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.