Dance of the Signs

Me in my new Kurta!

Yesterday was difficult, as we had Fulbright (in-country) orientation, and most of the speakers were Nepali and very difficult for me to understand. I try very hard to read lips, but have not yet mastered Nepali accents! The day was more challenging in that the talks were given in a forum or lecture – type style, and that, regardless of the speakers’ accents is always makes speech reading hard. There was one lecture in particular that fascinated me, and while I didn’t hear much of it, it was accompanied by a very informative PowerPoint presentation. The lecture was given by a Nepali anthropologist and sociologist about the caste system and its effects in Nepal.

Caste is surprisingly important in Nepal, and the professor was also able to answer my questions about disability in relation to the caste system here. Apparently, people with disabilities, when matriculated into society, are often seen as second class citizens. This is different than being in a lower caste, as a brahman (high caste) person who has a disability and is thus treated as a second class citizen brahman, is still higher than a person who is a dalit (low caste person) who is not disabled. For the dalit, a disability is a double challenge, for they are not only discriminated against as a dalit, but also looked down upon by their own caste for the disability. One would imagine that the dalit woman with a disability would be most discriminated against. The second-class citizen concept was further demonstrated by a deaf man I later met (see below) when he complained that deaf people in Nepal are not allowed motor vehicle licenses. He has apparently racked up quite a few tickets!

* Note to my Nepali and Indian friends (or any others who are wise on the subject): if I have misrepresented anything above, or if you know more about the subject, please let me know!

The frustration with lack of understanding I had at the orientation melted away with the Fulbright welcome reception later on. As I introduced myself to the people who had come, I noticed that a lady was interpreting (in Nepali Sign) to a man and woman on my right. I was barely able to sit through my fellow Fulbrighters’ introductions after that, because I wanted so badly to meet these people who were signing. I met Rameshji , the founder of the Kavre-Benepa School for the Deaf, and his wife (both of whom are deaf) and we immediately begin the communication dance that occurs between NSL and ASL. The beauty of sign language in general, which involves much facial expression and many classifiers (signs that represent what they stand for), as well as the talent of many deaf people to gather information from situations in which communication is sparse, often means that it is easier for people who know two different sign languages to communicate than those who know different spoken languages. Thus, after a few hitches, we were signing away in a fabulous mixture of NSL and ASL in no time.

Both Rameshji, and his wife (who studied in America for a while), know some ASL, so this allowed our communication to be more fluid than it may have been otherwise. By the end of the night, my brain was ready to burst with all the information and signs I had learned, and the realization that overwriting muscle memory (the automaticity of the ASL signs) may be fairly difficult. Though my brain knew the Nepali sign, my hands preferred to stay in their ASL comfort zone! Despite this, I have learned over 30 Nepali signs, as well as how to count, in a few hours. This gives me hope that I can continue to learn NSL quickly and be more able to communicate in the deaf schools I visit, and with the deaf people I meet. I hope to see my new friends again soon and to continue our dialogue and mutual learning experiences!

A few more notes:
Swetha and I arrived home at 8:30pm from the welcome reception and this morning our landlady was in a panic because she'd been worried when we arrived home so late!

Still no luggage. If they seriously can’t find it, do you think they’ll trade me for a plane ticket for Jeremiah?

I went to a huge, gorgeously modern mall in downtown Kathmandu with a few of my fellow Fulbrighters. In a way it bothered me, because it did not fit in with the Nepal I have seen so far, but it also cemented the idea that part of the beauty of Nepal is its many stark contrasts.