Friend Min

Let me introduce you to Min. Min Bham is my friend from Aarohan (the theater I volunteer for). He co-directed/co-wrote and had a bit part in the theaters most recent smash hit Karnali Dakkhin Bagdo Chha (the Karnali River flows southward). For a muddy review that I still can't tell whether is positive or negative see here.

Min is from Mugu, which many Nepali refer to as one of the "backwards" areas of Nepal. Try to find it online - there's almost no information. They still employ arranged marriages out of necessity, have little to no education, and suffer from lack of food and medical care. On the other hand, Mugu is gorgeous and has little tourism, so it's very untouched. Mugu is only accessible by a 13 day walk or a plane. Mer and I are going there on October 1st.

We had been planning on going a while ago but Min can get a little distracted (his play is soaring to new heights: invitation to perform in India, new theater being built in Mugu) so we hadn't been able to secure a date. Plus, Karnali Dakkhin Bagdo Chha was extended twice. Since Mer has to work hard until October 1st we told Min we needed more time before we could go. He called today and said that we (Mer, Min, and me) were leaving for Mugu at 4pm TODAY. HAHAHAHA, oh Min, no we're not.

Min is a tiny man of 23 that dresses stylish and has small dreads. He wants to be a film director and make it big in Hollywood. He is very well educated and was married at 13. He goes to the only film school in Nepal, which is located in Kathmandu. His father is the chief of Mugu. Here's Min and Meredith acting cool:



A few days ago we went on a wild goose chase to get to the Karnali Dakkhin Bagdo Chha cast party. They were having it in Godawari, which is a few kilometers outside of Kathmandu. Godawari is one of the places Lonely Planet says is not really necessary to visit - and this is true. It has an overgrown botanical garden and some not-so-unique/interesting stupas and temples.

The cast party was a picnic in the botanical gardens. They had already been there for five hours when we arrived and ended up staying for hours after we left. They were psyched for dancing, but load-shedding (no power) was killing their party. They half-heartedly tried to sing a cappela and did some gambling with cards while they awaited power:



Mer and I explored the gardens, saw a crappy music video being shot, picked leeches off ourselves, saw huge spiders, ate incredibly good food with the cast of Karnali and got really depressed that their were no trashcans. No trashcans mean that people throw their trash on the ground and in the river. Not so pretty.

So, we're supposedly off to Mugu on October 1st. We'll see...