They’re all Nepali people?

I got off the plane in Delhi and began the cat herding path that the airline had laid out for us. All of the passengers transferring to Kathmandu had to divert through a number of hallways, corridors, and passageways before arriving in the room where we would wait out the 8 hour layover. I spotted a beautiful young woman about my age that had the distinctive appearance of looking Latin American. I though I would start a conversation, so I asked where she was from. Surprisingly, she said, “I am from Kathmandu.” A little puzzled, I continued talking to her about where she was coming from and why she was returning home. She had been working in an internationally flavored hotel in the USA where the staff came from all over the world and would greet guests in their home language while wearing their traditional native clothing. She was returning to Kathmandu for 16 days to attend her sister’s wedding and visit her family.

After talking for a little while, I left to use the restroom, when I cam back she was talking to an older man who looked Indian and when I sat down she said that he was Nepali. “Nepali people can always spot other Nepali people”, she remarked. The man spoke English and told me that he was returning from Dallas where he had been working for the past year. After a few minutes of conversation, he left to walk around a little. My new friend showed me some pictures of her in the US and we talked some more. An hour later the Nepali man returned, but with 4 more men with him. The first man was elderly, had thick glasses, wore a sport coat, and looked as if he was a Cantonese businessman. The second man was young with very fair skin and curly black hair, seemingly of Middle Eastern decent. The third man had a round face with tan skin that looked as though he was a farmer from western China. The fourth man was young with dark skin and hard features that had the appearance of being Native American. My new friend looked at me and said, “They’re all Nepali people.” Apparently, the man returning from Dallas had walked
through the waiting area and found all of the Nepali people there.

I talked with some of them about where they were coming from or going to. The young fair skinned man was headed to Israel to work there for a while. The man who looked like a farmer was returning from work in the US, also from Dallas. Both of the two Dallas workers were having a spirited conversation trying to find out how close they had lived to each other. I asked my friend if the more recent man from Dallas was a Tibetan living in Nepal. She replied that he was not and she named two of the tribes of Nepal that he was most likely from. She added that she was Newari and the area of Kathmandu that I would be living in had many Newari people living there. She added, “Over time you will learn more about the nine tribes of Nepal and their people.” The group left again to walk around and I showed my new friend some of my pictures from traveling to Haiti. A short while later the group returned with a beautiful young woman added to the group. She had very dark skin and big pitch black eyes. She did not speak English, but I found out that she had a family member working in Holland and she was going there to work as a nanny. I asked my new friend if the other young woman was from the Terai and she responded, “See, you are getting better at recognizing Nepali people already.” We all continued talking in the group until it slowly dissipated with each member having to leave to catch their respective flights.

I stopped and thought about the people I had met. Their appearance was deceiving, as it seemed as though they were a collection of people from all over the world. Instead, they were a collection of people from all over Nepal, representing only some of the country’s nine tribes. What they did have in common was that they were Nepali and they were traveling all over the world for work in far off places.