I am thrilled BEST HIMALAYA, an artisan company in Kathmandu, Nepal, asked me to write about them, but…

What do I know about Nepal?
I admit very little. If someone asked me to give just three answers to the question. What would they be? 

My first answer might be:

1. The Himalayas and the mountainous home of the snow leopard (or is that two answers?). 

After which, I would ponder a little and then my second answer would be:

2. The Green Eye of the Yellow God.

When I was a child, my mother held informal parties, where everyone must perform a party piece. A popular monologue was The Green Eye of the Little Yellow God.

Here are the opening lines:

There’s a one-eyed yellow idol to the north of Katmandu,
There’s a little marble cross below the town;
There’s a broken-hearted woman tends the grave of Mad Carew,
And the Yellow God forever gazes down.

J. Milton Hayes, 1911

Now my third and final answer would be:

3. Artisans

High in the mountains of Nepal where the rare, elusive snow leopard lives there are a remarkable team of artisans making beautiful things with felt.

The Artisans of Best Himalaya

Best Himalaya is a company based in Kathmandu, where women artisans make wonderful products out of felt.

The photo below shows the artisans at work. In the background, you can see the beautiful rugs that they are working on.

Maya Devi and Nirmala (shown left and centre in the photo), work with the company full time, dedicating themselves to their craft.

Nirmala’s story
Forty-six-year-old Nirmala Bastola devotes herself to her sewing skill. 
In a country where jobs are few, her two sons left Nepal to venture abroad, seeking their fortunes with better job opportunities in Malta and Romania. 

Teacher
As well as working all day, Nirmala imparts her knowledge of the intricate art of felt making and provides training to others. Each evening she returns with her husband to their humble home, where they continue to craft felt products (Oh, my word! That’s what I call dedication). She works alongside her husband day and night to fulfil their dream of building their own house.

Maya Devi’s story
27-year-old Maya Devi, hails from a remote village in Ramechap. She has two young daughters aged 4 and 7.

The devastating earthquake in Nepal in 2015 left her family with many challenges. Her husband needed to leave Nepal and go to Oman to find employment. Whereupon Maya made the difficult and courageous decision to move to Kathmandu. 

She joined Best Himalaya, a company who is supportive of their women workforce. Her creative work provides better schooling for her daughters. The role of a single parent is not an easy one. The daily parenting tasks, plus the school drop-offs and pickups. The endless household chores (tell me about it!). 

Maya deserves a medal.

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Girl Power!

Best Himalaya is a thriving manufacturer that employs 135 skilled women artisans just like Nirmala and Maya Devi. 

“The women work hard. Their aim is to improve their lives and that of their families in a time of a Nepalese recession. Jobs are scarce in Nepal. These skilled women show entrepreneurial spirit, strength and resilience in difficult times.”

Best Himalaya

Coasters, Rugs and Garlands

The photo below shows an artisan making felt coasters. Behind her shoulder is a small rug made in the same way (unless it is the largest coaster/ beer mat in the world and meant for a large beer glass? Cheers!). 
Instead of a giant beer mat, the soft felt mats are also seats where the artisans sit.

I should love to own a bright rug or mat made this way.

Felt

The versatile material of felt is a creative fabric that is embedded in Nepalese tradition. It lies deep within their culture. Beneath the artisans’ hands felt transforms into many beautiful products.

Felt coasters

It is surprising how from a simple felt ball they can make so many attractive goods. At the fingertips of an artisan, they can become a beautiful coaster for your wine glass or cup of tea.

Felt garlands

Threaded together like a large string of pearls, felt garlands can festoon your home in delightful decoration. This Christmas we are draping them across our tree, where they remind me of playful snowballs. 

Felt indoor shoes

Here is a photo of my pair of Best Himalaya felt indoor shoes. 

These are my favourite pair of slippers ever! They are a lovely colour and very comfortable. When I first slipped them on—I didn’t want to take them off!—and they made me want to dance! 

Does anyone remember the old classic film The Red Shoes with Moira Shearer? When she put the red ballet slippers on, she couldn’t stop dancing or take them off. (Did her red shoes come from Nepal, I wonder?) 

Hmmm… Perhaps, I could write a story called the lilac felt slippers? Once you put them on, you can’t take them off…

How do they make felt?

