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

make enquiries. I found out about an empty house not too far away from
our family's which had been abandoned by its owners when they had
migrated to the Nepalese lowlands of the Tarai. Our family had deemed
this unsuitable for us when we first arrived in Tamaphok because it was
in a state of considerable disrepair. Not only had the house in
question been abandoned for five years, but it had also survived the
major earthquake which had taken place in August 1988, and a strike by a
thunderbolt. Structurally the place seemed sound, however, and while
there were disadvantages in terms of its situation (rather isolated, and
with a bit of a walk across paddy fields to the nearest dh8rEi) we felt
it 'had potential'. The 'landlord' (the uncle of the owner who had
migrated to the Tarai, the lowlands of Nepal) agreed to renovate the
place and to provide some furniture, an outside pit latrine and a
smokeless stove, In return, we offered a rent of 200 NRs a month (about
f4>, which was very generous by village standards.
Of course, we had to be very tactful and sensitive in broaching the
idea of moving to our family. At first they were alarmed for our
security living in a house alone on "the other side of the stream", (A
stream separated our house from theirs and, perhaps, one social group
from another, although we never ascertained the basis of such a
division), However, once our family realised our minds were made up
they acquiesced and, when most of the renovations were complete, we
moved our goods and chattels up the hill.
We certainly enjoyed the space, privacy and gastronomic flexibility
afforded by our new home. Our social circle widened (Plate 1) as we got
to know some of the people living in our vicinity, particularly the
family of our 'landlord'. Kamala continued to visit us almost daily as