take him to the sadhus (holy men) to make pictures of them.
So, next morning after a coffee John and I got a taxi to Pashupathi. Walking over the local market we came at the square of the temple complex. There was a big crowd and we were going to check out what was going on. It proved that there was a Japanese woman who was burried alive for 33 days meditation and at 9.30 they were going to let her out. Her name is Yogmata keiko Aikawa.
Known as Ma Keladevi in India, Yogmata has got initiation from great living sage Sant Yogi Avtar Baba. To serve the world peace and humanity, she has taken five times underground 'Yog Samadhi '. She says Samadhi is a gateway to contentment. It is a result of Shunya and Chaitanya - of Emptiness and Consciousness. It is a stage which can be reached only through meditation.
Having become a realized one and an enlightened soul, she has attained ones with wholeness. She has acquired mystic healing powers and has cured many suffering souls through her hand power healing. She is a great master of rebalancing body and mind.Samadhi is the last limb of the yoga, which opens all the gates of supreme consciousness. When you reach in the samadhi, means you have traveled from beginning to the end, it means that you have enjoyed, you have entertained and you have experienced each and every act of life and every stage of this life age.
But when you reach beyond the death, it becomes a celebration. Now it is no more death, you have already experienced the death, so all the fears disappear. And whole space is open to you, all the distance disappears, there are no more directions of east, west, north, south, there are no more ups and downs and there is no more birth and death, the whole universe i.e. 'Brahammand' become home in the Samadhi.
Samadhi is a total liberation. When you experience the Samadhi it means that you have gone through the physical body experiences, astral body experiences, cozal body experiences and you have experienced the self also and you have become experience less also, it means you become the 'Brahamannd' i.e. the universe.
When you want to go through the Samadhi it means you have become oneness to your body, when you are oneness to your body it means you become a 'Siddha' of physical power. You can become the elephant power and then you can become very small fly power too because when once oneness to your body is completely in your control so all kind of physical power can be under your control. Once you become experienced of your astral body it means you are oneness to your mind, oneness to your 'Gyana' i.e. wisdom bodies and you are oneness to your 'Pranic' life force (vital energy), because astral body has three dimensional power, it has a pranic body that is called as pranmaya kosh, second is mental body called manomaya kosh and third is the vigyanmaya kosh which is the gyana body i.e. wisdom body, this is the most powerful and useful body. Physical body is dependent on this three-dimensional body. So when you are in the second stage of the samadhi that means you have siddhi of becoming highly intellectuals and you can fly, you can travel to the astral worlds, you can leave your physical bodies and can go anywhere in this universe and can come back as per your will.
As the philosophy of yoga says that it is a stage of 'Sampargat Samadhi' which is known as Savichar, Savikalpa, Ananda and Asmita samadhies. It is most useful to living a best life in this universe, with an objective and subjective realization, when you can go beyond your body and mind and you can go beyond gyana also and after all these experiences you can go totally beyond all these things and become a self, oneness to your karan i.e. kozal body, it has a memory of millions and millions of life travelling. It is your real house where you are residing. It is a house of the self and being known as being, which is known as atma.
Having all this experiences one can live with the earth energy. Living with earth energy means making oneness to the whole earth, that means a man who is in samadhi become oneness to everything that is created by the earthly energy, for that you have to sit inside the cave, in the underground pit and you have to become bodyless. You have to hand over your body to the earth. It means that you have become detached from your body, you have separated your physical body. In the modern age it is called as 'Bhoomigat Samadhi' i.e. under pit samadhi, it was known as samadhi in the caves in olden days. Everyone can do it because it is nature of every kind of jiva i.e. living being. It is just like sleeping experiences in everyday life and dreaming and then going beyond everything in deep sleep having no experiences of anything. If you can create yourself to be in deep sleep and becoming nobody and no mind that key should be in your hand, then it can be possible to go into underground samadhi for long days. It is a great 'Tapas' becoming a mantraless, kriyaless and pranaless, so the yogi only practices this.
Ice cave of Himalayas for 33 days.
While undertaking each samadhi, he gets a pit made of particular dimensions i.e. For preparation of underground Smadhi the various ratios for preparing a pit are taken into consideration.
9ft x 9ft x 9ft = which stands for unbreakable, infinite.
7ft x 7ft x 7ft = which stands for contact with Jupiter divine and compassionate energy
5ft X 5ft X 5ft =for Contact with Venus planet and moon, making the whole Humanity to come into one Heart.
The underground samadhi depicts the earth energy. We have emerged from earth, so the underground samadhi is taken to be in contact with the whole existence through each atom of ourselves. One cannot reach to different planets physically, but by being in Samadhi, through your subtle body you can.
