Hot and Cold in Nepal

When I first came to this country eons ago and told people I was from Nepal, I usually got two responses. The first one was more common and dealt exclusively with who, what or where Nepal was. The second was a common query from people who knew just enough about Nepal to be dangerous (A little knowledge.....). These people would always say how cold out it must be there specially in the winter. I would then have to go into detailed explanations about the "cold" in Nepal.

When I came to the US, it was at night in the month of December and the weather was extremely cold. I did not realize any place could be this cold. Next morning, when I woke up and saw the sun shining brightly, I thought that this was more like it. I walked out of the apartment in short sleeves and almost froze on the spot. I rushed back in and was taken to task by the doorman fro going out "without clothes." When I protested that the sun was out, he looked at me in a puzzled manner and said, "Yes, it's ten in the morning but still as cold as the Arctic." When I ventured to explain that the sun was out and it should have been warmer, he replied that the temperature would stay low because it was winter. Then it dawned on me that in the eastern and northern United States, the sun was only for lighting purposes and not for heating - winter time, of course. What a strange phenomenon! The sun here was used only as a big torch during the winter - helping people see their way about. I then had to recount to all those "cold" queries about Nepal by explaining that back home the sun not only gave light but also heat.

Most people who knew something about Nepal did so mainly because of Mt. Everest and the Himalayas(?) - please read my last article on this subject. Ergo, almost all of them thought that Nepal was another Antarctica, another frozen wasteland of snow and ice. I then had to explain in detail that Nepal bordered China and India. The northern part (Chinese border) was cold most of the time but warm during the summer. The "middle" part of the country was hot during Spring and Summer and also Fall and Winter when the sun came out. The southern part of the country that bordered India was HOT most of the year and still quite warm during the daytime in the winter months. This polemic left most baffled. They could not believe that a person could walk around in tees and shorts after about ten in the morning in Kathmandu. It was like my Russian acquaintance from Vladivostok who scoffed at people who used to speak of Siberia as the barren wasteland of chills and cold. The common retort seemed to be that it was what they had read from most dissidents ("exiled" writers). This innocent reply infuriated him and sent him into apoplectic fits.

So is Nepal COLD? That depends very much when you go there and which part of the country you go to. For those not up on your latitude and longitude, let me remind one and all that the latitude of Nepal is the same as that of the northern part of Florida. Is Florida a snowy wasteland? You tell me.

Himal and Himalayas and Sahara Desert

It always intrigues (irritates? frustrates?) me to hear the word Himalayas or the phrase Himalayan Mountain range. Not many realize or care that both are redundant, if not outright wrong. People have been snickered at, castigated and looked upon as unsophisticated for talking about the Sahara Desert. Since Sahara means desert, the use of both words is quite uncalled for. So what about the Himalayas/Himalayan Mountains? The Nepali (not Nepalese, please!!) word for mountain is himal. i.e., himal is one mountain. When himal is used to describe more than one, the Nepali word is himalaya - more than one. So why do the people in the west say Himalayas without fail? Why has the plural Nepali himalaya been Anglicized as the redundant Himalayas? Who says "mountainses"? If Himalayas is acceptable in English, what's next?

So what about Himalayan ranges? This is exactly like saying the Sahara desert. The Himalayan mountains just means the mountain mountains. If people only referred to it as the Himalayan ranges, that would be okay. So let's get rid of this redundancy. Let's go on travel sites, news channels and Jeopardy and proclaim loudly that there are no "Himalayas" but just Himalaya and no Himalayan Mountains but only the Himalayan range.

Of course, in the US, that's easier said than done. I remember that it has been eons since one bright journalist mentioned the Miami Dolphins as the "Fish" and the term is used by every sports writer, broadcaster and fan. The dolphin is a mammal and not a fish. But go tell that to the Marines! I despair very much for my Himalayan ranges - William Safire, where are you when we need you?

Of course, you may wonder whether this makes a difference. What's wrong with Sahara desert or Himalayan mountains? After all, a scribe asked the question a few hundred years ago. "What's in a name?" Well, is there a problem with the Anglicized nomenclature? I feel strongly that it is a big mistake. How do you feel?