Street Games

I would like to share my friend's blog before my post today.  He wrote a little about the history of Nepal and the political situation we find ourselves in now.  After one week of waiting in Katmandu, I am being sent back to my home in the Far West as there is a little window of time we can travel before the roads are blocked due to strikes.  There are about 8 volunteers currently in Katmandu who can't return to their sites because of these strikes.

http://beninthepeacecorps.blogspot.com/2015/08/nepali-political-abcs-assemblies-bandhs.html

And now for todays topic:

Katmandu Street Games (i.e. Street Scams)

After living in a Nepali village for almost one year I have become accustomed to being approached by friendly strangers interested in hearing about my life, and wanting to share about theirs.  I am usually happy to share my story with them and we sometimes develop lasting friendships.  

While staying one week in Katmandu, strangers on the street who approached me usually had different intentions, often involving wanting money.  Sometimes it was hard to tell if they just wanted to interact, or if they were expecting something more.  After whitnessing many such instances, I decided to compile a little list of some of these “street games” played by locals.

1. I was approached by two children on the street carrying a sheet of paper in a page protector with a story written in English about how they were locals whose families were affected by the earthquake and needed money for food.  They did look a little dirty, perhaps from sleeping in tents, perhaps from being poor.  I decided to buy them snacks.
2. At Pashupatinath Temple (monkey temple) there was a group of 5 kids that noticed me and started engaging in conversation.  They definitely weren’t wearing nice clothing, but seemed to be educated and were excited by the fact that I spoke Nepali.  One of the girls handed me the head from a figurine that she found on the ground.  She told me which Hindu god it was and handed it to me as a gift.  I sort of had a feeling in the back of my head that at some point they would ask for money, but I didn’t want to leave them just yet.  After taking some pictures I asked where their parents were.  They pointed to an area about 100m away.  I asked if they were sleeping inside after the earthquake, or if they were forced to sleep on the streets.  They said they were living in their house.  As I was getting ready to say goodbye the girl who gave me the Hindu god head gave me a sad look and asked if I could spare some money.  First, I told them they should ask their parents for money.  I knew that they weren’t hurting terribly for money, but that this was more of a hobby for them.  Showing tourists around and asking for small change.  I decided to give them a little change and they ran happily away.  Later, I saw them walking with their parents who were very well dressed.  I smiled to myself.
   
3. A friend of mine was approached by a man on the street who introduced himself as being from India.  He was very enthusiastic when she said she was an American.  They made small talk and the man told her that he works for a magazine that features people’s stories from their travels, news in the local area, etc.  He was interested in interviewing her and featuring her in the magazine.  He had a camera and asked to take her picture.  She informed the gentleman that she was not able to do interviews without first consulting Peace Corps.  He was a little disapointed, but offered to sell her the magazine.  It was 400NPR which equates to about 4 US dollars.  I thought it was interesting to play on a person’s ego and desire to be featured, or “made famous” in order to sell a product.  She might have actually been featured in the magazine had she agreed to be interviewed, but my scepticism has doubts about that.
4. I have been approached by people on the street dressed as Sadhus (Hindu priests), who offer to give Tikka to passerbys.  The priest is always dressed in an orange, priest like costume to help his credibility.  If the person agrees to receiving the Tikka, the priest puts a spot of red on the forhead of the person and offers a small flower.  I have had friends agree to receieving Tikka as its something our Nepali families often gave us at home.  However, the priests on the street expect an offering in exchange for the Tikka.  Similar games are played by religious figures such as Buddhist monks in New York who offer small tokens such as a flower, or other offering in exchange for money.  It is a strange dynamic as the receiver doesn’t want to be rude and refuse the “gift”, but as soon as they accept it they are guilted into giving money.  I have no problem with giving money in exchange for a good, or service, but I want to know before receiving the good, or service what the expectation is of me.  Does that make me cold?  I just want to know what I’m getting into really.
5. The last observation I made was of a middle aged lady who approached me with a young child and an empty baby bottle.  She explained in English that her baby was hungry and she had no more milk.  The child was walking and looked a little old to be breast feeding, but I asked her in Nepali why she couldn’t give him her own milk.  She looked surprised not only from my answer, but the fact that I was speaking in Nepali.  The conversation didn’t go very far after that and she left pretty quickly.

It doesn’t bother me so much that people are asking for support and I hope that this blog doesn’t leave you thinking that I don’t think that these people are in legitimate need of help.  However, the manner in which they ask for it is sometimes facinating and humorsome to me.  I also don’t like the feeling that I’m consistently targeted and profiled as a big money pit.  At what point do conversations with new found friends go from simply wanting to get to know someone and interact, to asking for something?  It’s hard to know.  I still like playing the game though :)