While we were trying to get a glimpse of the place where she was burried, people of the organisation took us and let us inside. We were allowed to go even inside the fence to make pictures. They knew John as a photographer, he has been almost every day at the temple complex, so that made it very easy to get close. John was standing right on top of it when they opened the çhamber' in which Yogmata has been meditating. I also was able to have a look inside, she was standing on her head. First some people went inside to check if she was alright and to help her washing and get clean clothes out. Finally she came above the ground and the crowd was going mad, trying to touch her. By that time I already stepped back in the background, it was a bit scary with this huge moving crowd of people. Again a man of the organization helped me through a quite length to get away from this all and I could walk from the backside away from the crowd, seeing John inn the middle of them with his camera hold up high. I saw he was trying to locate me; and when he finally got out of the crowd I was standing just behind him.
You could say that this was perfect timing, I hope John managed to get great shots of the happening, I will have to wait for him to sent some pictures.
After this we finally went to meet the Nepali men inside the temple complex. We passed the bridge over the Bagmati river, where the cremations are being held.
Pashupatinath is one of the most important Hindu temples in Nepal and is located near the Bagmati River. At the ghats (stairs where you can descend to the river), plateaus are made that are used for the open air cremations that take place on a daily basis. The Pashupatinath temple is not accessible for non-Hindus but it is the cremations that attract many visitors, both Nepalese and foreign visitors.
In Nepal, also the death people are not equal. There are several cremation places, one for the royal family, one for rich families with prestige and several others for the ‘normal' people. The cremation places for the ‘normal' people are located on the other side of the bridge, out of sight from the places that are used by the royals and the rich. From the other side of the river you can observe all the activities that are going on.
Pashupatinath attracts as a holy place a lot of sadhus (holy men). These men with their colourful painted faces and their long Rasta hair know that they are very photogenic. If somebody takes a picture of them, they immediately beg for alms. Sadhus do officially depend on gifts, but posing for pictures seems to be big business for them too.
Walking inside the temple complex we hear a man calling for John. This man was sitting in the middle of sadhus. Normally as a tourist I would never even think of going inside the fence, to get near to the sadhus, but now we were invited inside, one of the sadhus placed a mat for me, told me to come and sit and offered some water. A once in a lifetime experience for me, to sit side by side with the sadhus. Of course at this moment I would not even think of getting my camera out, so I have to keep this 'picture'only in my memory. My 'back to earth'thinking said that even I could meditate for hours, even days, this way: the sadhus were passing around a hashpipe and they were soooo high, after about 10 minutes it was time for us to go, otherwise only from the smoke hanging around us I could have get high as well.
The man was going to take us to another place of meditation, but I had to be sensible and take a taxi back to the hotel. I still had to get my luggage from my room, have a lunch and then it would be time for me to go to the airport. So, after they walked me down to the taxis it was time to say goodbye. We exchanged email addresses and said weare going tokeep in touch. As soon as I have received some pictures John made of the underground meditation I will put them on this site.
Back at the hotel I packed my gear, had something to eat, still very impressed of the happenings this morning.
Around 14.30 I walked to Himalayan Encounters and there yet another nice surprise. Toni, the owner of the company (English) just came back from India and we had a nice chat for about half an hour (my taxi was already waiting). He told me that next time I will visit Nepal I have to go to Nuwarkot, a remote village in the mountains of Kathmandu where H.E. has a guesthouse. He also told me that H.E. is sponsoring solely (till now) 14 deaf and dumb children. At the moment they are still eating and sleeping in the classrooms of the school, but H.E. is renovating one of the old houses there, to make a home for 20 deaf and dumb children. Oh, how I wished I could stay a bit longer in Nepal. then I could have travelled around a bit accompanying John and to go indeed to Nuwargot. But, that all has to wait till next time.
At the airport everything went smoothly and around 18.00 we were in the air. This time we were not allowed to get off the plane in Bahrain, so it was a long sit for about 16 hours.
Arriving at Schiphol airport at 3.30 in the morning, I had to wait until 7 oçlock, before the first train to Zutphen was going. I went to have a coffee and there I sat down next to a lady. She also came from Kathmandu and we got into conversation. On her question if I was waiting for someone I told her I was waiting for my train. Where are you going to? Zutphen, I said.
And there was my last nice surprise on this journey. She was waiting for her husband and..... they were living in Zutphen. So, around 5.30 I was sitting in their car on my way to Zutphen, where I arrived at 6.30. (It proved they were just living around the corner from Ineke's house, it is a small world, isn't it?). I had to call Ineke out of bed and there I was: back home having a coffee with Ineke.
And now I have a busy 2 weeks ahead, before I am off to Italy on the 21st of March for another season at C'era una Volta.
Thank you all for following me on my trip to Nepal and if you also would be a 'drop in the ocean' to help the children of Nepal U Can! You can have a look at the website of Starchildren: www.starchildren.nl (also available in English) or at www.ucaninfo.org.
I am going to try very hard to make it possible to go back to my beloved Nepal next February again and if you like to also have a short encounter (3 weeks) with Nepal, I am willing to set up a 3 weeks program to travel with you.
