nepali nibble: film south asia 2009

so, on saturday i went to the film south asia festival and spent an blissful afternoon ensconced in air conditioned darkness, watching documentaries, and not trying to speak nepali to anyone. i managed to catch three films, two of which i would for sure recommend to people.

the first film, "out of thin air," in hindi and ladakhi with english subtitles, was about leh, ladakh in the indian himalayas, "last india", as the townspeople call it. more specifically, it's about ladakh vision group, a small production company that was worked the small miracle of displacing bollywood in the local film market (a not insignificant market, once the winter snows come on). lvg is made up entirely of teachers, taxi drivers, cops, monks, and homemakers, all of whom take time from their regular jobs to shoot during the scant summer months in ladakh, just for love of doing it. it was fifty minutes of pure charm, and i want to move there and be best friends of all of them. (you can read more about the documentary here and here)

the other great film, which was rescreened the next day, selling out both times, was "in search of the riyal", a documentary that traces the journey of a few of the thousands upon thousands of nepali migrant workers who go from their home villages to work in the gulf, via frequently corrupt "manpower brokers" in kathmandu. their remittances provide 17% of the nepali GDP. this documentary puts a deeply human face on the phenomenon of exploitative international migrant labor, but, helpfully, it does not proselytize or moralize. on the one hand, a scene where a young man recounts, in meticulous detail and with a bit of wonder and no small amount of anxiety, the training he had received on airplane protocol ("the tray is in front. you fold it down, and put the food on it, and eat it.") is heartbreaking to a member of an aware audience. we know, as this young man only suspects, the sometimes lonely and often dehumanizing conditions he will be entering, at great expense and for seemingly pitiful reward, far far from home. it is tempting to feel as one audience member clearly did, demanding during the question and answer to know where the "social outrage" is at this "modern day slavery". in response, the filmmaker articulated the important point. we should be absolutely be cognizant of and indignant about the exploitation that exists in the system; people should work to reform labor laws and regulate the international labor industry. however, we shouldn't let this blind us to the reality that, at the end of the day, 10,000 Nrs over four years is infinitely better than no rupees over four years. although we, the "aware" and very privileged audience, will probably never have to consider selling ourselves to get that 10,000 Nrs for our families, some people have to. in doing so, they are not only supporting their families (and, collectively, the nepali economy), they are exerting their agency as humans, and for that, deserve our respect and consideration.

anyway! check out both of these if you can get your hands on them.

nepal nibble 9/15/09: yak attack

so, as i've mentioned to some people, my schedule here is pretty nuts right now (full time job, about 20 hours of nepali/week) so my time to sight see, take pictures, and write well-thought out, informative, and entertaining blog posts (not to mention sleep) is limited. HOWEVER. i do run across all kinds of odd, sometimes delightful, often disconcerting, tidbits: nepal-related nibbles, if you will. so i'm going to post these more regularly while i write the others incrementally.

so the first thing i wish i had known coming to nepal:
yaks. not sort of hairy, harmless buggers, it turns out. according to my coworkers, who i'm pretty sure (?) were not just messing with me, if you end up in a meadow with a yak (bull), it will definitely charge your sorry butt. you can run if you want, but the only way you're avoiding this is if you can actually find a tree to climb, as yaks have incredible speed and endurance running over hills. i was told this shortly after being told i'll be going to the field in western nepal soon-ish, a place i now imagine to be 80% livid, charging yak by volume.

in the mean time, be sure to enjoy the nepal news links on the right, and this bonus video of an inexplicable yak situation.