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1. Chapter-10 Kathmandu
Written By- Vikram Seth

2. INTROUCTION
● In his book heaven Lake Vikram Seth describe his long journey from side China to India
their Tibet Nepal the present extract is from this book and is on two temples in
Kathmandu.
● He visited the famous Hindu mandir of Nepal which is "Pashupatinath" and the famous
Buddhist temple of Buddhist "The Boudhanath Stupa.The author also describes his
return journey.
● Near the hotel in which he was staying, he saw a flute seller. He was carrying fifty to
sixty flutes.
● He was playing slowly and meditatively with his flute. The writer also found it interesting
to talk about flutes.
● He describes different types of flutes in different countries.
● Although, each of them requires a specific technique to play it.

3. Characters

4. Summary
● The Kathmandu summary brings out details from Vikram Seth’s story from his book
‘Heaven Lake’. It has been described with vivid imagery of the capital city of Nepal
along with the author’s feelings.
● The author on his hitchhiking route from China to India was supposed to visit the
neighbouring lands of Nepal and Tibet.
● Here, he went to Nepal’s capital city, Kathmandu. He visited the Pashupatinath temple
and the Boudhanath Stupa and noticed several differences between the places and the
surrounding ambiances.
● He saw that the Pashupatinath temple was a Hindu pilgrimage site and the Boudhanath
Temple was for Buddhists. In the Pashupatinath Temple, the author noticed that entry
was allowed only to the Hindus.
● This led to chaos between the tourists, pilgrims as well as priests. There were sights of
the River Bagmati getting polluted by people washing their clothes, throwing dry flowers
and wastes in it, and bathing in the river waters.
● Later he went for a visit to the Boudhanath Temple where he found the scenario to be
different. There was a huge white-coloured dome in the Buddhist temple.
● The entire place was filled with calmness and serenity. There was a Tibetan market
outside of the temple where bags, ornaments, clothes, and other such things were
being sold by people.

5. CONT…
● The author discovered that Kathmandu was a place filled with various tourist
destinations as well as religious sites. There were numerous shops selling cameras,
antiques, chocolates, cosmetics, and other things.
● The cacophony of the car horns, the music at laces, and the vendors calling out for the
products made the city quite a noisy one. The author enjoyed a marzipan bar, coca-
cola, and corn during this visit.
● There he spent time reading romantic stories, comic books as well as Reader’s Digest
books. He decided to go for an adventurous route to Delhi via bus or a boat or a train
journey. He later dropped his idea thinking of it to be a tiring one.
● This made him book a flight. The author came across a flute seller near his hotel who
seemed interesting, having a pole consisting of many flutes making him look like a
porcupine.
● This flute seller played different tunes with his flutes. The author felt that the seller was
standing out in front of other such flute sellers only because he was playing his tunes
thoughtfully. He kept playing his instruments without screaming for customers.

6. Theme
● The theme of this paragraph in two major temples that make up Kathmandu and
Vikram sales experience with them.
● He visits the temples twice and each time the similarities and pointed out.
● Vikram Seth’s experience show his observation of letters in worship between Hinduism
and Buddhism.
● Another aspect of Kathmandu that form the Sab team is the general and environment.
● The author briefly describes the markets roads accentra of Kathmandu and also offers
a few asthetic remarks about the musical, instrument flute, after listening to an
instrument seller performing on his flute.
● The extract conveys the message that the purity of holy places must be upheld, by
telling us how we pollute them in thoughtlessly through disposal of our clothes,
cremating corpses, and dumping litter.

7. 21st Century Skills
● Critical thinking - The ability to find solutions to problems. It includes identifying,
understanding, and raising questions about the basic concepts that underlie the
solutions to a problem.
● Creativity - The ability to think “outside of the box”. It is an important skill not to be
limited by boundaries and categories.
● Collaboration - The ability to work together with others and coordinate to achieve a
goal.
● Communication - The ability to talk/write effectively with and to others. It also
includes being a good listener and being prepared to speak in both formal and
informal situations.