nepalese visitors in my house

totally random! my dad went for some buddhist artifacts expo at the singapore buddhist library and made two nepalese friends. they are involved in the manufacturing, retailing and exporting of items of worship and promptly became best of pals with my dad, who is a huge fan of such items. a testimony to his passion is the house. almost every nook and cranny is crammed with art pieces depicting various gods.

i profess to say that while i do not believe in the notion of a god, i cant help but get infected with my dad's enthusiasm for his collection. words cannot described how thrilled he was while parading his art collection to his guests. guess he finally found people who shared his joys, as opposed to the usual bored face he has to put up with when trying to get his sons to appreciate the (in his opinion) super-duper intricate/precise/kingly carvings.

personally, i am a do-er more than a collector. i would prefer to learn how to do the thing instead of have someone else do it and then i buy the item from him. wouldnt you agree it kinda takes away the joy derived from the enduring process of mastering the craft. well, to each his own!

anyways i struck up a conversation with the guests. i started the ball rolling by asking them about nepal, and whether they prefer singapore or nepal. was expecting answers along the lines of 'oh we dislike the concrete jungle that is singapore' or 'we love the fresh mountain air and tranquil, majestic scenery of the himalayas'. but no! they started espousing the virtues of singapore. how the whole country is spic and span; how the system here is efficient; how the country is not plagued by crippling strikes like nepal is, etc. the things that i have taken for granted are very much appreciated by them! indeed, the grass is always greener on the other side.

they shared with me how the country used to be governed under a monarchy system, until it was replaced recently by a democratic system. at this point, let me digress a little. i remember a while ago whilst conducting a climbing workshop, i had an interesting conversation with a PRC citizen who is currently working in singapore as a futures trader. i asked him, "which political system do you think is better? singapore's democracy or china's communism?". his reply made me laugh real hard. "singapore is not a true democratic state and neither is china is a true communist country. i cant comment". shrewd.

anyways, back to the nepalese. they shared with me several interesting tidbits.

1. the maoist terrorists are creating a lot of problems in the country. the people have allowed the maoists into government, which they promptly screwed up. the pissed-off people voted them out, and as a resort they turn to terrorism to force their agenda onto the nepalese.
2. the country is predominantly buddhist and hindu, with a christian and muslim minority. i asked him if they fought among themselves, and he laughed. no no he reassured me. nothing of that sort.
3. he complained about how hard nepalese people work, but because of a lack of opportunities, they can never seem to break out of the poverty cycle. he seemed resigned this fate facing many of his fellow countrymen. but i can see him earnestly trying to be the change that he wishes to see. dear nepalese friend, i applaud your gung-ho attitude and your derring-do, making the journey all the way to singapore to hawk your wares and trying to improve your lives! i respect you and think you certainly have more ambition than the author of this prose.

as usual, i started talking to them about rockclimbing and how i can pursue it in nepal. after establishing some facts about the place and the proximity of the climbing hotspots to the capital of nepal (kathmandu), i'm currently entertaining the idea of going down to nepal come the end of this year for a rock-climbing trip. especially psyched after hearing that the trip costs about $1k and is a 5 hour plane ride away.

a funny note: i very enthusiastically asked him whether he knew david lama, and he gave me a blank look. "david who?", he replied. i told him david lama is a famous rock-climbing athlete from nepal and how i'm a big fan of the way he gracefully eases up hard-as-hell routes, and then ends off his brilliant climb with just a shy smile. narayan (the nepalese dude) laughed. he said he has no idea who this david lama is, but he would certainly know who the big handicraft dealers are. on hindsight, i laugh at my lack of understanding on the subject of cultural relativism.

all in all, an interesting night!