The day the Krishna festival came to town

Wednsday 28th,

another day, another festival !

We get up early anyway , Tiphaine goes to her second yoga class and I'm able to work and finish earlier this afternoon. The goal is to get to Durbar Square, Patan . Tiphaine's colleague told her yesterday that it was " the place to be " in this particular festival day , and everyone would be there.
Patan, or Lalitpur called in Sanskrit , is a small town just next to Kathmandu. They also have a Durbar Square, like the capital. This is a series of temples shaped like pagodas or similar. The thing is that when you get there, you aren't alone : There seem to be more people here than in Disneyland!

The first thing we see is a huge seemingly endless queue, mostly women dressed in festive attire : red, green and glittering . We do not know where it starts or what awaits at the front. But it must be something important , because given the length of the queue , they will wait for a good part of the day ! Outside of the queue, it is a jumble of people, merchants and severely disabled people begging. There's even a gentleman lying there in the middle of the crowd, without arms and legs and moving his stumps in the air.

The crowd is to close for my comfort and the jostling, sneaking past and pushing makes me decide to turn into a rock. I tense my body while I keep moving forward, next person to push me looks like she is pushing a brick wall and end up pushing herself back instead. Moving steadily we finally get to the other side of the square. 

This huge press of people is a celebration of the Hindu god Krishna's birthday. And the main Krishna temple is located here in Patan . It is the destination of the queue , and the reason for this huge party. Krishna is a central deity in Hinduism, because it is the eighth incarnation of Vishnu , the latter part of the main Hindu Brahma - Vishnu - Shiva trio. Brahma is the creator god, the protector god is Vishnu, and Shiva is the destroyer god. I must admit that the constellation of Hindu deities is very rich and rather difficult to understand when one has not been soaked in it since childhood. With so many people we do not even have the time to look up to admire the temples around us. We decided to take refuge in a cafe on the roof terrace for a view of Durbar Square and the crowd, but with the ability to breathe! Tiphaine enjoys a lassi, while I enjoy a San Miguel brewed right here in Kathmandu.

Well, with the crowd it seems impossible to take the time to look at the temples, and visit the museum (one of the best in the country apparently) , we will return soon. So we left the place, not without receiving the famous sacred tika though (red dot on the forehead ) . For the festival of Krishna, it is even more elaborate: red, silver , with orange loops. We also get the famous wrist cord to be attached to the tail of a cow for us to reach the shores of paradise, once our time comes . Now we just have to find a cow. Returning to Chhetrapati where we live, it's shopping session for me! I didn't bring very many clothes and I'm ready to test some new shirts! I bought several comfortable and really local clothing. What style! It's like being in a Bollywood movie :p