The Latest at Goethe

Narendra Neupane trained for it for one year and now he is ready: the 27-year old guides German tour groups through Nepal’s cultural centre, Kathmandu Valley. He acquired the vocabulary and some more helpful skills at the Goethe-Zentrum. By Sandra Voglreiter

“Please come along; if we’re lucky, we’ll see the living goddess!” Narendra Neupane hurries ahead of us with quick steps and the typical bustle of a tour guide. We push past a small group of faithful Hindus, which has halted to bow between the white lion statues at the entrance.

The 27-year old does not slow down until we reach the rectangular inner courtyard of the Kumari Ghar in the centre of Kathmandu; he lowers his voice and explains in impeccable German that only Hindu believers are allowed to enter the presence of the Kumari to receive the sign of blessing. “That is a decisive moment: her facial expression foretells the future! If she smiles, it means health, if she makes a face, illness, and if she rubs her eyes, it means death,” explains Neupane. At his last visit, Kumari looked rather friendly, he says with a happy smile and the hope of a golden future. It can never do any harm to have a little help from “up there.”

Market niche for extroverts

Narendra Neupane recently went into business for himself as a freelance tour guide. Every year, thousands of German tourists visit Nepal’s capital city of Kathmandu, usually on their way to the big treks around Annapurna or Mount Everest. Most of them dutifully make use of their time in the city to view the cultural highlights of Kathmandu Valley. Narendra Neupane is counting on them preferring to have these shown and explained to them in their native language.

“My brother is also a tour guide. He specialized in Spanish and has done well with it. I also wanted to learn a language that many tourists, but not so many Nepali speak,” he smiles. Narendra Neupane actually studied sociology and has been learning German for three years. Last year he took the special course for tour guides at the Goethe-Zentrum Kathmandu. It is the profession in which he can meet the most people and that’s important to him, says Neupane.

Photo gallery: Around Kathmandu’s Durbar Square

Narendra Neupane’s vocabulary certainly differs from that of other learners of German. Terms such as “woodcarvings” and “principal deities” roll off his tongue with as much ease as “No photos please” and “If you enjoyed the tour, please recommend me to others.” The Goethe-Zentrum tour guide course is based mainly on field work: course instructor Michael Chand takes his students to visit all of the places that may be of interest to tourists and teaches them not only the vocabulary, but also supplies the histories and special features of each of the sights.

For example, that of the living goddess: “Kumari is considered an incarnation of the goddess Taleju, otherwise known as the goddess Durga,” explains Narendra Neupane, looking at the house decorated with carvings, in which she must now be. The current living goddess is four years old and was installed during the last Dashain festival, one of the most significant Hindu festivals. “The girls come from the caste of the Shakya and may not have shed blood in their lives,” explains the tour guide. For this reason, the respective sitting Kumari is replaced after her first menstruation. The chosen child is separated from her parents at the age of four or five and from then on resides in the palace on Basantapur Square, where each incarnation is raised by priests and cared for by servants.

Celestial lie detectors

As for the fate of the discharged living goddesses, Narendra Neupane ensures us: “Nowadays, the former Kumaris are permitted to marry. In earlier days, it was thought that any man who would take them as a wife would die.” Whether any Nepali would marry a former goddess is, however, uncertain. At that moment, a murmur goes through the crowd of visitors as the youngest Kumari shows herself at a window of the first floor. For less than a minute the child, dressed all in red, artfully made up and very serious looking, allows those present a look at her. A donation would be appropriate for this, Narendra Neupane advises us. Since it is not permitted to photograph her, a souvenir dealer is standing at the exit with postcards; however which still show the former Kumari. The souvenir industry is lagging behind tradition.

Elated by this tour guide success, Narendra Neupane starts off for a stroll over Kathmandu’s temple-dotted Durbar Square in front of the former royal palace. He enhances the most important historical and cultural facts with all sorts of anecdotes about rituals against back pain and celestial lie detectors. “Whoever tells a lie before the incarnation of Shiva will fall down and immediately die. That is why most oaths were held here in early days,” Neupane tells us before loading us into a waiting taxi.

In honour of Helmut Kohl

The second stage of the exploration of Kathmandu Valley leads over dusty, bumpy and clogged streets to Nepal’s third-largest city Bhaktapur, about 14 kilometres to the east of the capital city. Since the city’s administration resolved to ban most traffic from the city centre, the viewing of the temples on Durbar Square in Bhaktapur is far more relaxed than that of Durbar Square in Kathmandu. Bhaktapur is every tour guide’s dream – particularly when they are guiding German tourists. “The city owes a great deal to Germany,” Narendra Neupane says flatteringly.

Photo gallery: The old royal city of Bhaktapur

“Bhaktapur was hit by a major earthquake in the 1930s. Much was rebuilt with Germany’s help.” We are standing in front of a panel memorializing the merits of former chancellor Helmut Kohl in German. In the 1980s, he pushed for funds to rebuild the richly decorated wooden temple.

A few metres further on, Narendra Neupane points out woodcarvings of a special kind. “According to legend, the erotic figures around the temple were meant to motivate the men to father more children,” Neupane says and walks us twice around the phallus-peppered building. “More children, more defence,” is the simple explanation. With the impressions of Bhaktapur fresh in our minds, we make our way back to Kathmandu and our last stop.

Mourners and onlookers

Narendra Neupane has planned something special to end our day tour: a visit to the Pashupatinath temple complex, the “Mecca of the Hindus,” as he calls it. From the tourists’ entrance, the path leads past travelling hawkers offering their wares and dozens of monkeys that try to snatch the passersby’s provisions. On the shore of the sacred river Bagmati next to the temple, cattle are grazing. As everywhere in Kathmandu, the animals are left alone here. Perhaps here in particular, since in Pashupatinath the god Shiva is honoured as the lord of the animals (pashu pati). Narendra Neupane himself is a Hindu, as are about 90 percent of the population of Nepal. It is very special to him to show us this site.

The sky is less blue here; it is blurred by the smoke rising from the large stone stairs on the opposite shore. “By tradition, we Hindus burn our dead, so that their souls can be to reincarnated,” explains Neupane, as he halts at a pedestrian bridge across from the crematoriums. Dozens of tourists line the bridge observing how the feet of the deceased wrapped in an orange-coloured cloth are washed in the sacred river.

We hold our cameras indecisively. “It is okay to take photos – as long as we do not disturb the mourners,” says the tour guide, adding that some tourists have surprisingly little tact, however. We sit there a while and silently watch the ritual preceding the actual cremation. Then Narendra Neupane calls us to leave. On the way back, he wishes to at least show us the impressive entrance to the main temple, although it can only be used by Hindus.

Photo gallery: The “Mecca of the Hindus,” Pashupatinath

We reach the gate at the same time as one of the many cattle that appear to live on the grounds. As we stop in front of the entrance, the animal marches purposefully inside. We observe amazed as a pilgrim joins the cow, placing a hand on the animal’s side, and then the curious pair disappears from our view. Narendra Neupane looks satisfied, like someone who has the feeling he has conveyed his message. In farewell he offers us his hand – an unusual gesture for a Nepali: “If you enjoyed the tour, please recommend me to others.”