For this moment, I will say: Namaste, wishing you all a happy and healthy life and I will be back on this site soon.
Namaste, Dhanyabad Rita Sanghita
Kathmandu, just for one day
And here I am back in Kathmandu, sitting on the terrace at Mandap Hotel.
When I left Kathmandu Guesthouse last week I booked the same room for tonight, but when I arrived there around 16.00 the man at the reception said that he only had one other room for me. I was a bit crossed with him, what's the use of booking?
When I saw my room, with a shared toilet and bathroom at the end of the hallway, I simply picked up my things, gave him back the key and said that I was not accepting this room, I was going to another hotel. He was not happy at all about that, but so was I.
So, on my way to Mandap Hotel, where I have stayed before.
So happy that I did not accept Kathmandu Guesthouse, I have a nice, freshly painted room with my own bathroom and toilet and that for the same price they wanted me to pay at Kth GH.
Not bad for a 'meditative' person as I am, that I just walked out withing giving any shit about the screaming upset receptionist. It is the first time ever that I have been in Nepal that I was not pleased with the service.
So, probably no more Kathmandu Guesthouse for me.
After freshening up from the long busride (6 hours) with 3 stops in between, I said hello at Himalayan Encounters. They were all very busy, 2 groups arriving tomorrow (one with 16 people and one with 12 - I am happy for them that business is going well) and maybe I will see them tonight at Tom and Jerry bar. I said I was going there later this evening, so we'll see. If not, than I will have a coffee with them tomorrow morning. Life goes on.
Tomorrow I will have a walk towards Durbar Square. Margriet asked me if I could do some more shopping for her, so that is a nice way to pass my till until 15.00, the time I have to go to the airport. And then........... Holland here I come.
Time went so quick, but I have loved every single second of it (except my nightmare :)). Always meeting a lot of different types of people to have a chat with, nice and interesting.
Now I will close my laptop, have a little read and something to eat. Am working on my battery and it is running low.
Namaste all,
Rita Sanghita
Thursday, 03.03.2011 Pokhara
Thursday, March 03, 2011
And here it is, my last day in Pokhara.
No morning session with Sagar, which is fine by me, because maybe it was getting a bit too much.
Maybe he thought also it would not be effective to teach me even more techniques, so I only went to go and see him around 14.00.
I had a bit of a lie in and then made my way to Lakeside. On my way I made a stop at the little Tibetan Teahouse. Also yesterday I met an Australian lady, her name is Joy and they could not have given her a more appropriate name. She must be in her 70's, but she is just a Joy and full of energy. I hope to grow old like she does.
She is already coming to Nepal for many years and she is helping with projects for women, abused girls, girls that have been put on the street when there parents got divorced.
One of the projects she is supporting is a coffeehouse in Pokhara, where the girls are trained as waitress, cook, management.
We went there together with other guests staying at the little Tibetan teahouse and I was surprised how nice the coffeehouse looked. Also the food was excellent and very nice and good service. I will have a look later at the website about these women. It is www.sosbahini.org. (Bahini is the Nepali word for little sisters). Also the coffeeshop is called Bahini Coffeeshop.
After lunch with Joy and the others I went to the Internet, but after 10 minutes we lost connection. Maybe it was because of the rain and thunder that suddenly came up.
At the Om Family I had a little talk with Sagar and he gave me some CD's he made with the music on it which he played while doing the meditations. I will for sure to try to keep practicing when I am back home, because although I know I am not doing it right yet, I felt it helped to relax and to make my mind empty.
Walking back to my room it started raining heavily again. But, about perfect timing: we had electricity at four so the opportunity to have a nice short shower, drying my hair and being on the internet for a little.
Packed my suitcase and being already for my traveling tomorrow I went up to H.E. Had a coffee and a chat with Gomaya and Sonny, received my bus ticket for tomorrow morning (7 o'clock the taxi will be waiting outside the hotel for me) and paid. I asked Pashpathi how much I could pay for my breakfasts and dinners I had with them at H.E. but he said that was not necessary. How sweet.
I had for the last time Dahl Bath with Sonny, Chokra and Gomaya and around 20.00 I went up to my room. I first took a glass of red wine from the Japanese restaurant at my hotel with me up to my room, no more coffee if I want to have a good night sleep.
I said goodbye to every one at H.E., they will not be in office that early tomorrow morning, so it will be easy on me: just jump in the taxi and on my way.
Probably I will be around 14.00 in Kathmandu.
I only hope that on my bus ride the weather will be good. Now (21.00) the sky is clear again, so indeed tomorrow morning the weather will be nice and maybe again only later in the day it will start raining again.
When I came back to the hotel running through the rain, the owner of the hotel said: Look Rita, the sky is crying because you are leaving.
That is Nepal, that is why I love it here so much. Simple, open, loving, caring, so friendly.
It was a strange day today, silly enough at moments I felt like: okay, let me get on the bus NOW, let's get it done and over with.
