Happy New Year... again!

My original flight to Nepal was on 1st April, but then a very dear friend decided to come and join me there on the 26th, and since I didn't feel I wanted to spend 4 weeks in Nepal I ended up extending for an extra 12 days in India. This allowed me to stay longer at BTS and also visit Hyderabad, Delhi and Amritsar so it was definitely a good decision! I might have stayed in India even longer, but then I discovered that it was the Nepalese New Year on 14th April and I felt this was something I should experience!

I arrived at Kathmandu airport in the evening of the 12th and took a taxi straight to the small city of Bhaktapur, which is where the biggest celebrations were to be held. It was dark when I got there but first impressions were good: narrow, windy streets with open-fronted shops filled with people: not dissimilar to India but with less dirt and noise! My hotel had a lovely roof-terrace restaurant, from which you could look down on the streets below and do some great people-watching. 

View from the hotel roof terrace

I didn't want to do TOO much exploring here as I knew it'd be one of the places I'd come back to with my friend Emmeline in a few weeks' time. Instead I had a very nice lazy morning in the hotel and then ventured out for a bit of lunch and a short afternoon stroll around the nearby Taumadhi Tole and Durbar Square. 

Taumadhi Square (Himalayas on the horizon)

Durbar Square, Bhaktapur

Bhaktapur is a small, medieval city with red-brick houses, cobblestone streets and beautiful squares filled with pagodas. There was always a lot of life going on above the streets: above every building there'd be people leaning out of the windows or peering over the rooftop balconies, watching the goings on down below. It gave it a very intimate vibe.

A woman watches the streets below

Young boys enjoy a game of cricket in Pottery Square

New Year celebrations here last for over a week, and centre around the assembly of two large wooden chariots, which carry the deities of Bhairab (an incarnation of the Hindu God Shiva) and Bhadrakali (an incarnation of his consort Parvati) around the city streets. This culminates on New Year's Eve when the chariots are pushed down one of the steepest streets into Khalna Tole (square) where a huge pole is also erected. The next day there's a tug of war over the chariots and the pole comes crashing down. This marks the official beginning of the new year! Oh, and I should mention that the new year we were welcoming here was the year 2070! Never thought I'd see the day!

The Bhairab chariot waits for its moment of glory

Children play on the smaller, Bhadrakali chariot

I'd heard that the chariots would set off at 5pm so I got to the square at 4 to get a good spot. I waited and waited as the square slowly filled up. I waited and waited and waited... 

The square begins to fill up

"Paan-wallah" (betel leaf seller!)

Finally at 7pm, the first chariot came into sight and I realised why it had taken so long. I had assumed that they would catapult down the steep slope, but in fact they were being pushed very, very slowly and they would stop every few metres, for a 20-30 minute rest! The big chariot ground to a halt in front of me (too dark and smoky to get a good photo by this point) and I waited another hour until 8pm but it hadn't moved another inch! There was still a good 20m to go before it reached its resting point and I realised that was going to take more time than I was prepared to invest! I was also feeling rather thirsty, so I gave up and went off in search of dinner and a beer!

Local children chat to me as we await the chariots

The next morning I was woken by lots of music and cheering from outside. I decided to delay breakfast and head out to see what was going on. The music was actually coming from a tiny side-street, where a few men were sitting playing instruments as others decorated a shrine. I stood there for quite a while, watching people come and go. Local men and women brought offerings on a platter and entered the shrine to decorate the deity with the offerings, light candles, pray and sound a bell. The offerings were usually flower petals, rice/ beans, something which looked like an illuminous pink pappadum(?!), egg, fruit etc.

A young girl places an egg on the shrine

Platters of offerings pile up

I'd already heard that numerous animals are sacrificed on this day, so when a young boy turned up carrying a chicken I knew what was going to happen! The main guy picked up a carving knife and sawed off the chicken's head (its body continued to twitch for ages!) and daubed the blood over the shrine. I managed to numb myself enough to watch without turning away (much) but I decided to leave before they made a move on the calf which was tethered up nearby!

Run, cow, run!

That evening I ventured out again to try to see the bringing down of the totem pole, but I soon found out I'd missed it! Duh! I must admit I've been feeling a bit lackluster over the last week. Perhaps it was leaving the charity, perhaps I've just struggled to get used to travelling alone again after being around friends for the last two months, or perhaps I've just been tired and in need of a rest! Either way I have found it a bit difficult to motivate myself to do anything and it's partly because of this that I missed the crashing of the pole. That said, if it was anything like the "action" of the chariots I don't think I missed too much! 

The shrine, covered in offerings and surrounded by candles