Sunday, 7 March 2010
In Nepal, good friends behaved unexpectedly. A dude holds hands with another dude in public. So after the third day (‘date?’) Prem grabbed my hand. I am not against man loving but I never wished it to happen on me. Either way we were moving too fast. “Dude, what?”, then he explained that in Nepal manloving was actually what good friends do. He said with a genuinely non homo seriousness. Your country, your rules. Personally holding a dude’s hand is generally uncomfortable. It was really hard to reject because it was like rejecting a friendly hand shake. It was a definite culture shock. I lived with 60 boys in a house for 4 years, thought I seen it all. It is a whole new world out there.
Prem is an electrical engineering student. He works so hard that he is a really good example for me. His knowledge is pretty impressive. However, I am slightly ahead with all things computer related because Nepal simply do not have enough power time for them to practice on the computers.
We got on really well and became really ‘good’ friends. Unaware of what was happening around me, I was about to get the first genuine culture shock ever in my life.
Hence, I became more aware of what ‘good nepali friends’ would do in public in order to prepare mentally for the next base should we potentially get there. I was shocked by the explicit nature of what was supposed to be a conservative culture. We progressed another 2 stages. The leg rubbing was not cool and as John rightly pointed out, ‘It’s just gay’. However due to exceptional circumstances, We skipped another two stages. I had to man up and forget about all the inappropriateness and dealt with it. I think the precise details are best to remain classified. (The gayist thing I have done for a long time). What was important was that when a friend was in need of help, I would step up and be counted. Obviously, after that I had to go and spit and fart to accurately reflect my more masculine side. Nepal never failed to surprise me.
This distracted the wonderful tourist sites when we went to visit. Patan was a really good place. We arrived early in the morning before the ticket booth was opened. The visibility in the morning was much better, due to less smog. I woke up pretty early anyway in Nepal anyway.
Jawalakhel was a pretty good centre. And I learnt to take the bus to town and back. It had a blend of Ex-pat and locals instead of the tourists overload Thamel thus it was much friendlier. You could also find the Road House Cafe, which was ‘where the good times roll’. Italian style pizzas at 3 pounds each. In a place like Nepal, one needs to know where good quality fat can be found.
Adventures of Delboy 