summary of kathmandu of vikram seth
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Here's ur SUMMARY.
Kathmandu gives a beautiful description of two famous temples of that city - Pashupatinath Temple and Baudhanath stupa known as Buddhist shrine of Kathmandu.
Having a hired a cheap room in the centre of Kathmandu the author visit Pashupatinath Temple. A sign proclaims 'entrance for the Hindus only'. There is a huge crowd at the entrance. All types of animals roam around through the ground. There is utter confusion. There are so many people pushing each other to enter the temple. A group of westerners claim itself to be Hindus and struggle for permission to enter. The police man at the gate is not convinced. There are two monkeys fighting and chasing. The author is assumed to see them.
The holy river Bagmati flows by the side of the temple. There is a small shrine on the river bank. It seems that half of the shrine is in the river. The other half is out of it. A corpse is being cremated on the bank of the river. A washer woman is washing clothes. Children can be seen bathing in the river. People believe that one day the whole shrine would come out of the river. The god is inside the temple will escape and put an into the evil period of kalyug.
In sharp contrast with the Pashupatinath Temple, there is a sense of stillness at Baudhanath Shrine. There is a road running around the temple. Small shop owned by Tibetan immigrants can be seen on the outer edge of the road. What strikes the visitors is that there are no crowds here.
Kathmandu Bazaar is a crowded place. There are deities in the busiest streets. These streets are full of fruit sellers, flute sellers, hawkers of postcard etc.
Near his hotel in a corner of a square, there is a flute seller. He catches the writers attention. He plays on the flute in a caefree manner. He doesn't cry like other hawkers to sell his wares. In fact, flute music attracts the writer. It reminds hymn of the commonality of all mankind. Flute is a very common musical instrument. There is no culture that doesn't have its own flute. Bansuri is the Hindustani musical instrument. The flute of South America are clear and breathy. It unites all in one thread. it is universal in character. the author please spell bound by the sound of flute. It surprises him.
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Vikram Seth describes his visit to the capital of Nepal, Kathmandu through this excerpt from his book ‘Heaven Lake’. During his trip, he visits two temples where notice stark differences between them. One temple was a pilgrimage for Hindus, the Pashupatinath temple.
After that, there was the Baudhnath temple which is for the Buddhists. He notices that they restricted the entry at the Pashupatinath temple to only Hindus. Thus, there was quite a chaos amongst the tourists, priests and the pilgrims. To top it all, people were polluting the River Bagmati by washing clothes in it, bathing in it and throwing away dry flowers in it.
After that, he went to Baudhnath temple. He saw that the scenario here was completely different from what he saw at the Pashupatinath temple. This Buddhist temple had a huge dome which is white in colour. The place was very calm and serene. Outside the temple, there was a Tibetan market and people were selling bags, clothes, ornaments and more.
He notices the numerous things Kathmandu offers from religious places to many tourist destinations. Moreover, it also has various shops of antiques, cameras, cosmetics, chocolates and more. Nonetheless, it is also a very noisy city from the car horns to the music and vendors. He enjoyed having a marzipan bar, corn, coca-cola in the city. After that, he also read love stories, comics and Reader’s Digest books.
On returning to Delhi, he thought of taking an adventurous route which comprises of a bus or train journey and then a boat ride, but he dropped the idea for that would have been too tiring. Thus, he booked a flight back. He saw an interesting flute seller outside his hotel. He had a pole with a lot of flutes on it and seemed like a porcupine body.
The flute seller kept playing his flutes and also did so in different tunes. But, what set him apart from the other flute sellers was that he played the flute thoughtfully. He did not scream to attract customers, he played it. This attracted the author and he wondered that flute is so common all over. Then, he compares it to the human voice and says how he is noticing even the little things now.