A Primer in Nepali Language and Life

While in Nepal, I've had the great advantage of being
constantly in
Nepali company, and i've learned the Nepali language
to the point
where i can hold a decent conversation while walking
up the trail
with somebody, or haggling over prices (EVERYTHING is
negotiable!),
or sitting on the dirt floor in the kitchen drinking
tea. It's given
me an entirely different perspective, allowed me to
get inside the
country instead of being such an outsider, and i've
had many great
conversations with great people.

Here are some of the most useful things i've learned:

Namaste: hello and goodbye, the most used word in the
foreigner's
vocabulary

Kweeri: foreigner. I like this word: it says that
white people are
weird. They eat pizza and drink beer, Kweeri food. A
little bit
queer. What's wrong with Dhal Bhat?

Dhal Bhat: lentil soup and rice, about all that the
average Nepali
eats.

Ramro cha: It is good. This is a useful phrase: it
says a lot.
Where english has ten or twenty words: nice, good,
fantastic,
wonderful, etc... Nepali has one word: Ramro. Good.
You can use
this phrase to say: Nice Weather today, Huh? or Your
home is very
nice, or The mountains are amazing, or you are
beautiful, or Good
Food! Useful phrase, that.

Dheri: very, as in DHERI ramro cha, that is Very Good

Mathi: up

Tholo: down

Garu: difficult

Sojile: easy. all 4 useful words in the mountains
(you don't use
sojile all that much, actually)

Bistarai: slow. also a useful word in the mountains,
as in Bistarai
Zahun, Slowly we go.

Thik cha: OK. Somebody asks you how you're doing (Ke
Cha?), say
Thik Cha. I'm OK.

Thikai cha: Not bad. This is if you're not doing so
hot.

Kati ho: how much is this?

Mongo cha: That's EXPENSIVE! I find it a very useful
phrase when
used thus: "AYA!! MONGO CHA!" coupled with a step
towards the door.

Sasto Cha: That's cheap. as in: "Sasto cha, Ramro
cha"

Sathi: friend. Someone who you like, and who gives
you a cheap
price.

mero: mine. Mero sathi, my friend.

tapaiko: yours.

The nepalis are very happy to talk to me. As i walk
past, they say
Namaste, and i reply in Nepali and ask them how
they're doing, and
then i'm talking for a half hour at least. They love
to chat,
especially if you take the effort and learn their
language.

They live slower here, talking more and enjoying each
other's
company. It seems that in America our lives are all
filled with a
whole lot of nothing, running to stand still. We're
too busy with
ourselves to pay attention to our fellows. Here they
all address
each other as brother and sister and friend,
EVERYBODY. Its a good
life here, even though its hard. They live closer to
the essentials,
thinking about the food that they grow, or the house
that they build,
instead of all the stuff that they have.

At the same time they live slower, they also live
quicker. THe
average Nepali man lives to about age 50. By the time
somebody can
talk, they learn how to do business, and a boy of 13
is already a
Man. They smoke a lot of cigarettes, climb mountains
barefoot with
100 Kilos on their head, ride on the top of buses, and
all sorts of
other things that we would consider risks, and we've
made laws
against. Its a different life. People die a lot
here, and its
accepted as a part of life. Western thinking does not
accept death,
and we do everything to avoid it. But here, in their
buddhist
thinking, death is just another part of life, another
go 'round.
It's a better way. After all, we're all going to die.

Everybody asks me where i'm from (Kun Desh? Which
Country?), and i
tell them america, they say, "Ah, Ramro Desh". I
reply, "Ho,
America Ramro cha. Tara Nepal dheri ramro!" (ho: yes.
tara: but)

one of the best phases i know is:

Ramro jindogi: Good Life





Tomorrow is Holi, a mad festival where everybody
throws water
balloons filled with color dye at each other. Damn,
who though this
up? What a great idea! I wish we had holidays like
this!

Nepal-ma, Ramro jindogi!


Tapaiko dheri sathi Nepal-ma,

mark.

much love.