Dashain. Denise nabbed this sepia gem during the big Tika day of the Dashain holiday. I stayed at Sushma's for the whole time this year and had a great time. Father and mother's start, then go the aunts and uncles, then the siblings--oldest to youngest. You only give to those who are younger than you, so adults have classy red cirlces and babies are dripping with blessings. I was squeezed in between Sushma's older brother, Subash, and Sushma. This is a picture of Sushma's turn. One of my favorite parts of tika is that the person putting it on also gives you blessings, blessings in Nepali that I couldn't understand so well last year. Mommy had a baby girl before the oldest son, which died soon after it was born. A whilte ago Mommy told me she thought it was me. This year while she gave me tika, she thanked me for finally coming back.
Mommy. Speaking of Mommy, here she is, with a baby I don't know. We went to her old house on the last day of Dashain. She grew up in a village called Dakshankali, but of course when you get married, you move to your husbands home, which, lucky for me, was Godavari. We rode on top of a bus up through the hills to her old house, and then she led us through the woods on a short-cut, talking about all the swimming she did when she was little and couldn't go to school. This is a neice of hers.
Nepalis always say we look alike. We say, What? You're crazy, we're different nationalities! And then people say, But your noses! They're so big!
Aunty
At Mommy's Mommy's house. Another great photo of the mystery baby... The lighting coming in from the window made for some really beautiful pictures. That's Suraj in the background, Sushma's younger brother, baby, and Sushma. That day the three of us went walking down the hill to pick pears from one of their grandmother's trees. I slipped on a wet rock and fell flat on my back. Denise asked if I'm keeping track of my significant falls in Nepal. I probably should. Aside from that, it was beautiful day.
My final Dashain tika.
Kaalu. Here I put tika on the youngest of the Silwal bunch. I think her real name is Anisha, but I'd never know because at home, kids are never called by their real names, or their "school" names. They're either called 'Chhori' (daughter) or some nickname adopted by all the family members. Kaalo means "black" so this is Kaalu or Kaali Chhori (it rhymes!) because she was dark when she was first born. Anyway, this is me giving her tika and blessings, and I'm in the middle of telling her to keep teaching me Nepali and do a good job wiping her snot, which someone has to tell her to do every 5 seconds. Thanks again to Denise, the photographer.
Flashback, Teej! Back in September we celebrated Teej, the holiday where women fast and pray for their current or future husbands. After two Teejes, we feel confident that it's really just a facade for women to wear red and dance their hearts out. We got dressed up for school this year, too. This is a picture of me and D before heading up to the main Teej 'scene' by our house.
You're allergic? To dancin? I pat myself on the back for this picture, one of my absolute favorites. The time leading up to Dashain is, in our opinion, the most stressful time of year... what with the endles rain and the 6-day work-weeks. What you see here is the pure joy that can ONLY come from the the end of school and the beginning of the Dashain holiday. We specifially thank Liz Casey for the cd mix that let us dance for about 4 hours straight.
Here's one final capture of Sushma and her distant cousin in Dakshankali. As we head out of Dashain and into Tihar (widely thought to be, actually, better than Dashain.... and not unlike Christmas, if you ask me) we are grateful for beautiful weather (It's really the peak of Himal season....... get it?) for the completion of the ever-chaotic Sports Day at school, for good health, for each other. I hope this finds everyone happy and well. Call or write any time. Much love.Sarah
