Bindhyabasini Temple - Getting Married in Nepal

24/09/2018 Today sightseeing is on the agenda. In Pokhara, you can get through pretty quickly. Haha! Tariq promised to take me on his scooter to Bindhyabasini Temple in Old Pokhara today. I met Tariq through Couchsurfing. Following the advice of Liane from Travelstoryteller, I publicly posted my Nepal trip on Couchsurfing and was overwhelmed with offers for accommodation and coffee. The Nepalis are just incredibly friendly. Even though they have little, they are immediately willing to share. Very cool, because it's great to know locals who can give you valuable insider tips on where to find the best food, where the local bus departs from, what prices are realistic... That's why Tariq and I have been writing to each other for a few months now and have finally met in real life.

The joyride is nice. It's fun to zoom through the streets, dodge potholes, and take in the scenes on both sides of the road. We're there too fast. Bindhyabasini Temple turns out to be a Hindu temple located on a hill in Old Pokhara, worth seeing more for its beautiful mountain view than its shrines. You can take a look, but you don't really have to. To my surprise and delight, the courtyard is filled with chattering and laughing Nepalese women in beautiful saris.

There is a lively atmosphere. The reason for this is quickly found. A wedding ceremony is taking place in a small temple building. We watch for a while. I don't find it particularly romantic, especially since the bride and groom don't look in love or particularly happy. On the contrary, the groom seems very young and more bewildered than excited. I remember Krishna explaining to me that in Nepal, 90% of marriages come about through the arrangement of families, and usually strangers are married to each other more or less. Like in a Bollywood film, the families meet with the couple, have the opportunity to assess and sniff each other out, and that's it. That's all. It's really intense that this still exists today and is even the norm here. And even though love is not the starting point of marriage, men and women treat each other with respect and love here. I have never seen any angry glances, harsh words, or disrespect towards partners here. Maybe the Nepalis are just better at accepting their own partner with all their strengths and weaknesses and not focusing on what bothers them, but on what is good, given their own imperfections. I admire that. Divorce is just as rare in Nepal as living a single life. Krishna told me that the Nepalis are happy and content people. And they exude that too!!! Well, except for the groom today.