Whose feet are they? Women of India

I published the red dyed feet on Facebook and my funny friends asked if those were my feet.  Well, no, they were much too small.  The question reminded me that I had a collection going of the amazing women of India that I wanted to post in one spot. 

What to wear while making bricks from buffalo dung, a little water and some dirt.  Wear a smile!

While cooking lunch in smoking house at the school

school uniforms

middle school teacher near Kanah National Preserve

schoolgirls in uniform checkout out Dan's photos

at the fair

folk dancing

tourists at the Taj

hand decoration:  Tattoos on the palm and lots of bling

homeowner

instead of using a bank, she keeps her gold on her ears

Musings about one Kathmandu Legend

No photos were allowed of the current
Kamari so this one was on the cover
of a book about a retired one.

Nepalese Tales to ponder:  The Royal Living Goddess

All major Nepal cities continue a 12th century tradition of worshipping a Living Goddess called the Kumari, and Kathmandu's is the most famous. In an elaborate process, the Hindu Living Goddess "committee" selects a 4 or 5 year-old girl to live in this house until she reaches puberty.  Then she retires and the committee picks a new one. Using over 30 criteria, including that she have a flawless body,  be a member of the Goldsmith caste, have perfect nose, black straight hair, and be from a Buddhist family with a horoscope that matches the king's.  Families consider this a great honor so many apply. The committee narrows it down to about a dozen finalists and we don't remember how they select the winner. She represents a Hindu goddess with lots of power.  After several rituals, she moves into the Kumari House right next to the ancient Royal Palace.  She can bring members of her family to live there also, but there is a couple who are in charge of her. She may not leave except for about 4 special festivals a year. During these outings, she performs certain duties and is always carried because her feet may not touch the ground.  These rules vary from city to city in Nepal, but Kiran says they all have a Kumari.  

We go into the house courtyard before noon and are told to wait, and that we may not take pictures of her if she comes to the window.  Another large tour group comes in and their guide simply calls to her to come to the window. Kiran was surprised that he would be so bold, but her keeper came to the other window and said she would appear soon.  The guide told the other group she would be there about 45 seconds and, again, no photos.  Whoopee… Here comes this beautiful child who sits at the window gazing blankly across the courtyard for about a minute and off she goes.  

Kiran says the Kumari comes in the same door we use on her first arrival, then for her official functions she leaves by one side door and returns by the other.  On her retirement, she goes out the door she first came in.  Oh, one more thing:  a myth that survives goes that if a man marries the retired Kumari, he will die in the first 6 months and the family will be disgraced.  However, most retired Kumari live on normally as mortals.

She came to the middle window, sat for about a minute and then left.

The front door where we go in and out.  The Kamari comes in at
age 5 and leaves by this door about age 11 or 12.

Inside the courtyard of the house.  Those three windows above
are where the Kamari might appear

Day 25 - Shopping in Delhi and Heading Home

Hurray for 12 hours sleep at the Imperial Hotel.

We shopped at the Janpath Cottage Industries Emporium

Packing, packing, packing.

We leave here about 7 pm and home Monday about noon.  Nice ending to a fantastic adventure.

Day 24 Mount Everest - KTM back to Delhi

Day 24 - Saturday, March 16 - Everest Flight- KTM to Delhi

Rise at 5:30 to leave at 6 to catch a Yeti Air flight out to Mt. Everest and back in a JetStream 41.  Our guide, "Cheese", made sure we had seats in the back so the wing would not obscure our view.  They only sold the window seats so everyone had a prime view… either on the way out or on the way back.  The stewardess went up and down the aisle helping people match the mountains to the map/photo.  And, she invited each in turn to go to the flight deck for a pilot's view.   Wonderfully clear day yet probably not one of the many photos will capture the feeling. The whole adventure only took about an hour and a half and we were back at the hotel for breakfast by 8:30.

We re-combobulated our suitcases, I took second dose of the Z Pack and we checked out.  Steve is so smart to bring an antibiotic.  Relief.

Our flight back to Delhi is delayed from 3:40 pm to 4:55 pm. We see a Air Bus being filled with UN supplies and Nepalese soldiers with UN blue berets.

We almost miss the flight... they never posted the gate number of announced the flight.  We had been sent to the wrong gate.  Dan went around to check on it and they told him it was boarding... get in line quick.  Why was it not posted on the screens?  Oh well, nobody pays any attention to those.