When Two Worlds Collide

On Sunday our annual Headquarters picnic was scheduled in a beautiful mountain village named Dakshinkali. The area was named after the temple erected there to worship the goddess Dakshinkali. Devoted Hindus in the area make a weekly pilgrimage to the temple to worship the goddess and when a family member dies they cremate their bodies there and release the ashes into the creek that runs through the temple. Outside the temple is a bazaar where devotees buy flowers and other supplies to give to the stupa at the temple.

I know what you are thinking……… “Isn’t that a weird place for a Christian organization to have an annual picnic?” Well the answer is yes and no. Yes, it is a strange place for a Christian organization to celebrate another year of serving the people of Nepal. No, it is not a strange place to have a picnic because there simply is not many places to go where there is not a temple. We employ over 800 people throughout the country in various projects. Most of our staff are Nepalese and most Nepalese are Hindus or Buddhists. Many of our staff are devoted Hindus and this picnic was more for them than it was the 150 ex-patriot Christians that we employ.

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It is also next to impossible to find a place to have a picnic around Kathmandu where it is safe. The only park inside the Kathmandu municipality is Ratna Park. This park is often the site of political demonstrations and bombings and the weeks prior to the picnic were very busy with several bombings in that area. Each week there are riots in Ratna Park and this week was no exception. A bombing campaign is currently going on in Kathmandu and no place in that area is exempt from the threat of being blown up. Kathmandu has now earned the distinct honor of being the bomb capital of Nepal. Just two days before the picnic a bomb was detonated in the Pharping government office in Dakshinkali, so all of us were a little nervous about going there.

The road to Dakshinkali goes through beautiful mountain villages into the high mountain area on the outskirts of the Kathmandu valley. Kody and I decided to go to the picnic together so we rode on a friend’s motorcycle through the windy mountain roads to reach the peaceful looking little village. Once we got there it did not remain so peaceful.

There were only a few Badeshis (foreigners like myself) who attended the picnic. I think the Nepali staff appreciated the ones who showed up. It shows them that you value them as employees and to tell you the truth, they have more fun anyways. They sing and dance and play all kind of games that I have never heard of. Kody had a great time running around with his new Nepali friends. The food was great and it was true Nepali food, Dhal Bhat. If you don’t learn to like their rice and lentils you will starve to death here. That is all they eat.

As the day wore on several onlookers wanted to join in on the food and entertainment. One such onlooker was one of the craziest people I have ever met. A few of us named him “Legion” for obvious reasons. He approached Kody and I and began screaming at us, waving his arms in the air and waving a stick in my face. He was speaking in Nepali and telling us that he was the son of the goddess Dakshinkali. He then began dancing and continued his dissertation about what a deity he was.

I thought Kody would be in tears at this point. I held him behind me as the lunatic raved on and thrashed about in front of me for over 15 minutes. By this point a large crowd had gathered and I was hoping they could help me calm this guy down before he tried to kill someone. The crowd kept a wide berth and they seemed to be too scared to even touch the mad man.