Dinner talk

Despite being sick, I'm awake later tonight than I have been pretty much since arriving here. The last two days have been quiet in the sense that I've been sick (and staying home), and also an ongoing ruckus, because the government suddenly raised oil prices by 150Rs. The price has already gone up twice besides this in the last two months so the student unions etc. are protesting in the streets, burning things, etc...in fact, they were throwing rocks at the Hyatt hotel (which has electricity, oil, water, etc. in abundance and is exempt from all the loadsetting and so on). The students finally got what they wanted, for once, because they lowered the price back to what it was (1100Rs, which is still up 200Rs from the original price).

There has been some stimulating dinner conversation recently, first regarding the awkward position geographically--and therefore politically--of Nepal, being crunched between China and India. China's chance to control India through water, i.e. the Yellow River in Tibet, is one reason that India has not formally recognized His Holiness as being the official government in exile of Tibet. Aside from the contentious water issue, though, they are both major powers in the region, so as Tais said, fighting is pointless--it's like conflict between Russia and the United States. Another topic, probably even more sensitive, is the markedly lackadaisical attitude of many of the monks and nuns here in Boudha. While those in Swayambhunath are supposedly much better, there are all sorts of contradictions in nature and violations of vows going on in the local monasteries. There are a lot of monks and nuns who have friends outside the monastic community, who wear fuzzy monkey socks, designer shoes, trendy jackets, etc. that violate dress codes, and own fancy cell phones and even motorbikes.

What is most strange, though, is that I've seen a few monks walking down the streets with what appear to be girlfriends, and it's not my eyes deceiving me--there are plenty of young monks (and maybe nuns, though I haven't seen this particular violation among the women) who seem to be perfectly at ease with having romantic relationships outside the monastery. According to Ama-la, a lot of these monks are coming from Tibet or Dharamsala, where the monastic orders are strict and there is no wiggle room for following laws and taking vows seriously. Those who want a more relaxed and lenient environment come to Kathmandu, particularly Boudha, to escape what they feel are constrictions of their natural lives. I confess to finding a lot of the behavior I've observed around the stupa quite surprising. The difference is clear when a man is holding himself back from engaging in typical daily life and when one's behavior is indistinguishable from a layman; the only way to tell he belongs to an order at all is his robes, under which you might see Converse, Puma, or even Gucci.

Meanwhile, I finished one of the books on my reading list and now I'm moving on to finish the Upanishads, which I'm very much looking forward to. Maybe I'll actually achieve my reading list goals for this semester!