Annapurna Circuit Day 18 -- Jibi's House

For the past week, Jibi has been insisting that I visit his house after finishing the trek, so his wife can cook some daal bhat and we can have a party.

Today I went at lunch time. His house is part of a riverside settlement on a patch of land just outside Pokhara. I was worried about drinking the water, so I brought some bottles of beer. I am used to seeing disparities in wealth, but I was a little taken aback. Jibi had been my guide and best friend for 17 days and now I see how he really lives. His home is a small room, 3 meters by 5 meters, and six people sleep there: Jibi, his wife, his two sisters and his two children. There is no furniture except two small settees with soiled cloth covers. In between there is a small patch of carpet. You don't take off your shoes when you enter the house, because the floor is packed dirt, but you remove them before you step on the small carpet. The supporting beams are just thick sticks, the house is made of dried mud, and the roof is an old sheet of corrugated tin, rusted by many monsoons.

During the People's War, when the Maoists controlled villages in large parts of the country, they imposed a three-tiered tax system. The tax was based on the value of the home which in turn was based on the type of roof: high taxes for homes with tiled roofs; medium taxes for homes with tin roofs; low taxes for homes with thatched roofs. So, by rural Nepali standards, I guess Jibi is middle class.

Anyway, the daal bhat was very good and Jibi happily showed me his house, his patch of garden where his wife grew tomatoes, cabbage and spinach, his goats, and especially, the pictures of his kids. Unfortunately, I didn't get to meet them because they were in school. But, with great pride, Jibi showed me a letter his son had written in English.

To pass from illiteracy to literacy is a great transition in a family history.

We quit early because Jibi needs to leave at 06:00 tomorrow, for another trek, and I am leaving at 06:30 on a religious pilgrimage to Lumbini, birthplace of the Buddha.