Other years I went sometimes in the evening to Busy Bee Bar, I could have gone to Blues Bar, where the volunteers go every evening, but I preferred to just go early to my room, to read a book and relax.
Not sure if I can get on the internet in Kathmandu, otherwise you will hear from me again being back in Holland.
Closing now with blessing you all with a happy healthy long life,
Rita Sanghita
wednesday, 2nd of March Pokhara
Wednesday, 2nd of March 2011.
At 10.00 another lesson of meditation.
This time it was focused on the third chakra, to release stress, fear, anxiety.
Every time after the meditation lesson, even though I know I still did not get the hang of it, I feel super, good, relaxed. Walking back to Lakeside it was nice to hear Nepali people in their shops make comments: you look happy, but hey of course you are happy, you are in Nepal! Well, did he got that right!
Why can't everybody where ever they are just be so friendly and wish each other simply a nice day? The people here in Nepal also have loads of worries, everything becomes more expensive but the income is not becoming more. Life gets harder and harder on them, but still they always smile, greet you from the heart, wishing you well.
As usual I went to the roof terrace of Perky Beans and there I met two English ladies: Janet and Amanda. After talking a bit, they wanted to book a massage, so I took them to Om Family.
After that Janet asked me where I bought my trouser, so I took them to a little shop with clothes around the corner, not on the main street where everything (logically) is more expensive.
It was funny to see them going through the whole store. I think Janet tried almost everything on that was there in the shop, building a nice pile of 'yes' items. Every time she said: well, that's it than for me. I stop buying.
But, oh, what do I see here? That's a nice one, let me try it on.
About 1 1/2 hours later she built up a pile of 14 items, and also Amanda made her pick. Amazing how good the tailors are here. Amanda liked one trouser very much, but it was too baggy. No problem, the shop owner said, we can change that and gave the trouser to the man behind the sowing machine. Without even measuring, he put the scissors in the trouser, stitched it all back together and .... it fitted perfectly!!! Just by the eye! Amazing.
It was very sweet of Janet: while waiting and watching the girls trying on many items, I tried on one black long skirt with embroided flowers on it. It was not too much real Nepali-style, I could wear this skirt also in Italy in the evenings, so I thought I would buy that skirt.
But then Janet said that she was going to buy it for me, as a thank you for helping them out. That was ever so sweet of her.
I had to rush off for yet another massage and we said we were going to have dinner together that evening at Tea time.
This time Anita gave me a shiatsu massage on my back, still more tension had to get out, and a Hara massage. In 2008 I did the course for a Hara massage, it is concentrated around your belly and it made me feel good. A lot of noises again coming from my belly and stomach. I recognized the movements she did from the time I learned this technique.
After this spoiling treatment again I went to H.E. for a coffee and there I decided to take a taxi up to the house of the children to say goodbye. Sonny, one of the men at H.E., was sitting in the taxi, talking to the driver and I asked him if he wanted to join us. So he did.
Arriving at the house the children were already back home from school and spread all over the house. Some in the study room downstairs, some upstairs, some playing on the roof and others again playing on the field in front of the house.
I sat a little with Sudeep, later with Monica, Puja and Alina, who asked me to write something in her forever friend book and after my tea I decided it was time to go. No more hanging around, reason why I also asked the taxidriver to wait for us and not to leave and come back.
Thak took me to the office where he gave me a T-shirt of Children Welfare Association. Okay, it was a big size but it will do nicely as a sleeping t-shirt and Gongka came in with bracelets in her hand.
As the time before the bracelets would just not go over my hand, she left and came back with bigger ones. Still it was a hard job to get them over my hand, but this time without bleeding she finally succeeded.
Kamal came in and gave me a beautiful drawing of a bird, little Sofia (she is not so little anymore, but will also be my little Sofia) came in to give me a card and then I picked up my bag and went outside.
Almost all the kids were now playing volleyball and I just shouted bye bye, see you soon and walked up to the taxi waiting for us. Bimal came to me for a big hug, Sofia gave me a big hug and Mongol came to me with flowers in his hands. By that time it was getting tricky to keep my eyes dry, so quick in the taxi and off we went.
Back at H.E. another strong coffee and then I had to go to my room to get changed for dinner.
First at 19.00 I had one more session with Sagar, teaching me the Om meditation and then I was just in time at Tea time to meet up with Janet and Amanda.
We were sitting front row to watch the people putting the sugarcanes in a big fire at the big tree in the center of Lakeside and smashing them on the floor with a big bang.
We had a nice dinner together. Tomorrow morning the girls are going to Chitwan for a few days. For a moment it went through my mind whether I should go along with them, but then I decided to stick to my original plan.
Around 22.00 I was back in my room after another wonderful day.
Strange enough I could not sleep, I was dozing off a little, but was feeling very uncomfortable. At one point it was like it felt like bad spirits or something bad was in my room, so around 3.00 I got up and went to sit outside a little bit. A beautiful clear night with millions of stars! I can't imagine that I have ever seen so many stars in the sky. Feeling a lot better after sitting outside watching the stars for a while I went back to bed and luckily had a undisturbed sleep.
