The Raute's (nomads of Nepal) had recently come here from the hills of Dailekh. There were 8 to 10 tents at the end of the village. Is this your house? Yes, Which one? This one. When did you come here? The day before yesterday. We met Birkhe Shahi. Have you brought this thing (camera) to take a selfie? How did you learn about the selfie? I knew about it in Kathmandu. With whom did you go there? I went with Seti Devi. I have also met Rekha Thapa. Rekha Thapa. The Actress? Yes, I met Rekha Thapa in Kathmandu You met her? Yes, I did. I have been to Nainital. I have been to Pokhara as well. Oh, wow. Why did you go there? To explore the place.
So you went there for sightseeing? Yes, for sightseeing only. So, what did Rekha Thapa tell you? She told us to stay at one place... ...and to go to school. But we won't listen to her. We told her that we will follow our forefathers. So you want to follow the path of your ancestor? Yes. Oh okay. This one (Camera tripod) is used to increase the height... So you know how the camera tripod works? Yes, Just rotate a bit..... and pull it up. ....speaking in their own language. Got a little taller. Is this your house? This is my sister's house. Who lives here? This guy, this one and that one. Three people live here. And who lives in your house? I and my aunt live here. And your mother and father? My father and mother are up in the hill. In another place? Yes, Why aren't you people residing together? We will meet soon. Okay, I came beforehand. Okay, When will you meet your parents? May be, the day after tomorrow. Do you have corn in your country? There is corn in my country Okay We get corn from the village. We exchange rice, barley, wheat, and corn with Koushi. What is Koushi? Koushi is smaller than Mudus. It's round in shape. Utensils? Yes That's how we get food. Foreigners also give us rice. They have given us goats as well. Singing...' Wait, my dear, I will come to you... '...We will hold the window of the train and run along' 'Wait, my dear, I will come to you... '...we will hold the window of the train and run along' Now, give me twenty rupees. I will go down to the village. So, do people give you money after having such a conversation ? Yes, we are Raute. So they give us a few. Who gives it? The foreigners and organizations as well. Everyone is giving you money. You might be very rich. Not all of them offer money. Some bring rice, some offer little money. Others give us goats. And, you have a very lovely Nepali tone! Yes, I can speak Nepali. Where did you learn such sweet words? I learned it by myself. Hello... 'Speaking their own language' You have got nice garland ! Where did you buy it from? Where did you buy it from? Yes. Don't know. What is your name? Name? What is your name? Everyone knows my name.
It's Dil Bahadur Mukhiya (Head of Raute) I am Dil Bahadur. There are three chiefs in Raute. All of us are equal. Surya Narayan, Bir Bahadur, and myself Dil Bahadur Three head man? So, what are you doing now? I am cooking this right now. Will leave it like this tonight. We will wash it tomorrow. When washed, it will turn out to be very nice. What will come out? Thread Okay The threads you know. Yes, the thread. How long do you have to cook it? I have seen you boiling it since the morning. It should be cooked very well. Otherwise, the skin won't be removed. But what are you exactly boiling? This is Himalayan Nettle. Nettle! This is Nettle see... Ohh!!! This is the one. The outer cover will be removed after cooking. When washed in water, the clean white thread will come out of it. And, what do you do with that thread? We make ropes from it. To sell? Not for selling. You keep it to yourself? Yes, for ourselves. What ingredients are added while cooking? We have added ashes for cooking. Isn't it! And, you told me that you are one of the chiefs of Raute. Yes, What do you do as chief of the community ? I have to look after my people. Manage everything for them, make them comfortable. And decide where to move next. Isn't it? I should choose the best place to re-locate. If there is scarce of grain, we should call others. Isn't it? Do you have a phone here? No, I don't. But we must keep the numbers. If we have numbers, we can call anywhere. We can call people and ask for rice, a tent, and a blanket. That's our job. Everybody wants to see the Raute's The foreigners also come here to see us. But why are you always roaming around? Why don't you stay in one place? We are like this from many generations. You and I are like brothers. Isn't it? You are from Jamdar's (Landlord) family and we are from Raute's. That's why you call us Rautee. Is it? Is she your daughter? Yes, my daughter. What did your daughter say? She says that all the villagers have gone up in the village to bring chicken. You can see a few people here. They might have gone to bring chicken. My daughter is asking us to leave. Distributing chickens !!! Yes, Who are distributing chickens? Must be someone.