How do they make felt? It is quite a process.

The artisans make felt from the raw fibres of wool. The process involves several stages.

Carding
Carding pulls out the raw wool fibres to create a loose web. Then they are layered. 

Layering
The layers are laid out in thin layers, crisscrossing to make a mesh structure. 

Wetting 
Wetting of the fibres with water and sometimes with a soapy solution to assist the felting process. 

Rolling 
Rolling the wet fibres up tight with pressure applied aids fibre entanglement and matting together. 

Fulling
The rolled bundle is unrolled, and they may roll again the felted wool in a different direction to further compact and strengthen the felt. 

Shaping and drying
They now shape the felt and apply pressure during drying, which will further compact and strengthen the felt.

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The Handmade Singing Bowls of Nepal

The beauty of Nepal’s singing bowl is of world renown. You can buy them in a full range of notes and tones. Discover them here.

How do they make the singing bowl?
Watch the Best Himalaya video below and see how they make the handmade singing bowls, and my felt slippers!

I wrote my poem THE SINGING BOWL in honour of Nepal and the their artisans.

Listen to the audio and imagine that you are in a lush forest while you read the poem. Enjoy.

Audio: the singing bowl in a forest

The Singing Bowl

Hummmmmmmmmmm
Begin the songful tone,
Ohmmmmmmmmmmm
Be quiet and alone
Hummmmmmmmmmmm
Breathe in deep and slow
Ohmmmmmmmmmmmm
Allow your thought to flow

Hummmmmmmmmmmm
Float along the music stave
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhmm
Undulate on its sounding wave,
Ohmmmmmmmmmmmmm
Listening to the song
with the chiming of the gong

Hummmmmmmmmmmm
Listen to the quiet thought,
All else is gone for naught,
Ohmmmmmmmmmmmmm
Stave the wander of your mind,
You are nature’s kin and kind,
Ahmmmmmmmmmmmm

The starlings and the lark,
Listen to the singing,
Hark the winging of the birds,
Ohmmmmmmmmmmmm,
Notes of middle C and F,
And chromatic thirds.
Ahmmmmmmmmmmmmm

The lilting of your words wafting with the breeze
The soughing sighing whispers of the trees.
Ohmmmmmmmmmmmm
Hark to the singing of the bowl,
Listen its soothing of your soul.
Hummmmmmmmmmmmmm
~

Lesley Scoble, December 2023

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Nepal

To me, Nepal is a romantic place swathed in a mist of mystery and myth that sits atop the Himalayas. Out of reach and far away.
I should love to travel there one day and listen to the ethereal songs of the singing bowls as the people meditate in a wildness of misty wilderness…

A little bit about Nepal…

Nepal, nestles in the heart of the Himalayas. Home to eight of the world’s fourteen highest peaks, including the highest one of all, Everest.

Kathmandu, the vibrant capital, resonates with the echoes of ancient temples, bustling markets, and the rhythmic chants of prayers. 

The medieval city of Bhaktapur, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, stands frozen in time, adorned with intricately carved palaces and courtyards.

Nepal’s people are diverse (120 languages are spoken in Nepal) and range from the Tharu communities in the Terai plains in the south, to the Sherpas in the mountainous regions to the east.

Festivals like Dashain and Tihar bring communities together in celebrations. Which reflect the harmonious coexistence of Hinduism and Buddhism.

The diverse geography ranges from lush lowland jungles, where Bengal tigers roam, to the arid landscapes of Upper Mustang, and to the highest mountains where the snow leopard lives.

The sacred lakes of Gosaikunda and Rara mirror the pristine beauty that characterizes this Himalayan nation. 

Nepal’s spiritual aura is palpable, with temples and monasteries—and the sound of singing bowls singing their songs across its stunning landscape.

The sacred Pashupatinath, Boudhanath, and Swayambhunath draw pilgrims and seekers alike, offering glimpses into the country’s profound spiritual heritage.

Nepal, in the Himalayan peaks, is a land where the rare snow leopard lives, and the mountains touch the sky. 

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The Snow Leopard

The enigmatic, elusive snow leopard lives in Nepal, and when Best Himalaya asked me to write a little piece on them, I felt (no pun intended) inspired to write them a poem. I wrote about the snow leopard. Why? Because the snow leopard reflects the beauty and special mystery of this mountainous country.

