So a few nights ago the Kathmandudes went out for some Tongba, a traditional Tibetan hot alcoholic beverage; basically a wood mug filled with millet that you add hot water to from a big thermos until you’ve had enough (it’s awesome). A man about our age came by our table and invited us upstairs to where the cool Nepalis sit on the floor in front of long tables and drink heavily. Upstairs we met his friends, most of whom worked “security” which we eventually surmised meant that they were part of the Kathmandu Armed Police Force. After plenty of tongba and cross-lingual shanenigans, they invited us to Dashain, the biggest festival of the year, at the police headquarters. We obviously agreed to go to the police station’s private party; we couldn’t pass up this unique opportunity.
When we got to the front gate of the police station at first we were deigned entry, but we just needed to explain to the guards that we were friend of the force and we were welcomed in. I think we were the first whities to ever be invited to this party because we were besieged with paparazzi-esque photography, and immediately welcomed by all the higher up beaurocrats and officers. We felt like Brangelina, Obama, and Justin Bieber rolled into one (or two).
The 2nd in command offering something to the commander (our friend) in front of the police in attendance
Police, friends, and family
As the food started to come out the soldiers took their formation and listened to the chief of polices commands. They also invited us to be the first people to dig into the feast of epic proportions, for which we broke our pledge of being vegetarians just to be polite (and the tandori chicken looked too good to pass up). The food was spicy and delicious, and we got to sit at the table meant for the elder officers and other VIPs, meeting the highest officials of the Election Commission and even sharing a glass of Orange Crush with the Commander of Police. We stuffed ourselves while having a stimulating discussion about the pros and cons of westernization in Nepal. Then the young officers that had invited us took us into the canteen where we consumed large amounts of whiskey in a short time in preparation for the dancing that was about to commence. As night fell, Indian techno pop music got pumped up and the chairs were cleared from the eating area to open up the dance space.
One thing you have to understand about Nepali culture is that male relationships are different than in the states. It is quite common to see male friends holding hands with interlocking fingers, lazily placing their palms on the inside of each others’ thighs, or to see two perfectly hetero friends dancing with each other in a manner that would only be seen in certain bars in San Francisco. What I’m saying is that there was not a single woman dancing the whole night, yet there was as much bumping and grinding as in a normal dance club.
Eli showing the Nepalis how we do
It was really gay, and by that I mean fun! There was a lot of holding hands and dancing in circles while one person showed of their best moves in the middle. Things got a little crazy but we both got multiple compliments on our dancing abilities and everyone under the tent wanted to get close to us (even though we weren’t accustomed to the vigorous jumping and spinning of Nepali dance). Even the commander had to join in the revelry to show us his moves to great cheers. Let’s just say no matter what we do in Katmandu we won’t be getting arrested anytime soon, the police even said they would “excuse” us from anything outside of murder (we were explicitly told we can “tease” all the girls in Kathmandu). Our original friends who had invited us to the party took us out afterward for a night cap, which meant sitting on boxes in a liquor store and drinking more whisky, before they walked us safely back to our hotel because they had to go on duty. Waking up the next morning we could barely walk our legs were so sore. God we love this country!
Us and our original friends (constables and a captain) finishing a bottle of whiskey in a liquor store.Eli and Max are displaying the best in Nepali fashion: the taka-tupi
This is so unfair. I can't believe I have to go memorize more stuff about the kidney now. I am so jealous of you guys.
ReplyDelete"...for which we broke our pledge of being vegetarians just to be polite..."
ReplyDeleteDespite my disappointment at the emergence of Vege-Wise in full force, Nepal sounds awesome dude.