- Joined
- Mar 5, 1999
- Messages
- 34,096
http://www.zing.com/picture/p37653d0238b785318141efbdb6f18fce/ff546233.jpg.orig.jpg
This was my "official" greeting at BirGorkha, Feb. 2000.
My first visit to the shop went unannounced much to the ire of the kamis who jumped on Gelbu and gave him more hell than he deserved because this was exactly the way I wanted it.
From my viewpoint I did not want a staged effort by the kamis (when I lived in Nepal we used to call these staged activities in carpet or handicraft shops who were expecting foreign visitors "the Nepal dog and pony show for the great white sahib"). I wanted to walk in and see them exactly as they went about their duties on a day to day basis. I saw and was impressed.
The kamis from their point of view felt that it was in very poor taste on their part not to have a proper welcome set up for me. I am not the owner of HI, not the BirGorkha manager, never bought a single spring or piece of equipment, but they know I am the man who sends the money to Pala and consider me important in that capacity and therefore deserving of a kami style welcome and blessing.
So, here is the way it looked on my second visit. The kamis were ready and waiting. Too much ado over nothing! But after the proper greeting and blessings we did have food, drink, a lot of conversation and in all quite a nice time. Even though the forges were empty all of us were very full of food and too much booze!
You can see Sri Bishwakarma sitting right beside me. Notice how much we look alike -- but I can't get all those beautiful women like he does. Only a couple of water jugs!
------------------
Blessings from the computer shack in Reno.
Uncle Bill
Himalayan Imports Website
Khukuri FAQ
Himalayan Imports Archives (18,000+ posts)
This was my "official" greeting at BirGorkha, Feb. 2000.
My first visit to the shop went unannounced much to the ire of the kamis who jumped on Gelbu and gave him more hell than he deserved because this was exactly the way I wanted it.
From my viewpoint I did not want a staged effort by the kamis (when I lived in Nepal we used to call these staged activities in carpet or handicraft shops who were expecting foreign visitors "the Nepal dog and pony show for the great white sahib"). I wanted to walk in and see them exactly as they went about their duties on a day to day basis. I saw and was impressed.
The kamis from their point of view felt that it was in very poor taste on their part not to have a proper welcome set up for me. I am not the owner of HI, not the BirGorkha manager, never bought a single spring or piece of equipment, but they know I am the man who sends the money to Pala and consider me important in that capacity and therefore deserving of a kami style welcome and blessing.
So, here is the way it looked on my second visit. The kamis were ready and waiting. Too much ado over nothing! But after the proper greeting and blessings we did have food, drink, a lot of conversation and in all quite a nice time. Even though the forges were empty all of us were very full of food and too much booze!
You can see Sri Bishwakarma sitting right beside me. Notice how much we look alike -- but I can't get all those beautiful women like he does. Only a couple of water jugs!
------------------
Blessings from the computer shack in Reno.
Uncle Bill
Himalayan Imports Website
Khukuri FAQ
Himalayan Imports Archives (18,000+ posts)