I am not sure about it. Father, what are you making? You can keep clothes, store things, copy and books here. Isn't it! So it's for keeping books and copies? Yes. Who goes to school from here? We take it to the village. ..so you sell them? Yes How much for one? One thousand. One thousand! How many days will it take to make one? It takes five to ten days. What is your name? My Name is Bal Bahadur. How old are you? I am sixty years old. Which one is your house? This is my house This one? How many kids do you have? I have got two. The small one is out there. Oh ! that little daughter. This is the other one. So she is also your daughter? What is your name? What is the name of your daughter? Her name is Baikal. Baikal! What about the younger daughter? Her name is Kamal. Kamal. How do you spend your days? We are dancing today. What is your name? My name is Bidhya Bidhya! We share the same name. Do you know about Mini (a special family friend)? Yeah, so what will you give your Mini? Give her some money. Talking about money again.. Give me a hundred rupees. Will buy her something. What will you do from with a hundred rupees? I will buy noodles and biscuits for her. Did you mean, you wanted to buy noodles and biscuits for your daughter? ...mmm... Did you get to eat such things while you were a kid? No. Then what did you eat ? Bayberry, peaches, mulberry... ..guava and other fruits from the forest. Who taught you to buy noodles and biscuits? Who will teach us? We learned it by ourselves. Today's generation knows it all.
What is your name? My name is Mahendra Bahadur Shahi How old are you? I am sixty years old man. Sixty years old. Where are you coming from? I came from the hills. I had kept my belongings in this group. So I am taking it today. Are you moving to another location? Yes, we are moving to another place. We are travelers. We keep on moving around... from west to east, sometimes from north to south. Routes' keep on re-locating. Kathmandu is also Nepal. We are also the people of Nepal. If somebody asked you about your home, What would you say? We do not have homes. This tent is a home for us. We keep on roaming around here and there. That's our culture. We can not stay in the same place. We are happy with this life. Why did they take her away when she was eating? They took her for some work. To oil her hair. They are showing love. Oh ! Who took her away? Those are our friends. She has become so beautiful. Who braided your hair? What is the name of your wife? My wife's name, umm... I cannot utter her name! Because it's sinful to utter wife's name after marriage. In this village, the husband and wife call each other without mentioning the names. That's how it should be. Names shouldn't be called directly. Villagers would frequently visit to see the Raute's. Foreigners and organizations were also quite active. Upon dancing, Raute's were getting boiler chicken today. The next morning, we reached the same place. Large groups of Raute's residing on the hills were planning to relocate to the different areas. We decided to climb the hill. I shall see you after I get back. When you revisit, please bring me a bottle of alcohol. Alcohol? For whom? For my mother.
Oh, My youngest mother is also here. Please bring a bottle of alcohol. It seems like you have taken some. Yes, I have taken a bit. I can smell that. When you visit again, please bring a bottle and make sure to hide it from others. Is it okay? I will leave now, but I can not bring alcohol. Please bring a little amount only. I won't bring alcohol. You shouldn't be drinking alcohol at this age. *Negotiating* What about a quarter? You shouldn't even take a quarter. But everyone drinks, even the police. Is it? Yes, Where did you see police taking alcohol? In Kathmandu. I have seen grown-ups drinking beer in Kathmandu. How did such a young child learn to consume alcohol? We drink from an early age. Even those who are younger than me take some. The infant has also tasted it. They didn't use to drink before. Yes, but nowadays they have learned it. Who taught? Learned it by self. Sister Yes, The elder citizen, Karna Bahadur is up in the hills. Please ask him to come here immediately Ok, but why? Tell him that people are waiting to give him clothes and a thousand rupees. Ask him to rush downhill... There is some function here, so tell him that his niece has kept the share of the gift. Yeah sure. Now we will go. Okay, have safe travel. We hiked for three hours to reach the top hill. Many Rautes have already left. Some of them are still packing their stuff. There are lots of leeches here, so we are moving. There are no leeches in a new place. So it's not a good place to live here! There are lots of leeches here. The other place is better. Okay, Could you please buy me some tobacco. Give me one hundred rupees. I will have tea and tobacco on the route. It's just a hundred rupee. What's the price of these shoes? I don't remember. Don't you have shoes? My shoes are very uncomfortable to walk. How much do your shoes cost? How much? It's given by others. Okay, Let's go. Let's talk on the way. Why haven't you been to the function? Wait! someone is asking for you. Please talk over the phone. On the way, a primary school headteacher approached us. The major problem of this community is consuming alcohol. Please talk to the head man of Raute about this issue. It's important to keep the generation moving. They consume alcohol from the monthly allowance given by the government.
