The Help

I mentioned in my last post that I hired some help around the house.  Actually I hired a lot of help.  First I have a didi.  This is a Nepali word that means "big sister."  My didi is named Kalyani.  She is a grandmother, very quiet and gentle.  She cleans my house in a whirlwind - top to bottom.  She complains when I do my own dinner dishes and most importantly she watches JAC while I exercise for an hour.  Kalyani rocks my world.

Secondly I have a gardener/guard named Hari.  I'm truthfully not sure why we have a gardener.  Its complicated.  He worked  for a friend and the friend unexpectedly needed to move to Pakistan.  I can never say no, and truthfully our yard needs some serious manual labor.  Every exsisting piece of shrubbery is competing to take over the place.  He also looks after the dog if we go out of town.

Finally, I have a driver named Ramesh who also rocks.  He is very young and drives a motorcycle when he in not driving my car.  He is married and has a new baby without a name.  The baby was born two months ago and Ramesh is still thinking of his name.  He says all Nepalis are named the same names and is looking for a unique name.  I keep trying to convince Ramesh to name his baby after me but he says the baby should have a name starting with E or S.  For now, he just calls the baby - "baby."

I might also describe why we need a driver.  Traffic in Kathmandu is insane.  Sometimes I drive because I think it is fun - like riding a roller coaster or jumping out of an airplane.  Kathmandu has no traffic lights, no street signs and no center lane markers.  The city has almost 100,000 residents and I think they are all on the roads constantly.  This number does not also include the many cows who walk in the road.  Also, Ramesh is a wonderful tour guide.  Yesterday he explained to me that while he would not vote because the candidates were unsatisfactory he would go to the voting site and register his name as "No Vote."  He explained that if he failed to do this someone else would vote under his name.  This are insights you can only receive from a local.

I hope everyone is experiencing a corruption free Tues.