Today I wander around the city. I visit a university called Tri Chandra College. I just walked into the grounds for a look around. A serious game of cricket is in action in a small corner of the grounds. It’s a rough pitch but there is an umpire and an enthusiastic crowd of onlookers. They’re loving it. The buildings were created in 1918 and the clock tower is a bit of a feature in Kathmandu. It crumbled under the earthquake but has been rebuilt. I wanted to climb to the top but it was closed off. I did manage to chat to some of the students. Purna is in his final year of a 3-year Psychology degree. His looking to do postgraduate study overseas somewhere. Australia is a possible destination and so is the USA. I explained to him what opportunities might be available to him in Australia.
It’s my turn to take Ganesh to an Australin movie. Mad Max is on. What a great choice! We meet Urish for coffee then make our way to the cinema. I’ve seen the film before bit was keen to see how these guys would view this auction-packed production. It was in 3D and cost around $3, compared to about $18 in Australia. And in true Nepalese style, there is an intermission! Australian films are t designed to have an intermission so a dramatic action scene is suddenly taken from us and replaced with a blank screen, then an intermission sign. It’s fairly jarring to the sensors. The film ends around 9pm and Ganesh and I walk back to the hotel along darkened blacked out streets.
We walk past the old Royal Palace (now a museum) and Ganesh reveals to me his amazing story. In 2001 the royal family were massacred at this place. The official story records that they were gunned down by the drug-crazed crown prince, son of the King. Nobody believes this. Anyway…on the night of the massacre, around 10pm, Ganesh was walking past and heard shooting. He was right there when it all happened. He didn’t know what it was about until the next day when news reports revealed all. Ganesh could show me exactly where he was when the first shots rang out. How amazing is that, to be a witness of sorts to a major point in Nepal’s history.
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