The Nepalese are a very friendly race of people with beautiful smiles.
Their traditional greeting is “Namaste” a conventional Hindu expression on meeting someone and usually holding the palms together vertically in front of their chest.
The meaning:
the divine in me bows to the divine in you.
The rest of the world could learn something from this.
Tibetan Influence
The spiritual leader, the Dali Lama fled from Tibet to India in 1959 and a guerilla movement fought the Chinese along the Nepalese border up until the 1970’s. The Dali Lama has been barred from visiting Nepal for fear of offending the Chinese, however, there is a considerable presence of Tibetan refugees living in Nepal. The Dali Lama and the exiled Tibetan government are based in India.
The weaving of Tibetan carpets and handicrafts has become a great source of income for both the Tibetan and Nepalese communities.
When in Pokhara, we came upon a lovely Nepalese lady with her sister and child crossing a suspension bridge. We exchanged Namaste and with a natural friendliness, got talking to her. Who would believe that she lived in Ireland, not too far from where I live and worked in city centre, Dublin. She was back home in Nepal visiting her family. What a coincedence!
Nepal is a poor country and the average life span is 65 years. The average literacy rate is 65%
