Amusing

The atmosphere has seemed almost human in its restlessness - like a man struggling with the answer to a perplexing question.  These are the days when I pace, waiting to see what will happen, wishing to exert pressure and cause change.

My normally intuitive son paced himself to sleep. My nervous energy surrounded him like a heavy weight. His never ending motion collapsed face first on the blankets.  His toes twitched refusing to admit defeat. 

Still, I paced until I couldn't breath.  I grabbed my guidebook and escaped to the car and the freedom it promised.  I didn't care where we went but I needed to satiate my deep craving for motion.

Ramesh must have felt the air.  He was waiting, eager to leave the confines of our compound.  He drove me to place that did not belong in Nepal.  It was a setting that felt like a scab on the landscape.  The greyness of the gates matched the thin gray clouds hovering over Nepal.  Yellow and red paint peeled off of every concrete surface.  Ramesh instructed me to wait by the car.

He returned with two tickets to Fun Land.  Without me by his side he was able to secure tickets without the added tax charged to white faced foreigners.  We walked under a crumbling sign.  First was and outdoor bingo pavillion stationed adjacent to two caged Emus.  The Emus shared an overgrown yard with a few inhabited shacks.  A series of game booths followed with invented games.  On featured six cylindrical clay jars each perched on an empty soda bottle.  You could shoot the jars with a plastic toy gun.  Ponies stood nearby, saddled in a dirt lot, looking annoyed at the hovering flies, waiting for riders.


We walked down the path and a gray pond hosted  three rubber inflatable boats each piled deep with laughing coeds skipping class.  A giant Ferris Wheel towered overhead attached to a rotary engine. This grandparent of a ride was compelled to fierce speeds, groaning while circling squealing couples around. A merry go ride limped through its paces. Child sized rides mixed next to larger rides and intermingled between were the components of rides past their prime.  A pile of rusted mettle once spun cheering patrons.  A dirt covered wooden duck lay on its side, its one eye staring vacantly back at me. 


The largest ride filled with passengers.  Couples sat hand in hand on the deck of a ship attached to a pinnacle.  The ship rocked back and forth, gaining momentum.  It peaked in each direction and I imagined someone tumbling out.  At the height of its speed, the passengers stood up embracing the thrill.  I queried Ramesh about seat belts, but there were no seat belts.  This was Funland in Nepal.  This creepy amusement park, governed by no rules housed the kinetic energy I was seeking.  It was a spectacle to my American eye but only a reason to skip school for the average Nepali.