Chaupals

In Delhi I picked up a copy of "The Week" an excellent India news magazine. In his editorial, Mahesh Dattani bemoans the decline of chaupals. A chaupal is a meeting place (often under a banyan tree and can be found in almost every Indian village. Similar to the old cafés of Montmartre, they provide the environment to discuss social, political and artistic ideas to be shared and mulled over. Post-modernists would claim Starbucks´is now providing this role, but I disagree, people go there to surf or read,. The three cities in the Kathmandu Valley this occurs daily in their respective Durbar Squares. Young and old come and spend time “chewing the fat.”

Today was spent in Baktaphur, the oldest of the three main towns of the valley. It dates back to the 12th century and artistically it is a showpiece of Newari craftsmanship with ornate woodcarving bedecking age-old buildings. Not surprisingly it is part of UNESCO´s World Heritage sites. It is almost like entering a time warp and visiting the Dark Ages. Today was a day for portraits (not a saddhu in sight!) as I get back in practice for village trekking.
http://picasaweb.google.com/aubreygroves67/FacesOfBaktaphur

I´ll shove on some cityscapes at some point.

Tomorrow I will be heading into Langtang National park for an 8 day hike to the Northern glaciers of Langtang. Armed with a Sherpa Mungma, and Zed my porter we´re heading from Kathmandu´s 1300m up to a pass over 4000m. Well that´s the plan if it isn´t too steep! Photos will no doubt go up when I arrive back.