Random hits on the keyboard

It goes without saying that Lebanese food is one of the best and tells a lot about the culture, history, economy, and youth. Now I have a challenge, where to start. I have been testing the amazing food. Shawarma, falafel and many more, the names I can't remember. There is a variety for morning, evening and dessert. I am enjoying it. They taste amazing. Geographically, this is the only country in the Arab Region without a desert and the only country to have enough natural water to sustain its population. Historically, this land is a part of the 'fertile Crescent'. This probably explains the history of grains, food, civilization and the empire in the region. In the evening, I took a walk around the malls. And the Zen Xs are enjoying the fast food. Mcdonald and KFCs are everywhere. Not necessarily bad, but I don't love burgers.  

Firstly, Beirut is not Paris of the Middle East. The remnants of the colonization have to go away. And I shall start by not comparing any beautiful place with the beauty of Europe. Beirut has its own richness - the history, culture and food, not to forget the people's resilience. Someone posted on Twitter the reverse perspective. :) The ancient history and the modernisation make this city unique. I lack the words to precisely explain but it is unique to see the two separate worlds coexisted seamlessly. There are many other dichotomies - together, that are on the two extreme ends of the spectrum but are together apparently with little or no strain.  I am here after six years. The weather, the sea and the people.. all are the same despite many things have changed, economically and politically and of course, relations with its neighbours. More stories to follow in the coming days.

  Good morning from Turin. It is my fifth days and I still have jetlag effects. I wake up at 3 o'clock and I go to bed late. I might have sleep deprivation which I am recovering in the classroom. This travel is planned with no break and no free days at the beginning and the end. After the training, I will travel directly to my home, reason beging some "competing priorities". This visit has been a tick in a box. How can I not have pizza, wine and pasta while I am here? They are amazing. Unfortunately, I could enjoy the food less, thinking of a deadlines for an assignment and task. We are kept super busy - with no weekends and no free time in the evening.  I managed to sneak out for a walk - to see the Egyptian Museum in downtown. Egypt must be at its apex of civilization at that time. Simply wow. The art, the scriptures, the written documentation, and the records show its development. At the same time, I think, normal people were not privileged. The final observation was, ...

The hustle and bustle of Dashain has just ended. The festival, at this age, is more about passing cultures to a new generation than buying new dresses. Dashain has been a synonym for new clothes and delicious food for years. Now, the reasons have changed. More than ever, Dashain has been evolving as a time for a family to get together - from aboard and within Kathmandu. It is a break from the cycle of emails and meetings. The lighter email check is a relief. I often wonder about the amount of time we spend on email - reading and responding. I think we all are overdoing it. Anyway, out of email and getting around temples always feels good and relaxed.  This year, Kathmandu has become less empty during Dashain but definitely was not crowded. But the temples were overly crowded - Taleju temple queue was up to Makhan, Indrachwok and bend to New Road. The devotion is impressive and devotees have a huge patience to wait for hours to visit the temples. The VIPs' visits to temples are anno...

  No! not facebook. It is not how much you drank yesterday evening, it is how much you ran this morning. 

She studies in grade 1. She knows a lot about our surroundings - differently that we knew at her age. This generation has different sets of skills. They are expressive and their accessibility to the information has become effortless. The way of education has transformed.  The project works substitute the non formal knowledge we(old generation) got from the nature.  Here are two project works this week.  The bird feeder Dessert theme project work My wife has put a lots of energy on this. For her, this is something she could not put less than her 100%. The kids projectworks are 'projects' - with objectives, deadline and knowledge. They are given to teach something to kids and keep the parents occupied and creative. The project starts with YouTube videos of how to, then shopping of needed items and the energy that go into them, oh my god, we (parents) so much look forward for the next project. To keep this whole process in a ultra positive terms ...

  And here we go.. at 05:22 am, I completed 6.25 kms in 30 minutes, with an average pace of 4.53 minutes per km. Pat on my back.

Hello! I am back to blogging today after a few weeks. The enthusiasm to write a blog brought me infront of my computer several times but I have other 'priorities' (A usual excuses). Finally, I manage time to jot down a few lines about my week - which is well spent. I have a two friends visiting Nepal from aboard. One was my former boss who is non Nepali, who is retired, who is visiting the world and who is going to everest base camp. I show him a little bit of Kathmandu - during Indra Jatra. The city was lively. He and his wife also enjoyed Newari bhoj. He is a very good story teller and here are some of his stories of his travel to the world. https://www.oskarlehnertravel.news/  And I have another friend visiting Nepal who is Nepali born, who now lives aboard - here not exactly a tourist but likes to go around tourist areas. We walked around.. a hill, a tourist site, temples and bars. I know 'bar' is bit unusual. But this was the most important a part of his visit. :) ...

The walk around Kathmandu old town is facinating. A closer look, minutely, is always pleasant. I enjoy questioning the origin and cultural connection. In Janabahal, I saw this statue. It does not appear, originated in Nepal. This is a first statue, I see something very Roman? or European taste. This must have been donated - may be imported.   Then I walk around the inner Gallli and .... Bahal. The music, the ambience and the feeling.. is infinite.  This is Yetakha Bahal , which is derived from the Newari word. It means a South-facing luminous place, where once upon a time, used to dry rice after harvest. I visit a small alley and bahaal - spend a few minutes and .. I try to bring my son with me, to explain what I know about the place. The places that have minimum tourists.

My little one participated in the Kumari Puja. She was excited from the early morning. This is her third time attending the puja. We believe that the kids will learn a bit of the Newari culture. They already have difficulty speaking the Newari language and have no enthusiasm to learn. We hope these kinds of functions are fun for kids and at the same time preserving the endangered culture to some extend. Peppa Pig is extremely accessible (dangerous to some extend) and it gives the kids a lot of information, paticular about the Western way of life, their food, the environment and education system. Kids probably know more about British culture than our own. Now comes Rakshya Bandhan. This was not common in Newari/Hilly Nepal culture but it has become a part of our culture now. Thanks to movies and social networking. We can't stop it. Pushing hard will be a kind of 'extremism'. Localization of the import culture is the middle path. So we include a bit of Newari flavour into it....

I survived a month without meat. This is not for the religious reason - Hindu (not all) live on vegetable in month of Shrawan in the name of God Mahadev. My month without meat intentionally coincide with the Month of Sharwan, from 1st to 32nd day of the month. (32 days in a month? - only happens in Bikram Sambat calendar). No meat - but I kept egg.  Out of this 4 and half complete weeks, I was on road for three weeks. Being out of home hardened it. Local restaurants on the way were incense by smell of verities of local chicken, goat and meat. Further, it was Devine to say ‘no’ to the meat in 5 star hotels. It was a continuous struggle within myself. My short temptation keeps pushing me to quit and start meat. But I keep saying ‘no. thank you’. No meat is good in a way, despite limited choices in eateries. It felt good to stomach. Non spicy and non oily veg or eggs at highways hotels were soft on my belly. No meat also limited my rice intake. I substituted with eggs - a lots of eggs...

A little break in the middle of a busy work schedule on Wednesday, to lighten up. Wednesday is the most efficient day of the week. The weekend is long gone and the weekend is too far. I am on top of my work- ticking off my 'to-do list' and clearing my inbox, which was cluttered for the last 3 weeks. One by one - reply, delete or filed, dragged and dropped. The momentum further energized me to complete more.  The Sun is back - after a week of rain, that swapt away road and hill terrains - creating havoc. Kathmandu was flooded for some time. And now, sunny sky and green yard, I can see from my office window, impel me to turn my head away from the monitor.    Happy Wednesday - and Keep going!!