My House

The house I live in is one of the best in Bharatpur. It was built by the Chief of Police, and the neighbors say he got all his materials and labor for free. It is now owned by someone else and provided as a home for the flight instructors.

All the floors are made of marble, including the front porch. The high ceilings are painted white and decorated with gold filigree designs and stars. My room has a large ceiling fan for hot summer nights. The temperature is cooler now, and fans are not needed.

All the buildings here are made by hand - the bricks are formed by hand and fired in underground pits, the foundation is dug by hand, the cement is mixed and poured by hand. Sometimes a power saw is used, but other resources are not available. Everyone works on the house - the children, the grandparents, friends and neighbors. Most houses are built to be 2 or 3 stories high, although they are built in stages: first the ground floor, then everyone can move in, then the next floor for more bedrooms and another bath. Rooftop balconies and gardens are common.

The ground floor of my house has a large living room, formal dining room, kitchen, bedroom, and a traditional Nepali bathroom - with a pit in the floor instead of a toilet. When Nepali guest spend the night, that is the room they use.

My room is on the second floor. There are 2 bedrooms, one bath (with toilet), and a sitting area with a TV. We have cable, and we get all the Nepali stations plus CineMax, HBO, and Stars. There is a vast network of pirated cable here, so premium channels are "free". I have a private balcony off my room which faces the morning sun.

When my boss is in town (maybe one or two days a month), he stays in the other bedroom.

Paul, the other instructor, lives on the third floor, where there is only one bedroom and bath. From here are stairs to the roof, where you can get a pretty good view of the town.

The front of the house once had beautiful gardens and lawns, but the owner brought in a baby pig. The baby grew up into an adult boar and destroyed almost everything. We now keep him penned up in back. I am not sure what Shivendar has in mind for this fellow.

We also have 2 miniature deer, male and female. They are the size of large dogs, and are as friendly as dogs. They keep the grass trim and eat the leaves off the trees.

Cooking in Nepal is an adventure, because they do not have stoves. But more about that later.