Probably because of all the meditations and massages 'old' feelings and thoughts were making their way out of my mind and my body, reason why I felt those 'bad' vibes before, but still strange because it has been a wonderful beautiful day.
Today meditation - shiatsu and meditation again
Tuesday the first of March.
With an empty stomach to meditation class. Today it is chakra cleansing. Listening to a CD I had to place my hands on the chakras, going up slwoly and slowly breathing.
After that lying down for about 10 minutes with very slow breathing. Then I understood why you have to do this meditation on an empty stomach. I heard bubbling and all kind of noises coming from my stomach and throat, so probably I did it the right way, cleaning your body.
With my hands on the first chakra I almost forgot to inhale, so I was getting very dizzy, but then I got the hang of it.
After this meditation to Perky Beans roof terrace for breakfast, another day full of sunshine, clear sky. Reading a bit and at 14.00 I was back at the Om Family for a shiatsu massage.
Anita, the girl with the magic hands, was not there, so I sat down with Sagar talking for a long time. He told me the story of Buddha and the five rice corns. A nice story. He gave me a book The life of Buddha, telling the complete story how Prince Sidhartha became Buddha in cartoon. It is easy to read and great to look at the drawings.
For one hour I went back to my room and then it was time for the massage.
The first thing Anita asked me was if I had put some meat on my bones. Duuhhhh, I can I do that in just 2 days? So, she was very gentle this time with not too much pressure.
After a full hour I felt like flying back to my room, walking with light feet.
Quickly I had to wash my hair, because it was dripping from the herbal oil she used. Then I popped in for a coffee at H.E. They were allready a bit worried if I was still sick, because they did not see me all day. How sweet.
At 19.00 the second way of meditation. Breathing in and humming out. For me a bit difficult, my throat was not clear. After 15 minutes I just had to lay back, in the complete darkness with Sagar softly speaking. Again my whole body was prickling from energy.
And then I treated myself on a diner by candlelight at Tea Time. For once a non-rice dinner with a glass of red wine. I smashed a whole 5 Euro on this dinner. All the other evenings I had Dahl Bath, or with the children, or at H.E., but now I thought I could risk it to eat meat today, with still 2 days in Pokhara before I have to travel with bus for a 6 hours drive. If something goes wrong again with my stomach, I have time to recover before travelling.
Enjoying my dinner with Acid Jazz music on the background, thinking of the times I was in Tea Time with Rense/Gurash and Voula and family, sweet memories. But not feeling alone or lonely at all.
On my way back I checked my email at the Internet, because last night I could not get connected in my room. I waited till the electricity came on at 23.00, but it was not working. The hotel was going to check it out, but I don't really want to have to stay awake late only for the Internet.
But, I am lucky. Already at 21.00 when I got back to my room, we have electricity and the connection is fixed, so I can now update from yesterday (see below) and today.
It's been another beautiful day with a full programm, so I am now going to post this, read a little and then have a good sleep.
Wishing you all a Suba Rathri (sweet dreams) and you hear from me soon again.
Just two more days in Pokhara and then I will be on the road back to Kathmandu again. Even though this time it was a short visit, it already has given me back my energy, my smile and even a nice suntan!
Love you all,
Sanghita
Meditation - sunbathing - shiatsu massage and meditation again
Monday 28 March 2011.
My first meditationlesson at 10.00: relaxing the body. We had to dance with the eyes closed, but because the floor is a bit bumpy I stumble many times. After 20 minutes dancing around lying down for about 30 minutes, while listening to a relaxing cd. At some point my whole body starts tinkling with energy.
After this meditation a herbal tea and a chat with Sagar. He asked me why I was staying in a hotel and not for free with the Om Family. But that is a bit too much for me. I see myself ending up also in orange with a hughe buddha around my nek
I told Sagar that I am now staying also with family, H.E. and Mountain Villa. There I feel free to come and go, which I would not have staying at his place I think.
After the morning meditation session sitting on the roof terrace of Perky Beans in the sun. Didn't know before it was there. Great view at the mountains, the lake and the street.
Sunbathing and reading my book.
Sagar will give me books and cd's when I am leaving. I will recharge my battery for at least 2 years he says. Well, let's see.
Around 14.30 I made my way to C.W.A. The walk was nice, although it was very hot. I just took my time, stopped halfway to see the paragliders landing near to the lake.
Around 15.30 I arrived and sat talking with Gongka in the kitchen.
At 16.00 the kids came home from school. This time Monica and Mina 'grabbed' me, stroking, touching everwhere. My hair, my ears, ma face, my fingers, hands. Holding on very tight to me and asking 100 questions in 10 minutes.
Also Bimal sat with us, but as usual Mina pushed, squeezed herself in between.
