Landing in Kathmandu in the afternoon, it struck me a bit like India, but yet not - people are not as "in your face" and the airport is not as crowded, dirty and hustle-bustle as you would see it in India.
After 1½ (!) hours, my suitcase finally comes out: the mentality of not rushing, not pressing others to rush, not losing patience over minor things such as getting to the right place at the right time - these traits surely characterize the Nepalese as well the Indians! I'm thinking that I'll probably have my expedite temper tested more than once during my stay here.
Outside the airport, Madan who translated the letter to Paropakar, is waiting for me with the hotel shuttle - on our way there, we stop quickly so that Madan can show me his house. The other hotel guests wait in the shuttle while I get a tour of Madan's home, meet his wife and daughter.
Arriving in Thamel, it turns out my hotel is fully booked, so I'm placed in another guest house close by, just for the first night. Just as I enter my room, Dr. Pant texts me - he will be at the hotel lobby in a few minutes. I look forward to meeting this man, with whom I have made such an unusual and intimate agreement which relies so much on both of us trusting each other immensely, withour having ever met each other.
So we finally meet - and Dr. Pant is as I expected: modern, international, no-nonsense and straight-forward like myself - and also a proud man. We drive in his car to a Japanese restaurant that he knows - he doesn't have time to stay, but we sit down, order dinner for me and discuss briefly our plan for the coming weeks.
I will meet Dr. Pant's medical team at Annapurna Neurological Institute the next morning at their daily gathering, where the organisation CWIN will also be present - CWIN is finishing up the paperwork to allow us to move Ghane, so we should be able to do this within the next few days. Apparently, there's another festival coming up which will shut down everything fromThursday until Monday - must have her moved before then.
Dr. Pant leaves me in the dark garden of the Japanese restaurant, and I eat my soup and tempura with one thought in mind - tomorrow, I will see Ghane for the first time.
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