The Nepali shawl and animal traffic

Since I arrived in Nepal I have tried to adjust my dress to ensure I don't stand out more than my grey hair and pale skin make me. This has involved wearing the traditional kurta surwal, a knee length top/dress and variously baggy trousers to match or contrast with your top. Now I have to confess that I tend to wear the kurta with a more western pair of trousers. It looks quite good and I feel more comfortable. I always feel that I am losing the baggy trousers though I am sure if I persevered I would get used to it.
The really useful addition to the kurta surwal is the shawl. Often quite wide and sometimes in fine material it is the most useful item of clothing I have ever come across as it has so many uses:
· You can dry your hands on it when there isn't a towel or the one provided is just too grubby
· You can keep warm, even the thin ones wrapped round you add a comforting layer and the big wooly ones, which I am sure my mum would refer to as a blanket, are as good as a winter coat.
· You can keep the sun off your neck and of course mop your brow
· You can hide from people you don't want to see
· You can wipe your nose or should I say, just so you are clear on my own habits, 'one could wipe one's nose"!
· You can definitely cover your nose and smother the smells which will appear at some point on any journey in the streets of KTM
· I suspect you could use some of them as a sarong and therefore wash modestly at the public tap
· And finally of course you can use it for its real purpose - to look elegant. That is once you have mastered the wearing of it one can look elegant.

There are lots of cows wandering the streets in KTM. They are of course treated with great respect , you often see people touch them reverently as they pass them and cars always give them a wide berth, there are very sever penalties for killing a cow.
The cows come in all shapes and sizes and although they wander the streets at will, helping to clean up the garbage by eating some of the organic matter, I am unclear how many of them actually have a home. My great worry of late has been an enormous bull which has been gracing the streets of Baluwatar. Nepalis pass him happily, I cross the road. I really don't trust this huge animal. When I explained my fears to my local shop keeper and told him that such a valuable animal would be in a secure field or barn at home and with a big sign saying "Beware of the Bull" he was most amused. His answer seemed to imply that the fact the animals are revered mean they are not aggressive. This is interesting, may indeed be true but I am still crossing the road .

The size of someof these animals, sometimes quantity, and complete inability to choose a sensible place to sit down make them a serious traffic hazard. In fact the many traffic police men that grace the streets of KTM do seem to have a brief in relation to cows. A whole herd of cows was blocking a major road junction the other morning and the smartly dressed traffic cop simply picked up a stick, left his post directing the traffic and herded them at a run down the side street. I notice however that the traffic cops don't try and "move them on" when they have sat down in the middle of the road. I kid you not that it is their preferred spot. You could almost imagine that they do it deliberately knowing that people will simply drive round them, you can imagine a get together over a tasty patch of clover in which they compete for the best story - "you'll never guess where I sat down yesterday"

Namaste
Julie