Just before I sat with Bimal. He showed me a paper with a Nepalese song and finally he sang it for me. This boy has a voice like an angle. He almost made me cry (already???)
I am so happy to see that he now is also claiming his place in the family and joining with the other kids. No longer the lonely sad soul anymore he was back in 2009.
I tried to get the children inside to make their homework and to get me for himself Bimal was the first to take me to the study upstairs and to sit with him, while he was doing his English homework. He has a beautiful handwriting, but still he does not understand the homework. As in 2009 they are still just copying from the book. His book is a used one, some one else filled in the answers. I saw him copying the wrong answer and tried to make him think what would be the right one. With guessing 2 out of 3 the right answer came, but he had no clue at all why that had to be the one.
Such a pitty that the schoolsystem had not changed and so happy that in Chitwan the school in Suk's village has this creative teacher, supported by Voula and UCAN.
In the studyroom the mathematics/science teacher came to help them extra with the exams coming up. Oh dear, he even scared me the way he was talking to the children. No bullshitting or coming one minute late with this man!
Thak came to get me, he was going to bring me back. At H.E. he said it would be better to skipp tomorrow (I was keeping them from doing their homework too much probably) and then only to come on Wednesday for the last visit. That was fine with me, because I am already again getting too emotional again with all these little treasures.
Nepal, destination or destiny?
Nepal, where I 'voluntarely' lost my heart
27 februari 2011
I decided to use this blog again to mail my adventures in Nepal. Some of you have already read the first part through my email, but if you scroll down you will find also the latest update. With this blog it is easier to send to my mailinglist, reason why I am using this blog.
Hello every body,I will try to tell you a little bit about my trip to Nepal, but I am still so full of impressions, emotions, that I am not sure whether I will get it in the right way on paper.
It has been an incredible week so far.
Saturday I arrived at Kathmandu and it was again a coming home.
Staying in the Kathmandu Guesthouse and waiting for Voula and her family, who where delayed in Delhi.
They had problems with the connecting flight so they arrived on Sunday afternoon in Kathmandu.
I met them in their hotel and the guide they had arranged for this trip took us to a traditional Nepali restaurant accompanied with music and dance.
The next morning we made our way in a minibus to Pokhara.
We have visited the house of the children of C.W.A. (my children) and in a way we were shocked. From the poor orphanage where I met my kids the first time in 2005 they now moved to a very big house with own play=yard, garden, etc.
They were so lucky to have met a Swiss family who is sponsoring them and this family bought a piece of land just outside of Lakeside Pokhara and build this enormous house.
Voula knew about the kids through my stories and pictures and wanted to meet them now and had planned to do fundraising for them through the foundation she and her daughters founded. This Foundation is called UCAN (United Children Aid for Nepal). If you want, you can have a look at their website, which they just recently published on the net. It is : www.ucaninfo.org.
After visiting the new house, we were all a bit upside down. Of course we were very happy for the kids that they now have such a nice place to live and to be so well taken care off, but we were a bit confused, knowing that so many other children are still homeless or poor, without any care.The difference was too huge to understand why the Swiss family spend so much money on such a big house instead of helping many more children.
But anyway, that is their choice and as said it is nice to know that it happened to my children.
The rest of the week we visited some other orphanages, where still a lot of help and support is needed.
Pashpathi from Himalayan Encounters took us to a very poor orphanage, where at the moment they are taking care of 9 children. Voula and her girls are now going to raise money to start to help them out.
Also we visited one house of the Starchildren.
The Dutch lady (Margriet) who founded this foundation I met for the first time in 2005 and I was lucky to just had to change to spend one evening with her, before she was just on her way back to Kathmandu.
Her website is : www.Starchildren.nl (also available in English) and also this is worth to have a look at.
Voula is going to meet Margriet in Kathmandu tomorrow evening and both Voula and me are going to try to get as much support for Margriet and her Starchildren as possible. If only we all could donate just 1, 2, or even 5 Euro a month for Starchildren we would all make a big difference in the lives of these children.
We also visited a daycare centre, where children can be brought to when the mother has to go to work. There are only the very young children and it was a real party when Voula and I came to visit them.
For the rest we have been shopping for souvenirs for the girls' friends back home.
We have visited the Tibetan Monastery close to Pokhara and yesterday we did the sunset tour. This means a 45 minutes drive high up the mountains, but unfortunately it was very cloudy, so we could not see the Himalayan Range. Anyway it was still a nice drive with great views.
This afternoon we went back to my children's home. Today they did not have to keep their strict homework schedule, because tomorrow they are not going to school.
We have been playing football, badminton with them outside in front of the house, until it started to rain with heavy thunder and lightning.
Inside the house some kids showed their magic trics, which was ever so funny, others showing their drawings, their room and so on.
We all ate together Dahl Bath and after dinner we went outside on the balcony to see the girls dance.
It was a great show and after the show we all joined them on the dancefloor being silly, happy, laughing, dancing.
Some boys showed their breakdancing skills.
