Halfway through the shoot, we had a couple of days in Jumla Bazaar, the only town in Jumla. After the smaller villages that offer little variation when it comes to food, we were excited to be in the bright lights of Bazaar where we could find more than one kind of biscuit and our dining options had expanded from just dal bhat (Nepali standard meal of rice and dal, eaten two or three times a day, every day, by almost the whole population) to chow mein and fried rice too. We fancied a snack so went and found a place serving samosas.
The deep fried pyramids of potatoes with a spicy sauce were going down very well when I suddenly crunched something. Fishing the hard object from my mouth, I found a white-ish piece that looked a little like a shard of bone. I wasn’t too bothered but I showed Nisha and she told the man who was serving us who promptly chucked it on the floor. In that moment, as I watched it hit the ground, I thought to myself, it looks like a tooth. As the word tooth flicked across my mind, my tongue darted forward in my mouth as I realised with a sinking feeling that something was missing. It was my tooth! Or one of my caps. I quickly picked it up from the floor and dusted it off. I must have bitten into it and swallowed the other piece as it was only 3/4s of my cap. Still, better than having eaten the whole thing!
Since we were in Bazaar where there are dentists (of a sort), I thought it wise to try to get some tooth cement so I could stick it back on – the stumpy tooth underneath was a little sensitive and also somewhat unsightly. When we got back to the hotel, Nisha went off to find me some tooth glue. She returned saying that the guy had some but I had to come there, so off we went.
It seems that Dalgit, the ‘dentist’ was also the local optometrist as there was eye charts and an eye tester there too. Ke garné? This is Jumla, so one can’t be too fussy and I only needed to stick it back on. Dalgit told me to lie down on the bed, which I thought seemed a bit unnecessary but I obliged, wondering if this was such a good idea after all. I was reassured when he went to wash his hands and even more so when he put on rubber gloves. He dried my tooth off with some cotton mesh and then started fumbling with the box of adhesive. After a minute, Nisha said, “He is confused.” Oh dear. I looked over and saw that there were instructions in the box so I pulled them out. There were many languages, although not Nepali. As I lay there I read the English directions out to Nisha, who translated how to mix the powder with the drops. One small scoop, one drop of liquid, stir for 15 seconds…
With the cement mixed, he stuck the tooth back on, keeping my mouth dry for the required time. When it had set, I got up to look and realised that he had put it on crooked. Oh well, what to do? At least it was on! When I asked how much, he said he didn’t want to charge me because he wasn’t sure if it would last. As it turned out, he was right. The tooth fell off again the next day!
