A couple of days ago I attended a UNESCO workshop organised to discuss various aspects of the Lumbini World Heritage site – the area around the Maha Devi Temple - the site of the Buddha’s birth and obviously a very significant place for devout Buddhists. Some of those attending included members of the Lumbini Development Trust (LDT) the Government management body headed by the Vice Chairman - a young and somewhat ‘strong minded’ Maoist/Tibetan monk, a German UNESCO rep. based in Nepal with his local staff, a Japanese professor of architecture and 2 colleagues, an English professor of archaeology and UNESCO consultant with his team, Dr Cuppers a German scholar & curator of the Buddhist archives in Lumbini, the LDT Nepali archaeologist and historian, a rep from the World Bank, a rep from the Japanese embassy in Nepal, a consulting engineer/environmentalist, Sayalay, Sayadaw and me. Two days of interesting presentations were held at a local hotel – the Buddha Maya Gardens – and there were some heated moments courtesy of the Vice Chair. There was also central heating and copious amounts of food – another good reason to attend. By comparison, here I am now – a few days later - sitting up in bed at 2 pm with blanket and sleeping bag over me wearing two jackets and hat (some yogis are suffering a lot from the cold – I’m fine). The weather is decidedly wintry with heavy damp mists in the morning and no sign of sun all day. I bravely stripped off at 5pm yesterday for a bucket bath – hair was getting pretty greasy and lank – with a damp towel to dry off with; and this was relatively luxurious - because it is not always possible to have the electricity working long enough at the right time of day to heat up the water in my bucket with a giant HW heating element (not to be seen in oz, perhaps because they break a safety standard or ten. I learnt the hard way on another trip - only needed once - when putting my hand into the bucket to check the water temperature and getting zapped!) We now have 11 hours electricity-free at present and there’s no real knowing when to expect it to come on and go off – despite official info. The hydro electricity supply diminishes at this time of year due to reduced water flow and turbines seem to blow up now and then, which adds to the cuts. The centre has three inverters, which means that some lights and essential items can mostly keep working.
Anyway, after that slight diversion, the first day of the workshop had individual sessions on the environment, the Master Plan for Lumbini, religious and historical textual evidence for Lumbini as the Buddha’s birth-place, archaeological work in the past and presently to be undertaken and Sayalay’s presentation about visitor’s perceptions of the heritage area. Some of these were very drawn out as academics don’t always seem to be able to contain themselves – and the scheduled times were long passed - and lunch late. Sayalay used quite a few of the photos I had taken on Christmas day - a couple that I have already posted. The photo with the t-short slogan – “We Will Save the Future” – a lucky shot and my favourite of the lot, of which the irony was well appreciated. So some of my photos may appear in a UNESCO report with all the other papers – probably to sit on a shelf in obscure offices in remote parts of the world.
I found the archaeology presentations – there was one on both days – the most interesting. It seems that in close proximity to the temple are the remains of the oldest known village in Asia – and some tests will be done on this area. Also samples will be taken of soil layers in the temple adjacent to the birthplace area itself that will enable accurate dating and provide info about human activities at that time. This is of major significance in such a revered site and the excavation work and ifindings could cause some concern to devotees - so volunteers are needed to explain to visitors what is happening. I am probably going to put some time in doing this – got the ok from Sayadaw - so will be a small part in this work, which goes for a month. Plan to buy the bike next week so I can ride down to the temple area – was already planning this purchase to get out and about more when I feel restless – now have an added incentive.
I met some interesting people and chatted to several locals at the workshop including the two library custodians – and as it does the conversation turned to coffee and I, while suffering a cup of instant with lunch, expressed my preference for the real thing. The next day a packet of ‘real’ organic Nepalese coffee arrived at the centre’s gate courtesy of Dr. Cuppers – delivered by one of his staff. So now I can indulge when the coffee cravings arise – not that this happens very often – have been consoling myself with masala chia or nepali tea, milk tea with cardamon. I can make this at the centre myself – which I have to say, modesty aside, is the best I’ve tasted – but there is a very pleasant cup to be had at the stall near the temple area, and, if I can get down in the morning, is a great accompaniment to fresh made puris and subaji (fried flat bread and spiced chick pea/vegetable mix). Have now been inspired to go and make a cuppa – so will finish of here for now- Namaste,
Tea made and drunk and while heading to the kitchen ran into a new arrival – a young friend from Melbourne who I met at BMIMC. We had a long chat catching up with each others news and that of other mutual friends It’s really lovely to have this personal connection with people from home. Although I don’t feel any obvious homesickness I do enjoy having a chat with someone who shares that oz commonality. Another Sydney friend Danny arrived here a few days ago – and so we went out for a talk and walked around a few of the closer temples. I took him to my favourite, the Manang temple – a small an fairly unassuming place compared to most of the grand temples in the area. It has a lovely peaceful garden and a small gompa with some lovely decorative paintings on the walls and ceiling. So now there are four Aussies here plus me and one more to arrive in the next day or so – that will be it for sometime. So will have to rely on chatting to the staff, the locals and maybe the English archaeology team if I end up doing the work.