If there are ten people in a family, then they will get twenty thousand from the government. But I have seen them selling rice for alcohol. Different organizations provide them rice sacks. Yesterday they were distributing chickens down there. They are slowly becoming beggars. Most of them have already left their family occupation. They have built the habit of asking for money now. Whoever calls them, they demand a glass of drink. This is not a good tradition. Please seriously discuss these issues with the headman of Raute, so that the younger ones and the women are not exposed to alcohol. We have met the widows from this community. .. ..and most of their husbands had died falling from the hills, when drunk. After walking downhills through the jungles and villages for a whole day, the Rautes reached at a riverbank, nearby a village. This is their new settlement. They were planning to cut down the big tree, that stood in the middle of the river bank. One woman from up above threw the stones. She was shouting. This created tension for a while. This land belongs to somebody. The river flowed through the land and damaged it. Was this a crop field before? Yes. So please don't cut this tree. You can cut down from another place. This tree gives shade to many people who take this route. That sister threw stones. What if someone had died? She should be tied up and taken to the Chief District Office and municipality.
Let it be. Older people do not understand. Kids were unaware of these arguments. They were playing swing with the roots of the same tree. Later, the villagers and the headman settled the matter. Do you see the sun above in the sky? My name is similar to it 'Surya Narayan' Your name is good. Since you are the head of Raute Please tell them not to cut down this tree. These are my people. Half of them are here. Half are on the way coming. She is worried that you people might not listen to her. She is an old woman. Yes, an old woman. ..so she had tried to scare you people. What if you cut it down forcefully !! Okay, understandable. We have nothing else. ... The sky is our blanket... ...and Earth is our bed... You make your own bed, We don't have the bed, we sleep on tree leaves. This is our way and we like it. So you are happy with this life? Yes, we are. If we weren't, we wouldn't have worn these clothes. You are so well dressed! You are wearing such a nice Nepali cap. He is also wearing a nice cap. This sir also has a nice spectacle. We are wearing unstitched clothes. We cut trees in the forest and make 'Koushi' 'Mudus' - the wooden pots. We like our profession. Some people wear sunglasses and ride a bike. Some travels in car and vehicles. They like it that way. You have your own costumes and traditions. We Raute's also have our own. We love it. We are like this from many generations. So you don't want to change that? Yes, we don't want to change. Okay After a long day of the walk, the Raute's were tired, so they started to prepare the snacks. What do you do when you are sick? We use herbal medicine from the forest. The herbs should be grinned before applying. It should be applied in painful areas only.
This is how the treatment works here. What if you have a pain inside the stomach! If there is a pain in the stomach, one should take honey. Honey? Yes. What about headaches? One should put herbs in the forehead. Raute's are like this for years. Karna Bahadur, the oldest man among Raute. He is the one. Okay, What does he do? He is the traditional healer of Raute. He blows 'mantra' (charms) in the painful areas. Okay What kind of patients do you look? I look at every kind of patient. If they are healed, that is good. If they don't, then I can do nothing. Men went to the jungle to get logs to build a hut. Women started to clear up the areas. What is your name? I don't have any names. You don't have one? No, My name is Bidhya My name is also Bidhya, sister Oh is it! What is your surname? Bidhya Shahi Bidhya Shahi? We share the same name. Where is your mother now? She is on that side. Who will build your house? Will make it now. Who will build? By ourselves. You? Yes. Can you build a house? My mother can. My father died. Is It? When? It's been a year. What happened? He was ill.
What was the illness? His time had come! Oh!! Didn't he go for a check-up? Yes, he went to the traditional healer, but nothing was diagnosed. And he died. And what kind of works do you do? We have to make our hut. We have to cook rice. We have to cook vegetables. Bring firewoods from jungle. How old are you? 12 years old. You speak such good Nepali. Who taught you? Learned it by myself. But how? Have you been to the market? Yes, I have. Why did you go to the market? To bring.... To bring what? Rice. What did you see in the market? I see beautiful houses. And tractor also. so you have also seen the tractor! Yes, and the plane too. Plane? Do you enjoy it? Yes, it is very big. So you have seen the plane as well! Yes. What is this? This is a recorder. Your voice is being recorded. Mic? Yes, the microphone. So tell me, what is that? That? That one! I don't know. That is the Camera Camera Okay. Carry on with your work. Is this your brother or sister! Sister and sister Both are your sisters Yes, all these. Rautes were busy building huts till late evening. After staying here for a month, they will relocate again.