The TV set in Rolpa

There were some evenings that we would get into our rooms feeling exhausted after a day of meetings and bumpy bus rides, but there’s always that small window of time before you crash when your mind has to slowly wind down. TV is always useful for this sort of activity and there were many nights we flipped through channels before sailing off into the land of dreams.

Joel always flipped to the Cricket channel where he alone appreciated what did or did not happen with one of the world’s most popular sports that day. Then there was the action movie channel overdubbed in Hindi that we watched in Nepalganj. I never really liked Minotaur up until that moment. Perhaps one of the more surreal moments of the entire trip was in the remote village of Liwang in Rolpa district where there were only about five channels available. In the middle of the local Nepalese programs and a couple of Indian channels was a channel dedicated to the world of high fashion. Amidst the bare and stark surroundings of what is one of the poorer districts in Nepal one could view a parade of very skinny men wearing some very expensive apparel walk around in a circle while a large crowd applauded them. It was the first time I realized fashion shows seem to be such a bizarre cultural display.

I was captivated by that channel. I checked it again the next day before we had breakfast and again before we left the district. It was always broadcasting fashion. I am not sure who demanded that such a channel be made available in the place referred to as the birthplace of the Maoist movement, but there it was giving us examples of what was fashionable to wear. I Googled fashion tv channels and Rolpa, Nepal upon returning, but so far I have found nothing to satisfy my curiosity as to why Liwang gets daily fashion shows as a part of local programming.