Paramendra Bhagat
July 30, 2002
Kamal, Ujjwal, Gyanu, Netra
Paramendra Bhagat
July 30, 2002
----- sorry, thought it was 30 minutes from DuPont Circle, ended up being 45 minutes. You been here long? "Got here around 4:30." I had spotted the National Shrine Of The Immaculate Conception on the way, the largest Catholic church in the country, before only seen on postcards. Greenbelt. Kamal's car. Off for a momo session. "Ujjwal, Gyanu, Netra dai might come." Was not expecting. Netra dai is cool. Was he there at the reunion? I looked for him."He was." ----- the Chinese store, a Giant, Kroger-size outfit -- Is that a Walmart, can we go there, I needed to get some super glue, to mend my sandals. Wrappers, ground meat, onions, halopenos, garlic, coriander leaves, tomatoes for the soup, leafy onions. Ma tirchhu. Hoina, ma tirchhu. I will pay. No, I will pay. Two macs. "I'm hungry. Can't eat after midnight for my surgery tomorrow, of the ear. Misunderstood. Thought the fast starts at noon." ----- Skilled labor, unskilled labor. I will work on the meat, you do the soup. Angie called? So are you going to take some momo to her work? "She takes a break at 9:00." ----- Pakai dee halam. Khai dee halam. ----- They are here. "Ke chha dai?" Ujjwal and Gyanu are artists, when it comes to wrapping momos. Dumplings. Kamal is encouraging of people like myself: "You are doing really good." Gyanu met Pradip Nepal, a leading communist leader, at Kamal's home in Pokhara, the last time he was home. Listen to a politician talk. "Tokyo bhanda nee hajoor?" Yes-men. "Virus padhnoos." ----- Democracy in Nepal. Love me, love me not? The flower. Is Musharraf right, good? Is democracy only for literate populations? Only people holding college degrees allowed to run for parliamentary seats? The royal family? Deuba, Girija. ----- I was living in Kathmandu during the years after high school. On Sundays, for the Hindi movie on Nepal Television, people from my village in Kathmandu, some of the homies, would gather, they must have been gathering like that for years. Agitated debates on village development. Altruism or self-interested homesickness, a clutch on to memories and identity? Nepalis in America. Clutch? ----- Down the memory lane. High school teachers. Retold stories. Ethnic slurs and jokes. Sexist jokes. They are scattered down the memory lane. ----- Ujjwal did his mechanical engineering at the Birla Institute Of Technology in Ranchi, and his Masters at Johns Hopkins, and is now in the job market. Gyanu came to Wabash College, and is now a doctoral student at Johns Hopkins. Kamal and I have had our creative approaches towards a college degree: K still has some time to serve, which he is doing at the University of Maryland. I did my time. ----- Gyanu. Relentless lab work. "Biology is chemistry." The genetic level ramifications of tuberculosis. Ujjwal. Fluid dynamics. Hoover dam bhatkina dina bhayena. How is social life? What is the financial aid package like, enough to get by? ----- Netra dai ko kaam chha. ----- An amtrak train derailed in Kensington. Kamal said at 4:45. Lara said when I got back at 12:30. ----- Maryland 295, the Baltimore-Washington Parkway becomes 50 becomes New York Avenue. Take a right on Florida Avenue, and a right on the 5th Street, and a left on U Street, there, that blue townhouse, with the light on. A motorist had asked me earlier in the day, which way to New York Avenue, and I showed them the Georgia Avenue to 495 to I-95 route. I did not know. -----
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