Travelogue - Miriam Coronel Ferrer
WAYS OF SPECIES | MIRIAM CORONEL FERRER | 07/31/2009 3:21 AM
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Namaste. This week, I will digress from my usual political commentaries and entitle myself to a bit of a travelogue.
I am writing this piece in a lodge in a Tharu village in Suahara, Chitwan. The Tharu people originated from Rajahstan, India. They make up the biggest population in Nepal’s Terai region. A hardy, farming community whose homes are typically built from elephant reeds and mud lined up along a north-south axis, they are considered the original inhabitants of these plains. Some of them have taken up arms, demanding a separate state.
But Chitwan is best known for the Chitwan National Park Reserve, a must-see for those whose sense of adventure was fed by feature films in cable channels like the Animal Planet and National Geographic. My husband and I first entered the reserve through the river, on a canoe where we had our first glimpse of half-submerged crocodiles, peacocks perched on treetops, kingfishers diving for food, and monkeys shaking rainwater off their hairy skin. Then, we walked in the bushes with our guide, by the lake, and toward the Elephant Breeding Center. Twin baby elephants had just been born to a female resident of the Center, to the delight of many. Outside, a huge, wild male elephant desperately hovered around the female harem but the wired fence prevented him from satisfying his urge.
In the afternoon, we returned for our two-hour elephant safari. We sat on a wooden contraption tightly strapped on the broad back of the awesome mammal. Four people were squeezed in the rectangular contraption, backs facing each other. Though short of comfort and drenched by the downpour, we were rewarded by close views of rhinoceros, spotted dears, wild boars, and elephants on parade.
This is now our fifth day in Nepal. Our first stop was Bhaktapur, another UNESCO World Heritage Site. Bhaktapur is a living, thriving museum, showcasing the Newari way of life. It is a life filled with rituals and prayers to the many Hindu gods and goddesses in the many temples in the many squares of the complex. The site is also home to families of artisans of wood, metal, paint and clay crafts whose works don the façade of their houses. Replicas of their traditional art are for sale in the many bazaars along the narrow brick-roads of the ancient town.
As president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo delivered her SONA at the Batasan on Monday, we drove through heavy rain in a crumbling taxi, passing by swollen rivers of the Kathmandu valley. In Kathmandu city proper, we met heaps of garbage everywhere. Along sidewalks, inside government squares, garbage of the last four days was left unattended. Protesters from the landfill site were demanding more economic guarantees from the government and paralyzed collection. Several days of negotiations yielded no compromise, only more trash.
Over a good cup of afternoon coffee, I submerged myself in the English-language Nepali newspapers. A cholera epidemic has struck one province, according to one report. The few health care workers could not deal with the many stricken and dying. And the health minister? He just left for Germany to attend a seminar.
The vice-president refused to heed the Supreme Court decision that he had to retake his oath of office in the Nepali language. The vice had insisted on taking his oath in the language of his ethnicity, Hindi, which to the Supreme Court, violated the transitory Constitution.
Leaders of the three major parties – the Communist Part of Nepal (CPN)-Maoists, the CPN-United Marxist-Leninist and the National Congress Party – all agreed there is need to achieve national consensus and preempt further disintegration. But all are bent to get things done their way. Most people think it would be impossible to meet the deadline to finish the constitution next year.
I read these reports amused at the familiar antics and follies of their political class but also with a feeling of “sayang” for this beautiful country of immense cultural diversity and vast agricultural and ecotourism potential, saddled by messy politics.
In the next days, I will be meeting with colleagues from Sri Lanka, Nepal and Norway to undertake our comparative analysis on decentralization and conflict resolution across the three Asian countries. There might be a chance to steal a visit to Bhouda, the village of Tibetan exiles. A tour of the mountain town of Pokhara with the whole team is set on Day 8 of our 12-day trip. My husband will get his walking tour of another ancient town called Patan, and perhaps take the helicopter ride for a grand view of the Himalayan peaks. These sightseeing he will do while I am locked up with colleagues in workshops examining the nooks and crannies of our institutions and processes.
And I thought this piece and this trip would be a break from politics.
E-mail: mcf178@yahoo.com
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