It was already about 21.00 before we were going to leave the house.
A lot of hugs, cuddles, thank you cards, drawings, as always it was hard to say goodbye to them.
Now I am sitting in a dark room, because we only have 8 hours out of 24 hours a day electricity and as I said in the beginning of this mail, it is hard to get the emotions on paper. But, I think you all understand that once again the children of Nepal and the people of Nepal have stolen my heart. Especially this afternoon, together with Voula, Michael and the girls, undergoing the same emotions meeting my kids and sharing this all together, have given me back my energy, my love for life and for the whole world. This is better than any medicine in the world to make you feel good and happy.
Tomorrow Voula and family are flying back to Kathmandu and then further to Delhi, I am staying here one more week.
I will miss them very much, it was hard to say goodbye to them this evening. But, life goes on, and still I have a few more days in Pokhara to fill up my battery completely.
Tomorrow one of the boys of C.W.A. will come to take my on his bike to the house, it is now quite a long walk from Lakeside and I will spend the afternoon with my kiddies again.
I will now insert a piece that I wrote on my laptop on Febr. 22:
Pokhara, 22 February 2011
This morning I woke up early to say goodbye to Margriet. She left around 8.00 and everyone of us was crying.
I met Margriet the first time in 2005 in Nepal. I was volunteering and had a room at Himalayan Encounters. Margriet was in the room next door to mine. She comes already many years in Nepal and she is the founder of Starchildren.
This is a foundation that is creating care-homes for H.I.V.-infected children.
At the time Margriet started this, AIDS and H.I.V. was still a big taboo in Nepal. The children sometimes were locked in a small wooden shed and food was pushed inside under the door.
By now Margriet already has set up 3 houses for these children. They are managed by Nepali managers, a board and some mothers of the children are living in the house as caretakers. For more detailed information I would suggest to have a look at the website www.starchildren.com.
I know that the website is not fully translated in English yet, but they are working on that.
Last night we had time to sit down together for an updating talk.
Besides the stories of Starchildren she also updated me on the situation of 'my' children.
She told me that they have moved to another house, which is bought by people from Switzerland. They have a huge piece of land around the house and the house............. Even though Margriet and Pashphati (from Himalayan Encounters and taking care also of the volunteers) told me that they were well off now, I was overwhelmed with seeing the house.
It is sooooo big and very very well equipped.
The have a couple there, a Swiss lady married to a Nepali, both of them teachers, who are living permanently in the house.
Two classrooms, several big bedrooms, separated bathrooms for the boys and the girls and so on and on.
The couple have introduced structure and discipline in the house.
Early in the morning: study. Then Dahl Baath, getting ready for school. With a schoolbus to the school.
Coming home at 4 o'clock, schooluniform changed for regular clothes and study. Dahl Baath, study again and bedtime.
As you can understand I was so happy to see the kids again and it did good to see their happy faces when they saw me.
But, it was so strange: the Swiss lady ordered them straight upstairs to take the schooluniform off and 8 children had to go straight to the classrooms.
No way, I ignored this order and hugged all the kids one by one.
When they came down also Voula kind of ignored the lady and suggested to play some games with all the kids.
After agreement we played a running game and a namegame. This was great fun. We all sat down in a big circle and one by one we had to say our name and for every syllable in our name we had to make a movement with our arms.
Voula started of with one hand slapping her cheek VOU, the other hand on the other cheek LA and every one repeated after her.
The next one: Bisahl. One fist forwards BI, the other fist forwards SAHL. All of us repeating and then all together:
VOU LA, BI Sahl. This way we moved around the circle ending up repeating all the names with all the different hand.arm movements.
It was a great way using your memory and after this game even Voula, Michael and their girls knew all the names of the children.
After my first visit I thought to go only today to my kids with Voula and then not to go back.
But I have changed my mind: I will go and see them a few more times before I have to leave. I know it will get harder to say goodbye to them again, but all the time I can spend with them now nobody can take away from me anymore.
And if the Swiss lady there does not like, then that will be her problem, I am just going to ignore it and make the kids happy with my visits as they make me happy with their smiles and love.
By leaving today they were all clinging on to me as always, are you coming tomorrow please please? How can I say No, of course I am coming back. Also Gongka, the mother of the house, was begging me to come back and holding on to me as she always used to do.
Yes, I will go and see them a few more times and enjoy every minute of being with them.
For now, I am closing this email, because my battery is getting low and I need to just relax and let all the emotions settle down.
Sunday , 27 February 2011 Pokhara
Today was a great day.
Much, much better than yesterday, a day that I have almost slept away, with many visits to the toilet in between.
After the great evening with the children I fell asleep straight away, but around 1 o'clock at night I woke up shivering from the cold and my stomach turning. I could not catch sleep again, just kept on turning and turning. Then finally around 3 my stomach decided it was not any longer keeping some bad food inside, just in time in the bathroom to vomit.
