Katmandu

 

Kathmandu

Questions & Answers

 

1. How does the author describe the flute seller? What does he say about the flute music?

Answer: The author finds a flute seller in a corner of the square near his hotel. There is a pole in his hand. There is an attachment at the top of the pole. Fifty or sixty flutes are stuck on it. These flutes protrude in all directions. The author compares these flutes to the quills of a porcupine. These flutes are made of bamboo. From time to time, he stands the pole on the ground. Then he selects a flute and plays on it for a few minutes. The sound rises clearly above the noise of the traffic and the hawkers’ cries.

He plays the flute slowly and thoughtfully. He does not shout out his wares. Occasionally, someone buys a flute from him. But the flute seller’s attitude is carefree. The author likes his attitude. He imagines that this has been his pattern of life for years. The author finds it difficult to go away from there. He has always been fascinated by flute music: He says that the flute is a very common musical instrument. It is found in almost all cultures. It is the common link of all mankind.

2. Compare and contrast the atmosphere in and around the Baudhnath shrine with that in the Pashupatinath Temple.

Answer: The Pashupatinath Temple, sacred to Hindus, and the Baudhnath shrine of the Buddhists stand in contrast with regard to their ambiance. The noisy confusion of the Hindu Temple is opposite to the tranquillity that reigns supreme in the Baudhnath shrine. In the Pashupatinath temple, utter chaos is created by a large number of worshippers who try to push each other to reach closer to the priest and the deity. At Baudhnath stupa, there aren’t many people inside the structure.

The atmosphere at Pashupatinath Temple is made noisy by the heterogeneous crowd consisting of priests, hawkers, devotees, and tourists. The animals like cows and dogs freely move around and the pigeons to contribute to the confusion. Even monkeys play about and fight in the premises of the temple. Confusion is also created by some Westerners who wish to enter the temple.

The Boudhanath stupa, on the contrary, gives a feeling of stillness and silence. Although there are small shops on the road around the temple, run by Tibetan immigrants, there is neither noise nor chaos. The author is so fascinated by the serenity in and around the temple that he calls it ‘a haven of stillness’ standing quietly amidst the busy streets.

3. How does the author describe Kathmandu’s busiest streets?

Answer: The author presents the busiest streets of Kathmandu as ‘vivid, mercenary and religious’. It is a place with the beautiful, vivid, landscape, and a lot of religious activity goes on all the time. Besides the famous places like the Pashupatinath temple and the Baudhnath stupa, Kathmandu also has small shrines and deities-It is ‘mercenary’ as it is a tourist place and a lot of businesses – flourish in the narrow streets. One can find fruit sellers, flute sellers, and hawkers selling postcard photographs. As in any other tourist place, there are shops selling various things like cosmetics from western countries, rolls of film, chocolates, antique things of Nepal, and copper pots and pans.

There is a bedlam of noises created by radios playing film songs, sounds of car-horns, bells of bicycles and vendors shouting to invite the customers. There are also the cows bellowing as they hear the sounds of motorcycles. Thus, the streets of Kathmandu are full of noise and din.

4. “ To hear any flute is to be drawn into the commonality of all mankind.” Why does the author say this?

Answer: The author hears the music of a flute played by a flute seller in a square near his hotel in Kathmandu and is reminded of the various kinds of music produced by various types of flutes found in various cultures. However, the flute is universal because almost every culture has flutes, though each has a different tone and pitch.

The author further describes the variety of flutes named differently as the shakuhachi in Japan and the bansuri in India. They have different fingering methods and ranges of sound. The Indian bansuri has a deep sound, the South American flute emits clear, breathy sound and the Chinese flute gives out loud, high-pitched melodies.

Despite the variety of flutes and the variations in their music, the author emphasizes that the music of all the flutes closely resembles the human voice. To produce music, every flute needs pauses and breaths in the same manner in which phrases and sentences are uttered in the human voice. These pauses and breaths are generated through closing and opening of the holes of a flute. This characteristic feature of the flutes gives the author a feeling of being “drawn into the commonality of mankind”, which gives him a sense of universality and harmony.