THE YAKHA: CULTURE, ENVIRONMENT AND DEVELOPMENT IN ...

felt I had scored a small victory on the path of reason.
Our final departure to the East was delayed by the machinations of
the capitalist world system when the Midland Bank misdirected its first
transfer of my much-needed fieldwork funds to 'Kathmandu, China'. We
had to give up the offer of a ride in a British Council landrover going
to Dhankuta while this was sorted out, much to our chagrin. Instead we
decided to fly to Tumlingtar on the Arun valley in southern
Sankhuwasabha, go on a trek to select a field site, and go on to
Dhankuta after that, That way we would arrive at the project
headquarters having at least chosen the area where we planned to live
and knowing something about it, This course of action was obviously not
as collaborative in spirit as the way I had originally conceived of my
research, but in view of the suspicion which had gone before us, in the
circumstances it seemed that this was the best option for our first trip
to East Nepal.
Reconnafsance
We flew to Tumlingtar on March 19th and walked up to Khandbari, the
district headquarters town for Sankhuwasabha. We had been advised we
should meet the Chief District Officer and District Superintendent of
Police (whose offices were in Khandbari) at an early stage in our
fieldwork. The Chief District Officer was impressively knowledgeable
about specific pancavats in which Yakha were c~ncentrated,'~- and gave us
the name of a 'social worker' and Yakha leader in Madi Mulkharka
pancayat whom he thought would be able to help us further, Majhiya Man
Bahadur.
Our route to Madi Mulkharka took us back to Tumlingtar and up to