Goodbye Brother Bob

The title of this post is, of course, in reference to dear Brother Bob Seger, who, when he wasn't working on those Night Moves wrote a little song called "Kathmandu." Somehow, it's now the 16th of July, meaning that we leave Kathmandu tomorrow for Delhi. It's so strange how long we've been here; stranger too, though, remains that even after going to Pokhara, retrurning to Kathmandu felt like coming home. The Kathmandu Guest House, which I highly recommend, has a feel that is so much more than simply a place to stay. As I reflect on my time here, at the internship, at the religious monuments, as I trekked through the Annapurna Sanctuary, what comes to me the most was how spiritual of an experience this has been. Coming to Nepal as a rather typical liberal, Western, skeptical secularist, I expected to see these things, Buddhist stupas and Hindu temples, prayer beads and sacred cows, simply from an anthropological perspective, as something that was completely separated from me. It remained something that was merely to be observed with keen interest, but no real emotional connection. As I've been here, though, as I've circled stupas and spun prayer wheels, as I've watched prayer flags whisper their longings to the divine as they sway, blowing in the wind, as I've spent mornings in meditation, focusing on the bright blue splashes clouding my vision, I've become connected with a part of myself I didn't realize was present. One of the thing Indira has focused on in her work is the necessary connection between the sacred and the secular in relation to every person, and I think even those who don't necessarily find anyone religion satisfactory, myself included in that, find something important in spirituality. Of course, we risk falling into the old joke of being "spiritual, but not religious," but there seems to be something that permeates all sorts of faiths.

And with such sadness, I bid farewell to Kathmandu- a city of contrasts, of sights, of sounds, of smells, but above all, a city I have deep, deep love for.