* 8.

Kathmandu

BEFORE You READ

Do you like travelling? The writer, Vikram Seth, enjoys it very
much. In his book, Heaven Lake, he describes a long journey
from China to India, via Tibet and Nepal.
Have you heard of places like Ajmer Sharif. Madurai. Sanchi.
Varanasi, Sarnath, or Halebid? Can you name some other
places like these?
What do thesurrOundings of a holy place in your city look
like? Think about it as you read Vikram Seth's description of
Kathmandu.

1. IGET a cheap room in the centre of town and sleep

for hours. The next morning, with Mr Shah's son
and nephew, Ivisit the two temples in Kathmandu
that are most sacred to Hindus and Buddhists.
2. At Pashupatinath (outside which a sign
proclaims 'Entrance for the Hindus only) there is proclatz. make
an atmosphere of 'febrile confusion'. Priests, knowm publiciy or
hawkers, devotees, tourists, cows, monkeys, pigeons oficialy
anddogs roam through the grounds. We offer a few ebrie confusios:
flowers. There are so many worshippers that some huried activily:
complete chaos
people trying to get the priest's attention are elbowed
aside by others pushing their way to the front. A
princess of the Nepalese royal house appears;
everyone bows and makes way. By the main gate, a
party of saffron-clad Westerners struggle for
permission to enter. The policeman is not convinced
that they are the Hindus (only Hindus are allowed
to enter the temple). A fight breaks out between
two monkeys. One chases the other. who jumps
onto a shivalinga, then runs screaming around the
temples and down to the river, the holy Bagmati.
 lashupatinath Tenmple, Kathmandu

being cremated on its

that lows below. Acorpse is work and children
banks: washerwomen are at their
of flowers and
Dathe. From a balcony a basket
dropped into the
leaves, old offerings now wilted, is from the stone shrtne: a place of
iver. A small shrine half protrudes
the river bank. When it emerges fully, worship
platform on
period
the goddess inside will escape, and the evil
0 th¹ Kaliyug will end on earth.
Kathmandu /99
3. At tBhe Baudhnath stupa, the Buddhist shrine of
Kathmandu, there is, in contrast., a sense of
stillness. Its immense white dome is ringed by a
road. Srnall shops stand on its outer edge: many of
these are owned by Tibetan immigrants: felt bags,
Tibetan prints and silver jeweilery can be bought
here. There are no crowds: this is a haven of ven a safe place
quietness in the busy streets around.
4. Kathmandu is vivid, mercenary, religious, Witn
Small shrines to flower-adorned deities along the
narrowest and busiest streets; with fruit sellers,
flute sellers, hawkers of postcards; shops selling
Western cosmnetics, film rolls and chocolate: or
copper utensils and Nepalese antiques. Film songs
blare out from the radios, car horns sound, bicycle
bells ring, stray cows low questioningly at
motorcyciles, vendors shout out their wares. I indulge

The Baudhnath Stupa, Kathmandu

100/ Bechive
vself mindlessly: buy a bar of marzipan, a corn tnaripXX: a sweet
made with grated
an-the-Cob roasted in a charcoal brazier on the almond
navement (rubbed with salt, chilli powder and razter open stove
emon): a couple of love story comics, and even a
Reader's Digest. All this I wash down with Coca Cola
s0ckening
and a nauseating orange drink, and feel nuch the aseR0Ng
better for it.
consider what route I should take back home. If I
vere propelled by enthusiasm for tràvel per se, per-se: by itself
would go by bus and train to Patna, then sail up
he Ganges past Benaras to Allahabad, then up the
famuna, past Agra to Delhi. But I am too exhausted
ind homesick; today is the last day of August. Go
mome, I tell myself: move directly towards home. I
enter a Nepal Airlines office and buy a ticket for
comorrow's flight.
look at the flute seller standing in a corner of the
square near the hotel. In his hand is a pole with
an attachment at the top from which fifty or sixty
bansuris protrude in all directions, ike the quills
of a porcupine. They are of bamboo: there are cross
lutes and recorders. From time to time he stands
the pole on the ground, selects a flute and plays
or a few minutes. The sound rises clearly above
he noise of the traffic and the hawkers' cries, He
plays slowly, meditatively, without excessive thoughtfuly
display. He does not shout out his war s.
Dccasionally he makes a sale, but in a curiously
offhanded way as if this were incidental to his thandet casual:
not showing much
ehterprise. Sometimes he breaks off playing to talk interest in something
lo the fruit seller. I imagine that this has been the
pattern of his life for years.
Ifind it difficult to tear myself away from the squlare.
lute mnusic alwavs does this to me: it is at once
ne most universal and most particular of sOunds.
nere is no culture that-does not have its flute
ue reed neh, the recorder, the Japanese shakuhachi,
e deep bansuri of Hindustani classical måsic,
e clear or breathy flutes of South America,
Kathnnandu / l01
 the high-pitched Chinese flutes. Each has its
specific fingering and compass. It weaves its own fingerino Wor.
associations. Yet to hear any flute is, it seems to placingtthe
me, to be drawn into the commonality of all play differentfingernotess t
mankind, to be moved by Cotnpass. here.
music closest in its
phrases and sentences to the human voice. Its rang
motive force too is living breath: it t00 needs to
pause and breathe before it can go on.
8. That I can be so affected by a few familiar, phrases
on the bansui, surprises me at first, for on the
previous occasions that I have returned home after
a long absence abroad, I have hardly noticed such
details, and certainly have not invested them with
the significance I now do.

VIKRAM SETH
[an extract fromn Heaven Lake]

Thinking about the Text

Activity
1. On the following map matk out the route,
which the author
thought of but did not take, to Delhi.

Jammu &
Kashmir

Himaçhal Pradesh China

pinjab
Uttargyal
Nepal
Rajasthan
UP
Bihar

©
Government of India Copyright. 2003
2. Find out the possible routes (by rail,
road or air) from
Kathmandu to New
Delhi/Mumbai/Kolkata/Chennai.
102 / Beehive
. Answer these qIestions in One or two words or in short phrases.
1. Nane the two temples the author visited in Kathnandu.
9 The Writer says, "AII this I wash doWn with Coca Cola." What does 'all this'
refer to?
3. What does Vikram Seth compare to the quills of a porcupinc?

Name five kinds of flutes.

4

each question in a short paragraph.

1. Answer
difference does the author note between the lute seller and the other
1, What
hawkers?
2. What is the belief at Pashupatinath about the end of Kaliyug?
Th: author has draWn powerful images and pictures. Pick out three examples
each of
() the atmosphere of febrile confusion' outside the temple of Pashupatinath
for example: some people trying to get the priest's attention are elhbowed
aside...)
(i) the things he sees
hears
(iii) the sounds he

1. Answer the following questions in not more than 100-150 words each.
1. Compare and contrast the atmosphere in and around the Baudhnath shrine
with the Pashupatinath temple.
2. Hoy does the author describe Kathmandu's busiest streets?
3. To hear any flute is to be drawn into the commonality of all mankind." Why
does the author say this?

Thinking about Language

Xead the following sentences carefully to understand the meaning of the
italicised phrases. Then match the phrasal verbs in Column A with their
meanings in Column B.
1. A communal war broke out when the princess was abducted by the
ncighbouring prince.
2. The cockpit broke off from the plane during the plane crash.
3. The car broke down on the way and we were left stranded in 'e jungle.
4. The dacoit broke away from the police as they took hiun to court.
5. The brothers broke up after the death of the father.
6. The thief broke intoour house when we were away.

Kathmandu/ 103