Dressing to impress (May 17th)

Yesterday in Nepal it was Buddha's birthday. All over Asia this is usually on different dates, but because Buddha was born here I'm going to trust Nepal to know what they are talking about. Since Buddha is either a major or minor religious figure depending on what faith is being worshiped here, his birthday is a National holiday. For the record I've now been in Nepal for 17 days and only worked for 5 of those because of all of the holidays and strikes.

Instead of going to school we went to see a dance competition at a nearby "Party Palace". Mauda Mam the principals wife was excited to invite us as her daughter was dancing (Ayuma is 5 years old and dances really, really well). It was an interesting day in many ways. First of all, the smallest man in the world was there, Kahagendra Thapa Magar, and the audience took on a carnival atmosphere right from the start. He was basically treated like an object and passed around like a baby for photo ops. At one point he got on stage and did a dance to a popular Nepali song with a gurka knife, and half of the audience rushed the stage. His managers had to bounce people back. A comedian came on stage and did a strange slapstick routine to music which contained lots of fart jokes and potty humor (not to mention a lot of stuff not suitable for children in the least) The Canadian group of us weren't very impressed, but the audience couldn't stop howling.

A video camera from the news was set up right in front of the stage and 10 different men wearing the funny-looking Nepali hats used the opportunity to each give 20 minute speeches. I think they were politicians. The audience just stopped listening to them after awhile, and the men didn't care as long as the camera was pointed at them. When the camera wasn't pointed at the stage, it was pointed directly at us as the only foreigners in the audience. At one point a reporter came and stood right in front of me with a microphone in my face, but didn't ask any questions or even make eye contact. It was very uncomfortable.

We were introduced and invited on stage (much to our surprise) and given scarves in honor of...something. Our introduction was the only time we heard English all day, and the announcer quickly lapsed back into Nepali. We were even given a standing ovation, I wish I knew why.

The dancing was sporadic and at one point a group of girls were dancing on stage when some older men jumped up and stared putting money in their hair. The girls looked confused but went with it and brought them into the dance.

We left early as the show was going nowhere fast (I heard later that it ran over by 4 hours). I went to the tailor shop near our house with Isha and Steph and had a kurta ordered. Zagery, the boy from the internet cafe came and interpreted for us as it turns out his family owns the tailors shop as well. He helped pick the pattern and fabric as well as negotiate cost and measurements. He wouldn't let me get the pants that I wanted because I'm "too tall". The whole outfit cost about $20 Canadian and is made with that shiny satin with the embroidered dragons on it, like kimono's are made from.