Another Chutti

At least once during each Nepali sojourn I do a My Day Off post. Often there is only one official Day Off as we are trying to do a lot in a short time and that is the case this visit too. Saturday was the day, our chutti, and what a glorious day it was.I knew what to expect when Kopila, who never encourages missing a dal bhat, said Didi, I think today would be good to not have dal bhat at breakfast because we are visiting some friends and don't know what they will feed us. At this moment, I DID know that whatever they fed us, it would be in a large quantity. We consequently had a small breakfast of one large omelette, two rice dumplings, a plate of pomegranate seeds and I said no to the banana.Last April I had promised to visit Deepa and her dad and then the time went so seeing them was top priority. Deepa and her sister in law, both women in a very vulnerable situation who have turned to Samunnat for support, made wonderful spicy chiya and fresh sel roti (fried donuts made using rice flour and sugar) flavoured with cinnamon and cardamon.  It was served with fried potatoes and chilli and I was so glad I had such light breakfast. Deepa's father is a delight; a tiny man who, in spite of his hard life and blindness, pervades joy and curiosity.  He sang all his questions to me and once I realised that the songs were actual questions, not just folk songs, I managed better than I thought. I did NOT sing my replies as speaking Nepali is hard enough. Let alone singing it.After spending a couple of hours with the family, we hopped back on the bike and headed further east to Surunga to visit a cousin-sister who had played a significant role in the marriage of Kopila and her husband, Binod. (By this stage, Kopila was suffering serious bike envy! We had borrowed her sister in law's newer motor bike and she kept exclaiming about what a smooth ride it was! As Binod is the local Yamaha dealer, perhaps he can do something about this! Just joking bhai! Sort of.)Surunga is a highway town of approx. 18,000 and M's house was IDEALLY situated for intense sticky beaking. And close observation of every vehicle that plyed the road. At quite close quarters really.  Fortunately not so many ply late at night so position will not impact too much on real estate value.  For me, with no plans to try and sleep, it was an EXCELLENT place to observe life's rich tapestry.Life's rich tapestry included this sign and I would welcome interpretations. Obviously it has some thing to do with piles but what exactly? Maybe a surgical camp? Anyway, it all sounds jolly.M loved my clothing and the fact that my jewellery matched my clothing. She thought however, that my haircut needed updating and that I would benefit from visiting her friend in the Beauty Parlour who could Cut it like this (She described a deep U shape with her hands - an edgy cut for the young girls with long black hair cut in a deep U shape.) As my hair is almost invariably thrown up in a bun or braid, we decided an edgy straight in a line across the back, not too much shorter cut would be more appropriate and that the deal could be done if the hairdresser made no comment about the edgy silver roots.