Chitwan Jungle Suprises ABD

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March 7th 2009
Where do I begin? I am not even sure of the day today let alone the date.
It’s been three days now and we have not been able to leave Sauraha. The main Road connecting us to the next town has been cut off by protesters. It’s a Tharu Bandhr that somehow managed to spiral out of control, reminiscent to the troubled history of the region.
A little piece of heaven smack bang in the middle of the Terrai, the village of Sauraha in the Chitwan Region is all about calm. Andrew and I have enjoyed our jungle walks, canoeing and bird watching (luckily we where there for the limited time in the year when migrating birds of summer and winter season are at the same place. The summer birds just arrived and the winter birds where preparing to leave!), elephant rides and elephant baths as well as endless walks through the Tharu villages on our way to the Elephant Breeding Centre. A remarkable project, the elephant breeding centre, with many little elephants running around and cheekily eating bananas out of our hands. Once I had run out of bananana’s they started pushing me with their tusks and one even chased Andy around the centre, making all the visitors there laugh! That evening we went down to the sleepy river for some of the best Momos (dumblings filled with veggies, chicken or buffalo) and a couple of Gorkha Beers.
Wanting to leave a place and move on to the next part of our journey but being obstructed to do so, has created a feeling of imprisonment, a direct restriction of our personal freedom and for people coming from countries where this is a primary human right we found it particularly difficult. I have been through Bandhrs before. Kathmandu has one almost every week and Pokhara was affected by the pre elections Bandhr in April last year. I never felt unsafe nor trapped. This time it’s different.
The Terrai has always been a troubled region of Nepal. In 2001 when the Maoist insurgency took place, the Terrai tribes fought against the King and the Government of Koirala under the red flag. When I drove through the Terrai’s Jungles to the South and South West in 2007/8, I was literally driving through endless Maoist strongholds, their camps visible at every bend of the road. The People of the Terrai, at their poorest, most illiterate and unjustly treated by the higher reigning casts of Kathmandu, saw a chance to belong to something great, the chance to bring about a favourable change.
The Tharu people are the gentlest and most strikingly beautiful of all Nepali people I have met and interacted with. I spent three weeks living in their homes and sharing a room with my friend Sabitri Chaudhary. The Chepang school in the Chitwan district, not to far from Tandi Bazaar, is the hope for the new generation of the lowest hill tribe, the Chepangs. The school is very successful in educating these young people and provides them with a loving home during those years as it functions as a boarding school. This is duly due to the commitment, selfless love and vision of the teaching staff. They are predominantly Tharu.
Tharu are proud people, strong minded, with big hearts to accommodate everyone. Yet when they feel they have been treated unjustly, they seek to rectify. My Tharu friends at the Chepang school set the most brilliant example of this, by offering an education to the less fortunate and a home in which they can grow and flourish, blind to the caste system.
The new “democratically elected” Maoist Government, having nothing better to do, decided five days ago, to reclassify the Tharu tribe in the caste system and thus to merge them with the Medhesi tribe. This means that the Tharu, the oldest inhabitants of the Terrai, where to put in the same pot as the Medhesi tribe, a Himalayan hill tribe, obviously completely different in their customs and traditions to the Tharu. Furthermore, this reclassification was to reduce the chances for Tharu people to receive governmental positions. For a tribe that had fought so hard and supported 100 % the Maoist’s now in power, the Tharu felt unjustly done. They became quite enraged by this unnecessary act on behalf of the government and decided to let them know that they where not pleased. In a bid to let the world know that they are not kidding, the Tharu blocked the main arteries to and from the Terrai, and declared a Tharu Bandhr (strike).The government responded by sending in the police force and the whole thing became violent and very ugly, leaving at least 4 dead.
Andrew and I rode on horseback on the third day of the Bandhr to the main road at Tandi Bazaar in a bid to get through the road block and onto the nearest town Narayangath where we hoped to get a bus to Pokhara. We hadn’t realized the severity of the situation until we reached the main road. Local Buses lined at least 3 kms of the street to both the left and the right. The People sitting inside those Buses looked tired, bored and frustrated. I admired them for their patience. Sitting in a Bus for three days would not be something that I could easily cope with.
Further down, the road was blocked with trucks, parked squarely across the width of the street and an excited mob of teenagers walked around the area, every so often waving their wooden clops in the air. It was all very still and peaceful. I was playfully nudging my husband and mocking the foreign media who would have blown this whole thing out of control, when obviously it was a very calm situation. How wrong I was. Minutes later our cart driver, who had been initially very positive and encouraging “no problem go Narayangath, tourist no problem”, had now changed his tune and looked very worried “this no good situation, very danger, very big problem”. The mob was passing by our cart but did not give us a second look. Andrew and I took that as a positive sign to keep going forward. We moved at a slow pace, looking down onto the street. Some tourists where walking towards Sauraha, pulling their expensive trolley bags behind them with tired looks on their faces. An ambulance whooshed by us, sirens howling. The whole scene made me feel as if there was something massive about to happen. The driver halted his horse on the command of a mob of young Tharu boys shouting commands at him. They could not have been more than fourteen, some of them looked as young as ten. They spoke to our driver in rapid Nepali and urged him to turn around.
As we made our way back to Sauraha, 20 kms from troubled Tandi Bazaar, we encountered a few more mobs of boys excitedly riding their bicycles towards Tandi, clutching thick bamboo sticks, some filled with nails and spikes. The excitement on their faces is what scared me the most. These children, they have no idea, they feel as if they are going to a football match or a fun fair, they are unable to grasp the severity of their actions, the consequences being as highly priced as their lives. I kept picturing their mothers seeing them off that morning, worried, shouting warnings and asking them to be careful, while their boys, not stopping to glance back, ran out onto the street to join their peers. It broke my heart.
