Himalaya

Day 57: Kathmandu

Pashupatinath, Nepal
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Male members of the family lay a deceased relative on the funeral pyre at the cremation ghats at Pashupatinath. Ghee(clarified butter) is laid on the logs to help them burn. The man on left has just had his head shaved in mourning.

All the next day was spent talking, or rather, being talked at, by his abductors. On the second day of their captivity, by which time the story was all across the world's newspapers, word came down from the Maoist high command that Adrian and the others should be released. He feels pretty sure that the local commanders had been reprimanded by their superiors for taking him in the first place.

I asked if he ever felt in real danger. He said his two worries were of the danger of being caught in crossfire if the security forces mounted an operation to free him and the knowledge that a Nepali member of the Gurkha staff, abducted a year before, had been held for seven weeks.

'I think we were an opportunity target. They came down in order to disrupt the recruiting, realized there was someone more senior from the British Gurkhas there and saw it as a chance to publicize their cause.'

What of the recruits who'd sweated and strained their way through a day of tests?

Well, they would be given the chance to try again. This was the only time Adrian sounded less than convincing.

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PALIN'S GUIDES

Series: Himalaya
Chapter: Day 57: Kathmandu
Country/sea: Nepal
Place: Kathmandu
Book page no: 129

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