DAY 42 (Wednesday 31 August 2011)

Today is the day of our Teej, Teej is the fasting festival for women, however, I can safely say though that none of us Westerners fasted, but I am not sure about the Nepali women in the photo.  The Teej is for women only but as Charlie is a member of the Partner’s Club an exception was made for him and trust me, there was no way he was giving up food for the day either.

Members of the Partners Club and invited guests

 It is where all the women get dressed in red Saris and men (this means Charlie) had to wear a red tie, fortunately though it wasn’t just the red tie he had to wear, he was allowed to wear a suit.  As Charlie is the only male member of the Partners Club he was the only male at the function, normally males do not attend the function as in a normal world it is the husband who is working out here and not the wife.

As guests we were all given a welcoming present which consisted of a beaded necklace, bangles and tika’s (tika is the ornament that is placed on the forehead of the female when she is in traditional dress.  As Charlie is a bloke he was presented with his present which was DHAKA TOPI which is the traditional headdress for the Nepali men, and apparently you are not officially allowed to wear one of these unless you have been presented with it.

 

Charlie sporting the Dhaka Topi

At the function tonight to end the fasting for the women, we were fed appetisers known as Tipan Tapan, this is normally the case before the main mean, which in this case and every case so far to all the functions that I have been to that curry is the main meal.  I wouldn’t mind but the just chop up and cook the meat with the bones still on, even the chicken, so needless to say, I think from now own I shall be having something to eat prior to going to a function as I don’t like the idea of have the meat still on the bone, especially the chicken as they just cut anywhere.

The night was still good though as a few of the Nepali women got up to do there traditional dance, I will just add one thing here, I did stay to watch, but before they had a chance to get me on the floor to dance I did actually do a bunk, but not before Nicky and Jill.

 Traditional Dancing

 I have added this final bit on the day after as I found out that Kathleen and Alison were the last western females to leave the function that night, I have absolutely no idea what time the Nepali women left, but what I do know is that a good night was had by all.