We arrived back at the Family Guest House a few minutes later.
That evening a 17 year old boy got killed.
The following day, all the shops in Sauraha where closed. The mob had passed through while we where sleeping and had intimidated the villagers and ordered them to shut their businesses for the day. The whole town had a ghostly feeling about it. Tourists from Japan, the US, Sweden, Canada, Israel and many other corners of the world, in couples, groups, single or with families, aimlessly stood around in the middle of the main village street with aloof looks on their faces. Andrew and I went back to our room and called our Embassies. I had spoken to my friend Jayne, who has been living in Nepal for over a year and is a social worker for the Child Welfare Scheme Organization in Pokhara. She had informed me of the reason for the Bandhr in more detail and promised to keep us posted on any developments.
Buddhi our friend at the Family Guest House had told Andrew the same morning that the Government had declared a National Emergency. We where alert and both our minds where ticking over at an incredible speed. The German Embassy used up all my phone credit while I was waiting to get connected and when I finally did get through, there was a clear disinterest in our situation. I finally managed to convince the Nepali lady on the other end of the phone line to note down my passport number and where we are staying. She refused however to note down my husbands passport details, as he is Australian and so the Australian Embassy should be called. Fine. The line got interrupted by the Mero Mobile Lady announcing that my credit had run out. The German Embassy never bothered ringing back to check if I had been hit over the head with a bamboo club while I was on the phone to her.
Andrew had proudly raved about the excellence of the Australian Embassy. He picked up the receiver and dialed the number in Kathmandu to be connected to a Nepali man in the embassy who wasn’t of much assistance either. At least in their defense, they did take my passport number too before giving Andrew some “valuable” advice “Try to get to the airport and fly to Kathmandu!” Hahahaha, if we could get onto the main road buddy, we wouldn’t need to get to the airport now would we? Thank you very much!
Both Embassies have been an absolute disappointment in their reactions, they did nothing to advise us on how to deal with the situation in case it got more severe, they provided us with no information, they definitely did not bother to re-assure us, hey they didn’t even show the faintest interest in the fact that we where right in the middle of this thing!
We walked down to the River. It was so calm and peaceful down there. Not the faintest hint of the violence that was taking place a few kilometers from there. We had some lunch at the only place that was open and where meanwhile many other tourists had gathered too. It was quite amusing looking at all these people come down to the river with their books in their hand, obviously fed up of being herded up inside their guest houses.
By the afternoon, I had read half of my book and Andrew was well on his way on finishing his. We made our way back to our Guest House and chilled out in the garden.
That evening as we where walking towards the river to have some dinner we noticed one of the internet places had their shutters slightly lifted. We peaked in through the half open shutters and saw two tourists sitting at pc’s typing away. I asked the Nepali owner for 2 computers. “Not possible” he said, the power was cut once again and his generator could only support two computers at a time. We sat and waited. One of the users was soon done and I sat down to compose a few emails and check the news online.
The situation had made world news. I wasn’t impressed. I almost got up and walked out of Sauraha, the whole 30 kms on foot, with my 20 kg backpack strapped to my back and my 10 kg day pack to my chest, to the nearest town right that minute, when I overheard the conversation of the internet place’s owner with a customer. He was telling him that he could arrange for a way to get out of Sauraha. I immediately jumped in the convo not bothering with formalities and basic courtesy such as not eavesdropping and asked when and how that would be possible. The plan was that two motorbikes where to drive us through the jungle to Narayangarth. The drivers wanted to leave in the middle of the night or very early in the morning whilst the curfew was still on so as to avoid any run ins with the Tharu. The whole thing was to cost us 5000NPRS and there where no guarantees, but they had done it a few days before and had succeeded.
I couldn’t think straight. The reports I had read online had said that two policemen had been killed that very afternoon and one civilian, just at Tandi Bazaar. The warnings on smart traveler where clear, no travelling by night during Bandhr, don’t attempt moving around stay put. My head was spinning. What if the situation escalated and turned into another civil war? What if this was our last and only chance to get out before things got really ugly? After all the power was now cut throughout the day (it only came on between 12pm and 6am) and the mob had made a point of letting us know who’s Boss by shutting down the touristy village of Sauraha. But somehow I didn’t feel comfortable travelling at night. The whole thing made me uneasy.
That’s the wonderful thing about being married. At situations like these, when one half of the partnership’s brain computer goes completely haywire the other half seems to function at its best. Andrew, coolheaded and poised decided that we should stay put. It was one of the wisest decisions we made during these past few days.
Today we are much more relaxed. We have resigned ourselves to the fact that we will be here for a while and given the situation I could think of much worse places to be restricted to. Granted, it is not ideal, but in reality, this is just a perfect excuse to really let go of all the “have to’s” and “to do’s” that so often form our lives. We have enjoyed reading more than ever and have been philosophizing without borders whilst sipping Gorkha and Everest Beers, occasionally even a Special Lassi.
The shops on the main street in Sauraha have slowly opened up again throughout the day and the elephants have been wandering down the road going about their daily baths. Jayne called this morning and gave us an update of the media coverage, the road from Tandi to Narayangarth is still blocked, the Tharu leader has sat down with the government in negotiations. We had power until 10 am this morning and we managed to charge our phone and the laptop so I could get some blogging done. It’s a muggy day, wouldn’t want to do too much anyway, so here we are, just chillaxing with another Everest Beer. I don’t know how long it will take, but I feel much better. Hopefully no more children will die tonight. I pray that will awaken to a peaceful day tomorrow.



