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

Adding to the sense of Basantapur as a place where the wider world
met the parochial was the video ha1 1 , which commenced operat ions while
we were in the field. Run by the Tibetan proprietors of one of the
leading 'hotels' and powered by a generator, videos from the world
outside could be seen on a large television screen for 5#50 NRs (about
llp) a time in a wooden buildinga People flocked to see the shows. On
one occasion we saw ' Samjhana' , a Nepali f i lm set amongst the tea
estates of Darjeeling. The sound on this particular video was very
muffled (it had been recorded from a film screen, we were told) but
people seemed happy to stay and sing along to the actors' mouthing of
the popular songs. Another time we saw a video of the events of the
April 1991 'revolution', which I shall describe in the next chapter.
The weekly market took place in an open space below the bus stand on
the edge of the town and was a meeting point for people from ethnic
groups, castes and communities all around. There were local people
selling (depending on season) rice, lentils, millet, bananas, tobacco,
oranges, tomatoes and leaf vegetables. In common with bazaars
throughout South Asia, produce tended to be sold in a particular area of
the bazaar, both for convenience but more importantly so that caste
rules would be observed in this public domain,", Thus meat was
available slightly below the rest of the market, and blacksmiths were to
be found in their own area too. There were also ' Indian traders' in a
line selling a fairly standard array of goods such as cigarettes, rock
sugar, soap, cosmetic items and glucose biscuits, all at prices
marginally less than one would expect to pay in a shop.
While it was an important economic venue, the market was also a
place for social activity. Many people came with only a single purchase