“Your hair looks like noodles”

March 13th, 2008 by Padma Knight

On Tuesday, while the kids were are school, I spent most of the day with my host sister, Nirmala, as she had a day off of school before exams start. In the morning we sat in the sun outside the house and she combed lemon juice and oil into my hair, which we then left in for awhile. I asked if it was supposed to make it light, which she said it was. That didn’t happen, but it seemed to make it softer and it gave me an excuse to wash my hair, which I almost never do when I’m at my placement, as I wait until I’m in Thamel.

Then in the afternoon we went shopping. We have all quickly learned that if possible it is best to go shopping with a Nepali otherwise we are guaranteed to get ripped off. First we went and ordered kirtas. Nirmala had taken me into Jawalakhal last week to get some material but I hadn’t been able to order the kirtas because no one in the local dress shop spoke any English. While I was there I bought some more material so that I could have a couple kirtas made. The prices couldn’t be beat thanks to her negotiating and I am so excited. I’ve never had anything made to order. Now, we’ll just see if I actually wear them at home.

From there we went into Bungmati to look at the local crafts. I won’t go into too much detail as what I bought are going to be gifts. It was also nice to just wander through the small lanes of the village. Nirmala ran into some school friends so we sat in front of their shop and chatted. Well, they chatted. I peopled watched and got some great pictures.

At 3:30 I picked up the kids from school. As they they were coming out, a couple of the boys immediately had issue with my hair which I had let air dry and left down after washing it that morning. Now, I usually put my hair up in a clip or pony tail, but they have seen it down before so they know that is is curly. Here’s pretty much how the conversation went;

10 year-old: “Padma, your hair is bad.”
Me: “My hair is bad?”
10 year-old: “Yes, your hair very bad.”
Me: “What?, Why?”
this went on back and forth in a good natured way for a bit, with him insisting that my hair was bad and me trying to determine if maybe there was a language issue or was he really insulting me, then…
12 year-old joins in: “Yes, your hair very bad. Your hair looks like noodles.”

At this point I couldn’t keep a straight face and started to laugh, and Alfie started to laugh. That’s one I’ve never heard and am unlikely to forget any time soon. However, the boys later kept insisting that my hair did not look good and the one continued to say it looked like noodles. Both agreed it was much better up. I had no idea that the cared or even noticed:-)

Another highlight of the day was the knowledge that my host family had acquired a new pet. They have a dog (I can’t remember if I’ve mentioned him before), and Nirmala informed me that her father had brought home a chicken. Interesting, I guess that makes sense…eggs. But, no she told me it was a male chicken. Sure enough when I got home that evening I saw it, a huge beautiful rooster! It seemed a bit quiet the first day, maybe adjusting to it’s new home, but this morning it found it’s voice and was crowing first thing this morning. So, now Lassie (the dog) barks at night at the slightest sound and the rooster (who does not have a name, poor thing) will crow every morning and through out the day. Truly an experience!:-)