Feeling better after this, I slept a little, but then still my stomach decided I needed to get rid of more bad things inside me. So, I ended up going in and out of the bathroom the whole night.
I sent a text to Voula and luckily they had no stomach problems what so ever. I was very happy to hear that, because it would have been awful if you have to travel with a bad stomach. But, they were all fine.
In the morning I just had a tea and some dry toast. I walked down to Lakeside, but was not feeling too good so I decided to sit a little outside my room in the sun. As soon as the sun was gone from my porch I went back into my room and spent the day with reading, sleeping, toilet, reading and a lot more sleeping.
I cancelled my visit to the children of course.
I had hardly something to eat, just drinking loads of water and tea and that fixed my stomach.
This morning I was feeling much better.
At 10.00 I had my appointment with Sagar. In 2009 I also went to him to do a course in a mixture of meditation, healing, etc.
By the time I left Holland I felt I lost everything I've learned in 2009, so thought it would be good to go back again.
The first session this morning Sagar did a chakra healing and I came out full of energy again.
I spend two hours at Lakeside in the sun, it was a real nice warm day today, got even a bit sunburned. Early in the morning the sky was so clear, you could see the Fish Tail beautifully.
At two o'clock I had the second session: a stress-relieving pressure point massage. Ouch, at some points it really did hurt, so that was necessary.
All my typing of the winter has been pressed out.
The girl was funny. After the massage we sat down to have some herbal tea and she told me that she was scared to give too much pressure on me, because I had no meat on my bones. She was scared at some areas to hear the breaking of my bones.
Okay, a night and a day on the toilet was not a way to get meat on my bones, but it also did not make it all disappear!!
Tomorrow morning I have a meeting with Sagar again at 10.00 and then we will repeat the meditation practices I did in 2009.
It is incredible, in Holland I believe you will need to pay at least 50 euro just for a chakra healing, now - because I have been before (am part of the Family)- I only needed to pay 20 euro for all sessions I will have this week. So I better enjoy all the sessions I can have.
At four I took a taxi to the children. I was very lucky: the teacher-couple was not there and we had a good time like in 2009. First they played volleyball - me sitting on the wall with Sofia (my little angle) and Binod on both sides holding me. Then we went inside (the wind was getting very strong) and did the homework. I was sitting with Bimal, who still - like then - tried to get out of his homework with trying to let me write some stories, but again I did not fall for it.
Binod was so sweet, like a real teacher he was helping one of the little ones with writing the alphabet. At one point the little one started to cry, Binod was too much of a teacher. A big sigh and the words: how many times do I need to explain? And that from a boy who is just 6 or 7 years old!!
All the kids were of course asking where Voula and the girls were, did they really left Pokhara already? And when are they coming back?
At six the taxi came to collect me, I had a coffee at Himalayan Encounters and a fried vegetable rice at the Japanese restaurant, which is in front of Mountain Villa, my hotel. I think I will keep myself away from any meat the rest of my stay here, just to be sure I will not end up on the toilet again.
I've told the kids that Wednesday will be the last day that I can come and visit them and it turns out that that day it is Suba Rathri.
This is a kind of festival where the kids go to the small temple, put sugar canes in the fire and then bang them on the floor which is producing a big bang. After that all and everyone is chewing on the sweet sugarsticks. That is a perfect last night I think. The temple is just around the corner of my hotel, so when they all get in the minibus on their way back to their home I can quietly walk back to the hotel, without to much goodbyes and the kids still excited from the festival.
In truth I am leaving Pokhara on Friday with the touristbus. I will be back in Kathmandu around 16.00 and then on Saturday my plane is leaving at 18.00. I believe one evening and a morning in Kathmandu will be enough. I still will have time to go with Dill to visit his wife and children and in this way it will not be like I am only waiting for the time to catch the plane again.
Having reloaded my energy I even typed a few pages of the dictionary work, while waiting till the electricity gets back on (23.00) so I can send my emails.
While typing I end up in complete darkness, I think the generator of the hotel is without gasoline, but I still have candles in my room. In 2 hours the electricity will get back on, so then I can get on the internet for a little while, because after that I am more then ready to have a good night sleep again.
Just got a text message from Voula that they all arrived safely in New Delhi. They still have many hours flying ahead before they will be back home.
I do miss their company, it was so good to share Nepal, the children and all impressions, emotions together.
Well, that is it for now. Will speak to you soon again and also will add some pictures later. Now it is midnight and time for sleep.
Suba rathri (good night) and peri betonlah (see you later)
Love Rita Sanghita
MERRY CHRISTMAS - FIJNE FEESTDAGEN!
Hello my dear friends,
I want to wish all of you a Merry Christmas with love and happiness with all the dear ones around you!!!!
Hallo lieve mensen,
Hiermee wens ik jullie allemaal een fijne Kerst toe. Dat jullie die mooie dagen door kunnen brengen met jullie dierbaren in geluk en gezondheid!!!
Love, liefs, Rita from a snowy Zutphen.