A Change in Climate - English Weather & Nepali Politics

I now find myself on a train from Fratton to Bristol, the second leg of a small south England tour.  The last few days has been lovely if a bit of a daze as I re-assimilate to being back in England – so familiar and yet so different to the life I have become accustomed to these past seven months. Everyone is very pleased that the run of terrible cold and wet weather seems to have passed and I am enjoying that surge in cheerfulness that sweeps across the country when the sun finally comes out after a dismal period. Lots of flesh exposing skin crying out for sunshine, people lolling around in the many green spaces, benches outside pubs full as, pint in hand people soak up a few rays.

I guess my timing is pretty good as this is the perfect weather for the English countryside in summer. All is green and lush as the train takes me down the coast. I do love England and appreciate how culturally rich my life here is. In the few days I’ve been here I have seen Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream (directed by my Dad no less!), been to the semi-finals of the Live and Unsigned band competition in which my (sort of) nieces, an amazing quartet of talented and beautiful sisters, The Fourfits, got through to the finals at the O2 arena and then to Brighton Fringe Festival to see a wonderful three piece performance incorporating shadow puppetry, aerial work and music from my friends who form the Feral Theatre Company. Bristol and Somerset are next on the agenda. It may sound, and to be honest, is, a little exhausting but it is also what feeds my spirit and inspiration – going to different places, reconnecting with different people – these are the things in life that propel me forward. It puts things in perspective and makes me understand the journey that I am on. Talking to my friends who are all so excited, supportive and interested in what I am doing on the other side of the world, breathes new life into my soul.

My timing is also handy in a less joyous way. It seems I have left Nepal at the point where the turmoil has taken on new wings. The political situation over the past years has been less than stable, to say the least.  Strike season had begun before I left and I myself had gotten stranded in Pokhara for a couple of days. But as the deadline for the constitution gets closer, the intensity increases. There have been strikes (called by a variety of groups) almost every day since I left, crippling the nation – transport of goods has all been halted, medical supplies are not reaching where needed, people are dying due to an inability to get medical attention, people are fighting across the country. It is turning into a truly tumultuous time there as ethnic groups vie for their rights within the new constitution. The discord is quite unsettling. Although I know I should be glad not having to deal with the inconveniences (I wouldn’t personally be in any particular danger) of being in Nepal during this time, there is a huge part of me that does wish I was still there. It is an important time in their history that is being written now, and I suppose I feel a connection to the place that I now view as much a home as any other of my homes across the globe.

The political situation in Nepal is far more complex than my understanding or ability to explain but for those interested in learning more (since media in the west doesn’t seem to take much notice), www.ekantipur.com and www.myrepublica.com a useful resource.

An Unexpected Spice Route

I'm sitting in the Spice Jet office at Kathmandu's Tribhuvan Airport. An unexpected afternoon spent in the company of the incredibly lovely, helpful and accommodating Spice Jet staff here - particularly considering I'm not even flying with them!

I was feeling traumatised as it was when I arrived at the airport this afternoon to catch my flight on Kingfisher via Delhi to London. Given how much I travel, one would think I would have mastered the art of packing, and moving on, but once I'm settled somewhere (the seven months I've lived in KTM is significantly longer than anywhere I have stayed in nearly three years), then I get all sad and sentimental at leaving so the process leading up to the departure with bags packed can be a little drawn out and emotional to put it lightly. Once I have managed to rearrange my life into a couple of pieces of luggage, and am on my way, I am ready to face the journey and destination. In a weird way, I am usually happiest where I am - and right now the Spice Jet office is working well for me!

Anyhow, I digress...

Equipped with my 3 day Indian transit visa (which cost me a hefty 3850 Nepali rupees - about $45 - almost half of which was an extra 1700 rupees because it was a US passport), the print out of my e-ticket and in relatively decent time, I arrived at the airport. My flight had an overnight layover in Delhi so I had reserved a room at my old guest house in Paharganj, Cottage Yes Please and had dinner plans with my dear friend, Amit, the spice man. He was even taking me back to the airport in the morning to catch my onward flight to London. So all sorted and ready to soak up a night in the spicy heat of Delhi. The first red flag came when, coming into the airport, the guard who checks people's tickets said that Kingfisher doesn't fly out of this airport. Go to Air India, he said. Maybe they are dong joint flights or something, I thought to myself. As I queued to go through security, I noticed that there was no flight to Delhi on any airline at the time listed on my print out. Second red flag.

The Air India desk was in that last minute flurry of check in when a flight is about to go - one family with a lot of luggage and some harrowed looking desk staff . They sneered at my ticket, Kingfisher doesn't fly from here anymore and I could not get on their flight - last of the day, too late and full.  They really weren't very pleasant or helpful other than to suggest I check at the Spice Jet office as they still had a flight leaving. My London connection wasn't until afternoon so I figured it was going to be a matter of just getting on the first flight possible to Delhi.

At the Spice Jet desk, a group of friendly faces saw the look of distress on my face. How much is the flight to Delhi? They took me into the office to look it up - 14000 NPR which is about $160. Meanwhile someone called their Kingfisher contact who informed them that Kingfisher doesn't fly internationally AT ALL. So my flight to London also didn't exist? Shit man, typical. And for once, airport drama that was not my fault.

Shagun & Sagar, the manager

This is the point where I become Spice Jet's KTM staff's biggest fan.  They let me sit in their office (where I type now) and use their computer to look online for flights after suggesting I was better off getting a direct flight with one carrier all the way rather than booking their flight and then having to buy another ticket out of Delhi and lugging all my stuff around in the interim.  Turns out that Kingfisher stopped all international flights a couple months ago. I called Cleartrip (the site I bought the ticket from) to find that they had sent a text to my Indian mobile number (which I had listed in the booking as I was to be in Delhi for 18 hours before the flight to the UK). But since that number doesn’t work in Nepal it had been of little use. I still don’t quite understand why they didn’t email me as all other communication, booking confirmation, ticket and now cancellations are done via email. I have yet to complain to try to recoup the cost of my pointless visa, but at least I get a full refund. And as luck would have it, I found a flight at 9pm via Bahrain that is slightly cheaper and gets me into London Heathrow 12 hours earlier than my original itinerary. All worked out for the best – probably would have got into too much trouble on a night out in Delhi anyway – and now I am committed, whenever possible to pledge my loyalty and fly on SpiceJet. Imagine the treatment I’ll get when I’m actually their passenger!

Shagun (leaving against my desk), Pabitra & Niranjan