Running through villages and adventures in Kollywood

Namaste all! Things continue to go well here in Chitwan. The weather remains, for the most part, very cold and I look forward to the few hours of sunshine that we seem to get about every other day. I am feeling more and more comfortable in my little village here and have found that my novelty as "the foreigner" has, for the most part, worn off. People no longer stop and stare and kids no longer chase me down the street wanting to know my name, where I'm from, my father's name and my mother's name (strange questions, I know, but quite common here). No, now, they have asked all these things and everyone knows who I am. People now say hello and use my name, ask me how I am and where I am going. I feel like I have really become part of the community and that really feels nice. The only time this changes, however, is when I go running. One of two things happens when you go for a run through Padampokhari and the surrounding villages. If the villager is of the age of about 18 or older (and especially if they are female) they will look at you as if you are completely out of your mind. What in the world are you running for you odd odd person? their eyes seem to say. The idea of doing any kind of physical exercise for fun is completely lost on a people who's days are consumed by physical labor. However, if the individual is below 18, particularly those of the group of young boys just down the street, they will run out to the street, wave hello, cheer you on, and, quite frequently, try to race you. And when you are coming back from a long run, and that morning's dal batt is still sitting heavy in your stomach, sprinting against some of these boys of 10 or 11 years old can usually be quite defeating. But hey, I "let them win"...right? :) Two days ago I went into town with two other volunteers (Mitch and Katie) and one of our program coordinators (Bikash) to see a Kollywood movie. That's right, not Hollywood, not even Bollywood, but the Nepalese cinematic genre of Kollywood. We saw "Arrest", an action film starring Rajesh Hamal (the most famous of Kollywood actors, having apparently been in over 2000 films in his long career). He didn't have that much screen time, only a quick few minutes at the beginning and then coming in at the end to be the hero...quite a cush job. Anyway, the film was, well, comical to say the least. And yes, it was meant to be a serious action movie. None of us, save for Bikash, had a clue as to what was going on, but stayed thuroughly entertained throughout the show by the actors' cheesy expressions, constant overdone sound effects, hysterical dance sequences (which included some rather riaque clothing and dance moves [and somehow we western girls are the ones that are meant to be the sluts???] and rarely seemed to have anything to do with the movie [especially the final dance number of the movie which was set to, the only english we heard for the whole afternoon, Simon & Garfunkle's "Cecelia"]), fight scenes that looked so fake (including a man getting both arms cut off but you could clearly see his arms folded up under the "blood stained" shirt), and a girl falling into the same river twice and flailing around as if drowning only to be saved by a man who picks her up and walks out of the knee deep water (and the first time she is rescued, she emerges from the water with the lower half of a white fish flopping around out of her mouth...absolutely hilarious, and possibly a 'had to be there' type of thing to get it, but I had to mention it as an example of the random nonsensicalness of Kollywood). All in all it was a two and a half hour cinematic experience (with intermission) that left us all laughing and utterly confused. So that's it for now from my little village by the jungle. Must sign off before the electricity decides to end this post for me. Namaste!