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Kathmandu
1.0About The Author
Vikram Seth was born on 20 June 1952. He was an Indian novelist and poet. He has written several novels and poetry books. His works have received several awards such as Padma Shri, Sahitya Academy Award, Pravasi Bharatiya Samman, WH Smith Literary Award and Crossword Book Award. Seth's collections of poetry such as Mappings and Beastly Tales are notable contributions to the Indian English language poetry canon.
2.0Central Idea
'Kathmandu' is an extract from Vikram Seth's travelogue 'Heaven Lake which narrates his long journey from China to India via Tibet and Nepal. The present extract is an account of his time spent in Nepal visiting two temples - the Pashupatinath and the Baudhnath stupa, the shrines most sacred to Hindus and Buddhists respectively. He not only describes the ambience inside these temples but also records his observations about their surroundings and contrasts the hectic activity in the Hindu temple with the serenity in the Buddhist stupa.
3.0Pashupatinath Temple
At Pashupatinath Temple, a sign proclaims, 'Entrance for the Hindus only'. There is much crowd and utter confusion. All sorts of animals roam around through the grounds. There are so many people. They are pushing each other to somehow make their way to the Lord. A group of Westerners claims itself to be Hindus. It struggles for permission to come in. But the policeman at the gate is not convinced. Monkeys can be seen fighting. The holy Bagmati flows by the side of the temple. It has washer women at its banks. There is a small shrine also on the river bank. It seems that half of the shrine is in the river. The other half is out of it. The people believe that the whole of the shrine will come out of the river, one day. Then the goddess inside will escape and the evil period of Kaliyug will come to an end.
4.0Baudhnath Stupa
At Baudhnath Stupa, there is a sense of stillness. There is a road running round the temple. Small shops of Tibetan immigrants stand on its outer edge. There are no crowds. Kathmandu is a crowded place. There are deities in the busiest streets. These streets are crowded with fruit sellers, flute sellers, hawkers of postcards etc. The shops sell Western cosmetics, film rolls and chocolate. Film songs can be heard. Car horns honk. Cycle bells ring. Stray cows low at people. In the market place, the author indulges himself mindlessly. Then, he plans to go back home. He enters a Nepal Airlines office and buys a ticket for Delhi. He comes back to his hotel. In a corner of the square near the hotel a flute seller catches his attention. His carefree style pleases him. He doesn't sell his flutes like others. They cry to sell their wares. In fact, flute music always attracts him. It reminds him of the commonality of all mankind. There is no culture that does not have its flute. The deep bansuri is of Hindustani classical music. The flutes of South America are clear and breathy. The Chinese ones are high pitched. The music of the flutes is universal. Its motive force is the breath. It unites all in one single thread of universality. The author is affected by the phrases on the bansuri. It surprises him. He returns home after a long absence abroad. He did not think earlier of the details and their significance.
5.0Recall
- Vikram Seth describes his visit to the capital of Nepal, Kathmandu through this excerpt from his book 'Heaven Lake'. During his trip, he visits two temples where he notices stark differences between them.
- One temple was a pilgrimage for Hindus, the Pashupatinath temple. After that, there was the Baudhnath temple which is for the Buddhists. He notices that they restricted the entry at the Pashupatinath temple to only Hindus.
- Thus, there was quite a chaos amongst the tourists, priests and the pilgrims. To top it all, people were polluting the river Bagmati by washing clothes in it, bathing in it and throwing away dry flowers in it.
- After that, he went to Baudhnath temple. He saw that the scenario here was completely different from what he saw at the Pashupatinath temple. This Buddhist temple had a huge dome which is white in colour. The place was very calm and serene. Outside the temple, there was a Tibetan market and people were selling bags, clothes, ornaments and more.
- He notices the numerous things Kathmandu offers from religious places to many tourist destinations. Moreover, it also has various shops of antiques, cameras, cosmetics, chocolates and more. Nonetheless, it is also a very noisy city from the car horns to the music and vendors. He enjoyed having a marzipan bar, corn, coca-cola in the city. After that, he also read love stories, comics and Reader's Digest books.
- On returning to Delhi, he thought of taking an adventurous route which comprises of a bus or train journey and then a boat ride, but he dropped the idea for that would have been too tiring. Thus, he booked a flight back. He saw an interesting flute seller outside his hotel. He had a pole with a lot of flutes on it and it seemed like a porcupine body.
- The flute seller kept playing his flutes and also showed his creativity in different tunes. But, what set him apart from the other flute sellers was that he played the flute thoughtfully. He did not scream to attract customers, he played it. This attracted the author and he wondered that flute is so common all over. Then, he compares it to the human voice and says how he is noticing even the little things now.