In case you, like myself six months ago, are naively unfamiliar with the Nintendo game Animal Crossing, let me explain. Animal Crossing is a Nintendo DS game in which you are a villager moving into a new town. Throughout the game you can decorate your house, fish, catch bugs, possibly find part time work with Tom Nook (the village capitalist) and that’s pretty much it. Although I remember Sam playing the game about 10 years ago, before coming to Nepal and meeting Selin I really had no clue what the game was about. Oh how much has changed.
Selin is an avid Animal Crossing fan, clocking 550+ hours on the game over several years. Her town is beautiful, paths lined with flowers run between houses, her museum is almost completed of bugs and fossils and her house is quite impressive. In order for our partnership to work I had to get on board. A YouTube video explainied why the game is so addictive. Later I have gathered that the lack of missions or tasks to complete in the game make it a relaxing, safe place for the player. The idea is to grow fond of other village characters and enjoy the nothingness. Instead of having to complete levels, you dig up fossils or go listen to K.K. the guitarist (only available on Saturday nights of course…) or just go and chat to a villager.
Now, how this is exactly like my life right now:
Neta is tiny – this cannot be overemphasised. In total the village has 13 houses and a school. That’s it. Alongside Nepal’s kickback culture we pretty much spend all our time wandering around looking for randoms to chat to and who knows, maybe they’ll offer you a cup of tea. In Nepali ‘gumne’ translates as ‘I’m walking in a particular direction for no reason to see what happens’. This is the main form of entertainment in our village. It is common to sit outside on our porch and watch someone walk purposefully somewhere, stop, decisively squat or sit on a rock, look around (spending anywhere between 20 seconds to half an hour) and then stand up and head back exactly where they came from. Often they don’t even stop in the middle, just spin 180 degrees and go find out if anyone is around in the opposite direction. Of course there are more specific gumnes such as those from house to house looking for tea, a snack or roxy (moonshine). Our Bhuro Jhuba (‘old grandad’) is an absolute gumne wizard and can always be found heading somewhere or other.
Alternative options for Neta entertainment feature ‘The Rock’. The Rock should be understood as more of a concept than a tangible rock. It sits in the centre of the village, just below school and alongside the ‘road’ where jeeps arrive (when it isn’t monsoon season when there are no jeeps and everything is carried up the mountain by hand). The Rock acts as a village meeting point be it for playing cards, sitting in a circle to discuss village affairs or most frequently, to watch a jeep or tractor pass through the village – the biggest local event. If a vehicle passes through during school hours the kids will all rush out the class shouting “Miss, jeep jeep!!” to watch the legendary event. Even worse are diggers – e.g. the single largest distraction known to mankind (at least those in Neta). Even if a digger is on the opposite side of the valley, you can’t expect anyone to do any work that day with the pull of staring out the windows being so strong. The issues arise when the digger on the opposite side of the valley requires several weeks to complete their roadworks or whatever. Don’t be fooled in thinking the excitement would be in anyway diminished on day ten…
Animal Crossing is a game based in real time. If you turn on your DS at four in the morning don’t expect any of your villagers to be awake. Similarly, the town has regular events and visitors. These are usually brief, lasting a day or so as they do in Nepal. We will hear about festivals non-stop in the month preceding but when the time comes, everyone will actually just do some dancing and eat meat. However these village events ground the community. Most recently, two weeks ago, Neta had a visitor – the local exorcist from the nearby town of Rajbara. If you’ve never met one, let me fill you in: our exorcist was a middle aged/old man with a crown of branches and peacock feathers sticking out of his head. He had two or three dead (but very shiny) birds tied to his back, a snakes vertebrae, painted black, worn as a sash, a stick with fabric strips tied to it and an animal skin drum. Our hosts daughter had been quite sick for sometime and modern medicine clearly was not cutting it – time to consult higher powers.
The man came to our house one evening and, as half the village assembled cuddled under duvets in our hosts main room, he began banging his drum and chanting. After about 25 minutes of this, he suddenly rose and started jumping in circles, still chanting and banging his drum. Then he skipped out the door and we heard him circling the house (everyone looked very confused/slightly bemused except the girl being exorcized who looked bored). When he returned the chanting reached a crescendo and ceased. He reported he’d found a spirit – Selin and I decided not to stay for the purging of said spirit as it had taken him 45 minutes to find it in the first place. Twice the next week however, we did assist in the cleansing of the ghost via placing random items (masala, ribbons, salt, etc.) in small leaf bowls, taking them outside and knocking some ash on them – of course. The best bit was a few nights later Selin and I were harmlessly outside brushing our teeth and overhead his very distinctive voice from neighbouring house. The village had clearly gotten wind of our exorcism and decided to tackle some of their own ailments.
Although this might sound dull, it is anything but. Nepali culture is so welcoming and friendly. On rainy days everyone will just assemble around someone’s fire (we don’t understand how they know whose house to go to?) and will just sit around, drink tea and chat all day. The goats will not be let out, firewood not collected, grass not cut, the porch not swept, children won’t go to school because why would you, it’s raining? Nothing is pressurised, it’ll just work out (usually) and if not ke garne (‘what to do?’)! Although this attitude can be infuriating at times (such as trying to find out dates of school holidays when they are arranged the day before or the day of) but it is probably one of the best parts of living here.
A Year in Nepal 