Rameshwor Community Library

After completing the training in Jhuwani, our plan was to go back to Kathmandu early Monday morning but because of a "banda" in Kathmandu we had to change our plans and delay our return to Kathmandu to later on Monday afternoon.

A "banda" is the name Nepalese give to a strike. In this case, the strike was called by the Maoist to protest against the current political situation. Whenever a "banda" is declared, no store or business can be open and all means of transportation are also banned ( so no taxis, cars, buses or motorbikes on the streets). Usually it is a "peaceful" protest, it only turns violent when people disobey it and the Maoists activists try to enforce the "banda".

In Chitwan where I was, there was no "banda" so we could move from one village to the next and Pratima decided to take advantage of the opportunity and take me to visit yet another library.

In other words, I was lucky that there was a "banda" in Kathmandu!

So we woke up early, had our Daal-Bhat for breakfast, got a ride on the hotel car until the next village, Sauraha Chowk, and from there we took the bus to Narayangarh. We then took the rickshaw to the Rameshowr Community Library.

(Have you noticed how many different types of transportation one can take in one hour in Nepal? It is never boring around here!)

The library is located in Narayangarh, a community in the outskirts of Bharatpur.

The first floor of the library building has a meeting hall that can be rented. The income from this hall provides funding to cover for the library operating costs.

The library area is located in the second floor.

It is a lovely and vibrant library. During the two hours we stayed there, people from all ages came and went, reading books, reading the newspapers and using the copy machine.

Specially interesting was to observe the kids using the toys, reading story books and doing their homework.

The librarian was attentive, always taking care of everything and making sure that all were behaving appropriately.

It is a warm and peaceful environment!

The president of the Library Management Committee (LMC) stopped by and we talked for a while about the library and the challenges they face. He told me that the greatest challenge was to be able to become truly self sustainable, expanding their income sources in order to obtain enough money to continuously improve the services offered by the library.

In the middle of the afternoon, we left the library and walked to the "bus area", along the way, we stopped for Buff Momos, totally delicious and spicy!!
In fact the word Momo is one of the few words that I can promptly read in Devanagari! This knowledge is very convenient when you are hungry!

We took a micro bus that made the 4 hour long journey on the winding road along the Seti River towards Kathmandu.

The micro bus experience was very interesting... I am glad I had it.

It is very easy, being a foreigner, to be isolated from the real way Nepalese people live.

Experiences like this, doing what the people do, are, without a doubt, the highlights of my trip. This is why I came and I am very gra

teful to have some glimpses of the real Nepal.

There was one stop along the way, for dinner, in a very interesting place. Too bad I had eaten too much Momos in Bharatpur and I could not eat any of the fried fish and potato-patties.

Maybe next time...