Janakpur

I remember Janakpur for many many things. I worked in Janakpur for about two years in 2009. Before that, Jaleshwor was my first job deployment in 1998/99.

The Madesh culture is fascinating and took me a long time to realize it. To put it honestly, it took me a long time because of the cultural stereotypes. I needed a new lens to appreciate the uniqueness of Madesh and Madeshi society and culture.

I was in Janakpur this week. I did not miss going around the famous Janaki temple and running around the town early morning. A few changes, I see this time. The roads are much cleaner. Now, there are good hotels and many eateries. There were zero restaurants (a decent one) 15 years ago. There are coffee shops, restaurants and tuk-tuk to take us around. The train is operational now (as I am told, but did not see the train)

One more thing that I observed this time is the 'Shree Ram' Flags all around. It seems to me, this is a spillover of the Jan 22, inauguration of the Ram temple in India.

I do not have the right answer. but I enjoyed not too warm weather. The weather was just good enough for a run. I ran early in the morning before the Sun rose. I did not bring my Garmin and Google mistook it for cycling. 'Okay Google, I promise, I ran.'

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