8th of March 2009

This morning we where ready for another day of slow motion, but just like everything, when you least expect it, we managed to get out of Sauraha.
Mister, our horse cart driver, picked us up from the family guest house and we once again said our good byes to the family. We trotted down the street and off the main road, taking the back route towards Narayangarth. There we where meant to get a Bus to Pokhara.
We soon realised that the Bandhr had spread and Narayangarth was now also under siege. Mister (that is really his name!) decided to take a risk and cart us to the next town. Behind us another horsecart followed, a family of four took the same route.
At the next town we where stopped by the Bandhr. A Tharu man approach the second cart and started talking to the mother of the family, demanding “protection money”. The family had two young boys around 7 years old, so they paid up and when the Tharu man came to our cart, Mister just claimed that we where part of that family. We where lucky to have such a devoted driver!
On the corner of a road in the middle of a forest, stood to our surprise, three buses. People where coming on foot, on rickshaws and on horse cart to board them, on a bid to get to Pokhara and Kathmandu. We jumped on one of them and soon came to know the family that had been on the cart behind us. Pipa and Simon, two dentists from Cornwall and their two boys Flynn and Will where heading to Pokhara to do some volunteering. They too had been waiting for an opportunity to get out of Chitwan and where quite relieved that they had managed to get out unscathed. We had a really good chat with them and next thing we knew, we had arrived in peacefull Pokhara.
Andrew and I got a cab down to Lakeside and our first stop was Didi’s “Yeti Restaurant”.
Didi came out to greet us with big hugs and smiles. We left our bags with her while scouting for a room and ended up just across the street at the “Be Happy Guest House” as the “Woodpigeon” was all full.
Tonight we treated ourselves at the “Everest Steak House” with two massive Steaks and some wine.

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Photos

Hey where are you taking my husband?
Kidnapping Andy across the River to ask for Bakshish in private