I hope you enjoy the SNOW LEOPARD poem.

Snow Leopard

A lone rare cat sits mountain high,
Atop an isolated peak
juxtaposing with the sky,
The snow leopard casts his eye
across vast terrain that’s cold and bleak.

Oh, beautiful snow leopard,
Go forward in lithe and silent stride,
Watch how you go—be on guard
where sky and land collide.

In your precarious domain 
Far above the lowlands’ plain,
Wend your way with miles to go,
Wearing fur as soft as falling snow.

Wrapped in cold Himalayan air
He breathes out breaths in zephyr clouds,
In puffs of white aloft up there
Where mountain mist weaves shrouds.

Steamy trails borne on wafts of chill
Hunting, marking, stealthy still,
The white panthera prowls with stalking tread,
Ice blue eyes scan the miles ahead.

Paws pad padding slow
Ephemeral paw-prints in the snow,
On the hunt sure footed on the ridge,
Above sheer drops that have no bridge.

Paws pad stalk pounce tread 
ahead along the precipitous edge,
Steep cliff climbs sure footing stead
on sheer slope and narrow ledge.

On terrain that’s icy steep,
he lays down and curls up to sleep,
His thick blanket tail wraps about his face,
A coverlet against cold nights in this stark and lofty place.

His purring soft in gentle meow,
softly soft as the falling snow.


Lesley Scoble, December 2023

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Did you know…

NOTES

Does a snow leopard meow?
In my poem The Snow Leopard in the final couplet, I write “His purring soft in gentle meow”. Some may contest that as a snow leopard belongs to the big cat family, it does not meow. Only the domestic cat meows. Some experts insist it meows because it has a similar voice box structure as the domestic cat. Whether a snow leopard meows is still out for debate among scientists. The matter remains unproven. As yet. 
The penultimate line in my poem may or may not be correct.

Does a snow leopard purr?
The content, domestic cat purrs. We all know that. The snow leopard purrs, but it can do this when agitated or in distress. Therefore, my word ‘purring’ in this questionable line may also be incorrect. Should I rewrite it? But I like the line. Therefore, I am going to claim poetic license, because what I say may well be true. Until proven otherwise, the line stays.
~
The classic film The Red Shoes with Moira Shearer
They made the classic film The Red Shoes in 1948. Produced and directed by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. They also wrote the screenplay from the Hans Christian Anderson fairy tale written in 1845.Y
You can watch the wonderful trailer here.

The Green Eye of the Yellow Little God
J. Milton Hayes wrote it in 1911 and it is one of his best-known works.
(To read the full poem, click here.)

Ramechhap Village
In the post, I mention that the artisan May Devi came from Ramechhap village.
The word Ramechhap comes from two Nepalese words. Ram (a person’s name) and Chhap (mark). In folklore, the name of the village of Ramecchap came from a Tamang resident of the village named Ram. By royal decree, he became the village leader (mukhtiyari). Thus, the name was born. His leadership came with a legal mark of authority called Ram’s stamp.
(This may or may not be true. Wiki source) I wonder if Maya Devi might know?

120 languages spoken in Nepal
Did you know that there are over 120 languages spoken in Nepal? The major languages include Nepali (the official language), Maithili, Bhojpuri, Tharu, Tamang, Newari, and others. Wow! In a country that is smaller than the UK, they have 120 languages!

Thank you for your visit and for reading my post about the artisans and their craft of felt making in Nepal. I wish you health, happiness and prosperity in the New Year of 2024.

आफ्नो भ्रमण र नेपालमा फेल्ट बनाउने शिल्पकलाका बारेमा मेरो पोष्ट पढ्नुहुने र आउनुहुने सबैलाई धन्यवाद। २०२४ सालको नयाँ वर्षमा तपाईंलाई स्वास्थ्य, खुशी र समृद्धिको शुभकामना छ।

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Lesley lives in the City of London Square Mile. An artist, actor and sculptor (her first ceramic sculpture won the V&A inspired by… Award). Scenic artist & book illustrator, playwright, (her musical play, Rapscallion performed in inner city schools and theatre school); TV dancer; Animator and illustrator for TV production. Set up Pinecone Studios Ltd and IIMSI Ltd drama and filmmaking workshops in London – producing award-winning films made by children.